Imagine that. A slice of perfection Sunday in a very imperfect 49ers season, thanks to No. 3 quarterback turned backup turned starter Shaun Hill.

In the first half of the 49ers' 35-16 win over the Rams at Candlestick Park, Hill posted a perfect passer rating of 158.3. He became the first quarterback in 49ers history to post a perfect first-half rating.

He completed 12 of 14 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. He also ran for a touchdown, diving into the end zone from a yard out.

Not that long ago, Hill resided in the equivalent of Siberia for quarterbacks. He was sent to that deep freeze by offensive coordinator Mike Martz, who made the same mistake that so many other coaches have made. He underestimated Hill.

And after watching Hill slice and dice the Rams' defense Sunday, it makes you wonder what might have been for the 49ers this season if he had been the starter from Day 1 instead of J.T. O'Sullivan.

Hill was 2-0 as an emergency starter last season and parlayed that strong play into a new multi-million dollar contract. He entered training camp in what appeared to be a tight, head-to-head battle with Alex Smith for the starting job.

But Martz wasn't with the 49ers last year when Hill led the team to two of its five wins. He didn't watch first-hand the way Hill skillfully read defenses, found open receivers and hit them in the hands. He didn't see first-hand how cool, calm and surprisingly elusive in the pocket Hill was under the incredible pressure of a real NFL game.

Training camp had barely begun when Martz eliminated Hill from the quarterbacks competition and elevated O'Sullivan to the position of Smith's chief competitor. Before long, it was clear that O'Sullivan was Martz's choice to start.

I can understand Martz's thinking. O'Sullivan played for Martz with the Detroit Lions as a backup. He knew his system. He had a quick release and a fearless approach to throwing the deep timing routes that are staples in Martz's offense.

And Hill? Well, the company line was that he just didn't pick up Martz's offense quickly enough to compete for the job. I think I'm going to have to call bull you-know-what on that one.

Sure, Martz's system is complex. But it' not brain surgery. It's football. And Hill isn't some football dimwit. He's in his seventh NFL season. He came off the bench last year and ran the 49ers offense better than it had been run all season. He had a passer rating of 101.3. He threw five touchdown passes with just one interception.

My theory is that Martz took one look in practice at Hill A¯A¿A½ OK, maybe a handful of looks A¯A¿A½ and decided he didn't pass the eyeball test. Hill doesn't have a cannon for an arm. He won't win many foot races. Hill's first thought is to take the safe throw rather than the swashbuckling deep shot.

Hill is a beige presence in practice. He rarely stands out. But put Hill in a game that counts, when defensive linemen are creating chaos and he has to make quick, sound decisions, and Hill shines.

It's not a coincidence that it was interim coach Mike Singletary and not Martz who benched O'Sullivan and gave the starting job to Hill. Singletary saw Hill play last season.

After the victory, Singletary was asked if he knew in training camp that Hill could do what he did Sunday against the Rams.

"I knew that last year, way before training camp," Singletary said. "Last year when I saw him play, I really thought he did a good job. He managed the game, he made some throws. Guys were excited. In training camp I just thought it was a matter of learning the offense and having some confidence going forward.

"Weeks 1, 2, 3, 5, I think he would tell you, 'You know what? I'm trying to learn the offense. If I go in there, I can run three plays, and that won't last very long.' I just think it's a process. Everything's a process. I think he's continuing to gain more confidence, and the offense is continuing to gain more confidence in him, not that they didn't have it to begin with, but even more so. And I think they appreciate his leadership."

Hill could only run three plays when the season started? I'm surprised Singletary was able say that and keep a straight face. Hill said that he has "a much better grasp of the offense now" than he did at the start of camp after having watched O'Sullivan start the first eight games. But when asked if he knew the offense well enough to start in Week 1, Hill certainly didn't shoot down the idea.

"Ah, I don't know," Hill said. Yeah, I think he does.

I think Hill A¯A¿A½ especially if he had been given the starter's reps during training camp and exhibition games A¯A¿A½ could have stepped in from Day 1 and played well. He could have managed the game, protected the football, made smart decisions and even made some tough, accurate throws on time, as he did Sunday.

In the first half, Hill fired a strike to wide receiver Bryant Johnson on a quick slant, hitting him in stride. He turned that short pass into a 42-yard gain, setting up the 49ers' second touchdown. Later in the half, Hill rolled to his right, sidestepped defensive end Leonard Little and lofted a 31-yard pass deep down the middle to running back DeShaun Foster, who had a step on a Rams defender. That pass set up another touchdown.

Those lasers were part of Hill's perfect first-half passer rating.

"I didn't realize that I had a perfect passer rating in the first half," Hill said. "The funny thing about that rating is it might say that somebody is perfect, but I promise you there were some mistakes in there."

Maybe so. But there were many more good decisions and accurate passes and, yes, even some deep passes. Hill did more than just manage the game. He made some big plays.

"I think as we go forward Mike Martz is learning some things that Shaun can do," Singletary said. "The more he sees, the better it gets. So what I would say is, yes, Shaun Hill can mange the game, but he's also a good quarterback that can make some throws. I'm excited about seeing that."

Better late than never.

What do you get when you mix terrible decisions, horrible karma and over-the-top dysfunction into a giant cocktail and chug it down?

The Oakland Raiders, of course.

The Raiders have outdone themselves this year. I mean, you can't make this stuff up. Every time you think it can't get worse or crazier, it does.

Here are seven mind-blowing Silver and Black dramas from a list that probably stretches into triple digits:

EXIT, STAGE LEFT: After just eight games, Raiders boss Al Davis cut cornerback DeAngelo Hall, his No. 1 off-season acquisition, last week. No problem. All it cost the Raiders was $8 million and a pair of draft choices for eight games. Did anyone scout this guy before closing that deal with the Atlanta Falcons? As it turns out, he's not so good in man-to-man coverage, which the Raiders prefer. He's more of a zone guy and a free-lancer. Who knew? Apparently not the Raiders.

ROB RYAN UNCUT: Who can forget defensive coordinator Rob Ryan's expletive-filled command performance for the media shortly after a Week 1 embarrassment against Denver. It came shortly after former coach Lane Kiffin tossed Ryan and Davis under the bus for the defense's meltdown. Undoubtedly following Davis' orders, Ryan met the press and fired back at Kiffin. Buddy Ryan must be proud of his son's mastery of colorful language.

KIFFIN GOES DOWN FIGHTING: Kiffin was canned after just four games, but he knew he was doomed since the end of last season when he wanted to fire Ryan but was overruled by Davis. Kiffin didn't go quietly into unemployment. He spent much of the offseason, training camp and early season publicly zinging Davis for his personnel decisions. Most Raiders coaches kowtow to Davis. Kiffin stood up to him and revealed some of the organizational dysfunction that has hurt the franchise. If nothing else, it was fascinating theater of the absurd.

