Bay Area Buzz 11/16: TV Show A Win For Cal Football; Warriors’ Three-Year Turnaround; Receivers Make The Quarterback

Sep 14, 2013; Berkeley, CA, USA; California Golden Bears head coach Sonny Dykes stands on the sidelines during action against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the third quarter at Memorial Stadium. The Buckeyes defeated the Golden Bears 52-34. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

Televised Chronicle Of Cal Season A Win For Program

"Cal coach Sonny Dykes won’t tune in next Wednesday for the latest episode of “The Drive,” the weekly documentary that chronicles the Cal and Arizona State football seasons.He hasn’t seen the show yet.“The worst thing you can do is watch yourself on television and you come out here and you’re an actor,” Dykes said. “I’m having a hard enough time being a football coach right now.”The Golden Bears will try to write a more upbeat chapter to the series when they visit Colorado on Saturday afternoon in a battle of the two teams still winless in Pac-12 play.But even at 1-9 overall, the Bears say they’d agree all over again to be part of “The Drive.”“Absolutely, we would,” Cal athletic director Sandy Barbour said. “We talked about that beforehand. What are the implications if this (season) goes sideways?”Dykes and his staff believe they are providing viewers — including potential recruits — an honest look at who they are on and off the field.“We’ve had a rough season,” he said. “The thing we’re excited about is we feel like we’re doing things in the right way and felt the program would portray us in a positive, realistic manner.“At least that’s what I hope comes across.”"

— Jeff Faraudo, San Jose Mercury News

Lacob Looks Back At Three Years Of Warrior Ownership

"Three years ago today, the NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved Joe Lacob and Peter Guber to purchase and assume full control of the Golden State Warriors. A couple of nights later, the duo was introduced to the home crowd at a game against the Pistons, and Lacob said: “If you look up there, that is a very lonely flag,” pointing to the Warriors’ 1974-75 championship banner, “We want another one.”The new ownership has transformed the franchise into one that is considered much closer to accomplishing that dream. Lacob sat down for a 30-minute chat to discuss his first three years with the team and where he sees the franchise going in the future.What have you thought of your first three years on the job?: “I will tell you that I’m very proud of our group, our people, our organization. We’ve been very successful in turning around the culture of this organization if a short period of time, successful in turning around the performance on the court, and what a lot of people don’t see is the success in turning around the business operations. I think what I’m most proud of is ability to hire tremendous people.”“The scariest moment for me was the summer of 2011. We had gone through the year, evaluated everybody we had in the organization and made the decision to make a lot of changes. It was just me and Marty Glick, who came out of retirement and was our acting CFO. We had fired a lot of people and had made a lot of changes. We were sitting there in August or September, saying, ‘Oh my God, we really don’t have anybody in any of these positions. How are we going to operate?’ There was a moment there when fear swept through my body. But fortunately, we were able to get Rick Welts right about that time, and we’ve been able to bring in other people. I’m very proud that, here we are – two years from that moment – and we’ve had a pretty fantastic turnaround in all dimensions.”"

— Rusty Simmons, San Francisco Chronicle

Kaepernick Can Only Do What His Receivers Let Him Do

"Kansas City’s offense is precisely the prudent brown-paper bag everyone expected it to be after the Chiefs traded for longtime 49ers quarterback Alex Smith in the offseason: a lot of running plays, few turnovers and not many ambitious throws downfield.What’s surprising – and frustrating to so many 49ers fans – is that the Colin Kaepernick-led San Francisco offense hasn’t been any more exciting or effective.The 49ers average only 174 passing yards per game, last in the league. Smith and the undefeated Chiefs rank 27th at 198 yards a game.Both quarterbacks have thrown only nine touchdown passes, 27th in the NFL. Then again, the 49ers’ six interceptions are tied for the second-fewest in the league, trailing only Kansas City, which has thrown four.Even Kaepernick’s rushing numbers, which seemed so tantalizing after he dashed through the 2012 playoffs – would he set a season record for a quarterback? – have been merely good and not dramatically different than Smith’s. Kaepernick averages 34.4 yards a game on the ground, Smith 29.4.The “yeah, but” criticism has been the same, too. As in: Yeah, their teams have winning records, but the quarterback isn’t making the offense better and has been leaning on defense and special teams to win games.Look more closely, and there are differences. Kaepernick pushes the ball downfield more than Smith – especially when Vernon Davis is on the field – while Smith prefers to dump off to the running back. Kaepernick gets sacked less than Smith but fumbles more. Kaepernick has lost four this year, Smith none."

— Matthews Barrows, Sacramento Bee