Meet Cal’s Goalball. Having only finished its first semester, the sport is already making national news.

“UC Berkeley is the first university in America to offer Goalball as an academic class for credit,” Matt Grigorieff, the architect behind the project, proudly tells us. “And that is fantastic.”

The class is a two-unit supplement to “American Sport, Culture and Education,” a class that fulfills the campuswide AC requirement. Each session is split into half theory and half playtime. After students discuss their readings, they engage in a rousing game at the RSF’s Blue Gym, a massive indoor court on the third floor. The game pits two teams of three against each other, and players score by throwing  balls into the opposing team’s goal.

The catch?

All players wear blindfolds.

Playing on a different team

For junior Alec Sundly, D-1 center midfielder for Cal’s men’s soccer team, maintaining leadership on his side of the court is paramount for victory. He nods at his two teammates, completely confident in their game. But this is the first time either player has ever been to the RSF (to say nothing of the fact that neither teammate has never played a sport before in his life). Sundly grins. He whispers a quick strategy, stretches his legs and then leaps into position. He can already feel the win.

The two teams wait for the command from the referee: “Eyeshades down. Quiet, please! Center! Play!”

In a rapid exchange, the bell-containing ball is tossed from one end of the court. Players duck, jump and dive into each other in an effort to protect the goal. Special tape on the floor helps the crawling players to “feel” where they are in the absence of their eyesight. If the team succeeds in blocking a score, possession changes.

Sweat glistens. Lungs expand. In the final score, Sundly’s team edges a narrow triumph of seven points to six. For a varsity Golden Bear, Sundly has a particularly even game. He scores two points! His two teammates, self-described as “athletically challenged,” divide the five. On this court, the playing field is equal.

Fitness for all

Ann Kwong is the internal president for the Disabled Students Union. Unlike Sundly, Kwong is visually impaired and travels around with a cane. Before Berkeley, athletics were the last thing on her mind.

“When I was a child, I never really understood the fascination my sighted peers had with sports,” she admits. “I didn’t feel like I was able to connect with them.”

All of this changed in the past year. Members in the Disabled Student’s Union expressed discontent with being unable to participate in sports teams. From able-bodied basketball to football, disabled students readily acknowledged the lack of athletic opportunities available to them. Then came the Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program’s support in establishing Goalball — Berkeley style.

Goalball player makes a pass. Notice the eyeshades.

Grigorieff and Jessica Adams, both sighted Cal seniors, paired up to organize the discussion part of the class. Teaming with two BORP Goalball coaches, Brandon Young (nonsighted) and Jonathan Newman (sighted), the four have worked to create the most inclusive athletics class in the university’s history. With the guidance of Professor Derek Van Rheenen, the class has attracted students of all abilities.

Kwong beams, “Now, I realize sports are fun. It’s something you have to experience firsthand to understand — the feeling of belonging when you are part of the team or the sense of achievement when you are able to score a goal.” Her voice softening, she adds, “That’s something that rarely happens in reality.”

Fighting stereotypes

Grigorieff incorporates scholarly texts regarding issues within the disabled community in regular discussion. Textbook problems, he has come to realize, are alive in society today.

“A lot of times people, with visual disabilities are sort of seen by the sighted world as a totally helpless person, but that’s not true,” he argues.

Adams adds, “We learned that society tends to polarize nonsightedness. They think it’s black and white. They don’t realize that blindness is a spectrum.”

According to Professor Rod Michalko of the University of Toronto, 97 percent of people with visual impairment can still see. A person is defined as legally blind if he or she cannot recognize the biggest E on an eye chart from 20 feet away.  In this manner, not passing the test really can change a person’s life, as nonsighted individuals undergo such marginalization. One function of Goalball is to address this social stigma head-on. By including input from the entire sight spectrum, participants in the class gain thought-provoking perspectives.

“I feel like it’s the nonsighted students who are teaching the class,” Adams says. “They teach the class by the way they relate to the text.”

Sundly agrees. Input from his nonsighted classmates has challenged his preconceptions and inspired him.

“You build more respect of what (nonsighted people) have to go through on a daily basis, (and) what society is doing is being too judgmental. You learn in playing Goalball that we are all human beings and that we are always equal.”

The feeling of equality is echoed by almost everyone. Kwong says, “I feel like the No. 1 thing I appreciate is everyone is on an equal playing field. I can participate in the same activity with the same ability. Instead focusing on “the strongest” or “the fastest,” goal ball (emphasizes) skills, practice and teamwork – which is a new way to think about sports.”

