Author: lleonardbw

AT&T Pebble Beach PGA Tournament commentary & podcast preview: With Tiger’s back out of whack how much more can he take?; also a look at Pebble Beach

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by Jeremy Harness & Jeff Hall

PEBBLE BEACH–It’s just simply hard to believe that after three tournaments Golf’s top star Tiger Woods had to reach up for help with a bad back and had to leave the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines just 11 holes into the tournament on Thursday before calling it a night as Woods left with lower back pain.

Woods who is a 14 time tournament winner left the event with back spasms and talk show host and golf reporter Jeremy Harness can speak from experience that he has had a bad back for five years now and that was from playing golf. The thing with Tiger with the lower back it’s a common thing especially with the PGA Tour players. They say you could play golf with a bad back that’s the way it works.

Tiger has had a bad back for quite a few years and he’s had to withdraw from quite a few tournaments but keep in mind that in 2013 after he first had his back issues he was the number one player in the game and matter of fact he was the number one PGA player of the year. One of the things that Tiger was doing was hitting the ball that put a lot more stress on the back that much harder.

The swing has effected his back as opposed to an arm, leg, or a shoulder injury the back injury is a different animal. The back requires a lot more treatment and a lot more caution it’s not something you just can’t quickly rebound from in a day or two. The recovery is a long process this is what Tiger is up against.

In the Phoenix Open Tiger had back issues during the tournament there and he shot an 82 but he missed the cut by 12 strokes so there’s a lot going on and he’s struggled with a lot of issues getting back to 2014 in chipping and short putting out of the green. Tiger has lost quite a lot of weight to ease up his back. When you lose weight you take a lot of pressure off your back, the more weight you put on the more your going to feel it.

Tiger at this point has to do what he has to do to treat his back and it had a lot to do with chipping too and a lot of that has to do with technique. He has to work on his chipping and short game whereas in 2013 it wasn’t an issue at all because he didn’t have the back issues and he was on the same page with the other golfers. He was very comfortable with chipping and doing all the things he had to do to be a successful golfer.

Jeff Hall and Jeremy Harness are covering the AT&T Pebble Beach PGA Tournament for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Cal Bears basketball commentary: USC closed the gap at the end of the first half but Cal kept the fight going and won with buzzer beater

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by Michael Duca and Morris Phillips

BERKELEY–The Cal Bears Tyrone Wallace went 40 feet with the ball and went from goat to hero in three seconds. This whole thing occurred because he had possibly the worst night at the free throw line in his career where he went three for nine. The last miss was in front of a one one plus Cal trailing by a point when the game winner came. USC had control of the game in the last seven minutes, Cal led almost the entire game. Cal head coach Cuonzo Martin said there are going to be some guys working on their free throws into the night.

The Bears went on a nine to zero run sparked by a seven points by David Kravish and a 29-0 run and they had a 14 point lead in the first half. Right at the end of the first half the Trojans closed it to nine and half points. It was one of those very strange games where USC couldn’t hit the ocean if they threw the ball out of a row boat in the first half. The Trojans were 6-24 to start the game from the field.

Then the Trojans got 13-15 shots 16 of 24 shots and later 22 of their last 31, so it was really a tale of two games and the Trojans came back and took the game with eight or seven minutes in the half. Then they began to stretch it out and the Trojans went up by five with two minutes to play and it did not look good for the Bears. I could tell you up and down press row Wallace hit that shot and we all just kind of looked at each other and we had to start all over on the scoring.

Mistakes was the flavor of the day in this game the Bears committed nine turnovers in the second half they had a stretch where they ha one basket and committed seven turnovers and went 1-7 in those turnovers when the Trojans went from five behind to five ahead. This is the 13th game this year they’ve had ten turnovers. They had a stretch where they hit one basket with seven turnovers and were only five points behind during that sequence. The difference for Cal in winning three straight games is that every coach in the history of the game have told their players it’s 40 minute game or it’s a 32 minute game.

If anyone had to tell the Cal Bears about playing all 40 minutes in the last two games they were sound asleep and they won both games in less than five seconds on the clock. Both games came down the last shot at the buzzer and that included both Washington and Thursday night’s USC game. Basically last night’s game the lights went off and the horn sounded and all was on it’s way downward.

Were sitting directly across from the basket and from that angle we all thought the shot was going to be short, somehow it wasn’t and it was like a San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum pitching motion and the last second there was a little hop which managed to clear the iron. These are character building games, these are games that will get Cal to come out with a little bounce in their step. The Bears play UCLA next on Saturday.