AL DAVIS MEETS THE PRESS: Davis didn't just fire Kiffin. He tried to publicly humiliate him in one of the strangest press conferences in the history of sports. Have you ever heard of an NFL owner cueing the overhead projector then reading, line by line, a letter he had sent to his former coach? Davis aired more dirty laundry than the team collects after playing a game in the mud. Of course his intent was to make a case for firing Kiffin with cause and stiffing him out of the remainder of his salary.

THE CABLE GUY TAKES OVER: After firing Kiffin, Davis promoted offensive line coach Tom Cable to interim coach, bypassing Ryan, offensive coordinator Greg Knapp and running backs coach Tom Rathman, among others. What, Tim the Tool Man wasn't available. OK, cheap shot. Cable might turn out to be a great head coach. His 1-4 record to date says maybe not.

NOT SO BIG CATCH: Davis thought he struck free-agent gold when he signed former Broncos wide receiver Javon Walker to six-year, $55 million deal, despite Walker's history of injuries. Not long after the ink dried on that contract, Walker was mugged in Las Vegas (more bad karma?) then decided to retire and return his $11 million signing bonus. Davis talked him out it. Talk about one bad decision deserving another. Walker caught just 15 passes before suffering a season-ending ankle injury last week against Carolina.

CABLE'S POWER GRAB: In the wake of an embarrassing 24-0 loss to Atlanta in which the Raiders had just three first downs, Cable stripped Knapp of his play-calling job and took on that duty. Makes sense. Cable called a few plays as a college coach. Knapp called plays for three NFL teams, the 49ers, Falcons and Raiders. Cable said he made the call to demote Knapp. Yeah, right. There's no way Cable makes a decision this big without getting Al's OK. That would have been Kiffian. I'd be willing to bet that Al told Cable to sack Knapp after that humiliating loss. So let's see. Cable is now the interim head coach, offensive line coach and chief play-caller. What next? Specials teams coach? In Cable's play-calling debut, the Raiders had 17 first downs but scored just six points against Carolina.

I've been trying to get excited about the trade A's general manager Billy Beane's swung with Colorado for outfielder Matt Holliday. It should be easy, right? Holliday is a legitimate star, something the A's sorely lacked. He's a big-time hitter who has slugged 128 home runs and driven in 483 in just five seasons. He's young and talented.

Sorry, can't do it.

This is just another instance of Billy being Billy, trading players as if they were baseball cards but having no end game in sight.

Holliday knows he should rent and not buy in the Bay Area. He'll most likely be traded around the July deadline when desperate playoff contenders will bid his price through the roof. Or, he'll walk away after one season, and the A's will collect high draft picks as compensation.

Just don't expect Holliday to be an Athletic long-term. He'll make $13.5 million in 2009. He'll be a free agent after this season. His agent is Scott Boras, Mr. Hardball himself. Get the picture? Holliday will demand and command more money than the small-budget A's would ever consider spending.

I sympathize with A's fans. They're facing the same sorry situation they're almost always facing. They'll be watching a talented player knowing he'll soon be gone. That's great. Only the most naA¯ve A's fans would make an emotional investment in Holliday, no matter how many home runs he hits.

I'll enjoy the Holliday show while it lasts in Oakland. I just won't get too excited.

Quick, get Safeway on the line. The Raider Nation is in serious need of brown paper bags. No need to poke eyeholes in these babies, the way Saints fans did when their team was known as the Aint's. Just put them over your head and protect your eyes from the Raiders' unwatchable offense.

Only a handful of masochistic Raiders loyalists and countless seagulls showed up Sunday at the Coliseum to watch Oakland lose 17-6 to Carolina. In this case, a television blackout was beautiful.

Even on a day in which the Raiders' defense intercepted four passes and Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme had a 7 of 27 passing nightmare, the Raiders scored just two second-half field goals.

That's six more points than they scored in a 24-0 loss the previous week to Atlanta. And unlike that game, they didn't post a first-down bagel in the first half. With backup quarterback Andrew Walter starting in place of sore-kneed JaMarcus Russell, the Raiders actually had eight first downs in the first half and 17 for the game. Consider that your Silver and Black lining.

So what went wrong on offense? To hear interim coach Tom Cable's explanation, penalties killed the Raiders. They led to too many third-and-longs, he maintained.

So it's official. Cable has taken up residence in fantasyland. The Raiders offense committed only five penalties, just one in the second half, on the last drive. Here's what actually helped kill some of the Raiders drives:

A Julius Peppers sack on third-and-six at Carolina's 44. A Richard Marshall interception on first-and-10 at the Carolina 16. A Peppers sack on first-and-10 at the Raiders 33. A fumbled exchange between Walter and running back Justin Fargas on first-and-10 from the Raiders 15. A shotgun snap that sailed over Walter's head on first-and-10 at Carolina's 43. A Chris Gamble interception on third-and-4 from the Carolina 45. A Peppers sack on third-and-7 at the Raiders 44.

Then there were a handful of your garden variety three-and-outs and a few drives that simply stalled. In reality, there were just two drives that were truly short-circuited with big penalties.

There's more proof that Cable has lost touch with reality. Consider his answer when asked if he believes he can hold this team together.

"I do," Cable said. "Obviously the proof is the effort we just put (forth) on the field, with all the changes and everything that were made, the things we went through this week.

"Shoot, if we play like that in the second half, we'll win more games than we'll lose, and I really believe that."

Good one, coach. Miami, Denver, Kansas City, San Diego, New England, Houston and Tampa Bay should get a good laugh when they hear that one.

You have to give the Raiders' defense credit. After last week's humiliating game against Atlanta, the Raiders' 'D' played with passion and, for the most part, skill. The Raiders held Carolina to 14 points in the first half. The first score came after Johnnie Lee Higgins fumbled the opening kick at the Raiders' 16. The second came on DeAngelo Williams' 69-yard run.

"I'm proud of the effort, but we still have to win games," Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said. "It was kind of like 2006 when we'd have a bunch of turnovers and still come away with the loss. The offense played a lot better than we did back then."

That only tells you how bad the Raiders' offense was in 2006 under coordinator Tom Walsh.

"They played hard," running back Justin Fargas said of the defense. "They played lights out. As an offense, we're disappointed we weren't able to pay back the favor and put some points on the board."

Cornerback Chris Johnson played well in his first start, replacing the jettisoned DeAngelo Hall. Safety Rashad Baker had two interceptions (but also missed a tackle on Williams' long TD run), while Asomugha and Sam Williams had one apiece.

Yet for all those turnovers, the Raiders couldn't get in the end zone.

"We've got to find the hunger, that when we get down close to the red zone we can smell the end zone and take shots at it," said Fargas, who rushed for 89 yards on 22 carries.

Walter, seeing his first action of the season, completed 14 of 32 passes for 143 yards with two interceptions. He had a passer rating of 31.1.

What went wrong?

"Penalties. Penalties, for one," Walter said, promoting the Cable-inspired fantasy. "We can't catch a break, whether it's a receiver catching feet with a defensive back for an interception and then penalties. I mean, we haven't been able to catch a break."

Yeah, I guess it's a bad break when Peppers goes wild, racking up three sacks, making seven tackles and forcing two fumbles.

