Weekend planner

The UC Davis women's soccer team has the campus all to itself this weekend, hosting Cal Poly on Friday and UC Santa Barbara on Sunday. But they're probably worth checking out, if you enjoy watching the world's game. The Aggies are 7-1-0 and have won six straight. The Mustangs and Gauchos aren't the best teams in the Big West, but it' is a very deep league.

Monday morning quarterback

This may subject me to some nasty e-mails from the Chamber of Commerce, but there is nothing to do in Youngstown, Ohio. But don't just take my word for it. Ask the Aggie Band-uh, which planned to do some sight-seeing, but then spent most of Saturday afternoon in a sports bar watching football after it (like me) realized there were no sights to see. UCD officials had planned a pregame reception at this very bar, but travel problems mostly scuttled that. The band, in its own special way stepped up. At around 3:45, it marched and played an impromptu six-song show for the 30-odd UCD parents, relatives and alums in the bar, as well as some dazed Ohio State fans.

--At some point, close losses to top-flight I-AA programs stop being encouraging. And judging from the sentiments Saturday night, perhaps the Aggies have reached that point. That's probably a sign of a maturing program. On the other hand, it's hard to walk away from Stambaugh believing Youngstown was clearly better than UCD. The Penguins made fewer mistakes and deserved to win the game, but they certainly did not outclass the Aggies.

--The three second-half interceptions were clearly difference. The first was a forced pass on a play call that Biggs said he later regretted. QB Jon Grant was crushed as he released the second interception, which accounted for the errant throw. When that happens on an out route, it's usually coming all the way back, which it did. On the third one, Grant and receiver Chris Carter each looked at the same deep safety and read something different. Carter broke off his pattern while Grant expected him to keep running.

--On my Sports Network ballot, I dropped the Aggies from 11th to 15th. Here's the full ballot:

1. New Hampshire; 2. Appalachian St.; 3. Cal Poly; 4. Illinois St; 5. Montana; 6. Youngstown; 7. UMass; 8. Richmond; 9. Furman; 10. NDSU; 11. Northern Iowa; 12. Hampton; 13. Eastern Ill.; 14. Portland St.; 15. UCD; 16. McNeese St.; 17. Delaware; 18. James Madison; 19. Southern Ill.; 20. Harvard; 21. Towson; 22. W. Illinois; 23. Northern Ariz.; 24. Albany; 25. Alabama A&M.

UCD-Youngstown to be televised

Comcast SportsNet will televise Saturday's game between the Aggies and Penguins live in Northern California, UCD said today. Comcast will pick up a feed from an Eastern Ohio Fox station that was broadcasting the game locally on tape delay in on tape delay. Supposedly, Comcast is moving its fishing shows to do it. Kickoff is 3 p.m.

Monday morning quarterback

It's been strange during the past week to hear UC Davis players and coaches talk so openly about polls. Since August, the rallying cry has been that they want to finish the season in the top 16, which corresponds roughly to being the equivalent of a playoff team. This is a perfectly reasonable goal. It just seems so un-Aggie-like. I'm used to hearing UCD teams (not just the football one) say things like, "we just want to execute/compete/try really hard." Saying it wants to be in the top 16 is both extremely specific, and extremely out of UCD's control. The Aggies are now 16th in The Sports Network poll, up five spots.

Here's how I voted this week that poll: 1. New Hampshire; 2. Appalachian St.; 3. Cal Poly; 4. Illinois St.; 5. Montana; 6. Youngstown; 7. UMass; 8. Richmond ; 9. Northern Iowa; 10. Furman; 11. UCD; 12. Hampton; 13. McNeese St; 14. Eastern Ill.; 15. NDSU; 16. Idaho State; 17. Portland St.; 18. Delaware; 19. Eastern Ky.; 20. Harvard; 21. Georgia Southern; 22. Southern Illinois; 23. James Madison; 24. Towson; 25. Nicholls St

The glamorous life of a traveling writer

SALT LAKE CITY - I ask UC Davis athletic director Greg Warzecka about football scheduling pretty much every time I see him. And every time he says that he wants to play long-term series with Northern Colorado, Portland State and Weber State. He likes that they are good football programs (punter-on-punter crime notwithstanding) and loves that they are situated near airports you can reach directly from Sacramento. Today, I understand him perfectly.

That's because I'm well into my fifth hour of delay here in Salt Lake City. My connecting flight to Montana was cancelled due to the ominous "maintenance reasons." This is a problem because there aren't that many of those flights to begin with. So at this point, it's likely that I won't be on the ground in Montana until after 10:45 tonight.

That will mean about 12 hours in this airport when it's all over, unless a standby reservation comes through on an earlier flight. Salt Lake is not bad as far as terminals go. But I've already eaten (thank you, Delta Airlines food voucher!), read the Salt Lake Tribune cover-to-cover (thank you, Enterprise alum Michael Anastasi!) and finished a story and this blog posting (thank you, say my bosses, sarcastically). So I'm running out of things to do.

This concludes the whining portion of this post.

The important piece of news in all of this is that the Aggies are chartering to Montana State, so they should be able to complete the usual road-game routine of late-afternoon walkthrough followed by the team meal. Pending Internet access (and the whims of the airlines), I'll attempt to post a scene setter from Bobcat Stadium tomorrow morning and an update around halftime.

Today we are a fountain pen

The bar/bat mitzvah is a Jewish rite of passage, in which a 13-year-old is allowed to read from the Torah, thereby becoming a full member of his or her religious community - an adult for lack of a better term. Not surprisingly, this is cause for an enormous celebration. The traditional gifts are savings bonds and fountain pens. There is an old joke about a boy who stands up at his bar mitzvah reception and says proudly into the microphone: “Today I am a fountain pen.”

In that spirit, welcome to the Enterprise sports blog, one our newspaper's first steps into the brave new world of interactive online extras. Our initial goal with this blog is to fill in some of the blanks left by not having a Saturday print edition. Ideally, this will be a way to offer just a little bit more of the Aggies, Blue Devils, and everything else. There will be more. We are planning to include some first-person insight into the sports we cover, commentary, and a first-look at what will be appearing the next day's paper.

You will also have the chance to respond to us, although for legal reasons we will be moderating the comments.

Right now, this site is also a work-in-progress. There are plenty of things we want to try, such as direct Q-and-As about the local teams and liveblogging of certain games to name a couple. If you have suggestions, please leave a comment or send it to me at mmirer@davisenterprise.net..