Michael Duca does Cal Bears commentary and podcast each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

AT&T Pebble Beach PGA Tournament preview & podcast: No Tiger or Mickelson no problem ticket sales get a bump up with athletes and celebrities coming

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by Jeff Hall & Jeremy Harness

On the pro side of the AT&T Pebble Beach Tournament not having Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson being absent will add a damper on the pro golf side of things but if your into sports Pebble Beach will be a great place to be you’ll see a lot of ex athletes like the San Francisco Giants Buster Posey and Matt Cain who be at the tournament. A lot of sports guys are going to be showing up Wayne Gretzky former NHL great Hall of Famer will be there.

Then there are the standards the guys who come to the AT&T every year entertainers and athletes Michael Bolton, Andy Garcia, Huey Lewis, Craig T Nelson, Ray Ramono, former 49ers quarterback Alex Smith. You might remember Smith was a caddy for former 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh at one of the first 49ers-Giants events at Pebble Beach. Everybody at that event said “look at the friendship developing between Smith and Harbaugh” next thing you know Smith is out at the 49ers and 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick is in.

There’s some strange things happening because you never know what your going to see at Pebble Beach and with Posey coming sales really took off on tickets and he’s now the main attraction. You know what he can do on a baseball field but it’s yet to be seen what he could do on a golf course. Then you look ten feet away and you see a pro golfer and Posey might think “I’m not so good after all.” Celebrities and athletes are what the draw is and you get to see these guys in real life.

Posey is a good drawing card but the biggest draw at this event is actor and comedian Bill Murray, Murray has been there for years and you never know what he’s going to do and that’s what makes it so exciting. The guy that will be missing from the event is Tiger and he’s aging and he’s not getting any younger. He’s been struggling with his game, he’s played a lot of golf and he’s been down awhile with an injury and that’s the way golf is.

Tiger was so great he was one of those guys that was practicing all the time and when your missing a lot of golf no matter who you are, golf is one of those games you got to keep working on no matter who you are. Tiger knows that but when you’ve been out as long as he’s been. Were seeing a different Tiger Woods we’ve never seen before. Were seeing a guy not only is he not making the cut he not close to making the cut.For Tiger that’s the kind of thing that blows the minds of a lot of people that are not used to seeing Tiger.

Going back to the AT&T is going to exciting for us as we’ve covered the event before and it’s a great place to cover at Pebble Beach and Pebble Beach is gorgeous as you know it’s located right on the coast and it’s greatest course land and sea. Your talking about one of the most beautiful golf courses in the world. That’s what draws a lot of the pros unlike Tiger whose played here in the past and he doesn’t care for the celebrity events. This is one of the events where the celebrities are golfing with the pros on all four rounds.

Jeff Hall and Jermey Harness are covering the AT&T Pebble Beach Tournament all week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to Jeff’s podcast below on the AT&T

AT&T Pebble Beach Tournament preview & news: First black golfer Charlie Sifford dies at 92

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by Jeff Hall and Jeremy Harness

Charlie Sifford who was the PGA’s first black golfer and broke the color bearer of the sport in 1961 at the age of 38 passed away on Wednesday at the age of 92 the Professional Golfers Association announced. Former Brooklyn Dodger Jackie Robinson who himself broke the baseball color bearer told Sifford to approach the game smoothly in his way to fight the integration battle, “which I think is the way he went through his struggles, smooth quietz” said Craig Sifford Sifford’s son as told to CNN News.

Sifford’s love of the game was uncanny and he approached it with his smooth swing and it made him notable during his time in the PGA “His love of golf despite many bearers in his path, strengthened him as he became a beacon for diversity in our game. By his courage, Dr.Sifford inspired others to follow their dreams. Golf was fortunate to have had this exceptional American in their midst.” said PGA President Derek Sprauge.

Tiger Woods paid tribute to Sifford referring to Sifford as his grandfather saying it was a terrible loss today, “terrible loss for golf and me personally. My grandfather is gone and we lost a brave, decent honorable man, I’ll miss you Charlie” tweeted Woods. Jack Nicklaus said that he played his first two rounds of golf with Sifford when he first broke in, Nicklaus said he will never forget Sifford for being kind and generous.