Delhomme apparently lost his groove during the bye week. He was off-target from the outset, over- and under-throwing receivers all over the field. The Raiders' defense, of course, had something to do with Delhomme's bad day.

The Raiders intercepted passes deep in Carolina territory on back-to-back drives to open the second half. First Baker, then Williams came up with picks.

The Raiders went three-and-out both times, gaining five yards each time before settling for field goals. Damn those penalties.

The Panthers kept begging to be beat, but the Raiders kept refusing. Early in the fourth quarter, the Raiders drove into Carolina territory. They had a promising drive going until Walter tried to hit wide receiver Javon Walker on a third-and-4 slant and Gamble cut in front to intercept.

How about that coaching change? Before Lane Kiffin was fired, the Raiders averaged 19.5 points per game. Since Cable took over, they've averaged 7.0.

That's reality, not fantasy.

Quick hits from Oracle Arena after watching the Warriors lose 109-104 to the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night:

Rookie forward Anthony Randolph finally got a chance to play some meaningful minutes, thanks to injuries that sidelined veterans Corey Maggette and Al Harrington. You know what? The kid that coach Don Nelson has said was nowhere near ready to play in the big, bad NBA actually looked pretty good.

Randolph scored eight points on 4 of 8 shooting in just over 17 minutes. He grabbed seven rebounds and blocked a shot.

Even Nelson was impressed.

"I liked it," Nelson said of Randolph's performance. "He's way ahead of Brandan Wright, where he was a year ago. I thought he looked pretty good tonight.

"He's going to be a terrific player some day. He's probably a little too young now. He had some nice moments. He definitely has a presence to his game."

Randolph's jumper looked silky smooth. He used his tremendous wingspan to block or affect a few Memphis shots. Randolph even handled the ball well on the fastbreak. Not bad for a 6-10 rookie.

"It was a little nerve-wracking at first," Randolph said. "I was nervous, but once the game started going, I settled (down) and just started to play my game. I was nervous. My heart was beating fast.

"I was probably having a little panic attack when I shot that first shot. But when I missed, it was like, 'OK, nothing worse can happen, so just come out there and play your game.' After I missed that first shot I was good."

---

Without point guard Baron Davis, the Warriors are still struggling in the final minutes of close games. Stephen Jackson made a concerted effort Friday night to be the Warriors' go-to guy in crunch time. He did OK. But he's not B.D. He doesn't have Davis' quickness or speed. He certainly doesn't have his ball-handling skills and doesn't demand the same type of defensive attention that leads to wide open shots for his teammates.

This part of the Warriors' game is still a work in progress.

"The young guys played well, we played hard enough," Jackson said. "But down the stretch I am the leader of this team so I have to make better plays. I have to be smarter."

Jackson scored 27 points but had just four assists.

---

Harrington missed the game with a bad back, and his time with the Warriors appears to be winding down in the wake of his public request for a trade.

Nelson said that entering the season he made a commitment to Harrington to give him major minutes every game. That deal, Nelson said before the game, ended earlier this week.

"For the good of the franchise, I think we have to anticipate that he won't be here and do what we have to do to not be all of a sudden totally surprised about a different lineup," Nelson said. "If we can do that gradually now, and we'll bring Al off of the bench and he'll have to pick up minutes where he can. It's not that he's not going to play. He will play, but we've got to look to the future here, so that's what we're trying to do."

Nelson was asked if it would be better to trade Harrington sooner rather than later.

"It doesn't matter," Nelson said. "It's just so we get a good player. If that's soon, that's fine. If it doesn't happen. a€¦ Hopefully it will happen. I hope it will. He hopes it will. A guy shouldn't be where he doesn't want to be. It's hard for him to give his best and his all. It's a good things for both parties at this point."

---

Point guard Marcus Williams finally slimmed down enough to get on the floor. He played like someone who hadn't seen the court since the exhibition season. He went scoreless in nearly 10 minutes of playing time, missing all three of his shots.

Nelson said he told Williams he wouldn't get to suit up until he got his body fat to 10 percent or his weight to 210 pounds. Williams made his weight and saw some game action against Memphis.

"We watched him in training camp, and he just couldn't do what we thought he could do," Nelson said. "So he got beat out by two guys. It was just something we thought we'd bring to his attention, that he needed to get his weight down.

"Whether he's with me or somebody else, it's hard for him to get into the paint area where he's effective when he's heavy. So he was not going to play until he got to 10 percent body fat or 210 (pounds), and he got serious. He lost it quickly. a€¦ . I was very encouraged by yesterday's practice, and I've been encouraged by watching him come in early in the morning and do his double workouts and sometimes three, and he got his weight down. I'm happy about that."

---

Andris Biedrins recorded his 13th straight double-double, dating to last season, the longest current streak in the NBA and the longest by a Warrior since Nate Thurmond had 13 straight in 1973. Biedrins scored 23 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and a€" drum roll a€" made 9 of 10 freethrows.

"He had some decent numbers," Nelson said. "I don't think he was as good tonight as he's been."

Tough crowd. Nelson was unhappy with the way the Warriors got outrebounded 55-41 as a team by the Grizzlies even though Memphis center Marc Gasol played only 17:15 before fouling out and backup center Darko Milicic played just 12:27 before being ejected in the first half for saying a few choice words to the officials.

---

Rookie power forward Richard Hendrix is ticketed the NBA Development League, Nelson said.

"I don't think that he's ready yet," Nelson said. "And I'm going to put him in the 'D' League, probably for most of the year. I think that would be good for him and then we'll take a look at him. I don't see that he's going to be NBA ready for quite a while."

I didn't really think it was possible, but the Warriors are making a move in the battle to become the Bay Area's most dysfunctional professional sports franchise.

No, they'll never overtake the Raiders as long as Al Davis is in charge of the NFL's wackiest franchise. I mean, until Warriors owner Chris Cohan fires a coach and goes overhead projector on us, he can't compete with wild and crazy Al.

The Warriors still have a ways to go to catch the 49ers and that brand of Yorkian dysfunction. But the Warriors are definitely gaining ground.

Hours before Friday night's game against Memphis at Oracle Arena a€" soon to be renamed the Nut House? a€" the Warriors announced news that had leaked out a day earlier. They canned assistant general manager Pete D'Alessandro and promoted assistant coach Larry Riley to replace him.

This was the latest move by Warriors uber-president Robert Rowell to both punish and disrespect executive vice president Chris Mullin. D'Alessandro was Mullin's right-hand man, someone he trusted and relied on. Now he's gone, reportedly for insubordination, which translates to supporting Mullin.

Why don't Rowell and team owner Chris Cohan just fire Mullin and be done with it? Mullin, one of the most respected players and executives in team history, doesn't deserve this type of treatment.

Yeah, Mullin has made mistakes, handed too much money to some players who didn't deserve it. But it was Mullin who traded for Baron Davis. It was Mullin who convinced Nelson to return to the Warriors. It was Mullin who landed Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington from Indiana for Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy, two players most Warriors fans were worth next to nothing.

