In years past I’d be all about heading down to UCSD for the Triton Invitational water polo tournament over the long weekend, but this year…meh.  The tournament that in 2006 included fourteen teams and 29 separate games will only host six teams playing a total of ten games this weekend.  None of the other UCs will be there, and with Cal coming down separately next month I’m just not seeing the attraction this year.  The fact that the tournament no longer includes bracket play leading to a spectacular final, but rather a pre-ordained final game between Air Force and La Verne doesn’t help.

Nothing against Air Force.  Nothing at all.

I’d just like a little suspense and drama with my beefcake.

So instead we might head up to Disney, or enjoy the San Clemente Village Farmer’s Market (emphasis on the local artists) on Sunday morning.  Or just paint a bathroom and run some wiring.  Or sit on the coach and watch Red State on VOD.  Or just do nothing at all.

Except for a run to the gym and the bank, it looks like Friday will be spent chained to the desk coding the Great Unbillable Project, the website that gives me karma instead of cash.  After work though, going to try and get down to La Jolla and watch UCSD and Long Beach State play a little water polo.

Cuz, ya know, that’s a good way to start the weekend.

This will be the first game of the season for us since we skipped the Triton Invitational last month.  Besides, at the rate California and the UC budgets are going, we can’t really count on these things being around forever, so we better catch local match ups when we can.  Yes, I’m being pessimistic, but it’s getting harder and harder to be anything but.

Normally by this time of the year I’d be looking forward to the Triton Invitational Water Polo tournament at UC San Diego.  Four years ago 14 teams participated.  Three years ago the tournament was down to a field of eight teams.  At one point there were five UC teams participating from what were then nine campuses.  Even with Cal  (Berkeley) itself never making the journey, it was always great as an alum and most-of-my-life Californian to be able to see water polo teams from five of the nine campuses competing against each other in some quality match-ups.

Just finally saw this year’s schedule this morning:this year’s tournament is down to five teams, with the host being the only UC present.  No brackets, just each team playing every other team once.  I’m sure there will be some quality games, but the trends are difficult to ignore.  Hard to not see it as just another step on the UC’s ongoing Drive to Mediocrity.

I’m a huge fan of the University of California, and particularly proud of my alma mater, the Berkeley campus. Poor management and budget cuts are certainly taking their toll on the system, but I still believe it is one of the world’s best university systems, and includes what is probably the best public university in the world.  Budget cuts are painful for everyone, and there’s been plenty of pain spread around for nearly all the students and staff. I’d certainly argue the Regents themselves haven’t borne much of the pain, but that’s for another day.

I was very disappointed today to see an article in the Union-Trib on a proposed response by some of the UC San Diego faculty.  Basically the proposal boils down to ‘not us, them.’  Them being campuses that are not like theirs.  Some campuses are more equal than others, in the proposal’s author’s minds.  I suppose that in a better job market they’d be the rats on the sinking ship.  Stuck on the ship though, they’re looking for higher ground.  Research is clearly their priority, so they’re scurrying to the top of their ivory towers and looking down on what they call the “teaching institutions.” 

Let’s get something straight: teaching the next generation of California’s leaders in the most important thing the UC does.  If it’s supported by excellent in-house research and taught by excellent researchers with practical experience, so much the better, but any member of the faculty that thinks they’re above teaching needs to move on.

A couple of months ago I was at a retirement party for a local teacher who made an excellent point when it came time to respond to the accolades.  The teaching goal of a public academic institution is not the traditional three Rs, but the three As of academics, athletics and the arts.  The three Rs together are merely one-third of a complete program.  They should be producing well-rounded citizens fit to excel in all aspects of their lives.  Maybe Dean (the retiring teacher mentioned above and a Cal alum) could go over to UCSD now that he has some time free and show them how a complete program works.