Daily Cal: Longshore Does Not Deserve Abuse

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Jon Doss

If at any point in this-my first column under this absolutely brilliant title-you have the urge to boo me, make sure you wait until you're in a group of 60,000, so that you feel secure enough for judging me and my failures at an activity in which you, in even your greatest moments, aren't comparable.  Let me start by acknowledging that I've not always been the most supportive person. In my earlier days, even I was known for directing the occasional expletive the way of Lavelle Hawkins after a critical dropped pass.  All in all, though, at the very least I think I'd always appreciated the Hawk for what he was about: a blue-collar, over-the-middle type of receiver that continuously put his body on the line for the good of his team and university.  That I understand what athletes on this campus go through to entertain us is what sets me apart from most of the Cal fans that packed Memorial Stadium on Saturday for the opener against Michigan State. Let us digress to a simpler time, if you don't mind, to build up just why I'm writing.   Recall the events of Sept. 29, 2007, when the Bears traveled to Eugene, Ore., in one of the higher-profiled games Cal has been a part of.

Tied at 24 midway through the fourth, Nate Longshore came off the field with what would turn out to be a significant injury-a chipped bone in his ankle.  Enter then-redshirt freshman Kevin Riley, who, now on the biggest stage of his life, had thrown exactly three passes at the collegiate level.  I know what you all were thinking because I, too, searched in my mind for as many four letter words as I could.  It was our fear that Cal would be rendered Longshore-less for the remainder of the season that haunted us and should have forced every Bears fan, young and old, not to ever take an athlete for granted again.  Fast forward just nine games and you've already forgotten.  You've already forgotten what Nate Longshore did for you.  NFL eligibility rules state that for a player to declare for the draft, he must be out of high school for a minimum of three years (insert bitter remark about DeSean Jackson here).  Longshore redshirted his freshman season, so by rule, after his historic sophomore campaign in which he became just the second Cal quarterback to throw for over 3,000 yards, the Southern California native could have opted out of his remaining two years of eligibility.

Granted, he may not have been a first-round lock that year, but he could have easily bypassed a return to Berkeley for a cushy backup gig at the next level.  Instead, Longshore realized that his return was vital to a title run in '07, a similar notion that brought the hobbled junior back to the field just three weeks after a season-threatening injury in Oregon.  When it would have been easier to take the final eight games off and prepare for a senior year for the record books, Longshore returned after the debacle against Oregon State.  But in an attempt to keep Cal on course nationally, while sacrificing his health, things spiraled completely out of control.  Now, don't get my stance confused-I am a believer that, at this point in time, Kevin Riley gives the Bears the best chance at winning football games.  But I also believe that Nate Longshore could quite possibly be the best second option in the country if you'll let him.  If you want to boo Jeff Tedford, go ahead, he makes over $2 million a year.  If you want to boo me, go for it, though I'm not making nearly as much as Tedford off this gem.  But if you want to boo a guy that's given you everything he's had over the past four years simply because you're frustrated that Cal, as a team, didn't perform up to expectations last year, then perhaps you should find something a little more productive to do with your weekends.