Yahoo! Sports: Rodgers rarin' to go for Packers

Link.

By Michael Silver, Yahoo! Sports

Unlike most NFL players, Aaron Rodgers can’t wait for training camp to begin. Even as he lives it up this weekend at the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament, the Green Bay Packers’ new starting quarterback is itching to embrace the dorm life, two-a-days and monotonous meetings that men in his profession typically dread.  Most of all, as he closes his eyes at night, Rodgers flashes ahead to the games he’ll get to play come September, when he expects to become the first Packers player other than Brett Favre to start at quarterback since 1992. As Green Bay general manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy made clear Saturday – just as they had last month privately to Rodgers, before the news broke that Favre had decided to end his four-month-long retirement – a new era has begun in Titletown.

The Packers now are Rodgers’ team, and the fourth-year passer literally can’t wait until the July 27 reporting date for the team’s training camp at St. Norbert College.  “I’m going out there a week early, if that tells you anything,” Rodgers told Yahoo! Sports on Saturday in his first extended interview since Favre requested his formal release in a letter the Packers received Friday. “I’m just excited about that first night’s sleep in the dorms, going out and practicing the next day and all the things that will follow. I knew at some point my time would come, and it looks like we’re getting close to that.”

As for Favre’s change of heart, and the Packers’ decision to deny the legendary passer’s request to be released so that he could play for the team of his choosing, Rodgers insisted he is not getting caught up in the melodrama.  “I’m only worried about things I can control,” he said. “I can’t control any decisions that he might make, so I’m not worried about it. Brett and I haven’t talked, so I can’t tell you where he’s coming from. And really, I’m not even thinking about it, and it doesn’t (add any additional pressure). There’s pressure on every quarterback in the NFL. Every team expects Super Bowl or bust. I know I need to get myself ready to play, and that’s pretty much all that matters to me.”

Few first-round draft picks have spent as much time waiting for their chance as Rodgers, who is the 21st century sports world’s poster child for enforced patience. He launched his pro career by squirming nervously in front of millions, enduring an infamous 4½-hour stint in the green room on draft day in 2005. Projected as the possible No. 1 overall selection, the former Cal star was passed over by the San Francisco 49ers, who instead chose Alex Smith, and an uncomfortable and incomprehensible free-fall commenced.

When the Packers finally took Rodgers with the 24th overall selection, then-NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue offered private words of encouragement on the dais that have stuck with Rodgers to this day.  “He called my name and we shook hands and I held up the Packers jersey, and then he told me, ‘Good things happen to people who are patient,’ ” Rodgers recalled Saturday. “I believe it, now more than ever.”  Rodgers’ success never has seemed to come easily. He played one season at Butte College, a junior college near his hometown of Chico, Calif., and wasn’t attracting interest from Division I schools until Cal coach Jeff Tedford came to scout teammate Garrett Cross. Enlisted to throw to the tight end, Rodgers impressed Tedford during the workout and earned a scholarship offer. He didn’t become the Golden Bears’ starter until several games into his sophomore season. Rodgers’ record-setting junior campaign ended with then-No. 4 Cal losing out on its first Rose Bowl berth since 1959 because of a controversial Bowl Championship Series outcome affected by a late shift in the polls, followed by a disappointing defeat to Texas Tech in the Holiday Bowl.

After that, Rodgers declared for the draft. He mostly has watched during his first three seasons as Favre extended his record streak to 275 consecutive starts. But Rodgers impressed McCarthy and Thompson with his progress heading into 2007, and when Favre suffered an elbow injury after performing poorly in the Packers’ pivotal showdown with the Dallas Cowboys last November, Rodgers played brilliantly (18 of 26, 201 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions) in relief and nearly pulled out a comeback victory.