Sundly’s team blocking a shot

This is not to say that Goalball is not physically demanding. Nonsighted senior Erik Elveback warns against the misconception that Goalball is “easy.” Teammates must coordinate movements through foot-tapping to prevent players from going out of bounds or wandering off the court.

“This sport is very difficult for everybody that plays because for most students, they have never used hearing as the main method of playing a sport,” Adams explains.

Winning off and on the court

Sundly translates skills from Goalball into new techniques to improve his soccer performance. As a midfielder, he lists blocking farther and throwing harder as valuable interdisciplinary lessons Goalball has taught him. Because the ball used in Goalball is heavier than a soccer ball, Sundly has benefited from weight training in a completely unexpected manner. As for foot-tapping, Sundly points out that Goalball has taught him to position himself better on the soccer field as well as give clearer communication to teammates.

Soccer skills were not the only gifts players gained from Goalball. For Young, it is the scale of bonding that has been “mind-altering.” On the last day of practice, Goalball players celebrated with cheers and heartwarming hugs.

Newman points out that the camaraderie is a sign of the game’s success.

He explains, “What I really enjoyed about this class is how much they all liked Goalball. Every single one of them.”

“It creates new friendships that students hadn’t imagined before,” Adams expresses. “I think its true for everybody in the class.”

The future

For Grigorieff, Goalball is set to thrive. His far-reaching plans aim to help everybody involved.

Matt Grigorieff, the architect behind Goalball, with a player

“Some people are not included in sports, and that’s something we at UC Berkeley want to change,” he says. “I think Berkeley can lead the way to promote inclusion. Goalball is not only a class but could be a club team for the campus. One day, (it could) turn into a varsity sport with scholarships. We want inclusion at the highest level in varsity sports.”

In the fall semester, Goalball will be available for everyone to play. Many players this semester were so touched that they have indicated they are returning to grow a community.

“I love Goalball and I want to continue assisting it — I believe in the cause,” Adams says, firmly. Then, with a laugh, she admits: “Goalball is pretty tight.”

To see Goalball in action, check out the video here.

Image sources: Eric Craypo, courtesy.

Contact Alex Mabanta at amabanta@dailycal.org.

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The guy was a renaissance man. Even if you know nothing about track and field, you probably know that an athlete can do extremely well in at most three or four events, and almost always all of those events will be in the same activity. For example, a jumper usually isn’t a good thrower and a runner sticks to running. Even most long distance runners won’t do too well in any of the faster races. But in 1918, Brutus Hamilton won the high school state championship in high jump, pole vault, broad jump and shot put. He set state records in the pole vault and high jump.

If he had stopped there, no one would have cared. What you do in high school doesn’t matter after high school — listen up incoming freshmen. Fortunately, Hamilton continued his incredible performance. By 1920, while at the University of Missouri, he became the American Pentathlon and Decathlon Champion, and at the same time, a member of the 1920 U.S. Olympic Team. That’s right, he was better overall than everyone else in the United States in 10 events. Can you imagine sprinting 100 meters in less than 10 seconds, jumping up seven feet in the air, jumping eight feet far, throwing a shot put 70 feet and then running 400 meters in less than 50 seconds? And then going back the next day for another five events?

Hamilton’s ability to succeed in almost every physical activity is a testament to his steadfast resolve and self-discipline. According to Hamilton, “it is one of the strange ironies of this strange life that those who work the hardest, who subject themselves to the strictest discipline, who give up certain pleasurable things in order to achieve a goal, are the happiest…”

After the 1932 Olympics, Hamilton became the coach of the track and field team at Cal. During World War II, he spent three years in England and Africa as a Captain in the Army Air Corps. This has led some historians to believe he was the main reason the allies won. After the war, he returned to Cal and went on to become Cal’s athletic director until he retired at 65.

Saturday’s big meet included track and field teams from Wisconsin, New Mexico, and Stanford. Even Stanford guys can’t deny how impressive Brutus Hamilton’s many talents are. Payton Jordan, Stanford’s coach at the time, had this to say after Hamilton’s death: “No other coach had his wisdom or depth. There was warmth, a kindness. When he talked, it was almost spiritual.” Such is the way of the Cal Bear.

Contact Kamin Kahrizi at kkahrizi@dailycal.org.