Just two seasons ago, the Warriors made the playoffs and stunned the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Talk about ancient history.

The team that made the playoffs has been destroyed. Last year the Warriors traded guard Jason Richardson to Charlotte in a draft-day deal for the rights to Brandan Wright in what now seems more like a move to save money than to actually get better.

If the Warriors had kept Richardson, they'd have made the playoffs last year, too. They'd have been a deeper team with more offensive firepower. Their tank wouldn't have been bone dry in the final weeks of the season when they faded.

This year Rowell vetoed a tentative three-year contract extension that Mullin had reached with Davis. So Davis walked away, and the Warriors received nothing in return for their best player.

I can't blame Rowell for Monta Ellis' crashing his moped and seriously injury an ankle. But I can blame him for playing over-the-top hardball with Ellis to the point that Ellis, even if he does recover completely, might try to force the Warriors to trade him. To make matters worse, Rowell publicly ripped Mullin for being too soft on Ellis. Classy move.

Forward Al Harrington is as good as gone. He asked to be traded, and the Warriors apparently are trying to deal him. Harrington's issues are with Nelson, not Rowell. But if he leaves, it will be just one more piece of the "We Believe" playoff team that's been lost.

Add him to a list that includes Mickael Pietrus and Matt Barnes, who left after last season as free agents.

Ah, sweet dysfunction.

Here's a football fact that can't have Cal fans feeling too good approaching Saturday's showdown against USC in Los Angeles: The Bears under coach Jeff Tedford are oh-for-L.A.

Since coming to Berkeley in 2002, Tedford has turned Cal into a football powerhouse. The Bears are 56-28 and have been to five straight bowl games under Tedford. But they've lost three straight games to UCLA at the Rose Bowl and three straight games to USC at the Memorial Coliseum.

Cal's teams are always packed with players who grew up in Southern California. So-called homecoming games are filled with potential problems. Players can get too hyped up or too tight, overwhelmed with emotion. During his weekly news conference Monday, Tedford was asked if those problems had anything to do with the Bears' lack of success in L.A.

"No," Tedford said. "We've played well down there. We've had close games. a€¦ I don't know that our players have played tight. I don't know that our players haven't played well. You're playing a really good football team," he said of USC. "They're close games. They can go either way.

"I don't think at all that our players go down there with the thought of feeling intimidated or trying to do more than they can do. I think they're excited to play and (play) with high intensity and they lay it all on the line. I don't think there's anything that really needs to be addressed there besides you don't need to be superhuman. You don't have to do something special. Just play to your potential and play hard."

Tedford's team losing three straight to UCLA on the road is baffling. Losing three straight to USC is much easier to understand. Since 2002, USC has lost exactly one home game. That was last year to Stanford, a 24-23 loss that stands as one of the most stunning upsets in Pac-10 history.

Cal, as Tedord said, has come close to beating the Trojans in L.A. In 2002, the Bears fell 30-28.

In 2004, the Bears trailed just 23-17 late in the fourth quarter and had the ball deep in USC territory. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers had been almost perfect for most of the game, but he couldn't get Cal into the end zone at the end in what was a crushing defeat for the Bears.

In 2006, Cal kept the game tight into the second half before USC pulled away for a 23-9 victory.

Tedford's lone win over USC came in 2003 in Berkeley, a 34-31 triple-overtime thriller.

The oddsmakers have No. 21 Cal as a 17A½-point underdog against the No. 7 Trojans. The Bears aren't buying their long odds.

"It's important to know that this is a good team, but they're not unbeatable," Cal center Alex Mack said. "I think it's going to be more about what we do as a team and what kind of plays we make. If we get all over-concerned about how good they are or what they're ranked or all this stuff, you're going to come into the game feeling tight.

"It's important to know that we just have to do what we have to do and do as well as we can. They're still college players. There's nothing extraordinary about them. It's going to be about coming out and making plays."

Mack is right about one thing. USC is not unbeatable. The Trojans lost 27-21 to Oregon State on the road in September. Last month the Trojans barely held on to beat Arizona 17-10. Of course that was another road game.

Maybe Tedford should show his team videotape of Stanford beating USC last year, just so the Bears know it's possible for a road team to beat the Trojans at their home.

Motivation won't be a problem. The Bears need to beat USC to keep their Rose Bowl hopes alive.

"I'm glad we set ourselves in position to make this game count," Cal linebacker Zack Follett said. "Last year we kind of had our downfall and once we got to this game finally, it didn't matter which way it went.

"It's an exciting game going there to L.A. I can remember going down there in '06 and walking out there under the lights, and it felt like a dream out there. It's definitely a great place to play, and that's what every athlete on this team, every competitor on this team dreams of is to play in a game like this, of this magnitude."

A victory Saturday would be huge for the Bears this season and potentially in the future. USC sits in the middle of one of the nation's hottest football recruiting areas, an area that supplies most of the players for the Pac-10. There's no telling what a win over the Trojans in L.A. might mean long-term for the Bears.

Those potential reinforcements won't arrive until future seasons. These Bears will be on their own against USC.

"They seem to always have No. 1, No. 2 recruiting classes in the country," Tedford said of USC. "So they recruit very well. They're very well coached. It's difficult. But you can still. a€¦ I don't think there's any doubt if you're successful recruiting and you can stay healthy that you can compete."

Now the question is whether Cal can do more than just compete and actually beat USC in L.A.

I know it won't be easy, but I'm going to try to put the Raiders' 24-0 loss Sunday to the Atlanta Falcons into its proper, humiliating perspective.

Let's start with a few of the final numbers. The Raiders were outgained 453 to 77. They had three first downs to the Falcons' 30. They lost the time of possession battle 45:15 to 14:45.

They gained the fewest yards by a Raiders team in any game in the Al Davis era, which began in 1963, and the fewest yards in the NFL since Dec. 12, 2004, when Cleveland gained 26 against Buffalo.

The Raiders set a franchise record for fewest first downs in a game.

Are you getting the picture of exactly how gruesome it was Sunday at the Coliseum?

"During the week we look like we're a Super Bowl team, and we come out there and we're damn near the laughingstock of the league, and it's ridiculous," Raiders safety Gibril Wilson said. "I've never been in a situation where it's been like this, and I don't know what it is. I really don't know what it is.

"The coaches are getting us prepared. That's not a problem. The people in this locker room have to look at themselves in the mirror and see exactly what they're bringing to the table, and if they're not bringing anything to the table, then get off the ship, period."

You can understand Wilson's culture shock. A year ago, he was on his way to winning the Super Bowl with the New York Giants. This is still all new to him.

Cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha is in Year 6 as a Raider. He has some history with the team.

Was this as bad as it gets?

"In the first half, probably as bad as it gets," Asomugha said. "I think we played Jacksonville and Green Bay last year. Those were pretty bad. I've had some bad ones, but in the first half, that was bad"

NFL laughingstock bad.