“Charlie led by example, handling himself with class and dignity inside and outside the ropes. We can’t underestimate the impact that Charlie’s career has had on the face of golf today. Charlie was a leader and an inspiration” said Nicklaus. Even President Obama honored Sifford at the White House recognizing one of golf’s great pioneers “Charlie was sometimes banned from clubhouse restaurants. Folks threatened him, shouted slurs from the gallery, kicked his ball into the rough. Charlie is laughing about that-my ball is always in the rough” said the President.

Pebble Beach has announced it’s tournament schedule: Mon Feb 9 will be practice rounds with spectator viewing available at the Pebble Beach golf links and Spyglass Hill Golf Course. Tue Feb 10: practice rounds all three golf courses. Also all eight world trophies will be on display at the front entrance, Cheveron presents a shootout at the Pebble Beach golf links 1st tee.

Wed Feb 11: Practice rounds all three courses. 11 AM celebrity 3M Challenge Pebble Beach Golf holes 1, 2, 3, 17 & 18.

Thu Feb 12: Let the games begin 8 AM first round all three courses. Fri Feb 13: 8:00AM second round all three courses, Sat Feb 14: third round all three courses and Sun Feb 15: 7:30 AM Final round Pebble Beach Golf Links 60 low pros and 25 low teams.

Jeremy Harness and Jeff Hall are covering this year’s PGA AT&T Tournament at Pebble Beach keep it right here for the exclusive coverage.

That’s Amaury’s News, Commentary & Podcast: Preview AT&T Pebble Beach PGA Tournament starts next week

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by Daniel Dullum

The PGA AT&T Pebble Beach Tournament is coming next week but two luminaries will be missing in attendance Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Keep in the mind their both aging and also neither one are at the top of their game anymore. Woods at the Phoenix Open last week he just didn’t miss the cut he missed the cut by 12 strokes that’s very unTigerlike.

Mickelson it’s practically the home course for him at Scottsdale he played golf collegiately there at Arizona State and he didn’t fair much better. It’s a rare sight and you lose a little star power and at this stage of their careers and that course at Pebble Beach is a tough one and if you don’t feel like your not on the top of your game if there is one game they want to skip that might be it.

This event as a golfer is something that you earn and they both have and they have been both at the top of the PGA Tour off and on for the last 15 years or better and you reach a point where if there’s one you want to skip here and there of course you can’t skip too many. To remain on the tour there’s a minimum number of tournaments that you have to play in. Aside from an injury it’s not like you just come back but Tiger and Mickelson have earned the right to choose which events that they’ll play in and you’ll see them pop up again down the road but you can’t skip them all.

The Tournament will feature such players as K.J.Choi, John Daly, Ernie Els, and another golfer named Bill Murray. That’s brings me back to the days when the tournament was called the Bing Crosby Pro Am. It was set up very similar to the Bob Hope Desert Classic where the first two days they would bring in their Hollywood friends and maybe some athletes from other sports and they would go out and have some fun for a couple of days.

Then the final days they would get down to business with the real golfers so that’s a tradition that goes back to the Bing Crosby. If your going to the tournament just go and have some fun and enjoy it and see these shank one into the rough like they do. The AT&T has been a top flight event for years and years and even years ago when Bing was still around he would bring his friends in and it was always a great weekend for the sport of golf.

Pebble Beach has always been a top stop on the tour a and it’s one of those tournaments that the players really enjoy and the fans do as well. Since Tiger and Mickelson will not be there there is a chance that there might be some vacancy at some of the hotels in Monterey or Carmel because the fans want to see them. That doesn’t mean that the rest of the field is so bad, you got a lot of these young up and comers guys like Ernie Els in his prime and you have the show biz aspects.

Daniel Dullum is filling in Amaury Pi Gonzalez this week for News and Commentary on http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to the rest of the podcast below

San Jose Sharks commentary & podcast: All-Star break was all that was needed for Sharks to get their second wind and three straight wins

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by Ivan Makarov and Kahlil Najar

SAN JOSE–The NHL All-Star break was a Godsend for the San Jose Sharks after dropping two straight games on Jan 17th & 19th and then winning three straight games and they needed it and the Sharks are really starting to play some solid hockey and their getting into their rhythm and certainly in the big games and the games really matter they played against some really good teams in L.A. and Anaheim and things are really starting to pick up for the Sharks.