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Fortunately, the 10 undergraduate members of Berkeley’s Human Powered Vehicle team are far from the average cyclist. These men and women excel at accelerating, but more importantly, they are ingenious engineers, designing and manufacturing their own human-powered vehicle to maximize safety, aerodynamics and comfort.

After a 10-year hiatus, this marks their first year back at Cal and the  start of what promises to be a glorious future. At the 2013 American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Human Powered Vehicle Competition, in San Jose, the team placed second out of 28 teams in the Endurance Event. That’s pretty great, given the fact that this was Cal’s first attempt in a decade. The competition features five tests of the team’s vehicle: the  Safety Test, the Sprint Event, the Design Event, the Innovation Event and the Endurance Event. The tests range from showcasing the safety and comfort features of the vehicle, such as roll bars and even a grocery compartment, to demonstrating the raw power of the team’s athletes, who partake in a 2.5-hour endurance race and a sprint race. The competition involves some serious maneuvering, including hairpin turns and slaloms, as well as avoiding 27 other cyclists on the track.

Just like the Clog, the HPV team has its own brand of quirky humor, going so far as calling its vehicle “PB & J” because it is composed of a central mega lug (or a “mega sandwich”) that maximizes structural stiffness and both in-plane and torsional bending. The team even stuffed the vehicle’s grocery container with PB&J sandwiches out of commitment to the inside joke.

Contrary to what you may be thinking, the team is not entirely composed of nerdy engineers and die-hard cyclists. According to Olivia Tang-Kong, head of HPV marketing, the team’s members have  ”a wide variety of majors … including engineering, computer science, business administration, media studies and architecture, just to name a few.” They are currently looking to expand and are looking for new members to both recruit and market the club. More information regarding joining the HPV at Berkeley can be found on the organization’s website.

If this year’s initial success is any proof, the HPV club at UC Berkeley faces a promising future, and in the words of a wise dog in a banana suit, “It’s peanut butter jelly time.”

Contact Kamin Kahrizi at kkahrizi@dailycal.org

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But Saturday’s Olympic-distance triathlon would decide the 2013 National Champions. With a promising lead from the draft-legal race, Cal’s male athletes plunged into Tempe Town Lake at 7:30 a.m., and after six heats, nearly 650 pairs of arms and bobbing swim caps fought toward the distant finish line. After almost a mile of swimming, the men speedily exchanged their wetsuits for bikes in the transition area and conquered about 24 miles of curvy Arizona roads. Finally, carried by burning leg muscles, the athletes slipped on their running shoes and raced 6.4 miles under the relentless Tempe sun.

“And in second place, we have the men from the University of California, Berkeley,” the announcer declared that night. Following the University of Colorado on the podium, Cal’s men gave an admirable performance with four individuals in the top 55 finishers.

But diving into the water at 11 a.m., Cal’s female triathletes promised a glorious race. With two professionals, a UC Berkeley swim team alumna and a handful of Cal Tri veterans, this women’s team has been dubbed the strongest in the club’s history. The Cal women battled more than 420 bodies in the swim, bike and run portions. Seemingly unfazed by these unforgiving conditions, they placed four individuals in the top 26 finishers, including two in the top four females.

And for the first time in Cal Triathlon’s history, the ladies took the national title, moving Colorado’s women into second place. After galloping onto the podium and posing for pictures, the victors settled back into their seats. One award remained.

The most coveted title, the Overall Team Combined honor, is bestowed annually on the best triathlon team in the United States, and for the past three years, it has been hoarded by the University of Colorado at Boulder. But this year was different. With an excruciatingly slim gap between Cal and Colorado’s athletes that day, the Bears knew they had a legitimate shot at the national title.

“In third place, we have the University of California, Los Angeles!” the announcer boomed. Clad in baby blue and yellow, our UCLA friends bounded gratefully onto the podium.

“And in second place, the University of California, Berkeley,” he intimated. Shocked and tinged with disappointment, the Bears walked steadily up to the stage amid Colorado’s jubilant cries. For the fourth year in a row, Boulder took the team title.

Staring into flashing cameras with manufactured smiles, the 40 Berkeley racers crowded onto the podium’s second tier. As the nation’s top triathletes walked back to their seats, the announcer added, “This year, we had one of the slimmest margins in history between our top two finishers. Cal Berkeley finished with 3,924 points. The University of Colorado had 3,926 points. It will probably never get this close again.”

