I still can’t get this Aggie MBB issue bug off my back. Can’t reach it. Can’t grab it. With all the great MLBB news coming out of the Bay with the Giants and the A’s doing well and I an now actually watching Giants games, it is just sad that we still have this issue to deal with. Hope that this does not go on for 4 months. No response needed or expected.

Just found out my own wife was cheerleader in HS (Burbank Bulldogs LA). Can I delete my former posts? Be careful what you wish for or question- I be paying. “Of course it should be an Olympic sport, you old curmudgeon- go to bed”. I went, thankfully.

Elf. I Don’t mean to be contrarian, but how is this the best roster ever without a named starting quarterback? Sorry. Never seen it happen before. Hope i am wrong!

Mind you, this is coming from a staunch Hawk supporter, but I am a little shocked by the “best ever Aggie team” comment he allegedly made to that Montana newspaper. Even if true (and I dearly hope it it’s) isn’t this the stuff that get posted up on the opponents notice board to hype up their team? Coming off 3-2 this Spring, this comment is very un-Hawk like IMHO. I hope he denies it. Much better: “one of the better Aggie teams” ever. But, maybe I am just a worry wort.

I must apologize to the people on this thread that I gave Movie the opportunity to regale all the great things that Trump did for this country. All false, of course. Are we any better now than before Trump? No. Trump tried to use tariffs against the Chinese. Are tariffs good? No. Tried to buy lumber lately? Don’t. Prices have skyrocketed. Cause: Tariffs. Can’t buy a new car? No chips. Cause: Tariffs.
The point I was trying to make is that the Bee’s phony journalism starts out with a storyline that is falsely reported (‘Chinese Communist scientist at UC Davis”). When the falsehood is found out, the Bee just pivots, never retracts its libelous story. Now uses the dismissal to regurgitate the initial charges. This because the Bee has so little to write about except: Covid, Drought, Wildfires, and Sac crime. My point: expect the same with the MBB situation. But I do agree with Movie that the investigation has to proceed much quicker.

As the Bee continues to keep ginning this story up (see todays video on front page) and keeping it front and center, news arrives that the case against the so-called “Chinese Communist Scientist at UC Davis” has been dismissed in Federal Court today. Recall how the Bee tried and convicted this woman in its paper when the news broke about her arrest (for lying on a visa application). An arrest that was largely the result of the prior administration’s effort to arrest as many Chinese scientists in the US as a part of a very ineffectual anti-Chinese foreign policy. The only evidence? A photo of her in a military uniform. The Bee story still shows her photo in a military uniform, which Chinese scientists are required to wear at times in Chinese Military hospitals even when they are not in the military. The US Attorney prosecutors have now dismissed the case specifically on those grounds. The Bee’s journalism is so pathetic, but with no competition why should they care?

Bee is really trying to gin this thing up with a big editorial this AM. Allegedly, some players parents are in an uproar because they don’t know anything. This can’t be a Chima treatment thing. Best if May clears the air ASAP. I agree with Fug that there may not be much meat on this thing aside from a pissed off player or two, but you never know.

Didn’t someone say that there would be some further information out Sunday? I saw nothing.

I think that May was correct to make the statement that he did. Although hazing is not good, it could well prove to be something rather minor in nature which is what I now expect because of this early statement. This could/should help clear up the wild speculation that the “misconduct” was egregiously bad. I am old enough to recall that freshman Aggies had to wear a frosh “beanie” their first year at UC Davis. That was indeed a form of hazing and totally condoned by the administration. Navy Seals go thru an indoctrination ceremony that is total hazing ditto some elite Marine and Airborne outfits. New Navy guys are routinely hazed when they cross the equator this first time. Military condones it as a “bonding thing”. Really depends on what it actually was: did the newbie guys have to wear their hats backward during warmups? Clean up the dugout? Could be any stupid little thing.

