Saturday’s just being kinda bleh. Even the zoo was completely boring except for a car fire in the parking lot. Spinner’s off being judgmental, and Diego’s finally tired with the puppy toys and is pushing my water polo ball around the room like the big dog he thinks he is. Maybe I should get him one of the hats for Halloween. He’s got the attitude to pull it off. Got some site maintenance to do, and some Netflix to watch, but having trouble getting motivated enough to get off the couch to do either. Wireless: a curse and a godsend.

Sometimes you just want to be somewhere else.  Sitting.  Getting some sun.  Reading for *gasp* pleasure.

Sometimes you don’t want to be out there all day beating your head against the wall.  Especially today, when the global media is going to do their best to profit on seven-year-old archival footage that just reopens old wounds.

Even with a nice lunch break yesterday, it’s still just been a rough week.  Very frustrating from a Business of Whatever™ standpoint.  Kinda wish the weekend hadn’t ended, and I could still be in the bleachers watching this, or maybe in my sand chair watching this.

Sometimes everything just comes together at once.  This weekend it was the Triton Invitational Water Polo Tournament at UCSD, and the La Jolla Rough Water Swim at the La Jolla Cove, interrupted only by a Saturday night of …JAYSIS!

This was the first year in years I didn’t attend both days of the big local water polo tournament.  In fact we only caught two games on the first day.  Both were blowouts, preordained by some heavily weighted brackets.  We caught Long Beach blow out Redlands, and UC Davis dominate Pomona-Pitzer.  We caught the tail end of USC’s 28-2 trounce of Claremont too, but didn’t even realize the significance at the time because someone had mercifully turned off the East Pool’s scoreboard.

Sunday was spent at the La Jolla Cove watching the La Jolla Rough Water Swim.  We got there early, grabbing coffee and bagels on the way, and made a day of it.  A friend of Randy’s was competing, and we met some new people, and made the now ritual promises that we will be in the water next year.  It’s only one mile, and the sharks are tiny, and there are lifeguards everywhere, but the race start on the tiny beach still terrifies me.  That and I’d really like some of my various pains to go away.  The plantar fasciitis has kept me out of the gym too much this year.   Feel free to hold me accountable here if next year’s pictures don’t include Chuck dripping wet.

Finally , JAYSIS!  Creamy goodness dripping down my chin.  Steam on the windows as though all four burners were going on the stove (which they were).  Decadence in all its cholesterol-hardening glory, with a special shoutout to the other Chuck.

Yes, it’s almost one in the morning.  Watching the USA-Hungary water polo match in another window.  After seeing NBC television butcher every other big event I figured staying up late for the online really live broadcast would be the only way to go for this one.  Currently 2-2 in the first.

Even though the parts they showed of the men’s springboard diving last night were interesting, I’m really kinda over NBC and their Olympics coverage.  Too much fluff, not enough competition, and no suspense for West Coast viewers unless you stick your head in the sand and do nothing but watch NBC’s coverage.

Really excited that the Triton Invitational’s almost here though.  Just three weeks until UCSD’s annual water polo tourney.  With fourteen teams and two pools on the schedule I should be able to get plenty of competition, live even, without the fluff.  I can wait.

Work’s been keeping me otherwise occupied, I’m really tired of hearing about Michael Phelps, and the broadcast wing of NBC needs to start treating non-Easterners with just a bit of respect, but I caught my third water polo game of the Olympics last night, watching USA squeak out a win in a nail-biter with Italy, and loved it.  Even with the less than ideal video quality, live streaming video so beats tape-delayed and edit-butchered network feeds.

The opposite extreme was last night’s broadcast of select clips of the men’s 10m sychronized diving.  Some of the competing pairs were never shown at all, and while the winner was a surprise (kinda) I’d been texted the news on how the USA placed hours before the broadcast.

Maybe for 2012 we’ll finally be ready for an all sport, all live, internet-based Olympic coverage, with some network (or YouTube) doing a nightly recap.  But then how would bloody dictatorships get their social fluff broadcast to the world under the guise of ‘news’?

The Santa Cruz Sentinal is reporting that UCSC has decided to demote its mens and womens water polo teams to club status, rather than cut them outright as originally proposed.  I guess that counts as a save, and leaves the door open for returning the team to NCAA Division III play in better economic times, but still think that beyond losing two great teams and some unique opportunities for the students of the Santa Cruz campus, this is a symptom of the bigger problems within the UC: a lack of will to continue being a great university.   ‘Good enough’ is not what California deserves.

While my alma mater is Cal, that doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings for the lesser other nine campuses of the UC system.  One big happy UC, so the party line goes.  Bear, Bruin, Bobcat, Banana Slug, whatever.  This also explains one of the reasons I love UC San Diego’s Triton Invitational water polo tournament in the fall; there are generally four or five UC teams in the mix and there’s always someone worth cheering for.

So, imagine my dismay to see that the next step in the UC’s nickel and diming toward mediocrity is a proposal to axe men’s and women’s Banana Slug water polo. Will these be the last photos you see of Santa Cruz water polo?  I know education is in in a huge financial crisis in this state – I hear about the problems on local education daily.  Hourly on some days.  But it’s tough sitting back and watching programs get slashed.  College is about more than sleeping though lectures, and if California wants to teleteach commuter students we already have a great community college system.  The UC is special because it is everything: Rose Bowl Champions to Nobel Laureates and everything in between.  Even hard core water polo playing Banana Slugs.

Even though the time is barely 9:30 in the morning the temperature’s either 85 degrees or 94 degrees outside (depending on which desktop widget I believe).  The National Weather Service has issued an alert saying to expect record highs of over 100.  Figure nothing much is getting done today.  Enjoy some virtual poolside lounging from the archives while I try and stay cool somewhere. 

• Cal Men’s Water Polo took the 2007 NCAA Championship, beating USC eight points to six at Stanford this afternoon.  This is the team’s thirteenth national championship.  Go Bears!
• Cal Football lost the Big Game.  Stanford did not win, Cal lost, and yet somehow my alma mater is reportedly going to a bowl game to be determined.  They lost six of their last seven regular season games.  They went six and six for the season, finished seventh in the Pac-10, and they’re still going to a bowl.  Maybe it’s time for someone to pack up a few of the bowls and ship them off to Goodwill.  As with coffee cups, sometimes when you have too many, things start to look, well, pathetic.
• I just got back from a nice swim, and I feel good about myself.