Though Favre had a terrific season in ‘07, he struggled in the Packers’ defeat to the New York Giants in the NFC championship game at Lambeau Field. After Favre’s emotional retirement news conference last March, Thompson and McCarthy began preparing Rodgers to take over as the starter. Later that month, according to a report in Friday’s Wisconsin State Journal, Favre told the GM and coach he was ready to end his retirement and return but later reneged on the deal. At that point, the decision was made to move forward with Rodgers as the starter, and in April the team drafted two quarterbacks, second-rounder Brian Brohm and seventh-rounder Matt Flynn, as backups.

On Saturday, Thompson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that “Aaron Rodgers is our starting quarterback” and conceded he wasn’t sure how the Favre situation would play out. Earlier, Thompson and McCarthy told The Associated Press that they wouldn’t grant Favre’s request to be released and that the veteran quarterback was welcome to rejoin the team as a backup. A more plausible scenario is that the Packers will attempt to trade Favre over the next two weeks, thus allowing him to continue his career while avoiding the prospect of him playing for NFC North rivals Chicago or Minnesota.  Even if Favre were to return to the Packers, creating what surely would be an uncomfortable situation, Rodgers insists he won’t be fazed.

“We’ve got a first-class organization,” Rodgers said. “Ted has done a great job building our team through the draft, and coach McCarthy has done a great job with the day-to-day stuff. We’ve got a great group of players. I’ve been there the whole offseason and have been hanging out with guys away from the stadium and building a great rapport with my teammates. It’s a great situation.”  Rodgers said he has received supportive calls and text messages from numerous teammates over the past couple of days, including offensive linemen Mark Tauscher and Chad Clifton and wideout Greg Jennings. He also has shown his leadership skills by actively mentoring Brohm and Flynn, a stark contrast to the chilly reception he got from Favre after joining the team.

“I’ve been trying to be as open as I can possibly be,” Rodgers said. “I told both Brian and Matt from the start that if they have any questions, they should come to me and I’ll help them in any way I can. Because making them better is making our team better.”   Though Rodgers wishes his golf game was in better shape, he thoroughly enjoyed his experience in Lake Tahoe. On Friday night he cracked up while watching comedian Frank Caliendo, a Milwaukee native, do his deadpan impression of announcer John Madden gushing over Favre during a private show at Harrah’s Casino. After the show Rodgers spoke privately to Caliendo, then joined Baltimore Ravens quarterback and Cal predecessor Kyle Boller at a blackjack table.

“This is a great week up here,” Rodgers said. “But I’m eager to get back to Green Bay and get things going.”

He is especially eager to help the Packers, who had the league’s youngest roster in ‘07, erase the memories of the disappointing defeat to the Giants in subzero temperatures last January. Standing on the sideline, Rodgers recalled, “I was freezing. It was ridiculous. Miserable is pretty much the best word. I was miserable, and just about everybody in the stands was, too – especially after we lost.”

Rodgers knows the only way he can win over the fans in Green Bay is to win games, regardless of how Favre’s situation plays out. Replacing a legend won’t be easy but he has been preparing for this moment for a long time, and he swears he has no regrets about the patience it required.  “My road to where I am now has been very fulfilling,” Rodgers said shortly before entering the clubhouse at Edgewood-Tahoe, where he’d just completed Saturday’s second round. “I put in a lot of hard work in high school just to get noticed, and when I got to Cal I waited in the wings behind a really good quarterback (Reggie Robertson) before I got my turn. Obviously, I knew when I was drafted I was going to have to wait a while because I was behind a Hall of Fame quarterback who is one of the greatest guys ever to lace ‘em up.  “I knew at some point I’d get a chance to play. I always hoped it would be in Green Bay. I’m so ready.”

ESPN: Preview of the 2008 California Golden Bears

Here’s the link.

Seattle Post Intelligencer: Looking Ahead: CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS

Link.

WASHINGTON HUSKIES AT CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS

When: TBD, Saturday, Dec. 6

Where: Memorial Stadium, Berkeley, Calif.

