Cal Coughs Up the Axe to Stanford

It often feels like the world of sports was not very kind to us in 2007. The A's slogged their way to a less than .500 record and a lousy 3rd place finish in the AL West. The Sacramento Kings are pathetic (on most nights). (See: When Can I Celebrate Winning Again?)

And even when I bought tickets to the World Series and flew out to Colorado, the Boston Red Sox had to go out and louse things up by sweeping the hometown Rockies.

But none of that compares to the frustration I have with the Cal Bears. After a 5-0 start that saw the team ranked #2 nationally, the Bears' season has been a disaster, with week after week of disgusting loss after pathetic loss. With the amount of talent on the squad, plus what should be a near-elite coach in Jeff Tedford, the team dramatically underperformed down the stretch, culminating in tonight's stomach-turning 20-13 catastrophe on the Farm at Stanford, which saw the team give up the hallowed Axe for the first time in six years.

The loss, which I hate to admit I watched in its entirety, saw the Bears fall to 6-6, and likely has them going home without a bowl bid for the first time since Tedford took the helm. And even if they back in to some ridiculous, unimpressive, bowl, they don't deserve it, because they stink. They were barely fun to watch even when they were winning, and once they started losing, it was all I could do to simply stay loyal.

I don't really feel like recapping the game here. There are definitely other sources for that, although Sports Blogs Nation's "The Band Is Out on the Field" gave up on the team early, not even making an open thread for the Big Game. Suffice it to say that everything that had gone wrong up to this point was repeated in a microcosm for a painful sixty minutes of football. Injuries to key players. Dropped passes. Getting stuffed at the line. A gimpy, underpowered quarterback. Interceptions in the 4th quarter. No defense when we needed it. A painful, late, grasp at hope. And yes, yet another loss.

It's got me thinking I just might not re-up for season tickets next year. Yes, it's that bad.

Video from PRSA's "Media Predicts 2008"

PodTech recorded Wednesday's PR event, including notables from CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Robert Scoble.

As you recall, my original comments can be found here: Silicon Valley Media Notables Divide "Hot" from "Not". Other responses included that of Marketonomy, Sam Whitmore and Kara Swisher.

Worth watching if you're interested in technology, journalism, new media or PR.

Kathy Griffin Comes to Cupertino

You might have noticed a 2-day gap in my blogging here. Oops. But that happens every once in a while when actual real-world activities get in the way. Given I post 90% of my entries here in the evening, a simple event or game or movie can make it look like I'm AWOL for a full 24 hours.

Last night's event was seeing Emmy-award winning comedienne Kathy Griffin at the Flint Center in Cupertino. Being the good, occasionally-supportive husband that I am, when my wife bought the tickets, I signed up to go. She's a bigger Kathy Griffin fan than I am, and though I tried to be open-minded and ready to be converted, that didn't change.

Noting her surroundings, Kathy Griffin started off with a few jokes/complaints about her iPhone, made by nearby Apple Computer, polled the audience on how many were Cupertino millionaires (quite a few), and regaled us with stories about her relationship with the company's co-founder Steve Wozniak.

That I liked.

But for the most part, her bit consisted of name-dropping celebrities, recapping recent Oprah episodes, mocking Marie Osmond and slamming Mormons. None of that worked for me. For the most part, while she went on and on about her run-in with Liza Manelli or being introduced to Stephen Spielberg, I made do by looking around at the intricacies of the Flint Center, wishing I was there for an Apple special event instead of discussing the proper way to fake a fainting on Dancing With the Stars (another show I avoid like the plague). I counted the exit signs, I looked around at the balcony and wondered how many RSS feeds I was missing while she prattled on about Andy Dick's indecent exposure at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville way back in 1999.

While others were laughing about a story of some B-list actor on Everybody Loves Raymond who I'd never heard of, or mocking Larry King's relationship with his kids, I was trying to hide my jaw-cracking yawns. I was tired. And when her show was complete, it was none too soon.

Clearly, Kathy Griffin has an audience. The ones who watch episodes of Access Hollywood, The View, Regis & Kelly and the red carpet shows at Hollywood's award events. The ones who want to know what's really going on with Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan. But it looks like I'm not in her demographic. If I hear Jim Gaffigan or Lewis Black or Eddie Izzard are in town, trust me, I'll be there, but I won't be seeing Kathy Griffin again.

I'm Out of Shape and Sore

This probably doesn't come as much of a surprise to any of you, but over the last several years, I've done a lot more watching of sports than playing. I've logged countless hours in front of the computer or TV, and not enough outside. As a result, my weight has gone up, my stamina has gone down, and the occasional physical push gets me winded.

This week I had a chance to break out of that funk a bit, playing in my first softball game since who knows how long on Thursday, and hitting the bowling alley yesterday. Yes, this is what it's come to - I actually find leisure sports like softball and bowling strenuous. Go figure.

Thursday's softball game saw me go 2-4 with a double and a single, a fielder's choice and a foul-out. Despite the fact I was stranded on base all three times, twice on third, our team won 12-7. I also didn't make any mistakes in the field, which was the low bar I had set for myself. Still, the mere act of swinging a bat again, running the bases, and chasing after flies or line drives in the field reminded me of muscles I haven't used in a while, especially the next day.

Yesterday I played two games at the bowling alley, tossing a 118 (in our warmup game) followed by a 178, a score I liked a lot better. I'd expected to be in the mid 140s, given that's the score I achieved the last time I went bowling, and the two scores averaged about that.

Now, my fingers I use to place inside the bowling ball are swollen. The leg I use to push off in throwing is sore, and I'm whining about being out of shape. Maybe I'll do something about it, and maybe not.

I've even taken to wearing a pedometer I picked up at a trade show which counts my daily steps. I was told that you should try to get 10,000 steps a day to be active, and I kid you not, in the month-plus I've been wearing it, I've never gotten there. The most I've achieved is around 8,000 and a typical workday's efforts is a lot more like 2,500 to 3,500, with the occasional jump to 5,000. That's clearly not getting it done. Maybe I heard wrong on 10,000. Maybe the pedometer is undercounting my steps. Or maybe I should just admit that sitting in a cubicle and going to meetings isn't considered cardiovascular exercise.