And with that knowledge, the awards ceremony concluded. Lost in thought, the Bears drifted slowly to their vans and rode back to the Days Inn in virtual silence. But when tears surfaced and disappointments were voiced that night, 40 pairs of shoulders and 40 voices of sympathy rose to the occasion. There was no finger pointing, no sifting through the results, no “what ifs.” Cal Tri embraced the realities of the weekend without discrimination.

Even though sports movies and coaches often emphasize the importance of winning first place, most people don’t value the short walk to the podium or the color of their medal as much as you’d think. When the members of Cal Triathlon are telling their grandchildren about college five decades from now, that awards ceremony will hardly enter their thoughts. Lauri Takacsi will share the story of how he lost his front tooth descending Pinehurst Road on a slippery winter morning. Varun Pemmaraju will explain how he met his first girlfriend through the team. Shelley Harper will remember losing her voice from leading so many cheers on Saturday. Catharina Giudice will proudly tell of how she biked up Mount Diablo on a GU-only diet. They cherish the beach volleyball games in Oceanside, the Tri-Proms, the Wednesday night swims and the times they almost didn’t make it back to Berkeley while running or biking. Despite the huge concentration of talent, Cal Triathlon’s most noteworthy successes are its sense of camaraderie and the contagious passion that its members demonstrate for the sport, and we congratulate them for completing a season that will stand proudly in the record books.

Contact Katherine Velicki at kvelicki@dailycal.org.

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Even though bears rank as one of the most badass animals — right behind sharks and pistol shrimp — for some reason Cal created some sinister looking anthropomorphized bear that totally looks like a bear version of Chucky. I mean, we’re not bashing Oski, but the mascot leaves us with so many questions.

The new logo seems to want to reclaim the badassness of the bear, which we can get behind. But how does the logo stack up to other schools?

1.) UCSC Athletics — the banana slug.

That is one mean looking slug. This is what slugs would look like if they participated in 90′s era professional wrestling. But as a logo? We’re not so sure. The grungy block letters really do not sell this, either. Also, aren’t a slug’s eyes on the ends of its stalks? We object to your anatomically incorrect logo, UCSC. For shame.

Verdict: Cal is way better.

2.) Valparaiso University athletics — the crusader.This cartoon crusader is far from intimidating. We would love to see this lanky dork engage in fisticuffs with the Cal Bear. We imagine he would comically trip over a banana peel and fall into a canyon before our Bear even got a chance to maul him to death.

Verdict: Cal Cal Cal!

3.) South Carolina State athletics — the bulldog.Yeah … We’re not even sure where to start. This is not very well drawn. He looks like he’s made of silly putty. And what’s with the thigh hair? We mean, we wouldn’t mess with a dog walking around like that, but we wouldn’t mess with anything that looked like it came from a 1950′s comic strip.

Verdict: Hmm … Cal.

4.) Stanford athletics — the Tree.Come on, you knew it was coming. Now, let’s be real here. There’s not many ways to make a tree look like a good sports logo. This about all you can do with it. Even then, the Stanford S looks like a 5-year-old playing hide-and-seek. We can see you, Stanford S, and we know your mascot sucks. Don’t try to hide in shame.

Verdict: Cal!

Regardless of any minor complaints or nostalgia for the old Cal Bear, we think sports fans will be just as proud to sit under the banner of this new logo.

Have any opinions on this new logo? Do you love it or hate it with a passion, or maybe feel completely indifferent to everything? Comment below!

Image source: Cal Athletics, AVCA, John Fea, Sportslogos and Wikipedia.

Contact Erik Swan at eswan@dailycal.org.

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The noise of the crowd. Regardless of where you go in the NBA – with the possible exceptions of Utah and Oklahoma City – no fans really cheer louder than the ones in the college game. Bears fans are especially of note, considering that we’ve had plenty to cheer for this season.

The crowdedness of Sproul. He definitely won’t yearn for his walks through the most annoying spot on campus, not just during the insanity of ASUC elections, but in general as well – although he would probably attract more attention than the ASUC senator wannabes and shameless solicitors combined.

The points. It’s easy to say that individual statistics don’t matter in a team game, but Crabbe still ended as the tenth-leading scorer in school history. But you can bet there will be times next year when he’s acclimating his butt with the bench that he’s going to wish for that spotlight and attention once again. It’s likely he won’t be the focus of the opposing defense like he was against UCLA or the subject of fists like he was against Stanford for a while.