TV: TBD

2007 RECAP: After winning their first five games – including a season-opening trouncing of Tennessee -- the Bears were flirting with the nation's No. 1 spot. Then came a stunning upset – Oregon State defeated Cal in Berkeley when backup quarterback Kevin Riley tried to scramble instead of throwing the ball away. Time ran out and so did Cal's season. Jeff Tedford's squad went into an unlikely tailspin, losing six of its next seven games, including back-to-back losses to the Huskies and archrival Stanford.   However, the team took a hard look in the mirror and defeated Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl on New Year's Eve. The win gave Cal a 7-6 record, its sixth consecutive winning season.

2008 OUTLOOK: One of the nation's most curious quarterback competitions can be found in the East Bay. Will it be senior Nate Longshore, who has struggled with injury and inconsistency, or Riley, who was superb in the bowl game?   This question is just one for an offense that seems riddled with them. Namely, the skill positions have been depleted.   Sophomore Jahvid Best will be coming off a hip injury and, while he looks to be a star in the making at tailback, is a bit fragile and untested.  The receiving corps will be completely rebuilt with just 12 career catches scattered between Michael Calvin, Jeremy Ross, Nyan Boateng, LaReylle Cunningham and Drew Glover.

One area that could make all those skill questions go away is the offensive line. Led by All-American center Alex Mack, the unit also returns left tackle Mike Tepper and right guard Noris Malele, both seniors.  On top of it all, Tedford relinquished his play-calling duties at the end of the season in order to better manage the team as a whole. The job now goes to first-year offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti.

Defensively, Cal returns seven starters and a solid linebacking corps and should improve on its subpar showing of a year ago.  Look for the team to run out of the 3-4 base. Despite just 10 sacks last season, the line excelled in the spring and was led by ends Rulon Davis and Tyson Alualu. The secondary is decent, as well, with returning starters Syd'Quan Thompson at corner and Bernard Hicks at free safety. The battles at the other DB position include talented youngsters such as sophomores Chris Conte and Darian Hagan at corner and freshman D.J. Campbell at strong safety.

PEEK AT PERSONNEL: Zack Follett leads a tough linebacking corps that includes O'Dea High product Anthony Felder.

Worrell Williams, a senior, rounds out a unit with all three returning starters and some depth in the tank – such as junior Eddie Young, freshman D.J. Holt and sophomore Michael Mohamed.  The Bears linebacking corps ranks among the nation's best and one of the top two in the Pac-10. It is quick and aggressive.

Where this unit goes, so goes the Bears' season.

WHAT THE HUSKIES CAN EXPECT: Trying to predict what will happen five months from now is just dumb.

On paper, there is no reason to think the Huskies can't sneak out a win in Berkeley. As a matter of fact, they almost did it two years ago with a backup quarterback (Carl Bonnell) throwing five interceptions. The Huskies tore the Bears' front four apart last season, but it is a stretch to think what happened to Cal last season was not an anomaly.  Being the season finale, the Huskies will likely know if they are playing their final game under coach Tyrone Willingham. They could be inspired to save his job, inspired to send him out right or gearing up for their first bowl game.

Chiefs TE Gonzalez saves man's life in restaurant

A California man says Pro Bowl tight end Tony Gonzalez of the Kansas City Chiefs kept him from choking to death.  “Tony saved my life. There’s no doubt,” Ken Hunter, a shipping company manager, told The Associated Press in a phone interview from Huntington Beach, Calif.  “Tony came up behind me and gave me the Heimlich maneuver. Thank God he was there.”  Gonzalez, a nine-time Pro Bowl selection who has set numerous NFL records, was having dinner with his wife, brother and 5-week-old daughter at Capone’s restaurant in Huntington Beach Thursday night. Hunter, 45, was dining with his girlfriend at the next table when suddenly a piece of meat stuck in his throat.

“I tried to take a drink of water, but I couldn’t swallow,” Hunter told The AP. “Then I couldn’t breathe. That’s a terrible feeling. I couldn’t breathe. Then I guess I started to panic.”   Gonzalez, sitting with his back to Hunter’s table, looked around when he heard Hunter’s companion yelling.  “She was screaming, `He can’t breathe, he can’t breathe,”’ Gonzalez said by phone from California, where he lives in the offseason. “The whole restaurant was quiet. Nobody was doing anything.”  Then I saw he was turning blue. Everybody in the restaurant was just kind of sitting there wide-eyed.”  The 6-foot-5 Gonzalez, about a foot taller than Hunter, jumped out of his chair and came up behind the stricken man and began to perform the Heimlich maneuver.

