The security at any sporting event reminds me of this one episode of the Simpsons. When Marge goes to the police station for help Chief Wigham (sp?) tells her that law enforcement is powerless to help her. At some point later Wigham arrests Marge who reminds him of what he said. Wigham says he said the law was POWERLESS TO HELP HER, not arrest her. Security at sporting events is by and large pretty useless. If you go to complain about someone you get "Well, they're not bothering anyone, uh duh.." as if you are no one. But you step out of line in the slightest way and they'll be on you like zits on those students. Basically security can't really do much aside from call the police but they like to try to project power by selectively exerting crowd control on people they think will be pushovers.

I don't donate enough to be a Team Aggie member I think so please excuse my ignorance on the subject-this seating section was reserved for people to purchase tickets if they donated at a certain level or higher? They didn't get the tickets for free, right? Honestly any kind of exclusive seating is a big invitation to intruders. Students especially go around as if their crap doesn't stink doing whatever they want. Being smart enough to get into UCD doesn't make someone a good person necessarily. We were all that age at one time- remember how the much older students in classes or townie at the games kind of seemed like iparty crashers? And their activities fee does pay for a good part of each event, so they wouldn't be completely wrong to say they are more important than us visiitors, except for the alumni who donate lots of money that is. If that older spectator put his hand on a student that was crossing the line-he should have gone to security right away if it was truly a problem.

The nature of football, particularly the tackling and hitting, makes it more accessible to lowbrow types who want to engage in boorish behavior. Look at WWE and NASCAR. I think it's extremely wishful thinking to imagine you can go to a sporting event and not be bothered by something these days. There's not a collective desire among all the attendees to enjoy the game and be courteous to others. It's why I like college baseball- except for the elite programs it's mostly open seating and you can easily get away from someone who's bothering you-important because security wouldn't do anything anyway. If I remember my last Aggie football game correctly even if the cheapest seats your butt is assigned a very specific (and too small) spot on the bench. You're trapped, unless plenty of people don't show up and you can grab their seats.

Maybe to analyze the weaknesses that cause the team to lose to Sac State ? He had a front row seat to that.

Well crap, I guess I better get to the un-vaccination clinic.

I believe that the keys to this game will be scoring points and preventing the other team from scoring them. Whichever team scores more will probably win.

I think it is always important for visiting fans to know their place. Unfriendly territory can be friendly if you don't piss off the regulars.

One thing you definitely don't do at baseball games is complain vociferously about the umpires if you're a visiting fan. That is the home team's fan privilege. You also don't say anything negative about the venue or talk about the things you're used to-that's just an invitation to get told to go back where you came from in unkind words.

And definitely don't be "the coach" or comment on every pitch.

And if you're a fan of For-Profit U (Grand Canyon) don't have a big purple flag made that you wave around and announce "I'm here now, y'all !!!" When you walk in, as if anyone cares.

TrueBlueAggie- one fun thing to say to that foul woman in ID could've been, "Madam, you should welcome me, as my tourist dollars help to fund all of the social welfare programs in which you currently participate." I bet you could've put a potato on her head and watch it bake.

They picked up two former UCSB players-not bad. To compete in the Big West they need to find talent wherever they can. They probably have more transfers this year than any other year I can remember. Good idea. The past rosters were skewed too heavily in favor of HS recruits. You need more experienced players to balance out the younger ones who may not even be done growing. To get three successful JC starting pitchers in one season is outstanding.

Torpey might be a big surprise as a starter or maybe a closer. His ERA was over 7.00 n 2022 playing for a really bad Northern Colorado team in (they only went 12-39 in 2022) but he's also learned how to pitch in nearly the worst possible pitching environment the last 2 years. 67 strikeouts in 60 innings pitched is really good.

It's difficult to imagine the 2023 team not being a lot better than the 2022 one for the simple fact that they can't help but be better with more depth. No more having to use openers and having starting pitchers finish the games to prevent the bullpen from blowing late leads. The new transfer position players, even if they don't come near their previous offensive numbers, aren't likely to fall on their faces either. Still, going off the quality of the competition they'll be facing I'm not going to predict as optimistic a finish as the Davis Enterprise writer who saw them at .500.

Too difficult to guess the starting lineup. I'd guess Williams III at catcher, Henrickson at first (very good glove) maybe Leehey at shortstop, Wolbert in right field and beyond that who knows ? Freeman, Riccomini, and Green all had good work as "bulk innings pitchers", but they have more competition now.

