Shocky, we have not met. However, I do feel I know you a little bit from scrolling through all 100+ pages (at that time) of the Cal's Monster Offensive Line thread when I first rejoined the Bear Insider board back in January. At that time we were losing significant players to the portal at an alarming rate, and had not yet begun to sign many incoming transfers. I was thinking Cal under Wilcox was done for (Plummer, Femi, Coleman....gone. JMS....wavering and feeling like he's about to jump ship too. "***! Cal is F***ed again!") Your posts (and some from the BI mods) talked me down from the ledge and gave me a better understanding of what was to come.
The Monster thread was a little hard to figure out at first, especially with so many posts being repeated over time as part of new posts. It feels a little bit like a Christopher Nolan movie ("Oh, I'm chasing this guy. No. He's chasing me." - Hat tip to whoever can identify that reference).
But once I got my bearings, it was fascinating to read through and it gave me hope that Cal had a plan to play the portal game and that we might come out of this around breakeven or, dare I say, in better shape as a result of the portal. Yes, I'll dare to say it -- I like our team better now than in December (I still wish we had Sturdivant though).
Yes, I took about 5 days and probably 10-12 hours to read all the back Monster posts and get caught up back in January. Then I decided to subscribe to BI and try to follow even more portal rumors in real time. Yeah! Definitely a productive use of time!
I used to play in a high end, semi-big money, very deep, high effort, ultra geeked out fantasy baseball league for over 20 years. When that league disbanded during Covid, I didn't have an outlet for my unhealthy, highly developed interest in roster construction. So I've partly replaced fantasy baseball with resuming following Cal football and basketball closely. I was a hard core fan of Cal revenue sports for many years (though never as an insider). I was the kind of fan who read all the posts and comments on the Cal blogs of that era, and watched every minute of every football game on TV, even the blowout losses, because I wanted to see how the 2nd and 3rd stringers looked, and because I just always watch to the end.
I'd gotten away from following basketball (two key words of explanation: Wyking, Fox.) and I had toned down my following of Cal football a bit as well. Anyway the Monster thread helped re-ignite some passion (addiction) for hoping endlessly that Cal will be good -- no, not just good, nationally significant -- one day, And every little step in that direction is like a tiny shot of adrenaline. (Thank you, Barrett Miller, for finally announcing and giving me closure on this latest little shot of adrenaline. O-line depth! Yeah, baby!).
So thank you, Shocky, for helping draw me back.
While we haven't met, based on what I've read, I do think we're neighbors, of sorts. I live about midway between Horizon and Chaparral high schools on the NE Phoenix/Scottsdale border, very close to the illustrious Orange Tree Golf Resort (which surely sneaks into the top-100 list of golf courses in the Phoenix metro area). I had a couple kids go through St. Mary's High School, so I always enjoy the local references in the Monster thread.
One closing question: if we are basically done with the portal for this cycle, what are going to occupy ourselves with until fall camp begins?
My Answer: Speculating about who will be Madsen's 13th and final signee for this season. And about whether Mad Dog will instead find TWO worthy transfers and ask Monty Bowser to focus on earning his degree for the next year. (I voter Trey plus a bouncy athletic post, even if developmental, though it may be that Trey is permanently off the table, not sure).