“After just a few seconds, the piece of meat popped out,” Hunter said. “I could breathe again. It’s a good thing Tony is so tall because I had stood up— I think.”  Diana Martin, a restaurant employee, said no one else seemed to know what to do.  “He was so lucky Tony was there,” Martin said. “In a situation like that, every second counts. It helped a lot that Tony’s a big, strong guy because you have to be able to apply some pretty good pressure. I don’t think I would have been strong enough to help him.”  Hunter went into the restroom to clean up and didn’t realize he’d been saved by a famous athlete until he came out.  “I’m a big NFL fan and I recognized him right away. I was still kind of dazed when I went over and thanked him and said, `What can I do for you?’ I guess I said it about 1,000 times.”

Gonzalez, who has been active in charity and community activities during a brilliant career with the Chiefs, said he had no intention of having the incident become public.  “The next night I had a dinner for my grandmother’s 90th birthday, and people were saying, `Why didn’t you tell me about that?’ I honestly don’t want to make a big deal out of it. But of course it does give me a lot of satisfaction to know that I was able to help somebody.”  One of the most productive receivers in pro football history, Gonzalez holds the NFL record for tight ends with 820 career receptions and 102 catches in a season. He needs only 79 more yards receiving to become the career leader among tight ends.

He has never received any formal instruction in the Heimlich maneuver.  “I had seen it done, so I just did it,” Gonzalez said. “When you find yourself in those situations where you have to take action in a crucial situation, you just do it. I got the same feeling I get when I go on a hospital visit.”’  Hunter is a lifelong fan of the San Diego Chargers, one of Kansas City’s key rivals in the AFC West, and plans to be at the game when the Chiefs visit the Chargers on Nov. 9.  “I’m Tony’s No. 1 fan now,” he said.  And what will this longtime follower of the Chargers do if they’re ahead by four or five points in the final minute and Gonzalez runs into the end zone and leaps up for what would be the game-winning touchdown for K.C.?  “I’m going to be yelling for Tony to catch the ball,” Hunter said. “I think all my friends will understand.”

San Francisco Chronicle: UC asks judge to lift injunction on building

Carolyn Jones

A judge will consider whether to allow construction at UC Berkeley's Memorial Stadium oak grove after university attorneys on Tuesday asked that the 17-month-old order be lifted to allow them to begin building a $140 million athletic training center.  Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller set a hearing on the matter for July 17. Her order has prevented UC from building the center until lawsuits aimed at blocking the project are resolved.  The move comes two weeks after Miller, ruling on lawsuits by the city of Berkeley, the Panoramic Hill Association and advocates for protesters who have been sitting in the stadium grove for more than 18 months, said UC's plan mostly complies with state earthquake-safety laws. Both sides have responded to the ruling, and Miller is expected to issue a final judgment sometime after July 17. Campus spokesman Dan Mogulof said the injunction should be lifted because the university has satisfied all the safety issues and is bearing a severe economic hardship because of the delays.

The price tag for the project has increased about $15 million as a result of rising construction costs, he said, and the university has spent about $350,000 on security around the grove as a result of the protest. Plaintiffs want the injunction to stay in place indefinitely.  "Unless and until the university approves a lawful project, the injunction should remain in place," said Stephan Volker, who represents the tree-sitters. Meanwhile, the Berkeley City Council voted in closed session Monday night to send a letter to the university asking that a clergy member immediately be dispatched to provide food to the tree-sitters. "The Berkeley City Council expresses our deep concern about the health and well-being of the young people in the trees and the lack of adequate sustenance being provided to them," the council wrote. The university has provided bottled water and energy bars to the tree-sitters in recent days after severing their support lines.

