Matt Kawahara
It's been hot in Berkeley for the past few days. Hot and muggy. Shades of Maryland hot and muggy.
Like people around here need another reason to remember last year's trip to the East Coast. It isn't enough that the Terrapins re-enter the Cal football team's life tomorrow. Now the weather feels like it has to remind everyone of that ugly morning, too. For a loss so forgettable, the Maryland game stuck in a lot of minds-if only for the image of Jahvid Best vomiting on TV. That much is clear in how often the hit has come up this week.
Best patiently fields the questions because he's a nice, grounded kid who just happens to be one of the best running backs in the country, who just happened to get popped by an NFL-bound corner with a free shot and a five-yard head start. He puked. It happens. (Never actually seen it happen elsewhere, but it probably has.) After the hit, Best played scattered downs in the second half and had one of the worst games of his career, 25 yards rushing on 10 carries. "I got to go this weekend and reclaim my name in Maryland," he said.
In Maryland, maybe. There, he's the guy whose insides are green. But this game is in the Bay Area, where Best averaged over 200 yards in his final three games of 2008. People around here are pretty confident about what he can do.
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