Of course they beat them and shutout the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday as well 2-0 that’s a good sign. The break helped and they had one player that went to the All-Star break Brett Burns and the rest of the team got to rest up and got ready for the next stanza of the NHL season and now it’s a key stretch of the season leading to the playoffs and they looked like they were making a run for the Stanley Cup and it was a great time for them to take a break.

The defense is making the biggest difference so far compared to earlier with a shaky defense the Sharks are really getting their bearings down and their starting to play more conservatively and their getting into the rhythm of playing a lot and playing them well. Antti Niemi is getting into the flow of not letting a lot of pucks into the net during this period. You can spot a huge difference in the Chicago game Niemi was the biggest difference maker on the ice and played one of his best games as a Shark and that was important.

The Sharks who struggled through the first two periods of Monday’s game getting aced 3-1 through the second period face the Edmonton Oilers who are one of the younger teams that we can see today on the ice and they have a lot of talent and the goal that Jordan Eberle scored for Edmonton was one of the best goals he scored this season and that’s the first time this season where he just walked past two players and put it in the net and the Oilers have a lot of talent when you look around.

There are a lot of number one draft picks but the Oilers are generally struggling on defense and goaltending and confidence and it’s strange to see they are number 28 with all that talent they have a couple years ago they had one of the top units losing a lot of games but now nothing is happening for them.

The Oilers and Sharks played tooth and nail in Monday night’s game. You just can’t tell what’s going to happen on the ice sometimes. Every year you hear critics say that this is the year the Oilers get better and this could be the year their going to continue to change the team and change the coaches but at this point with all the talent they drafted it could be any year that they succeed.

The Sharks still have the reputation of a team that any top team can lose to a bottom team on any given night something they still can overcome.There’s plenty of time left in the season with some key games coming up for San Jose as they are scheduled to meet in Calgary and Vancouver and they’re trying to improve their position in the standings and maybe get a nice home advantage in the playoffs for one or two series there’s still a lot of hockey to play.

Ivan Markarov is a beat writer covering San Jose Sharks hockey and Kahlil Najar will be covering the AHL team in San Jose in the fall for http://www.sportsradioservice.com catch their podcast below

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Super Bowl XLIX the dumbest play; plus Amaury’s latest in baseball news

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

PHOENIX–With 26 seconds left on the clock the dumbest play I have ever seen in a Superbowl, as well as many millions, 114.4 million to be exact(a new SB record). At the end it was a great show overall, great half time, and this is exactly what the NFL needed this time. It has not been a good season for the NFL, with all the scandals, players arrested, domestic violence, but as pure entertainment, and that is what the Superbowl is all about, I have to give it a nine, out of a perfect ten score. The commercials this year, were not as great.

”I made the decision. I said, `Throw the ball,”’ coach Pete Carroll said. ”Nobody to blame but me.” We cannot criticize coach Carroll for speaking the truth. But we can definitely criticize him for his judgment at the time. Marshawn Lynch rushed 24 times for 102 yards and a touchdown and caught a 31-yard pass in the Seahawks’ Super Bowl 49 loss to the Patriots. However, he was not anyplace to be seen when with a few minutes remaining in the game, Wilson three the interception that sealed the defeat of the Seahwaks, and prevented them to repeat as Superbowl champions.

The call from coach Carroll towards the end of the game in regulation, was one of the worse I can remember in a Superbowl. Tom Brady who won the Most Valuable Player(as I predicted in a previous column)said after the victory “It’s been a long journey. It’s just a great win. We left it all on the field.” Brady, born San Mateo by winning his third MVP in a Superbowl ties his idol 49er great Joe Montana with four Super Bowl wins. “I was a huge fan of Joe Montana” says Brady. Marshawn Lynch who prior to the pass interception by Wilson the ball to the half-yard goal line said he was not surprised of the pass, in his words: “it is a team sport”. But deep inside everybody and their grandmother, have to be thinking that Lynch probably said “what then hell?”

Tom Brady is 37 years old, owns a bunch of NFL records, with no plans of retiring, there is little doubt that if he wins another Super Bowl, he will be considered the greatest quarterback ever in NFL history.