Contra Costa Times: Cal Gambles on Winning

By Daniel Borenstein

Winning might not be everything, but it's becoming much more important at Cal.  The university is about to sign another large long-term athletic contract, this one with new basketball coach Michael Montgomery, who will take in at least $1.7 million annually over the next six years. That's 61 percent more than his predecessor, Ben Braun, received last year. And it follows the seven-year contract renewal UC Berkeley inked with football coach Jeff Tedford that paid $2.8 million last year.

The Montgomery deal, which has not been officially released, is part of the university's high-priced gamble to turn the athletics department into a major revenue-generator. The strategy hinges on the football and men's basketball teams, the two top spectator sports on campus, becoming consistent national competitors that can attract the best player talent, increase ticket sales and, most importantly, generate rapidly increasing alumni donations.

Thus far, the university has shown significant gains. In the first five years since Tedford was hired in 2002, donations to the department jumped 76 percent. And the football program, which was struggling financially, now turns an annual $9 million profit. In addition, the athletic department has raised pledges for about $100 million of the roughly $400 million it needs to fund a new training facility and renovations to the football stadium.  But the university has much grander long-range plans. They call for an additional doubling of annual contributions, to $21 million a year, by 2017, on top of raising the other $300 million for the capital improvements.

There are two problems with this strategy. First, it counts on the school producing consistent top-contending teams, which can be an elusive goal. Remember that Cal's football team early last season was on the verge of earning the nation's No. 1 ranking, but then finished the regular season with a dismal 6-6 record. The team hasn't been to the Rose Bowl since 1959. The basketball team hasn't reached the Final Four since 1960 and last won the national championship in 1959.

The second, and bigger, question is whether the underlying premise of the plan will hold — whether winning sports teams can generate substantially greater contributions in the long run. Cornell University economist Robert Frank, who has studied the finances of college athletics, says the link is weak at best. "You'd want to be skeptical of an influx of new money," he said. "We haven't seen it in programs in the past. It doesn't mean it couldn't happen."

Sandy Barbour, Cal's athletic director, remains confident the money can be raised. Of about 425,000 living Cal alumni, only 8,000 currently contribute to the athletic program. She hopes to increase that to 20,000 over the next decade. Spending 90 minutes with her last week, I got the sense that she could convince homeless on Telegraph Avenue to contribute.

Successful teams are her key to luring donors. On one hand, she says that winning is not everything, that academic excellence, community involvement and fiscal responsibility are important criteria for a successful athletic program. On the other hand, she makes clear that a return to the football team's 0-11 record of 1999 or 1-10 in 2001 is not acceptable. And to win, she reasons, the university needs to hire top-tier coaches.

That is the rationale behind the university's contract with basketball coach Montgomery, formerly with Stanford and the Golden State Warriors. His new deal, I'm informed, starts with a $250,000 annual base salary and will be sweetened with a "talent fee—" what the university describes as payout "based on standard participation in outside events representing UCB" — averaging $1.125 million a year.

On top of that, Montgomery will receive mandatory bonuses of $300,000 the first year and $500,000 in three of the other five years of the contract. Add in two cars, pension contributions and a country club membership, and the compensation package averages out to $1.7 million a year.

Then there are the 11 possible performance bonuses if the team does well — everything from winning 20 games in a season to capturing the national championship — that could add up to $330,000 more to Montgomery's salary each year.  Montgomery's contract, like Tedford's, dwarfs the compensation paid to Mark Yudof, the new president of the UC system. As I've said before, these superheated coaching contracts are misguided, especially when the university subsidized the athletic department to the tune of $9.45 million last year.  The good news is that Barbour has brought the subsidy down from $13 million three years earlier. The bad news is that there are no plans to eliminate it. Barbour says it can't be done if the university is going to continue to fund 27 different collegiate sports, most of which are not profitable like football and men's basketball.

