Bear Witness...with Chase Lyman

Remember the name Nyan Boateng. Sure, receivers DeSean Jackson, Lavelle Hawkins and Robert Jordan are all returning next year for the Cal football team, but it looks like Boateng will make his presence felt one way or another.

At 6-foot-2, Boateng is taller than the aforementioned trio. He also played high school hoops with Sebastian Telfair before Boateng went to Florida. Now he can be found at spring football practice at Memorial Stadium, the most happening spot in the world of Cal sports this time of year. Only 167 days until the Tennessee game!

To help us all forget the woeful seasons of Cal baseball and softball (I’m surprised at the latter, not the former), I welcome Chase Lyman, a former Bears wide receiver to the Bear Witness hot seat today.

Brian Bainum: You know Chase, since you left Cal, I haven’t heard the expression “deceptively fast” used even once.

Chase Lyman: Yeah, everyone kind of said that because I was a big lanky white guy. I always tried to shake it. Deceptive was one of the words I hated the most.

BB: Maybe I am a deceptively good writer …

CL: I don’t know. I ran fast times, so I don’t think anything was deceptive about it.

BB: Looking at the group of receivers on next year’s Cal team, how do you think you, Geoff McArthur and Burl Toler compare?

CL: It’s tough to say because I don’t know those guys too well. When I was there, LaReylle (Cunningham), Robert Jordan and Sam DeSa were there. Those guys work really hard and they are coachable. They are talented and they have a lot of speed, so put that with the coaching staff, and you can’t go wrong. It’s a deadly combination.

BB: Do you get up to the stadium much these days?

CL: Every once in awhile. (Former defensive lineman) Tosh Lupoi is up there as a graduate assistant, and he was one of my best friends in college. He keeps me updated.

BB: Cool. Do you still think back to that ’04 season? It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly three years since then.

CL: Yeah, I mean, when we played Oregon State, that day, we would have beat any team in the country, I

promise you. We were clicking on all cylinders.

BB: I guess the lesson is, injuries suck. Now speaking of that, your injury problems were what kind of cut your NFL career short, but talk a little bit about your two years with the New Orleans Saints.

CL: It was a great experience and I was really glad I was a part of it, but I realized it’s not what I want to do with my life. There is a lot more to life than football. The way my body has been, and the pounding it had taken, it wasn’t worth it to me anymore to fight my way through each practice.

BB: Were you down there for Katrina?

CL: I was home rehabbing, I was supposed to leave and fly back for training camp the day after the hurricane hit. I was packing my stuff up and the Saints called and they said there is a huge storm, so don’t come down. My car was down there and it got pretty beat up, but I was able to avoid the storm.

BB: Lucky for you. You mentioned that you realized football just wasn’t for you as a career. What are you up to now?

CL: I’m working at commercial real estate in Palo Alto full time and doing the web site on the side.

BB: What is the web site all about?

CL: It’s called secondsemester.com. We have textbook exchanges, apartments, finding roommates, tutoring services and all that kind of stuff, and it’s just for students. My buddy Patrick Fisher (a former Cal soccer player) founded it and I’m helping him with it. Craigslist is kind of big, and this way you are friends with the people you are dealing with, and you know they are students.

BB: It sounds like I might be able to find a place to live next semester at a “deceptively fast” rate.

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