The Raiders fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter and 24-0 by halftime. Atlanta gained 309 yards in the first half. The Raiders "gained" minus-2. The Falcons amassed 20 first downs in the first half. The Raiders totaled zero. Atlanta held the ball for 24:08, the Raiders 5:52.

Atlanta's Michael Turner rushed for 82 yards and Jerious Norwood 50 in the first half. Falcons rookie quarterback Matt Ryan completed 13 of 16 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns.

Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell, meanwhile, hit on 2 of 7 passes for nine yards and was sacked three times. Justin Fargas carried three times for 5 yards.

"Very disappointing," said Raiders interim coach Tom Cable, whose record dropped to 1-3 and odds of keeping this job in 2009 continued getting longer.

You had to see this to believe how ugly it was. Unbelievable. This looked like professionals against amateurs, men against boys, NFL vs. high school.

The Falcons' offense had the Raiders' confused and flummoxed from the outset. Atlanta opened with a no-huddle attack and marched 88 yards for a score, Ryan hitting Michael Jenkins on a 44-yard touchdown pass. Yeah, Jenkins beat cornerback DeAngelo Hall. Was there any doubt?

The Falcons did whatever they wanted against the Raiders' defense. They hit the Raiders with a mixture of Turner's power running and Norwood's slashing blows. Ryan threw deep, midrange and short passes, hitting six different targets.

Invariably, there was a Falcon wide open somewhere on every play, and Ryan found him.

"They had a rhythm, they got hot," Raiders linebacker Kirk Morrison said. "Once you get hot, it's hard to break that."

Apparently, so.

The Raiders' problems on defense began early when they couldn't stop Turner or Norwood. When the Raiders thought run, Atlanta passed. When they thought pass, Atlanta ran.

"They pretty much did the type of stuff we saw, and they did some of the stuff that we had been seeing in other weeks that they had never done," Asomugha said. "It's a copycat league so you see someone else do it and it works, then they'll start doing it. Those were the plays we got."

In other words, the Raiders' defense has been exposed and an expect more of the same.

You've got to give Atlanta offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey plenty of credit for a great game plan. And Raiders defensive coordinator Rob Ryan? Let's just say that Lane Kiffin is probably having a good laugh.

It's not as if Atlanta is an offensive juggernaut. The Falcons came into the game ranked 11th in total offense, third in rushing and 22nd in passing. Good, yes, but not nearly as good as the Raiders made them look, especially in the first half.

I don't want to just pile on the Raiders' defense. The Raiders' offense was equally awful.

Atlanta entered the game ranked 25th in total defense, 22nd against the pass and 23rd against the run. Against the Raiders, the Falcons' 'D' looked like the the 21st century's Steel Curtain.

The Raiders couldn't run. They couldn't pass. They couldn't do anything.

Fargas said he never saw this disaster coming.

"Not at all. We had a good week of practice. I thought the energy was good. I thought we were ready to play," Fargas said. "It didn't show.

"I don't know how it happens, but it happened. We didn't look good in any phase of our game. We have to do something to get it right."

The contract between the two young quarterbacks on the field, Russell and Ryan, was stunning. Ryan was cool and calm, making the proper reads and finding open receivers. He was also accurate. His 44-yard touchdown pass to Jenkins early in the first quarter was a laser. Jenkins had a step on Hall along the right sideline. He reached up at the 10, and the pass basically hit him in the hands.

Russell is in his second season, but he looked much more like a rookie than Ryan. Granted, he rarely had open receivers, but when he did, he usually missed them or threw uncatchable balls, as in 100 mph rockets from short range.

One of the lowest points for Russell came midway through the third period when he went to pass and had the ball slip out of his hands for a fumble. Later in the half, he forced a pass to a blanketed Javon Walker in the end zone. Erik Coleman came up with what had to be the easiest interception of his career.

The Raiders didn't get their first first down of the game with 9:26 left in the third quarter. The fans erupted in what clearly was a mocking Bronx cheer. For most of the day they simply booed the home team.

By the end of the game, there were almost more seagulls circling the Coliseum than fans in the stands. Vultures would have been more fitting.

Now the Raiders face that familiar danger of having their season implode with eight games still to play.

"It's a slippery slope," Fargas said, "and we can't let it fall off. We just have to keep fighting, keep working and doing whatever it takes to get a win."

What exactly is that? And how do the Raiders keep this bad loss from snowballing?

"I don't know," Asomugha said. "Is that a fair answer? I don't know. I just hope it doesn't."

With 7:00 left to play in the third period Thursday night and the Sharks leading the reigning Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings 4-1, a larger-than-life image of new coach Todd McLellan appeared on the big screen above center ice, and fans at the sold-out Shark Tank began cheering.

The fans knew and appreciated what was unfolding before their eyes.

McLellan's team held on for a 4-2 victory over his old team and coach Mike Babcock, his former mentor and boss. On this night, the student beat the mentor and the San Jose Red Wings, as some are bound to call the Sharks, beat the Detroit Red Wings.

You know what? McLellan shunned the spotlight as if it were radioactive.

We're learning more and more about the Sharks new coach as the season moves on. This week we learned that he'd rather play goalie without a mask than accept credit for the accomplishments of those who play hockey for a living.

He's not ego-lite. He's ego-less. Or at least that's the way it seems. In this era of big egos and bigger salaries, that's remarkable.

In a span of three days, the Sharks beat Pittsburgh and Detroit, the reigning conference champions. Yet when asked if it was "rewarding" for a rookie coach, he poured ice cold water all over that story line.

"Not for the coach. For the players," McLellan said. "It's about the players. It's not a reward for us as a staff. They're the ones that are sweating and beat up and bruised. They did a pretty good job tonight."

Many of McLellan's players said they were happy they could give their coach a win over his former team. But he relentlessly downplayed the personal accomplishment.

"It's a win. It puts us two points ahead of the team behind us," McLellan said. "I'm pleased. Not for myself. Everybody's making this out (to be) about me. It's not about me. It's about the players. It's nice to know that they want to play hard for the coaching staff. It's their team. I hope that by the time we get to the end of the year that we can take a step back and they get out there and do their thing and really they don't even need us. And that will be a sign of a championship team."

The Sharks under McLellan are dropping plenty of hints that they just might be a championship team this year. Winning back-to-back games over Pittsburgh and Detroit certainly made an impressive early-season statement. They held the Penguins and Sidney Crosby to 11 shots. The Red Wings had scored 28 goals in their previous six games before facing the Sharks.

Granted, the Red Wings had a tough overtime loss Wednesday night at Anaheim while the Sharks rested. And Detroit started backup goalie Ty Conklin. Even so, this was an impressive win and an impressive double dip.

"I think we have respect around the league as a good team," forward Ryan Clowe said. "I think we showed this year we're probably ready to take the next step. "We played the runners-up. We played the Stanley Cup champs. It was a huge win for us. Not only are they Stanley Cup champs. We stole their assistant coach. It was a big night for him."

Well, at least that's the rumor. McLellan never admitted as much to the press or his players. And he certainly didn't play the win-one-for-the-coach motivational card.