But, perhaps, at a time when other departments in the university are being forced to trim staff, there needs to be some belt-tightening in the athletics department as well. Moreover, that subsidy is certain to rise if the football and basketball teams aren't successful — and fail to draw the major donors as planned.  A greater subsidy means less money for other programs or more tax revenues. So for now, let's all hope that the Bears do well. Just win, baby.

ESPN: Cal to Play Boston College in the Emerald Bowl

Here are Mark Schlabach’s predictions for the 2008-2009 bowl games.

San Francisco Chronicle: UC compromises on key stadium issues

UC Berkeley made key concessions Friday in its long-running standoff with the city, tree-sitting protesters and neighbors of Memorial Stadium that the university hopes will clear the way for its plans to build an athletic training center next to the stadium.  In documents submitted in Alameda County Superior Court, the university says it will scrap all non-football events at Memorial Stadium and drop plans to attach a concrete support beam to the stadium's west wall, two roadblocks cited in a judge's interim ruling in the case last week.

UC's proposed judgment also asks Judge Barbara Miller to immediately lift an injunction that prevents the university from beginning construction on the center in a grove of oak trees next to the stadium, where tree-sitters have been roosting for 18 months in protest of the university's plans to cut the trees to make way for the training center.  Campus spokesman Dan Mogulof said the university made the concessions to expedite the $140 million training center, which was the target of lawsuits filed by the city of Berkeley, a neighborhood association and a group of oak tree advocates.  "The judge's ruling last week really focused our attention on our priorities, which are clearly, and as soon as possible, to get a new facility built for the 450 student-athletes who badly need it," he said. "We also wanted to be responsive to the needs and interests of the city and neighbors."

Miller is expected to issue a final ruling in the next few weeks. If she lifts the injunction, the university plans to begin construction a few days later, Mogulof said.  In her preliminary ruling on June 18, Miller sided with the university on most aspects of the case, saying the athletic training center would not violate the state Alquist-Priolo law, which prohibits building on earthquake faults.

But she sided with the plaintiffs on several points that could stop the project. Her primary concern was the grade beam, which she said was an alteration to Memorial Stadium and therefore was subject to Alquist-Priolo. The plaintiffs argued that without the grade beam, the training center could not be built safely.

Miller also questioned the value of Memorial Stadium. According to Alquist-Priolo, seismic renovations to a building on a fault cannot exceed half the building's value. The university says the stadium is worth $593 million.  But if the grade beam is removed, the value of the stadium is a moot point until seismic retrofit work begins, both sides agree. In their proposed judgment, filed Tuesday, the plaintiffs said the university should drop the project until it can prove Memorial Stadium is worth more than twice the cost of seismic upgrades and should cancel plans to host non-football events. Opponents of the project had mixed reactions to UC's filing.

"It's curious. They made it very clear they needed the (stadium) support beam to make the facility safe," said Michael Kelly, vice president of the Panoramic Hill Association. "From a safety point of view, removing it seems to be kind of shaky."  The university's structural engineers had recommended the concrete grade beam to protect the 1923 Beaux Arts stadium during construction of the athletic facility a few feet away. The stadium, which sits atop the Hayward Fault and is partially built on landfill, has undergone few repairs over the years and is cracked and crumbling in many places.

But any damage to the stadium during construction would be strictly cosmetic, Mogulof said. "This is absolutely, 100 percent not a safety issue," he said. "If there is cosmetic damage to the stadium, we will fix it when the stadium is renovated." Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said the City Council will meet next week to discuss the case, but any decisions are premature until the judge issues her final ruling. "Our concern is and always has been safety," he said. "I just hope that by removing the grade beam they're not going to be causing problems for the western wall of the stadium."  City Councilman Laurie Capitelli said he was relieved to see the case moving forward, but was concerned about the plight of the tree-sitters, whose food and water were cut off last week when university arborists dismantled all but one of their platforms.

