This is a little long, so stick with me if you like.
I recently made it out to Berkeley for some business and my 40th(!!!) high school reunion, and a bunch of Cal stuff. I'd like to share some observations with all of you.
The first is, even though athletes are getting paid now, they're still "kids" (though they may not appreciate being called that). I have a wonderful story that I was given permission to share. It seems that there was a girl that Nando took sort of a liking to but wasn't confident enough to approach her. I mean, here the guy is a legit BMOC, starting QB, good looking dude, endearing personality, and he gets cold feet when approaching a girl. That's just charming to me (I think I might use "charming" too much on a sports board, but whatever...). I was having breakfast at The Graduate with a couple of people in the football program, at the counter we were talking with the young lady working it and I asked her "Did you have a good time at the Miami game?" and she replied enthusiastically she had a great time, outcome notwithstanding. So, being doting adults we asked if she was seeing anyone, just in case there might be a chance :-) Then, shortly after, one of the students who works in the football office happened by, and ordered and one of the guys said "put it on Ken's tab" which of course I was all too happy to accommodate... She ordered avocado toast and a latte, and I said jokingly "WHOA! You're going large with the order!" She got all embarrassed, which was so cute, and we assured her I was just giving her a bad time. It was, yes, just charming.
On Friday, Kirk Everist asked me to come by and talk to the boys after practice to fire them up for the Big Splash the next day. I know just about everyone on the team and so it was great seeing them, including a couple who have come out to the ranch in Wyoming. I used Roger Federer's commencement speech to Dartmouth earlier this summer as the foundation. "Roger Ferdered played in 1,526 Singles matches
~80% of those matches were wins. Guess what percent of points were won in those matches? 54% of points won. So even the greatest tennis players only win barely more than half of the points they played. When you lose every second point, you learn to not dwell on every shot. Listen, no one in the history of water polo has played a perfect game. But like Federer, what separates the greats is they don't let a single point derail them. You guys are human, so you're going to overthrow a pass, you're going to miss a block, you're going to let a shot slip by you. But here's the thing, that overthrown pass, that missed block, that goal they scored, they are DONE AND OVER. What you absolutely control is you how approach the next possession the next assignment, the next shot...As Roger said, if you dwell on the failures, you simply cannot focus on what you need to do going forward to win. Remember, failure is only failure is you let it be." Some other stuff, and then we ended with Bear Territory. And you know what, in what is an expected down year, we beat #1 Stanford the next day. BTW, if you haven't gone to a big water polo game, I highly recommend it. They're an hour long, fast-paced, and against the other of the Big Four (Stanford, UCLA and SC) Spieker just rocks. It's historic and it's like an old-time arena. I love to lead a cheer or two there because it just reverberates, and I know how cool it must sound to people walking by outside (and there were lots heading up to the game).
After water polo practice on Friday I got together with eastcoastcal for lunch and introduced him to Smoke House! What a great guy and the personification of everything good about a Cal student. No surprise here, but I talked his ear off about Cal history and traditions. I wish we had more time but his folks were in town. I hope he stops by on his drive across the country!
Saturday after the Big Splash, I headed up to the NC State game... Sebasta was gracious enough to give me a ticket but it came with the condition that I could not sit by him because he is too "Zen" at the games at this point in time. He'll argue it, but I still maintain Zen doesn't mean what he thinks it means!! BTW, that is a high-powered row that he sits in! As I was heading into the club, had a nice chat with Wally Haas and a bunch of other nice folks. The food / service in the Stadium club was a MARKED improvement from last time (orange peel in a Manhattan that so infuriated Sebasta aside...). The football team was nice enough to give me a field pass, so for most of the second half I was down on the field. It's pretty cool because if you don't make a nuisance of yourself, you can talk to lots of people (including the officials). At one point I was on the east side, and I was talking to their punter Collin Smith - a nice guy. As we're talking, he looked around and said, and I'm pretty much quoting "This is such a beautiful stadium. This is one of the places everyone wants to come play at, you see it on TV and it's so traditional, like the Roman Coliseum, and cool. And the students right on the 50 is amazing..." HOW F'IN COOL IS THAT! Another fun thing is that one of my high school friends, who I saw at the reunion, has been working the chains forever, so that was a lot of fun seeing him on the field too!
Sunday, I got together with Graguna and we had a great conversation over lunch at Fenton's. I really enjoying meeting the people on here. He also gave me one of the Game Day shirts he had made, so THANK YOU!!! And that brings me to BlueBlood's passing. His passing is exactly why I wish we knew who each other was on here. Again, not to publicly use people's names on the site, but just to know who each other are... because - and out of respect I didn't post this in the thread about his passing - I never liked BlueBlood's persona on here. In fact, he was one of my least favorite posters. But when I read about his life, and it was an amazing life, I felt cheated that I didn't get a chance to meet and know more about him, and at the very least, have that understanding of him as I read his posts. I'll maintain that when you know who people you are just cut them slack you don't an anonymous screen name. And honestly, I think that makes for a better community.
Sorry if I missed anyone.
All-in-all, a really nice week in Berkeley. I love where I live now, but there are definitely aspects of life in the Bay that I miss. Cal sports, the energy around it, and the energy I get from being around the students.
