Unfortunately, the video after the jump only has Shaw’s presenting of the deck and not the deck itself. Any Berkeley grads out there able to hack into Shaw’s computer and snag it for us? (Kidding!! No one really thinks a Berkeley grad could actually do that.)

Hat tip to The Classical.

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Thankfully the beard is gone and the buzzcut is back. A recent photo of him shows him beardless and looking hot again. Until he goes on some crazy streak and decides he can’t shave…

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While [co-president of Stanford Students for Queer Liberation Holly]Fetter has said that the environment within University locker rooms and on Stanford playing fields has been slow to change, the Athletics Department has taken some initiative. In February, the department welcomed an NCAA-sanctioned speaker to lead a cultural diversity workshop.

Senior Associate Athletics Director Earl Koberlein ‘86 said that sexual orientation in Stanford sports was “not really an issue.” In an email to The Daily, Koberlein stated that the University recruits individuals that can excel academically and athletically, regardless of sexual preference.

“Any student-athlete in need of support is encouraged to meet with Athletics Department or University staffers who can provide needed support, advice and connect them to University resources as appropriate,” he said.

It’s kind of a cop-out for the school to say they don’t need to do much proactively because “we love everyone.” Hopefully they’ll do more as other teams and athletic programs reach out proactively to gay athletes.

By the way, while I’ve been quoted in lots of publications in the past, it’s a particular thrill to be quoted in the student daily of my alma mater.

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Now that UConn’s streak is over, it gives us the chance to reflect on their accomplishment. It was amazing. To win 90 straight games is something to remember. It is a fantastic accomplishment. But all of these comparisons to the win streak of the UCLA men’s basketball team are absurd. Men’s basketball and women’s basketball are completely different sports. Heck, the UConn streak isn’t even the longest win streak in women’s college basketball history; That record stands at 131 straight games by Wayland Baptist University.

To me, the comparison between the UConn women and UCLA men does show one thing: How far behind men’s basketball women’s basketball really is. The UCLA record was set almost 40 years ago. That’s about where women’s basketball is: Four decades behind men’s basketball. It’s not the fault of any of the coaches or athletes today. Heck, the NCAA didn’t even hold a women’s basketball national championship until 1982; That was, not surprising, just over 40 years after their first men’s basketball national championship.

So kudos to the women’s basketball programs of UConn and Stanford; They have been the class of women’s basketball for the last three years. But to compare either of them to John Wooden’s UCLA teams is poppycock; Each is special in their own way.

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When anyone’s personal life is dragged through the press, it must be tough for them to stay focused on work. For an athlete it is doubly difficult, because this creates a feedback loop where a drop in form due to this distraction only serves to intensify the media pressure.

People’s prejudices come to the fore when things are going badly, not because they are valid, but because in these situations it is always easier to find a scapegoat than to solve the real problems. Any bigoted opinions of the existence of a gay player in a team could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. As the player, and thus the team, struggle under the weight of the attention, it would suddenly seem that they are a divisive and destructive presence.

Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be an easy solution. Some players are probably going to have to take it upon their shoulders to endure all this and lead the way–to inspire others that they are free to be honest and to overcome prejudices so that this career path is open to absolutely anyone with the right skills and athletic ability.

So let’s get this right. First, an athlete coming out would have trouble playing well because of all the attention (presumably negative) he would get. Funny though, many gay athletes say they feel staying closeted hindered their performance because hiding is a huge distraction. Second, Taylor seems to assume that things would go badly for the whole team after an athlete came out on the squad. How about the possibility that the team will do well? Will the gay player get the credit because he came out? Taylor doesn’t seem to consider that.

It’s disappointing to see a columnist for the daily student paper at a top-notch university paint coming out so negatively, not even considering the overwhelming evidence, both quantitative and qualitative, that says to the contrary.

Even with the media, we still have a lot of work to do.

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The halftime score of 20-12 (and Stanford was up!) doesn’t begin to demonstrate the bad play that abounded in the women’s championship game, eventually won by Connecticut. There were bad shots. Bad passes. REALLY bad lay-ups. I’ve enjoyed women’s basketball in the past, but to have this much-heralded game turn out like a junior high school game…If i was tuning in to give women’s basketball a chance, I’d tune right out again. At one point in the second half the shooting percentages: Stanford 23%, UConn 17%. In contrast to the Tennessee-Stanford game a couple years ago, this was tough to watch: The 53-47 score was the lowest combined total in the history of the NCAA title game.

At least Stanford made a game of it. But after going up 8 at halftime, they fell apart as UConn started hitting the occasional shot.

Now we have to wonder how UConn’s run stacks up amongst the greatest team athletic achievements of all time. They have won 78 games in a row, and their closest game was Tuesday’s 6-point win over Stanford. They trailed more in the second half on Tuesday than they had in the previous 77 games combined. They played 27 ranked teams in that time, winning those games by an average of 25 points. If this was a men’s team, it would be heralded as one of the greatest American sports teams of all time. Is it?

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Check out ESPN’s recap, and Tyus Edney’s famous play, after the jump.

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I took a look at the clip, and it is somewhat straightforward, although there is a word that is unclear. … My professional opinion is that during this portion, the speaker says “Fuck it, [Nigel], Fuck it.” He does not say “fucking” nor “asshole.” The middle word seems to be a name, which could be different from the one in parentheses above. Possibly the name of a player, coach, or referee, a first or last name.

None of the referees on the game had a first or last name anything like “Nigel,” and none of the Stanford players are named “Nigel.” Still, that wasn’t the part of the translation that was at issue. I didn’t want to put this issue to bed based simply on the word of someone whose reps wouldn’t return my calls, so I’m glad to finally have some closure on this.

Special thanks to Consuelo Gonzalez of lipreadingtranslation.com

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We’re looking into this further (update below) …

Hat tip to Chris Finley.

Update: Harbaugh denies he said “faggot.”

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Now, despite being the best player in the nation this year, he has little chance of winning the award he most deserves: The Heisman Trophy. Why? Stanford approached Gerhart about mounting a Heisman campaign several months ago. Gerhart refused. Yep, while guys named Tebow and McCoy happily use the media to proselytize their faith or their own name, a top-level college football athlete refused a hype machine. Now that’s special.

“It seems like 50 percent of the Heisman is preseason hype,” said Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh. “Twenty-five percent is playing for an undefeated team. And 25 percent is what they actually do.”

Will the voters see through the hype and the preseason talk? I doubt it. Look who’s at the top of all the AP and Coaches polls. Because Florida, Alabama and Texas were deemed more worthy in August than TCU, Cincinnati and Boise State, they’ll be playing for the national championship.

Yes I’m a little biased here, but it’s for more than the fact that I went to Stanford. The kid played out of his mind. He didn’t play on a team that was supposed to contend for a bowl game, let alone a national championship. Some (including Sports Illustrated) are wondering out loud if he’ll get ignored because he’s not black. When you think about his prospects of winning the trophy, you have to consider his race or preseason predictions as deciding factors, because there’s no legitimate reason for him to not win it.

Yet because of him, his team succeeded. He had to carry more than anyone else in the nation (literally and figuratively). For that, he deserves the award.

Since the only way to win the award is to have your name hyped long before the season, let me start on the Andrew Luck campaign right now.

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