All clear: In Oakland, an investigation by the city’s Public Ethics Commission has found there was no violation of city election last year when Councilwoman Rebbeca Kaplan accepted two campaign contribution checks from Oakland A’s co-owner Lew Wolff… Miguel Tejada is now playing baseball in the Mexican Summer league with the Pericos de Puebla team, the ex-Athletics shortstop is 40 years old…All In: The Los Angeles Dodgers are having some drastic changes inside their Spanish broadcast, veteran play by play man Jaime Jarrin will continue in the Spanish radio booth(he has been there since the late 1950’s)and his son Jorge Jarrin, who during the past couple of years was doing the Dodgers Sports Telecast in Spanish will join Jaime on radio, while Pepe Yniguez, play by play radio, and Fernando Valenzuela, commentary radio, are moving from radio Spanish to do 150 Dodger games on Spanish television for Time Warner-Cable. Manny Mota will continue as commentator for 30 games on Spanish television, while Valenzuela will work the other 130 games… Anaheim: For the fifth year in a row the LA Angels will broadcast all home games from Angels Stadium on Fox Sports West/Spanish with José Mota, commentary and yours truly at play by play; this production airs in the LA area and also in Arizona and Nevada on other cable companies. I will also handle half of a 72 game home schedule in Spanish for the A’s on KIQI 1010AM radio(Bay Area) and three other affiliates on the network…SABR: Society for American Baseball Research held their 2015 annual meeting of the Lefty O’Doul San Francisco/Sacramento chapter at famous Ricky’ Bar and Sports Lounge in San Leandro, they have a group of members getting ready to travel to Cuba to watch baseball in the island…NBA: Will this be the second time the Warriors win a title? I was there as a sports reporter here in the Bay Area when they won their first and only championship during the 1974-75 season, it is about time for the Warriors, to go “all the way”, it has been 40 years, but the record for longer time without winning a Championship in the Bay Area still belongs to the World Champion Giants, they moved to San Francisco from New York in 1958 and won their first World Series in The City in 2010, if you are counting, that was 52 years…Dominican Republic: The Commissioner’s Office and the MLB Players Association jointly announced on Monday that they will partner with the United States government to focus on education in the Dominican Republic.The program, with the help of the U.S. Agency for International Development, will focus on education, supporting children with disabilities and combating domestic violence..Changing jobs: Omar Minaya ex-New York Mets General Manager left his job as Senior Vice President of the San Diego Padres, to become a special adviser to the Major League Baseball Players Association. Minaya, born in Dominican Republic, became the first ever Hispanic General Manager in Major League Baseball.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for the Oakland A’s and is the Angels Spanish TV voice and does News and Commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioserivce.com

Sacramento Kings commentary & podcast: Game changer pressure is off Cousins he’s scoring with a vengeance as Kings on win streak

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by Charlie O

SACRAMENTO–The Kings DeMarcus Cousins is everything to the Kings and in the last two wins for the Kings he’s been everything for Sacramento. Cousins is truly one of those one of a kind players to build your entire team around he is the foundation. The guy is averaging a little more than 23 points a ball game with 12 rebounds with three assists and he’s doing that within 33 minutes a game.

Cousins latest performance is that of a phenomenal player that is an all star player, for the all star game coming up on the 15th he had to kind of back end it for the Lakers Kobe Bryant because of the type of season that Cousins has had and the numbers that he’s put up really would have justified him for being reserved for the all star team out right.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is not going to back end anyone to be a replacement but the team around him had to look at Cousins and say “that guy is an all star.” The Kings in one of their two wins beat the Indiana Pacers and that was because they took some pressure off Cousins and Cousins had been handling the pressure during the Kings entire eight game losing streak.

Cousins during the streak was trying to carry the team on his back personally and trying to carry the situation which is really tough for a player to do game in and game out. What the Kings did is early on the opponents would be double teaming and triple teaming Cousins Darren Collison and Rudy Gay started working the press on Cousins and taking the pressure off of Cousins.

When Collison and Gay took the scoring pressure off Cousins Cousins became like this rebounding machine and he pulled down 19 rebounds. This is going to sound odd for people who don’t know much about Cousins but he scored only 20 points in that game he had 19 rebounds to go with it. Collison had 23 points and Gay was lighting it up with 31 points and they were all working as the big three again.

The three players Collison, Gay and Cousins averaging just around 60 points together in every contest that’s been a key for the Kings to win when they do that. In the game against the Pacers they scored 74 of the 99 points that the Kings scored, there were only 11 bench points in that game. The three of them bound together and made that happen. They did that on Cousins back in the middle underneath and were able to kick the ball out. The reason for the recent success the Big Three bound together made that happen and they didn’t do that on Cousins back.