"He didn't mention it at all," Clowe said. "I think he was probably sick of hearing that. But we knew. We knew the impact. We were pleased. I'm sure he had a smile."

Well, maybe when no one was looking.

I noticed an interesting change Tuesday in Cal coach Jeff Tedford's approach to quarterback Kevin Riley. It was almost as if Tedford switched roles from bad cop to good cop.

For much of the season, Tedford has been very hard on his young quarterback. No doubt he wanted to humble Riley a bit and make sure he understood how much he still had to learn.

But in the wake of Cal's 41-20 victory last week over UCLA and just days before a huge home game against Oregon, Tedford had little but praise for Riley during his weekly press conference. Tedford went so far as to say that he might have been too critical of Riley in the past.

I get the feeling that Tedford has had enough of this season-long quarterback shuffle with Riley and Nate Longshore, that he's getting close to going all-in on Riley and that he decided it's time to start boosting his young QBs confidence. Yeah, I could be wrong. Tedford could do an about-face and make another QB switch a€" or two or three.

But consider Tedford's review of Riley's play against UCLA, a game in which he threw a 53-yard touchdown pass on a flea-flicker.

"Actually I thought Kevin played pretty well," Tedford said. "I thought the difference in the game was decision making. They had four turnovers. We had zero. Kevin was harassed a little bit but held onto the ball, pulled it down when he needed to, those type of things. Didn't make any poor decisions with the football. And that becomes critical in a close game. And then I thought he made some really good throws, too. He made some throws with tight coverage that were right there, that either they made a good defensive play or we maybe dropped a ball.

"I think the play of the game for Kevin was the flea-flicker. That play we had a lot of penetration off our right guard. As ( Jahvid Best) is pitching the ball, Kevin's there waiting for the ball to come back and he's kind of moving sideways as he gets it and steps up in there and makes a great throw. I thought that was a key play. That was a great play by Kevin. Looking at it. I say again, always probably too critical of that, expecting guys to complete every pass. That's not going to happen. As I'm watching tape, every quarterback misses throws. But I think we're kind of used to Aaron Rodgers and those type of things where I think it's a little easy to be too critical of a very tough position. And Kevin's playing fine. Sure, he is going to miss a guy every now and then. Everybody does. I thought Kevin played a good game last week."

If you've followed this quarterback saga at Cal this year, you know that qualifies as high praise from Tedford for Riley. It seems that Tedford is starting to truly appreciate the way Riley makes decisions and avoids turnovers. Just two of his 150 passes have been picked off. He has thrown nine touchdown passes.

Then there's Riley's mobility and quickness, assets that are even more important in light of mounting injuries that have struck Cal's offensive line.

"I think one of his tools is to be able to pull the ball down and run," Tedford said. "And he's not afraid to do that, and he will do that. He'll take a sack and get up. He's made good decisions that way. If nothing's there, either it's a coverage sack or someone happens to get beat up front, or the backs or the tight ends or whomever's in charge of that pass protection scheme, he's made good sound decisions and pulled the ball down and not turned the football over. And that's critical."

Tedford didn't go so far as to say Riley would definitely start against Oregon. But asked if he saw Riley as his starter this week, Tedford said, "As of right now."

Spoken like a good cop.

Here's a transcript of brief interview with Riley after Tuesday night's practice.

Q: The coach came about as close as he has to naming his QB starter on a Tuesday. He said you are the starter as of right now. Does that give you confidence going into the week?

Riley: "Yeah. Definitely. After I watched the film I felt a little better about the UCLA game. There's still some throws i wish i could take back, just a little high, that could have been caught balls. But overall i thought it was OK. Needs to be better of course. It feels good. I actually didn't hear that. Definitely. We just got to get ready. We've got a good Oregon team. They're strong all around, especially on 'D'. I mean, that's all I've watched. Just watching them, they don't make a lot of mistakes. They're sound. This is going to be the best game we're going to have to play all year."

Q: The coach was talking about the way you managed the game and your decision making. He stressed no turnovers. Were you pleased with the decisions you made?

Riley: "I think I've done a pretty good job of that all year, taking care of the ball. That's something you need to do to win the game. There was one bad throw, the start of the second half on the first drive. That was a dumb throw and almost got picked. Even learning from that, I can't do that. Just drop down and run, get some yards. Just got to come out, make more plays, be smart with the ball. If there's some turnovers against this team, it's going to be a lot more trouble than it was last week."

Q: Coach said he's been overly critical of the offense this year. You guys do that to yourselves too. Is that a good thing, though, that you're expecting perfection?

Riley: "I think so. It hasn't happened. It kind of seems like our best game offensively was that Michigan state game. Everybody expects more and we expected by now that we'd be more in a rhythm all around like consecutive four quarters playing good offense. Like we say every week, we've got to start out early, but we've got to maintain that. We can't have that third quarter where penalties just killed us the whole quarter. It's hard to get in a rhythm at all when you're getting third-and-20, second-and-40. It's very unlikely you're going to convert those. So just try to keep ourselves in good situations to make plays, and I think we will."

Q: How good is the Oregon secondary?

Riley:"They're good. There's no question about it. We're going to have to be strong with the ball. They can jump stuff, make plays, big hitters. Probably overall the best secondary we're going to go against all year. Like I said, we're going to have to play our best game of football."

Q: Is this a game where a few runs by you might help to slow down Oregon's pass rush?

Riley: "Yeah, possibly. We're just going to have to see. They bring the rush. They do what they've done for a while now. They have the same 'D' that they had last year. They're just going to do what they're good at. We just got to be ready for everything."

Q: Did you get recruited by Oregon?

Riley: "I did a little bit. They were pretty late. They were a little late in their recruiting. For a home-state boy (Beaverton High School), I was like, 'What's going on?' No grudge at all against them. I know they're a good school. ... I knew about Oregon, growing up watching them. Coach (Mike Bellotti) was there when I was growing up. It's going to be kind of cool to start against the home state. Last year my first game ever was against Oregon State. I know a couple guys on their team. So it will be fun."

Q: Did Oregon State recruit you?

Riley: "Yeah. They recruited me a lot more."

I just finished watching 49ers interim coach Mike Singletary's debut Saturday, and I want to post the transcript from one of the most interesting and entertaining post-game coaching interviews I've ever heard.

Just a few thoughts before I get to Singletary's quotes.

Singletary lost his debut 34-13 to the Seattle Seahawks, but man, did he make a strong impression in so many ways beyond that embarrassing final score.

He benched combustible tight end Vernon Davis late in the third quarter after Davis drew a costly personal foul. Then he sent Davis to the showers. Incredible. That's something fired coach Mike Nolan should have done long ago.

I'm not a Davis basher. I actually like the guy. But he needs to know his limits. Now, hopefully, he does, although I'm not convinced considering that he pleaded innocent after the game, calling the penalty unwarranted.

Davis isn't the only player Singletary benched. He yanked quarterback J.T. O'Sullivan from the game late in the first half after O'Sullivan threw a fourth-and-4 interception that Josh Wilson returned 75 yards for a crushing touchdown. Shaun Hill came on and did an admirable job in relief.

