Let’s look at the bright side: after years of Stanford and USC trading titles we have a fifth winner in as many years. Your 2024 Mythical California Cup champs, for the first time in 21 years and only the third time in 65 years: the California Golden Bears. San Diego State 10 at California 31… Continue reading 2024 post mortem
Just add hornets
After all my hand-wringing about the state of California college football last week it was a pleasant surprise to see a Sacramento State v. San Jose State matchup on TV Friday night (albeit TruTV). Sacrament State has raised its profile lately, or maybe I’m just desperate. Right now we have all the California colleges we… Continue reading Just add hornets
In the wake of the Pac-12
Getting back to the actual MCC code after a long absence, I realized I had this sad localmod on my box: Keeping a “second scoreboard” is something I never fully committed to the actual codebase because it has one narrow use: tracking seconds in the full Pac-12 sim helps see what the potential Pac-12 championship… Continue reading In the wake of the Pac-12
Sports, performance, television and the Olympics
What is sport? Peak television’s power and its relationship to pure performance. Understanding one sports fan’s distaste for the Olympics.
UCLA has done it
Here is what the run looked like midway through Big Game on Saturday once the UCLA/USC game was decided: San José State 28 at USC 56 on Aug 26, 2023 UCLA 35 at San Diego State 10 on Sep 09, 2023 Stanford 10 at USC 56 on Sep 09, 2023 UCLA 42 at Stanford 7… Continue reading UCLA has done it
Cal almost did something
What a victory it could have been for Cal yesterday as a 10 point underdog at home to USC, the conference-killers in the flesh for what could be the last time this series is played. (Just a tradition that goes back to 1885, no big deal.) With the USC defense in shreds, Cal was able… Continue reading Cal almost did something
David Stern part 8: The Sonics
Consider l’affaire Sonics: The 2008 “move” (theft) of the Supersonics franchise from the city of Seattle to Oklahoma City. (The basic story is covered in this wikipedia article as well as a recent deep dive in Luminary’s podcast Sonic Boom. I’m going to assume you’re roughly familiar with the outline: Starbucks billionaire CEO Howard Schultz… Continue reading David Stern part 8: The Sonics
September 9 Preview
We only get 5 or 6 of these days so let’s run the numbers and make some dumb AI pictures! San José State 28 at USC 56 on Aug 26, 2023 UCLA at San Diego State on Sep 09, 2023 Stanford at USC on Sep 09, 2023 UCLA at Stanford on Oct 20, 2023 USC… Continue reading September 9 Preview
We have games
Mythical California Cup action on Week Zero, what a treat. San Jose State at USC this Saturday. Has USC ever been as fun to root against as this season? They’re defending champs with the defending Heisman winner, the defense was so bad it gives everyone hope, they’re playing four California games and oh yeah they… Continue reading We have games
Realignment heartache
Well the Pac-12 had a good run. I won’t recap the gory details of the past week; there are plenty of other great resources out there for that. (As ever I am a fan of Wilner, here is his decline and fall of the Pac 12.) One thing that comes to mind is I’m not… Continue reading Realignment heartache