Overdue link
By Jonathan Okanes
Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 4:07 pm in off-season stuff.
This one slipped through the cracks. Former Cal quarterback Steve Levy has joined the ranks of the media. Here is his look at the situation with the tree-sitters.
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August 18th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
There are a couple of audio commentaries regarding Cal practices by Ken Crawford at cal.rivals.com. They run 21 and 28 minutes long respectively. J.O. has reported a lot of the infomation already but it is very interesting nonetheless. In his opinion Longshore will be the opening game starter and Jordan Kay will probably handle fG’s to about 40 yards and Seawright the longer tries due to his superior leg strength. Freshman QB Sweeney supposedly is very mobile QB similar to Kevin Riley.
August 18th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
I try not to post on this subject because it makes my blood boil! I can’t understand how 10-15 people can hold a city of 102,000 and a University hostage! Almost 2 years and who knows how much money wasted for what? The SHPAC or “Gym” as these _____ people like to call it will be built, since the lawsuit is pretty much done and an appeal won’t be won. Bastrds are simply trying to bleed the University as much as they can, just to do it. In the end, everybody loses.
August 18th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Good to see the Running Mouth is a sports fan and is trying to make the athletes better. Too funny. Go Bears!
August 18th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
I’ve always respected Levy for standing up to Tedford in his final game … the sight of Mr. T. turning purple and screaming at him, and Levy brushing him off with a shrug was quite a sight. You’d think that Tedford would’ve had more sense at that moment, but I guess not.
August 19th, 2008 at 12:41 am
You’re a troll, Feveredbear. No one cares what you think.
August 19th, 2008 at 4:01 am
Not much substance. Levy might want to think about other career options.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
More sense than that? Levy was fun to have around, and got the job done, prolly a great a guy, but show me any good team, pro or college, where a QB can blow off the coach, call a different play, and they won’t get screamed at. It’s Div. I football, for christ’s sake, not a de-cal class - you gotta have discipline…remember Buddy Teevens? Running up the score simply isn’t classy.
August 19th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Teff–
I think fedupbear was referring to the fact that Levy was a Senior and it was the last few moments of the last game of the season. Levy didn’t have a lot to lose by going for the score. What could Tedford do to him? Tedford could have let Levy know he was displeased in the locker room after the game. Going ballistic on the sidelines really didn’t accomplish much in regards to Levy although it gave a pretty good indication that Tedford hadn’t called that play.
The reason for calling the running play rather than taking a knee was supposedly to give a popular but seldom used RB a chance to score a TD. It also may partly have been Levy’s way of showing Tedford he thought he should been given his chance to play sooner, given Ayoob’struggles.
August 19th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Steve, there’s another possibility that you missed. By going at Levy in front of the team, Tedford showed who was boss, and it wasn’t acceptable, period.
August 19th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Jan–
I did mention the opportunity for Tedford to address the situation in the locker room. There were only 28 seconds remaining in the game so he wouldn’t have had to wait very long. A coach losing his composure in front of a national TV audience is not too cool.
I do want to amend my remarks re:Levy’s motivation for the play, however. I was under the impression it happened in the 2005/Ayoob season. The Holiday Bowl was actually the culmination of the 2006 season and there is certainly not much to quibble about regarding Nate’s performance that year.
August 19th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Steve, decent points…certainly typical modern management technique is to always criticize in private…but I think football is waaay different than an office setting - missing a block or running the wrong play is one thing, but disregarding a coach - Levy put Tedford’s rep on the line, and it was a trust issue that got broken. I’d flame on him too, as would Carrol, Ericson, Belloti, ect. Buddy “I love you guys” Teevens wouldn’t have though. He’s long gone…I’d rather have a killjoy who can win. LEvy reminded me of a loose cannon that needed to be leashed a bit, kind of like my pit bull, only with opposable thumbs.
August 19th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Jan and Teff–
I think Levy probably was a bit of a loose cannon/smartass and was already in Tedford’s doghouse due to that S.F. beer-glass throwing incident. Tedford suspended him for the 2006 Tennessee opener if you recall.
So Tedford screams at him: Don’t ever do that again, kid. You showed me up. Levy: I’m a Senior coach. I’m outta here. Tedford: Oh, yeah that’s right. Well, don’t expect a good NFL recommendation from me.
Ted’s tirade was probably a good show for the team. Don’t think it affected Levy much though. Most of he team probably high-fived him later that night.
Levy does seem like a nice kid though. I found myself standing right next to him while waiting to cross Piedmont Avenue to the stadium before last year’s game against Tennessee. The crossing cop was making a crowd of us wait till he stopped traffic. I looked at Steve and said: “You look familiar” He stuck out his hand and said “Hi….Steve”. I shook his hand and could only get out “me too” before the cop blew his whistle and motioned everybody across the intersection. True story. I kid you not.
Go Bears!!!!
August 19th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Steve In Concord,
Are you Steve Levy?
August 20th, 2008 at 12:23 am
Big D–
Am I Steve Levy? I kind of wish that I was, because that would make me a whole lot younger and I would be able to watch Cal practices because my little brother was on the team.
The “me too” response meant that I was also named Steve but I guess you got that. Not sure Levy did, though.
Anyway, my 10 second encounter with Steve made want to add my 5 cents worth when a poster brought up the Holiday Bowl TD incident. I thought it was kind of amusing when it happened, even though it wasn’t the right thing to do.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:11 am
I thought everything worked out - from my vantage point, Steve prolly wasn’t going to the NFL anyway, it seemed to fit his character, he made an ESPN “10 most classless acts of 2005″ list (Levy, NOT Tedford), so he got some natioanl notoriety, and Tedford fulfilled his role as a coach with a well-deserved public butt-chewing that I bet Steve new was coming, as did everyone else in that huddle. “Tt’s all good”.