Cal coach Wilcox names starting QB for opener at North Texas

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:00:52 GMT

BERKELEY — Sam Jackson V, announced Thursday as Cal’s starting quarterback, wasn’t feeling good about things early this month as fall camp began.So he sat down with new offensive coordinator Jake Spavital to get a road map to the starting job.“I had a rough start to fall camp,” Jackson said. “They just told me they wanted me to play quarterback.”Specifically, Spavital instructed the redshirt sophomore transfer from TCU to stay in the pocket, go through his progressions and make the right play. Every snap didn’t have to lead to a home run.“That was the biggest jump I’ve made,” Jackson said. “Honestly, I was pretty uncomfortable at the beginning because I’ve really never done it.“My high school films show me just scrambling around. I was just playing backyard football in high school. There were some growing pains with it but it’s helped me feel more confident.”Jackson got the nod over North Carolina State transfer Ben Finley and redshirt freshman Fernando Mendoza, the team’s only quar...

Girls flag football: Familiar names coaching Pittsburg, Freedom

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:00:52 GMT

For many years, Victor Galli and Kevin Hartwig matched X’s and O’s on high school football fields in East Contra Costa County.Galli led Pittsburg for 21 years, stepping down last fall; Hartwig guided Freedom for 16 years, resigning in 2017.They’re back at it again.Only now as girls flag football coaches, a sport that is being introduced this school year after getting the green light last winter from the California Interscholastic Federation.Galli is coaching Pittsburg. Hartwig, who was an assistant at Heritage for a few years while his son played there, is back coaching Freedom.“He and I both came in together in 2002,” Galli told the Bay Area News Group on Thursday. “It’s funny that we’re back together.”Early signs indicate that the girls game is going to be a hit.Pittsburg had nearly 80 players try out for the sport in which seven players per side are on the field and pulling a flag from a ballcarrier’s waist blows a play dead. Freedom had about 50.Both had to cut dozens of p...

How Robin Williams and TheatreWorks put Jessica Chastain on path to stardom

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:00:52 GMT

Academy Award-winning Jessica Chastain recently acknowledged some game-changing moments in her life and career, including professional boosts she received from Robin Williams and from the Palo Alto-based TheaterWorks Silicon Valley.Chastain, who was born and reared in Sacramento, talked on a recent episode of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast about one of her first professional roles, playing Juliet in a 1998 TheatreWorks production of Romeo and Juliet. For reasons explained below, that role in Shakespeare’s classic, in turn, led Chastain to study drama at the prestigious Julliard School in New York City, where she received the Robin Williams Scholarship.These two events, involving one of the Bay Area’s most famous cultural figures and one of its cornerstone theater companies (albeit one that is undergoing a desperate fundraising campaign to keep from closing), helped affect the course of Chastain’s path to film stardom, as she explained in the interview, which was taped in...

Tough Mudder racers report rash, illness after Sonoma event

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:00:52 GMT

The muddy course at last weekend’s Tough Mudder race is a possible factor in participants’ reports of pain and illness, Sonoma County’s health department said.“Multiple reports” have been received of rash and other painful symptoms, the agency said in an advisory Wednesday, Aug. 23.Tough Mudder, which took place Aug. 19-20 at the Sonoma Raceway, put participants on an obstacle course of 3 to 9 miles that “involved extensive skin exposure to mud,” in the agency’s words.Symptoms reported as appearing 12 to 48 hours after the event included pustular rash, fever, muscle pain, headache, nausea and vomiting, the agency said. They could be caused by “swimmers’ itch” — an allergic reaction to microscopic parasites — but might also indicate infection by Staphylococcus or Aeromonas bacteria.The agency advised any participant who is having such symptoms to see a doctor or go to an emergency room.Related ArticlesHealt...

What to watch: ‘Bottoms’ is the bonkers comedy we need now

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:00:52 GMT

What looks good this week?Our engines rev up for “Bottoms,” a racy comedy costarring a hilarious Marshawn Lynch, and for “Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn,” a sharp, incisive docuseries about the uber-wealthy former head of Nissan and Renault who absconds from authorities. It drops on Apple TV+But you can pass on sales-pitchy “Gran Turismo,” and the well-intentioned by long and repetitive “The Hill.”As for East Bay-set “Fremont,” it’s so good we wrote a separate review on that.Here’s our roundup.“Bottoms”: If you thought the uncouth hard-R-rated “Strays” wore out its potty-mouth welcome halfway through — which it did — check out this irreverent bit of rambunctious from one of our most exciting new comedic filmmakers, Emma Seligman. On a par with the outrageous female-backed comedy “Joyride,” this one pins itself to a daring premise — two unpopular high school friends PJ (Rachel Sennott, who co wrote the screenplay) and Josie (Ayo Ede...

