Pac-10 Women's Basketball

Stanford played Cal Saturday at Haas Pavilion. The announced attendance was 10,525! I hadn't been to a Cal game since they played in the old gym, so this was just amazing! The basketball was great and close the whole time; I was pretty sure they were going to overtime. I think I heard there were ten lead changes or something like that.

They announced that the crowd set an all-time record for a game with two Pac-10 women's teams. Last month, Cal's men's game vs. Stanford at Haas had fewer people. I heard that Cal's men have had only one bigger crowd this season, and that the Cal women players were wondering if they had somehow attracted the men's fans. Maples is much smaller; while I'm pretty sure the Stanford-Tennessee game was sold out, it still would only have been about 7500 attendance.

Of course, the ref's drove me so crazy that I thought if it did go to overtime, Stanford have to bring the injured players out since all the others would have fouled out. Crutches and boots and all... Maybe it would have been easier to just tell all the Stanford players they were going to start with 2 fouls each!

But even on the other side, looking at the TiVo replay, Lawson-Gray didn't travel. But Roz did a great job defending her; it could be a defense clinic video. Cal played so much better than the last time at Maples.

The only other games I've been to that were even close to this experience were Final Four games. The crowds are even bigger, and there certainly is a lot more merchandise for sale. But this was even better (and louder), since everyone in Haas was only rooting for those two teams. The Final Four fans who either come via the lottery or with the two teams who were already knocked out are a lot more polite in their cheering than those whose teams are still fighting.

(Final Four aside: I quit buying my tickets via the lottery; I either sat in the last row, with a ton of UConn fans, or both. And it's no fun to sit with UConn fans if you aren't one. I'm not sure it's even fun if you are! Now I just hope that Stanford makes it, and then I try to buy my ticket, and travel arrangements, through them. Those seats, and the flight, are a lot more fun.)

I also saw what a nice kid's room they had (carpet and everything) in the new gym, so the kids could make signs and get their faces painted, although I noticed that the Cardinal fans had to be a little creative with the standard bear paw print. ;)

I had a few Cal friends sitting on the opposite side of the gym. It was amazing that, with that many people there, I could still see them pretty well. Good job, Cal, I can't wait until we meet you again in the Pac-10 tournament!

One Sport Gal

Today I realized I'm really only a one sport gal. I don't mean I just follow one sport; rather, I really only like one of each kind. Here's what I mean:

Sport I Participate In: Flyball
I have three terriers, and we race for the Bay Racers Flyball Club.

College Sport: Women's Basketball
More specifically, Stanford Women's Basketball, but we go to and watch as much Div 1 as we can. Today we had a great time with over 10,000 of our closest friends watching Stanford & Cal duke it out for the Pac-10 title.

Pro Sport: Bicycle Road Racing, specifically Grand Tours
Although we have enjoyed watching the Tour de France, every year the organizers make it harder to watch by disqualifying more and more riders and teams. But, earlier this week we went to Stage 3 of the Tour of California, and had a blast. Maybe I'll use those three weeks in July for something else.

http://gallery.mac.com/dianafnscp#100144

Teaching Your Height Dog to Get Measured

Real measuring wickets are expensive, and so rarely used they are hard to justify to purchase for even a large flyball club. However, here are the two things we have our club members do to teach their dogs to stand for measuring:

1) Home Training: Stand during Distractions (you don't have to do all of these things, but the more, the better! ;) ):

• clicker train the dog to stand during distractions. I actually watch for (i.e., shape) the dog's big foot pad to touch the ground. I think that if you do that, the dog has to stand in a more relaxed position (vs. up on her toes), and also, if you adjust the foot position to get a good stance, they'll "push" it back down onto the ground when you let go.
  
• after the dog learns how to do this, and will still do it even if you pet them or walk around, I eventually teach them to do this while standing next to a table leg. This gets them used to not only standing next to something upright, like the wicket, but also to stand in a particular location. 
  
• also teach the dog to hold that position while you move a wire hanger or something similar over and above their body, including holding it like the crossbar of the wicket. Lower it down, move it back and forth across their back. Always click when their feet (foot really) is in the correct position, asking for longer & longer duration. Don't forget the "three D's" (distance, difficulty, distraction); that you've made the other two D's easier whenever you make one D harder. 
  

These exercises may sound kind of complicated, but if you have a clicker-trained dog and you are pretty good with the clicker, you can teach it pretty fast. I actually taught my last puppy just at dinner time; it took maybe 10 sessions? His hardest problem was his ticklish butt, but he was pretty determined to keep his feet flat on the floor!

2) Wicket Practice (this one's pretty easy to do, if you can come to Northern California, especially if the dog & handler have done at least some of the above):
at the big UC Davis Picnic Day play day in April, we set up a couple of "judges" (esp. bigger men) with the wicket, for people to bring their dogs up to learn to get measured. This is just for you to practice with a real wicket, and a stranger.