"We've got a volatile situation in the trees right now," Capitelli said. "One way or another, we've got to get them out of there safely. My hope, at this point, is that the judge moves quickly to issue a definitive decision so we can resolve this." Seven protesters remain in the trees, sharing a single platform about 40 feet up a redwood tree. Campus Police Chief Victoria Harrison spent about 45 minutes Thursday talking to the tree-sitters about their food and water supplies and waste disposal.  The tree-sitters refused to turn over their waste, which has been accumulating since last week, but did accept bottled water and energy bars on Friday, Mogulof said. "When the injunction is lifted and the legal coast is clear, at that point we will have reached the end of the judicial process," he said. "We hope and expect that anyone left in the trees will, at that point, abide by any and all court rulings."  The tree-sitters have said they'll refuse to come down until the grove is protected from development. About 44 trees are slated for removal to build the athletic center, but the university has said it would plant about 130 trees in their place.  In a separate project, UC next wants to retrofit Memorial Stadium, which also is likely to provoke a legal battle with neighbors and the city. Most of the plaintiffs want the landmark stadium razed and a new stadium built elsewhere.

The university would like to preserve the stadium, which was named by Sports Illustrated as the best place in the United States to watch a college football game and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

AP: Berkeley tree-sitters hanging on, 18 months in

By MICHELLE LOCKE

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — In December 2006, protesters angry about campus expansion plans clambered into the branches of a threatened oak grove at the University of California, Berkeley.  Since then, Democrats have chosen their first black presidential candidate, the housing market has taken a dive and gasoline prices have boomed. Still, the tree-sitters continue to sit. There had been signs the protest might be coming to an end as a court case challenging a planned multimillion-dollar athletic training facility inched closer to resolution.

This month administrators, who won a court order allowing them to evict the protesters at any time, cut supply lines, yanked a few protesters out of the trees and drove the rest into a single redwood. For a while, it looked like campus officials were prepared to starve protesters out.  But after the remaining half-dozen or so tree sitters said they were a) not moving and b) rationing water, officials relented and offered sustenance to the protesters aloft.  "This misguided effort to preserve a 1923 landscaping project certainly doesn't warrant any action that could cause harm or permanent health consequences for anybody involved," said campus spokesman Dan Mogulof. Protesters and their supporters say they are prepared to hold out.

"They're very well-trained tree climbers. They're very experienced and I have trust in them that they're going to keep themselves safe and they're going to keep defending the grove," a ground supporter who would give her name only as Citizyn said this week.

UC Berkeley officials say they need the new center to provide safe and up-to-date facilities for their athletes. Once the center is built, the second phase of the project involves upgrading Memorial Stadium — old, dilapidated and sitting right on top of the Hayward fault.  Neighborhood residents, the City of Berkeley and the California Oak Foundation have sued to stop the project, saying it violates environmental and earthquake safety regulations.  A judge issued an injunction blocking construction while the suits were pending and was expected to make a definitive ruling earlier this month. But that ruling turned out to be a bit mixed, with both sides reading victory into its 129 pages.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller found the new center is mostly legal. However, on the stadium upgrade part of the project, she said the university has to prove some planned work doesn't amount to more than 50 percent of the value of the original building, a state requirement.

On Friday, UC Berkeley filed a response saying it is eliminating the items the judge questioned. Administrators also asked the judge to modify the preliminary injunction, saying there are no longer grounds for preventing construction on the new facility.

Once the judge has issued a final ruling, it can be appealed. But construction could begin earlier if UC is successful in getting the injunction lifted.  On the tree issue, campus officials note that most of the trees were planted by the university in the 1920s. They have promised to plant three trees for every one felled. But tree-sitters say that is not acceptable.  Over the past 18 months, protesters had been cycling in and out, using supply lines stretched over a campus-erected barricade. But the stepped-up campus actions stopped that.  In the past two weeks, the mood has swung wildly.  Protesters howled, flung excrement and shook tree branches as campus-hired arborists cut supply lines and removed gear.  But by late this week, campus police were conducting delicate negotiations with tree-sitters, offering to provide food and water if protesters would lower their waste on a daily basis in the interest of hygiene. Campus officials ended up giving up the water without concessions; protesters declined to yield their urine.

Cal Snow Globe

Enjoy.