Hey, just noticed that cal gets a shoutout in the new nike hoops commercial with that chinese kid going against that black kid
If you haven't seen this ad, it's actually pretty awesome. It's for Jordan's Nike line and shows a possible future in which a Chinese NBA fan and an American one grow up on different sides of the world to become NBA rivals. It's a dynamic and exciting (inspiring, even?) take on the globalization of basketball (and Nike shoe sales, natch). Give it a quick looksie:
The relevant bit comes at the 0:26 mark. The American guy, now a high school star, is doing the "pick a college hat to announce your school choice" thing at a press conference. He picks Georgetown, but on the table in front of him is a (frankly, kind of fugly) Cal cap.
My friend's text above pointed out that it's cool Monty's squad got referenced in a huge ad. And while that's true to a degree, the message in my head was clear -- Cal is a solid second choice, a good runner-up, AKA the first loser.
Fast forward to yesterday, when I was listening to the 8/9/12 episode of the BS Report podcast (http://itun.es/i6js8mJ <-- here's an iTunes-y link to make life easy for y'all). The episode features guest host Chuck Klosterman interviewing my fiancé's favorite dreamboat CFB announcer, Mr. Kirk "Baby Blue Eyes" Herbstreit.
(Quick tangent: Klosterman is awesome and needs his own weekly podcast. I have been a big fan of Bill Simmons and his BS Report for years, but while he has been in London covering the Olympics, I have been shocked at how great Klosterman has been filling in for Simmons on the show. Chuck brings a cerebral pretentiousness to the host role that should irk the shit out of me but that I actually love. At one point toward the end of this episode, Herbstreit makes an offhand mention of his parents' divorce, and Klosterman diverges from sports entirely to play armchair psychiatrist for a few minutes. It was totally weird, totally enjoyable and totally not something the more traditional Simmons would do. Dear Grantland: Make Chuck do a weekly pod!)
Klosterman and Herbie eventually got around to talking about the Pac-12, and they made reference to the deluge of big-name coaches in the conference: Mike Leach, Rich Rod, Chip "Couldn't Look More Like a 1920s Mobster Talking Out Of The Side Of My Face If I Tried" Kelly, Steve Sarkisian (I find this one highly dubious), etc. Of course, this being 2012 and not 2006, Jeff Tedford was never mentioned.
That Tedford is no longer considered a big-name coach isn't news, obviously. But the fact that Jim Mora and Sarkisian were name-dropped and Tedford didn't even get sniffed was somewhat shocking to me. (Doesn't anyone remember this guy?!?) You're telling me Steve Sakisian has accomplished more as a head coach than Teddy? Seriously? And don't even try to give me that "USC co-head coach" bullshit Pete Carroll was pulling back in the day. Head coaching is like Highlander -- there can only be one.
The commercial and the podcast combined to leave me feeling pretty down on Cal's public image. Not that I had delusions of grandeur that Cal football and basketball are considered in the upper echelon of college programs (although we are killing it in the Olympics -- thank you, sports-no-one-cares-about-except-for-two-weeks-every-four-years!), but I liked to think we are one or two strong seasons away from changing that image. Now, I am not so sure.
Changing perception is incredibly difficult. At this point, short of winning national titles in football and basketball, I'm not sure what could be done to improve Cal's public image. We've been the runner-up (or, let's be honest, far worse) for too long. And this football season doesn't seem like our opportunity to change that perception. But who knows? Maybe Teddy and the boys will surprise me and Chuck Klosterman. Maybe they'll pull off something magical this year that will force people to reconsider Cal football.
They can start by beating Ohio State.
The only way to get positive notoriety is to win consistently.
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