Singletary laid down the law during the game and after, in the locker room. Yeah, this game was about as ugly as you can imagine. Seattle fullback Leonard Weaver caught two touchdowns passes, the first one 43 yards and the second 62, beating linebacker Takeo Spikes both times. O'Sullivan was wretched, again. The 49ers were outgained 388 yards to 261. The usual. But after watching and hearing Singletary in action, you know it won't be business as usual this coming week during the 49ers' bye.

Now for the Singletary post-game transcript. And yes, he delivered his opening statement and answered the questions with passion and conviction, just as you'd expect a former Hall of Fame player who played for Mike Ditka to do.

Singletary opening statement: "Before you ask any questions, I want to say this. No. 1, is I apologize. Apologize for the start. It's like this, the day was good for me. It was good for me because sometimes you take a step back and you look at it and you think, 'Hey, you know what? a€¦We're going to make it work. They're working hard. They're doing this, they're doing that. We're going to go out there, and it's going to change right now.'

"It will change. ... I want you guys to understand where I'm coming from. It will change. And it will change because they want it to change. Not because of me. It will change because they want to be champions. But right now we've got to figure out the formula, our formula. Our formula is this. We go out and we hit people in the mouth, No. 1. No. 2, we are not a charity. We cannot give them the game. No. 3, we will execute from the very start to the very end of the game. That did not happen. I do not apologize about ... (At this point, Singletary cut off his opening statement and asked for questions)

Q: What happened between you and Vernon on the sidelines?

Singletary: "Vernon just. It was something I told everybody at the beginning of the week. I will not tolerate players that think it's about them when it's about the team. We cannot make decisions that cost the team and then come off the sidelines just nonchalant. You know what? This is how I believe. I'm from the old school. I believe this. I would rather play with 10 people and just get penalized all the way until we've got to do something else, rather than play with 11 when I know that right now that person has not sold out to a part of this team. It is more about them than it is about the team. Cannot play with them. Cannot win with them. Cannot coach with them. Can't do it. I want winners. I want people that want to win."

Q: Did you kick him off the field? Did you tell him to go to the locker room?

Singletary: "I told him that he would do a better job for us now taking a shower and coming back and watching the game than going out on the field. Simple as that."

Q: Is he your starting tight end in two weeks?

Singletary: "Well, we've got to think about it."

Q: Who's your starting quarterback?

Singletary: "We've got to think about that too."

Q: Who made the decision to change the quarterback? Did you decide to put Shaun Hill in or was Mike Martz involved in that?

Singletary: "It was my decision."

Q: Did you get resistance from Mike Martz?

Singletary: "Well, I think Mike knows me enough right now, going through this week, that we didn't have to talk about it."

Q: Why did you do it? Why did you make that decision at that point in the game?

Singletary: "I thought that it was just one of those situations where you feel like you're going in the game, and you want the best opportunity to win. You want the guy that, the quarterback is going in, he's not playing well, he's just not in that rhythm. After a while, his teammates can get frustrated and coaches can get frustrated. Rather than going there, just say, 'You know what? Let's make the change. We'll revisit it later. But, I think right now, Shaun Hill today, in that situation, will give us a better chance of winning.' "

Q: Can you comment how Shaun Hill played?

Singletary: "One of the things that I asked the guys to do this week was manage the game. I talked to the quarterbacks early in the week and said, 'All I'm asking you to do is manage the game. You don't have to go out and win the game, just manage the game. We will win. We have special teams. We've got defense. We have other parts of the offense that can click and work. Give us a chance. Let's just go out there and manage the game and let's go.' "

Q: Is this an indication that it's going to be a lot more difficult than you might have thought?

Singletary: "You know what? I'll put it this way. I think if something like this is going to happen, happen now and not on national television. We've got between now and that time when we play Arizona to correct some things. And it's not so much the play. It's more the mindset and still having a chance to find out who wants to win, who really wants to win. Sometimes, you have guys that, it's been so long that we've been unsuccessful, sometimes it's like a bad relationship. You don't know when it's going to turn again. And after a while you become a part of the problem rather than the solution. I want guys that are solution-oriented, starting with myself. I'm not going to try to make something work when it doesn't fit. And that's really the bottom line with me."

Q: Why did you take the quarterback out with 24 seconds left in the half as opposed to (after the half)?

Singletary: "Because Mike Martz said, 'Mike, if we're going to take him out, instead of waiting 'til the second half, why don't we allow him to get in, get in a rhythm, get a feel for it, so that in the second half he gets that pressure off of him."

Q: Is there anything specific that you can correct?

Singletary; "Got to look at the film. I was trying to keep up with it on the sidelines, and for a while I was. I think more so than anything else, we just have to look at the film. Right now, I don't really want to talk about the things I want to correct. I know there are some things in the back of my mind."

Q: So you do have a specific plan now?

Singletary: "In terms of what?"

Q: In terms of, because you have a bye week next week, so there has to be something that you really have to lay out. The defense is really (struggling). a€¦ There were too many fumbles in the beginning. It died down the whole crowd.

Singletary: "One thing I'll say about that is this. I think sometimes when you have a loss like you had today. When I look at the defense. When you look at the pad that I had on the sideline, it says we got off the field a lot of times, particularly at the beginning. Then, all of a sudden, boom, they come out with a split backfield. One of the linebackers missed a guy underneath. FULLBACK, runs for a touchdown. It happens again. Quarterback scrambles around. Fullback, touchdown. You know what? We won't play like that. We cannot play like that. I just talked to the player. He said, 'Coach, I promise you it will never happen again.' I know that. We will get it. We'll deal with it."

Q: Late in the first half, you had fourth-and-4, about a 47-yard field goal, decided to go for it instead and got a pick six. Why now go for the field goal at that point?

Singletary: "I turned to Mike and said, 'Mike, what do you think.' He said, 'I'd like to go for it.' Of course I knew he'd say I'd like to go for it.' But, he said, 'I'd like to go for it.' I looked in his eyes and said, 'Let's go. Let's go.' I don't want to take anything a€¦ We've got our coordinators and they're doing a good job. Greg (Manusky's) over there, busting his tail, racking his brain, trying to find the right call. And sometimes it's not the call, it's the way it's executed. Mike Martz, I'm very blessed to have him as a coordinator, a guy that you can turn to, been there, done that. And when he tells me, 'Mike, I want to go for it,' sometimes I'm going to say no. Probably most of the time. But at that time I felt, you know what, I want to support what he feels. So let's go."

Q: Were you at all influenced by the fourth-and-6 conversion by Seattle earlier?

Singletary: "Not at all. That had nothing to do with it."

Q: What was your message in the locker room?

Singletary: "I'm going to say this, about that. I'm always been a firm believer, and it's nothing like it was anything magical, and in all honesty you probably do not want to hear it. But, it was just sharing my heart with them. It's as simple as that. I just believe that things that we talk about in the locker room should stay there."

Q: Does Vernon Davis face any more disciplinary action?