I am getting very dizzy. I have gone around the circle on MBB over lights and coaching and the BWC and the poor seasons of play we have had the past few years more than I choose to recall. But this development pretty much seals the deal for me. I do not care what the final outcome of this potential debacle is, whether it’s a small IX issue, weed in the dugout, or some larger thing that I don’t care to imagine, I think UC Davis MBB is gone, cooked like a goose, disrespected and dead. Not any more UC Davis MBB seasons in our lifetimes. The mind is boggled by this development. Did Blue know and leave? What about the faculty rep that I so recently praised, did he know and do nothing? Matt Vaughn? Once the respected alum and beloved coach, what in heavens name happens to him? Not a happy week in Rocko or Chancellor May’s land this week. Bee will chew on this for the rest of the year: “Hey, this might be better than Katehi, Ha, Ha. . . . . .” Stay tuned, won’t be good.

I guess we have to put the lights on hold. Bad thing. But we now don’t have to worry about firing the coach or hiring a new coach. Good thing. Probably not a bad idea to have the faculty athletics rep having a son on the BB team. Can’t very well lie to Dad can you. . . For long. Feel bad that Rocko inherited this thing.

OK, we can pass on third down. TT can do that as well. As I reported before, according to the WP statistical study of the effectiveness of passing the football. We have: UG for three. Larison for three. 3rd and 3 is about is good as it gets for a completion percentage or by a run by TT. Who would you rather have with the ball? Thanks agalum, great post.

I am fast becoming a Woody Hayes devotee. Remember “three things happen when you pass the ball: two are bad.” I am looking forward to a successful season of “three yards and a cloud of dust.” Well, lets just say a cloud of rubber chips, but thats OK. My bet is TT starts the first game. UG and Larison behind him. Really looking forward to this season!

NC it is always hard when you have a very good QB (HR) and a potentially great QB (Tompkins) and a coach has to choose between the two. I think Hawk had to give HR the ball this year due to his being the only QB with any experience this year. But as the season wore on we got to see more and more of what TT could do on the field and it was an awesome performance. With TT, UG and Larison in the backfield I see that as a very formidable and powerful group of athletes. So I see a more run oriented team this coming season which I for one see as great!

I do not see the Aggies cutting BB for a number of reasons. Number one, eliminating $150,000++ in coaching salary is a drop in bucket even in a lean budget year; it is minuscule in the overall UCD athletic budget; Number two, not smart to cut a sport that has potentially the best BB infrastructure in the BW. It just has to be finished- Lights, for a start! Davis night BB is an automatic draw when the temp is 104 in the day. Number three, I believe Rocko is an perpetually optimistic AD. He is a great fund raiser and outreach guy. Cutting a major sport is not on his playlist. Number four, Scott Carroll, faculty athletic rep is not just your bored old faculty guy with an easy assignment, he is an activist, former college athlete and he has sons who play BB. One is on the present UCD team. Probably our best pitcher. His other son is on the Sac Metro All-League Allstar Team as a pitcher. Lastly, Chancellor May. He is also the perpetual optimist and a student advocate and is not likely to cut a major sport that our rivalry school is keeping and beating us at it. Solution: clean house. Hire a new coaching staff. Put in the lights!

Maybe he comes back?

After reviewing all of your above comments, I am beginning to think that all this NorCal/SoCal stuff is only a small part of the MBB issue. SLO and SB a pretty far out of the urban core of SoCal and they are doing better than us. Academic fairly equal. But the real hard cold fact is Sac is outdoing us big time and they would presumably have as much trouble as we do on recruiting top players and they do not have that problem. And I now think that lights are only another relatively small part of the problem. I hate to say this, but it is hard to not come to the conclusion that we need new and energized coaching to pull us out of this downward spiral. I do not think Rocko has had to fire a coach yet. This just might be the time to do it.

Moneyball sequel: “How The Stickyless Pitch Ruined Baseball.” Oh well, I never was good at jokes.

A fascinating story out of the WP today on what has happened to MLB since June 3 when MLB started enforcing the “no sticky stuff” rule. A lot. The WP analyzed 2 million pitches (mostly fast balls) and 1400 players in an agonizingly complex study (read: “the Bauer unit” equals the spin rate of the ball divided by the velocity of the pitch). Maybe only a story a baseball nerd would be able to understand, but interesting. Bauer unit on most pitchers is down significantly. “Contact rate” on 2 strike pitches up significantly. Strike outs down. One pitcher disabled due to trying too hard to compensate for the new rules. I’m thinking this might be a Moneyball sequel.

Very impressive indeed! I think Magic Man will see significant playing time this season.