Thanks for reading!
I recently made it out to Berkeley for some business and my 40th(!!!) high school reunion, and a bunch of Cal stuff. I'd like to share some observations with all of you.
The first is, even though athletes are getting paid now, they're still "kids" (though they may not appreciate being called that). I have a wonderful story that I was given permission to share. It seems that there was a girl that Nando took sort of a liking to but wasn't confident enough to approach her. I mean, here the guy is a legit BMOC, starting QB, good looking dude, endearing personality, and he gets cold feet when approaching a girl. That's just charming to me (I think I might use "charming" too much on a sports board, but whatever...). I was having breakfast at The Graduate with a couple of people in the football program, at the counter we were talking with the young lady working it and I asked her "Did you have a good time at the Miami game?" and she replied enthusiastically she had a great time, outcome notwithstanding. So, being doting adults we asked if she was seeing anyone, just in case there might be a chance :-) Then, shortly after, one of the students who works in the football office happened by, and ordered and one of the guys said "put it on Ken's tab" which of course I was all too happy to accommodate... She ordered avocado toast and a latte, and I said jokingly "WHOA! You're going large with the order!" She got all embarrassed, which was so cute, and we assured her I was just giving her a bad time. It was, yes, just charming.
On Friday, Kirk Everist asked me to come by and talk to the boys after practice to fire them up for the Big Splash the next day. I know just about everyone on the team and so it was great seeing them, including a couple who have come out to the ranch in Wyoming. I used Roger Federer's commencement speech to Dartmouth earlier this summer as the foundation. "Roger Ferdered played in 1,526 Singles matches
~80% of those matches were wins. Guess what percent of points were won in those matches? 54% of points won. So even the greatest tennis players only win barely more than half of the points they played. When you lose every second point, you learn to not dwell on every shot. Listen, no one in the history of water polo has played a perfect game. But like Federer, what separates the greats is they don't let a single point derail them. You guys are human, so you're going to overthrow a pass, you're going to miss a block, you're going to let a shot slip by you. But here's the thing, that overthrown pass, that missed block, that goal they scored, they are DONE AND OVER. What you absolutely control is you how approach the next possession the next assignment, the next shot...As Roger said, if you dwell on the failures, you simply cannot focus on what you need to do going forward to win. Remember, failure is only failure is you let it be." Some other stuff, and then we ended with Bear Territory. And you know what, in what is an expected down year, we beat #1 Stanford the next day. BTW, if you haven't gone to a big water polo game, I highly recommend it. They're an hour long, fast-paced, and against the other of the Big Four (Stanford, UCLA and SC) Spieker just rocks. It's historic and it's like an old-time arena. I love to lead a cheer or two there because it just reverberates, and I know how cool it must sound to people walking by outside (and there were lots heading up to the game).
After water polo practice on Friday I got together with eastcoastcal for lunch and introduced him to Smoke House! What a great guy and the personification of everything good about a Cal student. No surprise here, but I talked his ear off about Cal history and traditions. I wish we had more time but his folks were in town. I hope he stops by on his drive across the country!
Saturday after the Big Splash, I headed up to the NC State game... Sebasta was gracious enough to give me a ticket but it came with the condition that I could not sit by him because he is too "Zen" at the games at this point in time. He'll argue it, but I still maintain Zen doesn't mean what he thinks it means!! BTW, that is a high-powered row that he sits in! As I was heading into the club, had a nice chat with Wally Haas and a bunch of other nice folks. The food / service in the Stadium club was a MARKED improvement from last time (orange peel in a Manhattan that so infuriated Sebasta aside...). The football team was nice enough to give me a field pass, so for most of the second half I was down on the field. It's pretty cool because if you don't make a nuisance of yourself, you can talk to lots of people (including the officials). At one point I was on the east side, and I was talking to their punter Collin Smith - a nice guy. As we're talking, he looked around and said, and I'm pretty much quoting "This is such a beautiful stadium. This is one of the places everyone wants to come play at, you see it on TV and it's so traditional, like the Roman Coliseum, and cool. And the students right on the 50 is amazing..." HOW F'IN COOL IS THAT! Another fun thing is that one of my high school friends, who I saw at the reunion, has been working the chains forever, so that was a lot of fun seeing him on the field too!
Sunday, I got together with Graguna and we had a great conversation over lunch at Fenton's. I really enjoying meeting the people on here. He also gave me one of the Game Day shirts he had made, so THANK YOU!!! And that brings me to BlueBlood's passing. His passing is exactly why I wish we knew who each other was on here. Again, not to publicly use people's names on the site, but just to know who each other are... because - and out of respect I didn't post this in the thread about his passing - I never liked BlueBlood's persona on here. In fact, he was one of my least favorite posters. But when I read about his life, and it was an amazing life, I felt cheated that I didn't get a chance to meet and know more about him, and at the very least, have that understanding of him as I read his posts. I'll maintain that when you know who people you are just cut them slack you don't an anonymous screen name. And honestly, I think that makes for a better community.
Sorry if I missed anyone.
All-in-all, a really nice week in Berkeley. I love where I live now, but there are definitely aspects of life in the Bay that I miss. Cal sports, the energy around it, and the energy I get from being around the students.
Thanks for reading!