Singletary: "I don't know. I don't even want to think about that right now."

Q: Did you get a chance to talk to him after the game?

Singletary: "He wanted to talk, and I just told him he did not want to talk to me. I said, 'I assure you, you do not want to talk to me right now.' "

Q: Was he arguing with you on the sideline?

Singletary: "He just said, 'What? What?' "

Q: About being benched?

Singletary: "No, when he was coming off the sideline, he said, 'Coach, what? What?' "

Q: When you first came in here, the first thing you said was I apologize. What specifically did you apologize for?

Singletary: "We did not play anywhere near to where I felt we could have played. And rather than going to the, 'Well, this happened here, and that guy was outplayed,' I'm not going there. I'm just going to apologize and a€¦ say, just keep watching. That's all I can say. Just keep watching, and we'll go from there."

I'm here at Candlestick Park, waiting for the 49ers-Seahawks game to begin, so I thought I'd use the time to weigh in on Warriors coach Don Nelson's new two-year contract extension.

Of course I love it. I've ripped Warriors owner Chris Cohan and president Robert Rowell for pushing point guard Baron Davis out the door and killing a tentative three-year extension that lame duck executive vice president Chris Mullin had worked out. I criticized Rowell, in particular, for the way he took shots at Mullin in public over his call for leniency and forgiveness in the Monta Ellis moped affair. Rowell was very disrespectful to someone who has done so much for the Warriors as a player and executive.

But when it comes to Nelson's extension, I've got to give Cohan and Rowell credit. I actually lobbied for the Warriors to do exactly that last year, to come to Nelson and offer him an extension before his contract became an issue again. It took them awhile to come around, but they finally reached the same conclusion.

It's true that Nelson could get fed up and retire at any time during this and the following two seasons. But Nelson rarely walks away from money, and he told the Contra Costa Times' Marcus Thompson II that he has had a change of heart and no longer pines for retirement in Maui. He said retirement is "not all it's cracked up to be. So my philosophy has changed a little bit. I've lost some dear, dear friends over the last year. And the philosophy's changed a little bit. Now I think I better bop 'til I drop."

The Warriors have become so Nellie-dependent that the transition they'll face when he does retire will be painful. But at least now the Warriors have bought themselves a little more time to prepare for that day when Nelson and his bag of small-ball tricks leave the Bay Area.

All in all, a good move for the Warriors and their fans.

Cal's revolving door at quarterback continued spinning Saturday, and no one, including coach Jeff Tedford, knows if or when it will ever stop before the season ends.

Kevin Riley returned to the starting lineup Saturday, throwing two touchdown passes in a penalty-fiilled 41-20 victory over UCLA that was uglier and closer than the score indicates.

In a span of roughly two months, Riley won the starting job out of training camp, lost it to Nate Longshore after four games and won it back after two games on the bench.

So will Riley start next week against Oregon?

"We'll see," Tedford said. "Same thing. Evaluate through the week."

Tedford may need to see more, but I saw enough from Riley on Saturday to believe he deserves another start. And with just five games left for the 5-2 Bears, it might be a good time for a little stability at the quarterback position.

No, Riley wasn't perfect against UCLA. He completed just 11 of 22 passes for 153 yards. He missed some wide-open receivers. Again. But as he's done throughout most of the season, Riley made good decisions and avoided the type of killer interceptions that have plagued Longshore.

Not one of Riley's 22 passes, in fact, was picked off Saturday. For the season, he's been intercepted just twice in 150 passes while throwing nine touchdown passes.

On the flip side, UCLA quarterback Kevin Craft threw four interceptions Saturday, and Cal returned two of those for touchdowns. Ball game.

"We need to be better, still," Tedford said when asked about Riley's performance. "I think Kevin would tell you that, too. a€¦ But he was harassed a lot today in pass protection. That's the worst that we've protected the passer all year.

"The thing about Kevin, though, is Kevin made good decisions. He didn't turn the football over. The difference is they had four turnovers. We had zero. That's a big part of the game, and Kevin didn't turn the football over. Even though he was harassed in the pocket, he made good decisions, threw the ball away, ate the ball."

Riley did more than just avoid mistakes. He also made a huge play in the fourth quarter, using his agility to avoid a UCLA defensive lineman then throwing a 53-yard touchdown pass to Nyan Boateng on a flea-flicker with 9:29 left to play.

First, let's set the stage.

The Bruins trailed just 20-13 with over 10 minutes left to play. They faced third-and-23 from their 31. Time to punt? Nah. Coach Rick Neuheisel ordered a fake punt, and it almost worked.

Punter Aaron Perez connected with a wide-open Courtney Viney down the right sideline, but cornerback Chris Conte recovered just in time to tackle him one yard short of the first down.

Cal took over at its 47. And on first down, the Bears hit UCLA with a trick play of their own.

The play started with Riley handing off to Jahvid Best, who headed toward the line. But Best stopped, turned and pitched the ball back to Riley. The Bruins bit on the fake, and Boateng ran past safety Bret Lockett.

Riley stepped up in the pocket, avoiding a rusher, and threw a high-arching pass deep down the middle. Boateng caught it at the 3 and fell into the end zone, putting Cal ahead 27-13.

"Right when I (handed) the ball to Jahvid, the nose tackle saw me set up," Riley said. "I saw that. I knew he was going to come at me. So I just tried to step up and get it off. It worked. We needed it."

The Bears and their banged up offensive line will continue to face fierce pass rushes in the coming weeks, starting with Oregon and continuing against USC and Oregon State. The Bears will need Riley's ability to avoid the rush and to run, whether by design or out of necessity, against those defenses. Against UCLA, he ran a handful of quarterback draws.

"I like running the ball," Riley said. "It calms you down a little bit, too. You just get hit. You go, 'Ah, sweet.' You're part of the game. It was fun. I wish we would have broke one."

Riley came off the bench and replaced Longshore in the fourth quarter of Cal's 42-27 loss to Arizona last week. He didn't find out he was going to start against UCLA until Friday.

"It's not the easiest thing, but it's just something you have to deal with," Riley said of the quarterback shuffle and uncertainty. "You can't really worry about it. You've just got to go in, play your game, do your best and try to win."

You want NBA predictions? I've got them. Well, at least for the Western Conference, where the Golden State Warriors have gone from legitimate playoff contenders to long shots after a tumultuous offseason.

Let's just say there's not much playoff fever in the Bay Area approaching the Warriors' season opener Wednesday night at home against New Orleans. That's understandable considering that the team let point guard Baron Davis leave as a free agent and lost guard Monta Ellis indefinitely to an ankle injury he suffered in a moped accident.

So how will the West's 15 teams stack up when the season ends in April? Here's my best guess. And hey, if you think I'm off base, send me your predictions. It's always good to compare notes.

1) Los Angeles Lakers: The Lakers made it to the NBA Finals last season without injured center Andrew Bynum. Now Bynum is back, giving the Lakers a strong inside force to team with guard Kobe Bryant, the best player on the planet, and 7-foot power forward Pau Gasol. This is a