Chronicles of Berkelia;

[Z.I.P.]

Yo Roo dogs. I know this subject is over a week old -- It took me a while to thaw out from the trip to the frozen Bay Area after returning to Hawaii. But I wanted to send in my report before it became le histoire ancienne.

The trip for UA began with the obligatory Oakland Trib article on Friday, describing how Cal was an inch away from getting LeBron in a Bear uni thanks to coach Braun's close buddy Keith Dambrot. The Zips could have used some of Bron's NBA officiating, as the team in blue was called for fouls each and every time they tried to front "The Show" Powe and his Left Coast Comrades -- 6-10 DeVon Hardin, an even wider body in the paint. THAT and not Akron's offensive strategy was the reason Rome and Futchy were tagged wtih 3 fouls each in the first 12 minutes. While I appreciate the effort to appear objective, sometimes, when one side shoots 21 free throws in a half (while the visitors get just two!) it really IS home cooking from the stripes.

In this case, I will admit -- and sitting ten feet away from Keith, I would encourage any doubters to ask the coaches or players themselves -- two of the officials actually did a professional job, which goes to show just how much power one referee has to take the game away from the players. The ref in question was a gentleman with the same name as one of my favorite coaches -- Humboldt State's Tom Wood. On this occasion, I got the impression for the only time other than last year's Michigan State-Hawai'i football game that the outcome of this game was determined before the start.

As I say, don't take it from me -- ask others who were close to the floor (near the $5000 seat license front row I was in). And I'm sure the difference in fouls would have been even greater had coach not picked up the "T" midway through the half. One of the other refs didn't seem able to blow his whistle -- at leat that was consistent both ways -- and the other spent a good deal of time trying to make up for Mr Wood's errors. I congratulate him for the effort at least. Favorite moment of the night? Bubba (or was it Nick?) getting tackled by a Cal player with ref Wood just three feet away. After a word with Dambrot, Wood's loud shout was "I'm not makin' a chicken shit call like that"! At least Akron got the ball out of bounds, but less than five second later Woods whistles Dru for traveling when he was shoved from behind.

Truth be told, Akron's 14 point loss (they hit a three-pointer near the final buzzer), was about the difference in the officiating. I think on a neutral court, with non-PAC-10 officials these two teams would be very close competitors. Boy -- did Rob Preston play his heart out -- with career high and five three-pointers. Akron actually tried to play tit-for-tat with Cal's goliaths, but after falling behind by near double figures early on -- UC made 18 of their 21 first half FTs -- the Zips were left to putting up 3-pointers to play catch-up. It worked for a while, and they got within 6 points with six or seven minutes to play, but Mr Woods and the Bear post attack went to work to put the game away from there. I was impressed with several Zips, including Darryl who has really worked hard to prepare for his senior campaign. The youngsters showed Akron will have a deep squad in the future. In particular, I was impressed by how Nate Linhart looked on the floor in mop-up time. He played with great confidence and showed good athleticism. He's going to be a fine player.

Also, what a nice surprise to meet a half-dozen or more of Quade Milum's woman-folk. And the Dial's were great companions in the front row. Hope to see them sometime at an NCAA tournament venue.

From what I understand, the Bears should be visiting the JAR in the future, as EMU will head to Berkeley next year I think. But, if anyone plans a trip to the U of Cal in the future, do NOT plan on driving onto the campus -- you can't even take a car onto UC without a permit. But do park downtown and enjoy yourself at one of their world-famous eateries. Its hard to imagine such a conglomeration of Tibetan cuisine in such a short distance! But is catfish baked in a clay pot really a Tibetan favorite? How many catfish can you find in Tibetan streams? Personally I loved the Thai dinner of salmon in spicy peanut sauce. I can't wait to go back -- even the brisk weather (34 and 35 degrees on Saturday and Sunday mornings) was a refreshing (and fortunately very temporary) change from Hawaii's constant 70 to 80 degree temperatures.

Best of luck to the Zip crew. This could be our year -- if we can find some rebounding somewhere. And let's see if we can't get the Zips into the Rainbow Classic next year.

Go Zips!

