-10:09 pm: i doubt anyone really cares anymore, but i'm going to
officially declare this website of mine dead now. it has been de facto dead
for awhile now as it hasn't received regular updates...
-it began as a way to record my lab experiences from last summer and extended
into the senior year of college. now that i don't do anything meaningful
anymore, there really isn't much use for it. i suppose it was nice while
it lasted, but all things must come to an end.
-i suppose people have been wondering how i've been doing. well i've been
doing pretty bad. i would elaborate, but there's no need to spread misery
and talking about only causes more misery.
-Perhaps in the future, if i'm motivated and/or happy enough, i may revive
this thing. so i suppose this is good bye for now. happy holidays/ winter
break etc.
December 5, 2004 - BCS - C(al) = BS
-11:16 pm: well it's been over a month since i last bothered to
write anything and truth be told there hasn't been anything to write on until
today. Like many other Cal Golden Bear fans, the past couple of days have
been quite hard to swallow. The worst part of it is, it really shouldn't feel
this way, especially given how Cal fans have felt the past few years.
-back up to 2001. The Cal football team finished a dismal 1-10 season with
the only victory coming over equally pathetic Rutgers in a game that was postponed
because of 9/11. At that time, no one would have ever thought the Cal would
ever amount to anything. 10 games lost, and none of them all that close.
In comes Jeff Tedford who instantly tranforms the program, going 7-5 in 2002
(while saving Kyle Boller's NFL career) amd getting Cal's first Big Game
victory over 'furd after 7 straight defeats. most Cal fans were enormously
happy after that season. An actual winning season, immediately after the dismal
1-10 season, and most importantly a victory in the Big Game! The next season,
2003, Cal pulls off the shocker of the season by upsetting eventual AP National
Champion U$C in triple overtime. Cal finished 8-6 with an extremely exciting
52-49 victory over the Hokies of Virginia Tech. Fans are elated with the
school's first bowl victory in a DECADE.
-and now this season. With the upset of the Trojans on their minds, people
had Cal all over their preseason rankings in 10-20 range. Through the season
the team proved worthy of the ranking and then some. The season began with
3 victories (at AFA, NMSU and at Oregon State), which coupled with losses
by other teams moved Cal up the rankings to #7. Then they almost pull off
another upset in LA over USC, having 1st and goal on the 9 down by 6 in the
fourth quarter. After the game, many in the nation realized how good the team
really was, as they beat USC in most categories except for the one that counts,
the score. That was evident because Cal did not lose much in the rankings
(lost one spot). And despite losing the team's leading receiver in the game,
Cal closes out it's regular season with 7 straight wins (UCLA, at Arizona,
ASU, Oregon, at Washington, furd, at Southern Miss). their record is an
amazing 10-1 with a shot at a lucrative bowl game...they finish as the
only team in the nation in the top 6 of both scoring offense and scoring
defense.
-Now based on the feelings of the 3 prior seasons, you'd think Cal fans
would be feeling as though they were in some drug induced stupor! well we're
not... and while i don't speak for all, the feeling i have is closer to the
2001 feeling than either 2002 or 2003. Despite all the season's success,
for going 10-1 and blah blah... the team gets placed in the Holiday bowl
and not the coveted Grandaddy of 'em all, the Rose Bowl. I grew up in the
shadow of the Rose Bowl, watching the parade every New Year's Day and admiring
the bands from the various universities. Upon arriving at Cal and learning
the misery that is the football team, i thought i would never see the day
that the University of California Marching Band would be marching down Colorado
Blvd playing Big C and Fight for California. And because of some fucking
computers, media writers and coaches i won't this year. Generations of Cal
fans have waited much much much longer. the last visit was way back in 1959.
we get this team, one that goes 10-1, comes with a short 9 yd pass of beating
the #1 team and get Holiday Bowl! from 1-10 to 10-1 you'd think we'd all
have gone mad with joy! Hell we have gone mad; mad with anger. Cal fans are
all mad about how 30+ voters decided to drop Cal based only on the struggle
to beat Southern Miss (and before that the weekend when we beat the 'furd
41-6, we lost votes as well). i thought the general rule was that you shouldn't
move a team down unless they lose or look real bad. Either we looked bad
enough, or there was something fishy going on.... of course there was something
fishy going on... people wanted the big12 to have the extra money!