The three-point line. A mark behind which Crabbe attempted almost six shots per game this season is almost four feet further out in the NBA, so Crabbe will certainly have to put in some more time at the gym to score those big points.

The cash money. An interesting feature of the rookie system is that for every position he drops in the draft, he loses tens of thousands of dollars in salary for that year. So if you’re taking notes in your dorm on draft night, take a shot for every five players that go before him. How you feel the next morning will probably reflect how he does when looking at his wallet.

Contact Uday at umehta@dailycal.org or follow him on Twitter at @mehtakid.

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In case you haven’t heard (or if you’ve been living under a rock), the Lady Bears have been kicking butt this year, currently heading to the Sweet 16 in Spokane, Wash. They’re only two games away from heading to the Final Four! Obviously, this is a big deal. So don’t forget to support our women and watch the game … even during spring break! We recommend getting decked out in blue and gold, just for fun. Good luck, ladies, we’re rooting for you!

Image Source: yangkr under Creative Commons 

Contact Kristen at kmcfadden@dailycal.org or follow her on twitter @kmcfadden7.

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This year’s tournament is bound to have everyone at the edge of their seats for two main reasons: there is no clear winner and every team is flippity-floppity. The Clog bleeds blue and gold, but even we have to admit Cal’s play has been inconsistent. The men of Cal basketball are fantastic at energizing the whole of Haas Pavilion when they’re at their best, but they are tragically disappointing at their worst. Each of the many turnovers in the Stanford game was like a kick to the groin.

Even UCLA, with the number one seed, isn’t close to a power house. Just the fact that they lost 61-73 to number 11 Washington State only a week ago is bound to raise some flags, but it gets worse. Their obnoxiously flamboyant zubaz uniforms are going to make it very difficult for them to be taken seriously.

The point is, a conference tournament like the one taking place in Vegas is just a way of giving the under-performing teams a chance to look like winners. It’s a beautifully hackneyed underdog story in which the teams who have worked the hardest and developed the most throughout the season are shafted aside by dumb luck when they mess up a single game, and the team with no talent and even less teamwork somehow becomes the tournament champions because the stars align in their favor. It makes us tear up too.

All the teams have a more or less equal chance of winning this year, and it might make for a good show. Really, it doesn’t matter what happens as long as U$C loses to Utah in the first game. Which they will, because the Utes are better at holding it together in Vegas than those party-driven blowhards in L.A.

Kamin Kahrizi covers sports. Contact him at kkahrizi@dailycal.org.

Photo Source: TheDailySportsHerald, under Creative Commons

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The Objective

There are four ways of scoring in rugby:

A try — Similar to a touchdown in football, except in rugby, the players have to literally touch the ball to the ground in the other team’s in-goal area or goal line. If a team is able  to accomplish this, they also get a chance to score points with a conversion kick. A try is worth 5 points.

The Dropped Goal — Given the shape of the rugby ball, this is very difficult to accomplish. The player has to drop the ball on the ground and kick it after it bounces. Worth three points if successful but more often than not it only results in the other team getting the ball.

The Conversion Kick — Kind of like a field goal, except worth two points and kicked from the last place the ball was grounded. The ball just has to go between the uprights to count as a goal.

Penalty Kick — Like a penalty kick in soccer, awarded for various infractions of the rules. Worth three points and identical in form to the Conversion kick.

The Four “Events”

So now that we understand what the objective of the game is, the players have a few ways of getting to where they can score points. While the majority of the game is played by someone carrying the ball, trying to force his/her way past the defense to the goal, complexity arises when the ball is out of play or in contested possession. Two important thing to note is that tackling in rugby requires the tackling player to release the player they tackle, who then releases the ball. Also, offside is called when a player is in front of a teammate who last played the ball or behind the ball when the opposite team has it. Infractions of these and other rules results in the following:

Lineout — Very much like a throw-in in soccer, a line-out takes places when the ball gets out of bounds. Both teams line up on opposite sides of the field and the ball is thrown down the line in between them. Then gymnastics comes into play when each team lifts up one of the players (often the lock) to try and get the ball.

Maul — Capturing the very essence of rugby, a maul is just one man holding the ball while two opposing players are holding him. Then players on both teams latch on to this amorphous group of arms and try to push the ball in the direction of the other teams goal line. So much fun to watch, but not so much fun to be the ball carrier in the middle.