Man shot to death at homeless camp underneath Oakland freeway

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:00:52 GMT

OAKLAND — A man was shot to death early Thursday at a homeless encampment underneath an Oakland freeway, authorities said.Authorities are trying to confirm the man’s identity.The fatal shooting, which is being investigated by the California Highway Patrol, happened about 2:45 a.m. Thursday at an encampment on state property underneath Interstate 580 near the 3400 block of Telegraph Avenue.The man was pronounced dead at the camp.Oakland police initially responded to the shooting but the CHP later took over the investigation.Authorities have not said if the man lived at the camp or was visiting someone there.A motive for the killing is under investigation and no arrests have been made, the CHP said.Anyone with information about the killing is asked to call the CHP tip line at 707-917-4491.

Bay Area Brewery Tour: San Francisco’s Bernal Heights and Dogpatch neighborhoods

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:00:52 GMT

This month, my Bay Area brewery tour took me to three beer destinations in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights and Dogpatch neighborhoods: Hop Oast Pub & Brewery, Barebottle Brewing and Harmonic Brewing. Each is worth a visit – here’s why.Hop Oast Pub & BreweryVeteran Bay Area brewer Aron Deorsey founded Hop Oast Pub & Brewery five years ago. (Courtesy Jay R. Brooks.) Founded five years ago by veteran Bay Area brewer Aron Deorsey (Pyramid, Steelhead Brewing, Beach Chalet) and named after an “oast,” the kiln used to dry hops used for brewing, this brewery taproom is a small oasis. There’s an L-shaped bar and a few tables and a kitchen that serves up sausages, grilled cheese sandwiches, housemade pretzels and beer-pickled veggies.Deorsey keeps about a dozen different beers on tap including his flagship Invicta IPA, a tasty West Coast IPA. Other popular beers include El Pachuco Mexican Lager, Bones Brigade Session IPA and, naturally, a Hazed & Confuse...

Betts has 5 hits and 2 RBIs as Dodgers beat Guardians 6-1 in suspended game

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:00:52 GMT

CLEVELAND (AP) — Mookie Betts matched his career high with five hits and drove in two runs, sending the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 6-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday in the completion of a suspended game.Betts singled four times in the first six innings and had a two-run double in the eighth for the NL West-leading Dodgers, who are 18-3 in August. The seven-time All-Star, who also had five hits for Boston against Kansas City on Aug. 26, 2016, is batting .561 during an 11-game hitting streak and has a .456 average this month.The teams were to play their regularly scheduled game later Thursday, with the Guardians’ Gavin Williams to face Ryan Pepiot.Los Angeles led 3-1 after two innings Wednesday when heavy rain forced play to be suspended after a 1 hour, 37 minute stoppage. Another round of storms arrived after the bottom of the eighth Thursday, delaying the game for 72 minutes.Gus Varland (1-0) worked 1 1/3 innings for his first big league win as seven pitchers ...

Broncos top receiver Jerry Jeudy carted off field with right hamstring injury

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:00:52 GMT

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — What started out as the Denver Broncos’ deepest position group ended up as their thinnest after wide receiver Jerry Jeudy was carted off the field with a hamstring injury Thursday.Jeudy was running an end-around in an 11-on-11 red zone drill in a joint practice with the Los Angeles Rams when he pulled up, grabbing his right hamstring and crumpling to the grass near the sideline. He had to be helped to the cart, then was taken for an MRI.“Hopefully it’s not anything long term,” coach Sean Payton said.The Broncos started training camp with Tim Patrick injuring his left Achilles almost a year to the day after tearing his right ACL. He’ll miss his second straight season. The same day Patrick got hurt, the Broncos lost KJ Hamler to a heart condition and last week they lost Jalen Virgil to a season-ending knee injury. He got hurt at the end of a 50-yard pass play against San Francisco just before halftime.“I don’t believe in being snake-bitt...