-As much as the damned BcS formulas should be damned, it must be pointed
out that they are the things that made the Rose Bowl dream even possible this
season. without the damn thing, USC would automatically be there as Pac-10
champ and we would be relegated somewhere else anyway. That aside though,
to know that you came so close and yet dropped down so far is simply beyond
frustrating. I'm sure that all bad as the fans are feeling, the players are
feeling exponentially worse. i would totally understand a tank in the bowl
after the dejection. If they somehow pull it off, they are certainly much
more powerfully minded beings than i am. the sad reality is that it might
be another 46 years before another chance will come up.
-perhaps the only thing that can cheer the fans up is an announcement extending
the coach's contract and announcement about stadium renovations. if Cal is
able to retain Tedford, we may get another realistic shot in a few years.
November 3, 2004 - a Republican blowout
-11:00 pm: what was supposed to be a close election turned out to not be so close. President Bush won running away with an almost 3.6 million vote difference. In fact he becomes the first President elected with a plurality of the popular vote since his father in 1988. To further sour on Democrats, not only has he been reelected, but the Republicans also managed to retain and strengthen their control of both houses of Congress. people everywhere are now expecting some devastating conservative agenda...
-It all came as a pleasant surprise to political insiders... supposedly the lovely exit polling looked very good for John Kerry. Looking at results, he won the independent vote, the youth vote, the women vote and the racial minority vote. The turnout was extremely high, something which we are taught in government class favors Democratic candidates. So what was the difference? The turnout was high everywhere... As big as Kerry's wins in those "key"groups were, they proved no match for the large turnout of conservative Christians all over the country that the Bush campaign appealed to. Rather than trying for the middle, which is usually what most candidates aimed for, the Bush campaign focused on turning out people who already support the the President, but didn't necessarily vote four years ago. And it worked brilliantly... so brilliantly the turnout of those voters probably helped with the large Republican gains in Congress.
-so the President will begin his second term in January. He will be free of worrying about reelection, and will have a very agreeable Congress. Some of the stuff that didn't happen in his first term will now happen. Judicial appointments, permanent tax cuts, SS privatization, drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge.... i can feel the shudders of liberals everywhere. I'm really not sure if i myself am happy or upset with this result... more of the same shit i guess for four years (possibly worse)? oh well....
-I am glad though that this election wasn't decided by a court as it was four years ago. Ohio didn't turn into the next "Florida."
November 1, 2004 - here we go...
-11:19 pm: the 2004 election started over two hours ago, as 26 people in a small town in New Hampshire cast their votes... so far Bush 19, Kerry 7. After all the dividing and fighting that has been going on, it's hard to believe that the election is finally here. And even though it is here, it might not be the end of all this crap. Both sides have already amassed armies of lawyers, ready to fight any close calls. Unfortunately, the way it's looking now, there are going to be some close calls.
-I say there are two certainties to the election. it will certainly be close and when it's finally decided, it will certainly leave half the country upset. I think the Bush campaign is mostly responsible for this bitter division. Rather than reaching out to moderates with less extreme positions, their campaign has focused on getting supporters to vote, rather trying to convert people. Kerry reciprocates by declaring himself the alternative. I wonder how many people who are voting for Kerry are actually voting for Kerry rather
than against Bush. But you can always wonder that question in a re-election bid.
-towards uncertainty we go... in 24 hours we may have a clear winner, but we probably won't. So close is this election that we may even have to wait until January. That would be the case if by some miracle, the electoral vote is tied at 269. If that's the case, we must wait until the new House Reps are sworn in on January 5. Then, they will decide (and the Senate will decide VP).
-i will not be joining the fun tomorrow. I already casted an absentee ballot, and pretty much followed what I said about a month ago. I casted no vote for President and I would still do the same. I am extremely upset with Bush, but not so upset so as to accept the uber-pandering Kerry. Bush has been so insistent with his damn tax cuts and has managed to ruin three countries. Kerry seems to like to switch positions just to get votes. I don't
understand how he can vote for the war and then come out as the anti candidate. One particular odd statement was how he said he would have still have voted for the war with hindsight. What? Clearly trying to mask up his flip-flopping ways. blah... whoever freaking wins, i'll be part of the half of the country that'll be upset...
-i haven't even mentioned those damn propositions.... WELL fuck them. there's too many of 'em and if any are passed they'll be tied up in courts anyway.
-all this being said, make sure you vote!