That's right - torture us about the utter hell-hole where you are living! :rofl:

Norris looks both stronger and thinner than she did last year. I was quite struck by the change.

Also - have they upgraded the lighting at the Pavilion? It seemed much brighter than last year. My wife said the TV pictures were much improved as well.

The inside game by the Ags didn't look like much. The game felt like a 3 pt shooting challenge.

We, also, have been appropriately thanked four our donations to UC Davis.

So: not a "trap game" and the Ags are continuing to improve as a team week after week. Now come the major tests.

Also: thanks for posting the video links. They are really useful to the casual fan.

To my, admittedly uneducated eye, the Ags are continually getting better with each game. Sure, they aren't perfect, but they are definitely finding themselves on the field. We'll learn a lot about them this game.

GO AGS!

Thanks. Jan will miss the women's first game - as I write this she's still COVID positive although feeling much better. And we're STOKED for this season.

GO AGS!!!!

The entire front office of the High Wheelers have been laid off. They were told the future of the team in Davis was in doubt.

COVID will keep us away. My wife has active COVID and I'm getting over it so staying away even with a mask. I always enjoy the "meet the team" and the coaches' remarks.

Go Ags!

With Hawai'i leaving the BW the move back to SoCal for the BW tournament may well happen.

Just a note: Hawai'i has elected to move to the Mountain West in 2026, leaving the Big West.

How does this benefit our students really? It's all glory for the alums. I've watched the past few games and I see a lot of empty seats in that "sold out" stadium. I go to basketball games that are student ghost-towns.

Do we want to get into the NIL rat-hole? All the utter garbage that so many of us saw as the demon when we moved up to Div I. But it'll get the alums all happy.

UC Davis is an educational institution not a sports business. The whole business of sports and betting is forcing us into a non-sensical world. Move up so we get more money so we spend more money and look at what it does for sport on campus. That no one goes to except the athletes. What percent of the student body attend any games at all or even know the team records?

Who are you doing this for? The players. The fans. We've forgotten who we are and what we are supposed to be about. Not professional sports.

They are supposed to have lights installed over the winter. Playing in >110 daytime temps is not a good scene.

And whoever was supposed to be taking care of the field didn't do much of a job. I thought it had the mage.

In really weird news the Portland State - South Dakota game has been cancelled because whooping cough is spreading throughout the Portland team.

Grey - why did it have to be grey? Because we're a decade behind. Better than naked.

He's going for the airline miles.

What is the benefit to the student body of UCD to having intercollegiate athletics? Only a small percentage of UCD students actually go to games. What is the benefit to the university? What is the cost?

We definitely have to figure out what is going on with NIL. When a 501C3 charity can fork over bucks to athletes by the tens of thousands per athlete then there's something seriously wrong. The NCAA won't look at it, doesn't care. But we know who owns the NCAA and it has nothing to do with "student athletes."

I hate this so much. And it's not going to go away unless you play in Div II or III. But then I never wanted us to move up for many of the reasons we're seeing play out now. Money corrupts. Always.

If the PAC 2 could let football go its own way I'd love to see the Big West UC's join them. Many of the Olympic sports would be served. Create a conference that is the secular version of the WCC I know...football...but the travel would be manageable, the schools have lots in common not the least of which is academic achievement. But I have no idea what it would take for the UC's to leave the Big West.

Tom Woods went on to be the coach of Humbolt State. He was a heavy smoker and died of lung cancer a few years ago. Tom Cupps and Bob Johnson both became physicians. You've mentioned Gordie who still attends Aggie games. Al Steed served in the Peace Corps, lost his wife to breast cancer, and I've lost track of him. Tom Larkin lives down in San Diego area.

And, yes, Tom Woods was a pinpoint passer. He'd have thrived in a Princeton Offense. He could really see the entire court.

Bob Hamilton was great. Excitable? Yep. Intense? Yep. But he NEVER got on the officials. Well, almost never. When I came back to Davis in '77 I'd see Ham after a game, maybe the next day, and I'd ask a question about a decision - and I'd realize he was watching the game at least three levels deeper than I even knew existed.

And there was the All Male Maverick Band in their white shirts and black floppy hats that would march through the locker room after games. And Bossy Cow Cow at a key moment in the game could really charge up both the crowd and the team. If I could bring one thing back from the old days it would be Bossy Cow Cow.