3:15pm | “Investing involves risks including possible loss of principal.” Whoops, is that the start of Diamond Dust Plus or another nasty e-mail from my stock broker? Well, for sure all this paper is about to swallow my desk so it must be time for another edition of Notes on My Napkin.
We start with a weekend calendar where everything of athletic importance is on the road, volleyball for four in Colorado, soccer for two in Las Vegas and men’s water polo for a whole bunch in Berkeley.
As you will recall, No. 24-ranked women’s volleyball takes their setter controversy to Colorado for morning and night games Friday and Saturday. Friday, the morning begins with a very winnable contest against Virginia Commonwealth and a very difficult (some say impossible) test against No. 14-ranked Colorado State. Saturday should collect two more wins, Middle Tennessee in the a.m. and a dinner tie date with Denver. Expect a 3-1 weekend and about the same position in the next AVCA poll.
Soccer is a work in progress, great winning two in Texas and not so great losing two in Northern California. This week they play host UNLV on Friday night and Akron on Sunday morning. I have retired my crystal ball for this team — hence no prediction from me.
My Dirtbag golf report began when I drove to the course Monday afternoon and saw one participant facing the road (protecting his foursome) and leaving a “sample” on a bordering tree. These Houston Bob productions of course never lack in on-course liquid libations and this year topped the charts with little pocket bottles of Crown Royal. For the purist in fundraising it was a home run (something we seldom see across the street at Blair Field.)
Mike Ellis, formerly involved with Riley’s (which was the formerly Don Heckman’s joint and Dirtbag Headquarters known as the Acapulco Inn), made a Hole In One and got a “choice premium electronic package” and, one assumes, the traditional hefty bar bill. Next up on the golf world will be the LBSU all sports version of a golf-based fundraiser, November 8th at El Dorado. Best part of that party may be that the post round dinner is a Choura Events cooked Clam Bake.
With all the good news about former Bags in the Bigs, web reporter Beachcomber has a new motto for your consideration, “YOU CAN”T HAVE MLB WITHOUT LB!” Amen.
More bar info, the first Coach Chat at the Beach Club yielded little inside info but a great crack by Coach Dan Monson, who when discussing his new six-year contract extension said he would have liked “a lifetime contract.” He then joked that his boss Vic Cegles told him that “since he said that he has been in the gym with me (and noting Dan’s fondness for food and drink) said even at his age he could beat me… so six years is about right.” Insiders note that the flirtation with Monson by Boise State and Seattle forced the LBSU brass to extend the current deal.
This from the just released UC report on sports and money, “…athletics is a gateway to philanthropic donations that extend beyond sports… the university’s top 138 lifetime donors to the athletic department have given $280 million to sports and $370 million to academics… sports teams are ‘the tie that binds’ alumni to the university. People make their first foray into philanthropy in athletics, and it goes from there. It’s an inseparable part of the whole that is Cal.”
Where Are They and a good bar bet for you. Name a recent former LBSU athlete that scored a touchdown last weekend? That would be baseball alum Chad Bentz who scored for Carleton against Utica. Bentz was the lefty with one working hand and had MLB visits with the Marlins and Expos in 2004-05. He was a football player in his native Alaska and is now a 30-year-old, 285-pound running back… His 18 big league strikeouts included Ken Griffey Jr., Ichiro Suzuki and Jim Tome… Out of LB he was drafted by the Yankees but now the football deal?… Chad said he was serious enough to go home and ask his wife Christie for her permission to try out. “She was all for it,” Bentz said. And as writer Tom Haley of the Rutland Herald reports, “Chad is sort of like our Refrigerator Perry, a big back for goal line chances.”
Next competition at Blair is Sunday but don’t go if you are afraid of screaming teenagers since it is the Jonas Brothers “Road Dogs” softball tour. Free tickets were available but we hear they went really fast. The release says three members of the group, along with their road crew, play opposite their corporate sponsors for a chance to show off their skills. The brothers will be teaming up with All-State driver’s insurance in hopes of raising awareness about the consequences of texting and driving.
Next out of the quote machine, ESPN’s Lou Holtz who watched the Oklahoma blowout victory over Florida State Saturday: “You’re never as good as you think you are, and you’re never as bad as you think you are.” More Dr. Lou, from his New York Jets days, “You have a different team every week.”
Best of the Airport Codes, (like LAX, LGB…) is from Sioux City, Iowa, where the code is SUX. The citizens of Sioux City have a great sense of humor and market shorts and stuff from there web site www.flysux.com.
Closing quote from the Florida Gators left guard Carl Johnson who was on the field when his quarterback was nearly killed on a missed assignment. “It was a three-step drop,” Johnson said. “I wasn’t prepared for Brantley to hold onto it for a week and a half. It happens… It’s hard. That’s our job. Give him all day. Let him talk and hang out with cheerleaders back there.” Let yourself out, finish the mac and cheese and hit the light when you leave, I’ve got to go interview some cheerleaders.