Charlie O does weekly commentary on Kings basketball on http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to the podcast below

NCAA basketball commentary & podcast: Bears after winning two straight give credit to clawing and great offense

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by Morris Phillips

SEATTLE–Sunday was an interesting game for the Cal Bears and the Washington Huskies as both teams are struggling as they opened conference play back on January 2nd against each other and were flying high at that point and both teams had gone into the tank. There was not a lot of defense played in the Bears three point 90-88 win and that really played into Cal’s favor.

The Bears have struggled before and basically for a month and half now and for Sunday a win and a big shot with ten seconds left in the game by the Bears Sam Singer to get the gamer a three pointer to win it when they were in position to lose it. It was a good weekend for Cal as they beat Washington State Thursday and got the big win on Sunday against the Huskies.

This is further proof that this coaching change from former Cal coach Mike Montgomery to Cuonzo Martin looks to be really good going forward when a team can gather more talent and become a little bit more experienced the coaching change is really going to benefit the program. The Bears can’t help looking forward on building on two road victories in conference and they will.

Will it translate into a bunch of wins? Clearly the Bears are on the same page and their still fighting and the season is not over and they’ve got a lot to accomplish if they can continue to play good basketball. One thing for sure if you have to play in Seattle, Super Bowl Sunday with the Seahawks involved is the day to play in Seattle. The thing that really benefitted Cal was there just wasn’t a lot of fans there and their all at home in Seattle getting ready for the Super Bowl and not watching Washington basketball.

With the Seattle fans getting ready for the Super Bowl it took the crowd out of the game at Alaskan Airlines Arena and what is normally a very partisan and loud crowd really played into Cal’s factor and was more of a practice atmosphere inside the arena that really helped them. Can they build on this? Yes, because this team is together whether they struggle or not and you could see how happy they were after the game.

The Bears now have something to play for whether it’s an NCAA Tournament or just respectability this season in a winning manner. The Bears got off to a great start in this game and they shot over 60 percent in the first ten minutes of the game. The Huskies were missing shots and Washington’s best stretch of the game was right before half time when they closed a 14 point deficit to two. Cal gets ready to face USC on Thursday at Haas Pavilion.

Morris Phillips does the NCAA commentary for http://www.sportsradioservice.com hear the rest of the podcast below

Cal Bears basketball commentary & podcast: Singer’s favorite song the game winning sound of “swish”

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by Michael Duca

BERKELEY–My guess the folks who are coming home from that Cal Bears(13-9)-Washington Huskies(14-7) game on Sunday were probably the only people on the streets in Seattle at the time of the game during Super Bowl Sunday. There were only 6,300 in attendance at Alaskan Airlines Arena which is half the capacity but a decent crowd all things being considered.

Cal’s Tyrone Wallace who finished with 21 points hits some important baskets he had seven rebounds in the first half but couldn’t manage the double double had nine rebounds and four assists in the Bears second straight victory 90-88. He had an all around solid game he was the only one of the Cal scoring players that finished the game up to his neck in foul trouble with two personal fouls.

This was an interesting game after the Huskies had dismissed one of their star players Robert Upshaw who is now in the D League earlier this week. Upshaw averaged nine rebounds a game and was leading the nation in shots and was an aircraft carrier in the paint. With Upshaw out Shawn Kemp Jr is the only big man that the Huskies had left. Washington challenged the rim a little bit and Washington was already a small team to begin with.

The announcers were joking in the game at some point they might introduce five on five with ten guards on the floor the way the two teams are constructed and the Huskies took the ball inside a lot and they challenged a lot. Cal finished the game with Jabari Bird with four personal fouls coming off the bench. Jordan Matthews had four fouls on the floor, David Kravish had three fouls.

Sam Singer had four fouls, and Singer played the last nine minutes with four fouls and Singer was the key to this game and hit the game winning three pointer for the gamer to get Cal the three point win. It was by far Singer’s best game as a Cal player. The Bears have got more timely with Bird on the floor, his foot is now healthy they can give him significant minutes. Bird is back in game shape and he’s able to give them better spacing and give them more spacing on the floor a little bit.

Once again going back to Singer without him they don’t win the game and because of what he does he allows Wallace to not have to be a point guard on the floor Wallace is a lot better creating without the ball, working off ball screens, and using his height advantage down low and posting up smaller players. If your distributing your starting out on the top of the key and you can’t always do that you got to pass and cut, pick and roll and it’s not that difficult to defend that if your the only guy out there doing that.

Michael Duca does commentary on the Cal Bears each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com catch his podcast below