[ziplock]

Yo Roo dogs. I know this subject is over a week old -- It took me a while to thaw out from the trip to the frozen Bay Area after returning to Hawaii. But I wanted to send in my report before it became le histoire ancienne.

The trip for UA began with the obligatory Oakland Trib article on Friday, describing how Cal was an inch away from getting LeBron in a Bear uni thanks to coach Braun's close buddy Keith Dambrot. The Zips could have used some of Bron's NBA officiating, as the team in blue was called for fouls each and every time they tried to front "The Show" Powe and his Left Coast Comrades -- 6-10 DeVon Hardin, an even wider body in the paint. THAT and not Akron's offensive strategy was the reason Rome and Futchy were tagged wtih 3 fouls each in the first 12 minutes. While I appreciate the effort to appear objective, sometimes, when one side shoots 21 free throws in a half (while the visitors get just two!) it really IS home cooking from the stripes.

In this case, I will admit -- and sitting ten feet away from Keith, I would encourage any doubters to ask the coaches or players themselves -- two of the officials actually did a professional job, which goes to show just how much power one referee has to take the game away from the players. The ref in question was a gentleman with the same name as one of my favorite coaches -- Humboldt State's Tom Wood. On this occasion, I got the impression for the only time other than last year's Michigan State-Hawai'i football game that the outcome of this game was determined before the start.

As I say, don't take it from me -- ask others who were close to the floor (near the $5000 seat license front row I was in). And I'm sure the difference in fouls would have been even greater had coach not picked up the "T" midway through the half. One of the other refs didn't seem able to blow his whistle -- at leat that was consistent both ways -- and the other spent a good deal of time trying to make up for Mr Wood's errors. I congratulate him for the effort at least. Favorite moment of the night? Bubba (or was it Nick?) getting tackled by a Cal player with ref Wood just three feet away. After a word with Dambrot, Wood's loud shout was "I'm not makin' a chicken shit call like that"! At least Akron got the ball out of bounds, but less than five second later Woods whistles Dru for traveling when he was shoved from behind.

Truth be told, Akron's 14 point loss (they hit a three-pointer near the final buzzer), was about the difference in the officiating. I think on a neutral court, with non-PAC-10 officials these two teams would be very close competitors. Boy -- did Rob Preston play his heart out -- with career high and five three-pointers. Akron actually tried to play tit-for-tat with Cal's goliaths, but after falling behind by near double figures early on -- UC made 18 of their 21 first half FTs -- the Zips were left to putting up 3-pointers to play catch-up. It worked for a while, and they got within 6 points with six or seven minutes to play, but Mr Woods and the Bear post attack went to work to put the game away from there. I was impressed with several Zips, including Darryl who has really worked hard to prepare for his senior campaign. The youngsters showed Akron will have a deep squad in the future. In particular, I was impressed by how Nate Linhart looked on the floor in mop-up time. He played with great confidence and showed good athleticism. He's going to be a fine player.

Also, what a nice surprise to meet a half-dozen or more of Quade Milum's woman-folk. And the Dial's were great companions in the front row. Hope to see them sometime at an NCAA tournament venue.

From what I understand, the Bears should be visiting the JAR in the future, as EMU will head to Berkeley next year I think. But, if anyone plans a trip to the U of Cal in the future, do NOT plan on driving onto the campus -- you can't even take a car onto UC without a permit. But do park downtown and enjoy yourself at one of their world-famous eateries. Its hard to imagine such a conglomeration of Tibetan cuisine in such a short distance! But is catfish baked in a clay pot really a Tibetan favorite? How many catfish can you find in Tibetan streams? Personally I loved the Thai dinner of salmon in spicy peanut sauce. I can't wait to go back -- even the brisk weather (34 and 35 degrees on Saturday and Sunday mornings) was a refreshing (and fortunately very temporary) change from Hawaii's constant 70 to 80 degree temperatures.

Best of luck to the Zip crew. This could be our year -- if we can find some rebounding somewhere. And let's see if we can't get the Zips into the Rainbow Classic next year.

Go Zips!

Thanks for some great insights and perspectives on the game. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

[zipboy]

I agree, thanks much.