Before I sat down to watch the 49ers-Rams game on Sunday, I scrolled down to the Pac-12 Network to record the Cal-Duke women’s basketball game. The network prides itself on covering everything from soccer, to volleyball, to wrestling; surely they’d televise this compelling matchup between two Top 10 teams.
No luck.
This was particularly frustrating because it was the second time in less than three weeks that I’ve gone out of my way to watch college women’s basketball and I was stood up both times.
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Stanford’s Brittany Howard battled freshman anxiety as she stepped onto the court for her first college volleyball game in August. Sure enough, the first serve came her way and she steered it off to setter Karissa Cook with senior poise.
“I was really, really nervous, but somehow I managed to make it through the game,” Howard said.
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A special night for St. John’s coach Steve Lavin ended on a bitter note as the USF men’s basketball team knocked off the Red Storm 81-65 on the Hilltop on Tuesday night.
Lavin’s father, Cap Lavin, was honored at halftime as a member of USF’s 1949 NIT championship squad. But the Dons sprinkled rain — and 3-pointers — on Lavin’s parade by defeating his squad in his first game on the sideline at his father’s alma mater.
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Coach Pat Curcio plans to tweak his lines for this week’s homestand to get the San Francisco Bulls back on the winning track after an 0-2-1 road trip to Las Vegas and Utah last weekend.
The Bulls’ next two opponents, the Bakersfield Condors (tonight) and the Colorado Eagles (Friday and Saturday), are deep at forward and Curcio said he needs a true checking line to slow them down.
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Steve Lavin had every reason to pull for USF as a Marin County teenager in the 1970s. The Dons men’s basketball team played on national TV, made the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1977 and the gym was usually packed to capacity. He idolized Bill Cartwright, Chubby Cox and Winford Boynes, but he wasn’t around to watch the Don who’s left the biggest imprint on his life.
“No one can appreciate the history and tradition of USF basketball more than someone who’s the son of a Hall of Famer,” Lavin said.
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As much entertainment as the 49ers’ second overtime game with the St. Louis Rams provided Sunday, the real fun starts this afternoon when coach Jim Harbaugh faces the media at his weekly press conference.
In recent weeks, Harbaugh’s pressers have produced more gems than a Bill Clinton deposition. How much yarn will he spin this week to defend Colin Kaepernick’s management of a game that Alex Smith would have clearly won?
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As the City College of San Francisco men’s soccer team labored up and down the hill between the school’s gym and library on a soggy winter day in February, coach Adam Lucarelli reminded his players about why they conditioned themselves so hard.
“I said, ‘Guys, we’re not doing this for now, we’re doing this for the playoffs six months from now,’” Lucarelli said. After the Rams qualified for their second straight CCCAA Final Four last week, the team’s top goal scorer, Arnulfo Garcia, recalled those grueling runs.
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A popular refrain surrounding Jeff Tedford’s firing last week is that he was a victim of his own success. He raised the bar so high in his first five seasons at Cal it created unrealistic expectations amongst the fan base.
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Justin Cobbs and Allen Crabbe scored a combined 110 points last weekend as the Cal men’s basketball team remained undefeated by winning the DirecTV Classic in Anaheim.
Cobbs was named the Pac-12 Conference Player of the Week and the DirecTV Classic MVP after scoring 21, 17 and 20 points in tournament wins over Drake, Georgia Tech and Pacific. Crabbe drew tight coverage throughout the weekend, but still managed 52 points in three games as the Bears improved to 6-0 for the first time since the 2007-08 season.
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After recording five points against the Ontario Reign on Friday, San Francisco Bulls center Marek Viedensky jumped onto the microphone at the Cow Palace. “It feels great to play here,” he told the crowd. “You’re our seventh man on the ice.”The admiration is mutual. The Bulls are 5-1 since Viedensky’s arrival from Worcester of the American Hockey League on Nov. 15. The team had dropped nine of 10 games before the Slovakian center joined the roster.“He’s a guy who makes the players around him better,” Bulls forward Dean Ouellet said.
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This is probably the right time to take off that Alex Smith jersey and stuff it into a box with the rest of your 49ers memorabilia. Smith is still pacing the sideline in his red-and-gold helmet, but he’s practically a relic in the wake of Colin Kaepernick’s performance in a 31-21 victory over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
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Losing hurts, especially after you’ve won 21 straight games. But City College of San Francisco can’t wallow in remorse; it still has a state title to bring home.
Despite losing the last game of the regular season, the Rams (9-1) captured their 28th NorCal Conference football title this year and they’re gearing up to win their 13th Northern California championship against American River in the San Francisco Community College Bowl at Rams Stadium this Saturday.
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It’s probably too late, but Jim Harbaugh might want some advice on how to manage a quarterback controversy from his old friend David Shaw.
The Stanford football coach is facing the unenviable task of replacing Andrew Luck this season and so far he’s managed his own dilemma with minimal drama.
With redshirt freshman Kevin Hogan under center for his second NCAA start last week, the Cardinal beat the No. 1 team in the country and now Shaw’s squad is in a position to achieve what it couldn’t with Luck: Win a conference championship.
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Kristoffer Olugbode ran for 1,215 yards and scored 18 touchdowns during his senior year at Bellarmine Prep in San Jose. But at 5-foot-9, 185 pounds, he was considered too small to play NCAA football. It didn’t puncture his resolve, though, and now he’s tearing up the gridiron at City College of San Francisco.
The Rams (9-1) will be competing for their third straight Northern California title Saturday against American River College at Rams Stadium thanks, in part, to the conference-leading 1,493 rushing yards they received from Olugbode.
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Take a deep breath, go for a walk around the block or just pour yourself a stiff drink. As I type these words, local sports radio is getting overwhelmed with calls pleading for Colin Kaepernick to be named as the 49ers’ starting quarterback.
Kaepernick looked like a grizzled veteran in his first NFL start as he led the Niners to a 32-7 victory against the NFL’s No. 2 defense, the Chicago Bears, at Candlestick Park on Monday. But shouldn’t we let him play another four quarters before we turn this into the Joe Montana vs. Steve Young debate?
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URL: http://www.sfexaminer.com/people/paul-gackle?page=10