Getting students to attend will always be an uphill battle for UC Davis. There are these unique events like yesterday's game where they really show up, and that's nice, but it doesn't seem sustainable. Those of us who were students before the popularity of the internet and later social media soared will talk about how students used to show up more and be more engaged, and we would be telling the truth. However, I can remember even back in my time the student interest was waning a bit. There were a lot of students going, but it didn't look like there were a lot of the same ones each time.

I think that's telling of the times we live in. They say younger people are in search of more authentic and unique experiences than their elders, so if they go to one game just for the hell of it that's a unique experience. Making a routine of it is not. That's not to say that older people don't like unique experiences, just that they're more likely to keep doing those well-established routines that they like.

Wow, I predicted a 4 pt loss and came within 2 !

Hypothetically if a player were to be injured beyond recovery he would still show on the depth chart. That's football for you. So Smith was decapitated at E. Washington ? We'll list him as a probable.

South Dakota State will win by 4 points.

At this point as a fan I like what I read but know it doesn't mean much. I've learned since the start of the 2016 season that all you can really do is show up not expecting a win and be pleasantly surprised if you do see one. What I really dislike are the games where they dig themselves a big hole early with poor defense and make a late run to bring it really close but lose. They lost a lot of games in 2022 by 1 or 2 runs (generally not low-scoring games).

If Nicholson and his staff can find a way to reduce those early inning collapses they might be able to win significantly more contests. I've never been able to determine why UCD's defense is usually so poor (2022 season not being used as an example) compared to most of their opponents. Being less athletic is one thing-maybe you are a tick too slow to get to a ball in time to make a play, but flubbing the play when you do get to it is quite another thing. Aggie teams have been notorious for turning very close infield plays into huge messes because the fielder (usually the shortstop, but sometimes the third baseman) rushes the throw + it winds up in the dugout. This usually happens at least once per game when I have attended. They need to improve their ability to recognize extremely low percentage plays and not try to make highlight reel throws when these nearly impossible situations present themselves. That's not an athleticism issue. The worst thing that happens if they hold onto the ball is the batter gets a single and maybe a run scores- if there was a runner on third. Big deal. Better a run and a guy at first than a run and a guy at 2nd or 3rd. Quickness can be improved through conditioning but so much of this game is mental. That's why it really stings when these brainy UCD guys fail at it. They're getting outsmarted by teams-they shouldn't be outsmarted by anyone. Outplayed but not outsmarted.

Hopefully Nicholson can use his expertise to fix the infield. Maybe he can evict the ghost who's been haunting third base in the top half of most innings at Dobbins Stadium for years. 2022 I just have to ignore because there were probably some players playing out of position and he didn't have much of a practice season to work with them.

Perhaps Newman will be delivering the mail in NY on Saturday ?

The coverage on the website has been going downhill for a long time.

They may just be understaffed. The baseball coverage is an absolute joke. If you read one of the game recaps it even admits they used an automated content generator. Weird, repetitive articles that don't follow any kind of logical progression.

I have a prediction for this game. The Aggies will lose by a single touchdown, but for the rest of the season at least 2 people on this message board will use this as a meausuring stick for how they should play against other opponents. Oh. I can't believe the Aggies couldn't beat [good team here] when they only lost to Berzerkely by 6. One game has little to do with the next, but predictions are fun, right ? I'd prefer to know nothing about the Aggies or their opponents and just be surprised when I see a game.

Honestly after all these years of seeing baseball underperform the names of new recruits are just names to me, even if you can connect previous year's stats to them.

The football fans who follow their new recruits can probably empathize. You see all these highlight videos but they're meaningless. I mean, are you going to find videos online that highlight their failures ? Probably not, right ?

Yes, you or someone else referenced an article that said Tommy Nicholson had already received 15 HS and Community College commits.

Yes. FieldLevel's website often shows JC recruits, but only some of them. You sometimes have better luck just doing a Google search, and even with that you'd still miss some. There are also the occasional JC transfers that played baseball who come to UC Davis with the intent of just being students but decide to come try out. I think Raul Sandoval and Jacob Barrera from the 2022 roster fit into the last category.

There are too many Bethel Colleges..this one I think is from Kansas. I found the wrong one first (MiN)..kept looking for UCD. Nope But Saint Olaf College twice.

For the longest time I thought St. Olaf was a made up town from the Golden Girls where Betty White's character was from

Ugh, I don't like that Europe trip with what's going on in the world today. Of course Italy and Croatia are not Russia, but Russia could still find a way to be troublesome.

And none of those six are Santa Cruz ? What in the name of Carmen Sandiego is going on here ? William Jessup was too busy ?