Ask anyone in Berkeley—the Super Bowl was actually on Saturday night.
At least that’s the story we’re running with, as opposed to those guys from the Pacific Northwest who apparently conquered all in resounding fashion.
On Saturday, Cal won everything.
The Bears’ men’s basketball team, playing hosts to No. 1 and previously undefeated Arizona, shocked the world with a last-second win over the Wildcats. It was the Wildcats’ first (and so far, only) loss of the season.
With the game tied at 58-58, Cal point guard Justin Cobbs made a game-winning shot from the left side in the waning moments.
Cal held the lead the final second and won 60-58. Cobbs scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half to spark Cal’s surge.
“As long as I’ve been doing this, No. 1 brings out everybody,” Cal coach Mike Montgomerytold azcentral.com. “Everybody was here. … During the (pregame) introductions I looked up and thought, ‘This is how it’s supposed to be.’”
Cal (15-7) is now third place in the Pac-12, behind only Arizona and UCLA with a 6-3 conference record.
Giants almost back
Continuing with the theme of ignoring that an NFL game happened on Sunday, the San Francisco Giants are back. Sort of and almost.
The Giants held their annual FanFest on Saturday morning at AT&T Park. It marked the occasion of oh-my-it’s-almost-baseball-season again and simultaneously reminding Bay Area sports fans that there is, in fact, life outside of the NFL (not that we’re bitter or anything).
Sergio Romo and co. held court and entertained the 35,000-plus who turned out. Nothing of crazy note happened, but the Giants did show off their brand-new (from the ‘70s) orange threads that they’ll wear on Friday nights during home games next season.
Pretty chill, Giants. (See them here)
Pitchers and catchers report to spring training on February 14th to take a small step toward curing the 49ers-related misery.
Local boy done good
Chris Wondolowski, the perpetually-forgotten man on the United States men’s national team’s roster, reminded Yanks coach Jurgen Klinsmann what he’s capable of when he’s on the pitch.
The superstar and fan-favorite for the San Jose Earthquakes got a rare call-up and start for the World Cup-bound Americans on Saturday and netted both goals in a 2-0 victory over South Korea.
Largely as a result of it not being an official international break, none of the European-based Americans participated in the friendly at the StubHub Center in Carson.
The door was left open for the MLS players, like Wondolowski, to make their mark on the match when the opportunity likely wouldn’t have been there otherwise.
“If you are committed, if you are hungry, if you give everything you have over a long period, sooner or later you get rewarded for it,” Klinsmann told the Los Angeles Times of Wondolowski. “And for 2 ½ years now we’ve been working together and in every training session and every day he came in he gave everything he has.”
Forever bitter: @seanswaby