Ruck — When one or more players from a team come into contact and the ball is on the ground, the players can no longer use their hands to get the ball. They must remain standing and use only their feet to gain possession.

Scrum — After minor infractions, a scrum determines who will get possession of the ball. Eight players from each team bind together and push against the other team, and the ball is rolled on the ground between the two teams. The hookers of each team try to use their feet to gain control of the ball while it is on the ground. Watching this play is just plain scrumptious.

The Positions

The Backs

These guys are like the defensive wall and their job is to stop the other team. They are usually smaller and faster than the forwards, because they have to be able to catch anyone who is running to get a try (more on that soon). They are:

The Fullback — For the football enthusiasts, this guy is exactly what he sounds like. The last line of defense, he has to be faster than a hummingbird and pack a bigger punch than a rhinoceros.

The Wingers — Positioned on opposite sides of the field, they must also be extremely fast, to prevent the other team’s forwards from getting any gains.

The Centers — They serve as defense on the inside of the Wings.

The Halfbacks — The brains of any execution, their job is to support the forward while maintaining the first line of defense.

The Forwards

Also, known as the pack, they are the team’s scorers. They are normally bigger and stronger and rely on force to push to the goal line. They are:

The Rugby Union went and got really creative in naming him. Number 8 is … The Eighth-man! His duties involve adding his weight to a scrum, jumping or lifting during a line-out and carrying the ball in attempts to break the other team’s defensive line.

The Hooker — Please refrain from making any kind of prostitution joke about the Hooker. As the center man in the front row of the scrum, he is huge and he will hurt you. In a scrum, the Hooker’s job is to “hook” the ball with his foot. The Hooker also throws the ball in from a line-out.

The Props — The Props support the Hooker, aiding in a scrum by applying force at the Hooker’s long arms. Together, they form a kind of battering ram to break the other team’s defensive line and gain meters. Yes, meters. Yards are for football.

The Flankers — Their primary goal is to tackle the opposing ball carrier and try to steal the ball. In a scrum, they bind loosely to the sides, and stop the opposing team’s eighth-man from making a break away on the blind side of the scrum.

The Locks — They are tall, and have to be able to catch. Their most important duty is catching the ball in a line-out.

So there you have it. Now the next time you go to a rugby game, you’ll know exactly why Cal is the best, or you can at least pretend you know what you’re talking about by throwing out some of the fancy terms we introduced. And you’ll know better than to walk up to the Hooker and ask, “how much for a throw?”

Image Source: ghirson, under Creative Commons

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Because trees are not racist. From 1930 to 1972, the university’s mascot was the Indian. Stanford’s athletic website reports that “the Indian symbol was eventually dropped … following meetings between Stanford President Richard Lyman and native American students (who) felt the mascot was an insult to their culture and heritage.” Did Oski ever get embroiled in political controversy too? Nope! Since 1940, Berkeley’s mascot has enjoyed incredible consistency in being a lovable, costumed bear.

It could have been fast food. Eventually, the question of what would be Stanford’s mascot was put to a vote. “Beating out a steaming manhole and a giant french fry,” the Tree was the ultimate pick among Cardinals in a 1975 contest.

What do snakes taste like? Every February, Stanford students engage in “Tree Week” — an eclectic competition to win the honor of being the university’s sports mascot. Anything and everything is on the table, as Yahoo! News reports, “In the past, the panel — consisting of band members and the incumbent tree — has seen contestants like the one who covered his back with leeches (and) another that bit the head off a live snake.” ESPN features one successful mascot who tried “hang gliding from a campus tower … before staging a mock shooting … outside the band building.”

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Tree Week’s winner is tasked to make his or her own outfit from scratch because “there aren’t any permanent costumes.” But year after year, the result manages to consistently push the bar for disorienting the public and scaring dogs. Past Trees include, “a feminine redwood … made of several layers of tutu-like netting in various shades of green … (and one) Tree … wrapped himself in white and orange sheets— he was a giant piece of candy corn.” At sporting venues, the Tree jerks, jives, freestyles and routinely succumbs to seizures by itself as a way of conveying school spirit. Contrast this to Oski the Bear whose “goofy grin, high-stepping gait and clasped hands” is embraced by Cal Day visitors and Golden Bears alike. Literally. Whereas Stanford’s mascot insists on solo gigs to attract attention, Berkeley’s mascot doles out bear hugs in batches. And this doesn’t surprise us at all.

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