A Press Democrat Blog

Cohn Zohn

Lowell Cohn's pertinent and impertinent take on sports

Mike Montgomery’s big mistake

Monday, at 10:44 by

Here is the opening to my column about Mike Montgomery shoving Allan Crabbe: Mike Montgomery, University of California men’s basketball coach, shoved Allan Crabbe, his star player, during a timeout Sunday night in a game against University of Southern California. You can see the shove, a two-handed, hard push to Crabbe’s chest, online. It is the kind of shove that can start a fight. The Montgomery shove is all over the Internet. You see Montgomery, his face showing anger at… Read More »

Jeff Tedford question

Tuesday, at 7:48 by

Sandy Barbour said one of the reasons she fired Jeff Tedford is his low graduation rate of football players. Really? If Cal had won the Pac-12 North do you think she would have cared about the graduation rate? It’s debatable.

Alas, poor Jeff Tedford

Tuesday, at 9:15 by

I am late posting my Tuesday column to the Cohn Zohn blog — I fell asleep early last night before it went up on the Santa Rosa Press Democrat website. It’s about Cal’s head football coach, Jeff Tedford and it’s not complimentary and I feel bad about that. I like Jeff Tedford and I respect him in so many ways. I just don’t think he’s been a very good coach lately and that needs to change. To read my column… Read More »

Cal needs to win Big Game

Monday, at 4:30 by

Here is my column on Saturday’s Big Game which will be played at Stanford at the late hour of 7:15 pm, too late for many newspapers to cover it comfortably. I attended Monday’s Big Game media luncheon in San Francisco, spoke to Cal coach Jeff Tedford and Stanford’s coach David Shaw and Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, and came away with the firm conclusion that Cal sure could benefit by winning this game. To read my column please click here.

Cal stinks out the joint

Friday, at 8:34 by

Cal stunk out the joint against USC at AT&T Park Thursday night. Well, that’s not exactly true. The Cal defense played OK, but the offense is among the wretched of the Earth. I initially thought quarterback Zach Maynard was good. I don’t think that anymore. He threw three picks. Ugh! Also, there were lots of dropped balls and some fumbles and bad snaps. This team was not ready for prime time or any time. To read my column on the… Read More »

Zach Maynard shines

Saturday, at 10:07 by

It’s been a while since Cal had a good quarterback or even a serviceable quarterback. On Saturday night Zach Maynard made his Bears debut in the season opener against Fresno State. On the basis of one look — this one game — he is bringing quarterbacking at Cal to a whole new level. He is smart and fast and just plain fun to watch. He also led the Bears to a win. I wrote my Sunday column about Maynard and… Read More »

Keenan Allen essential to Cal (Grant column)

Wednesday, at 12:12 by

We turn our focus to college football — to the California Golden Bears, to be precise. Grant wrote a column today for ComcastSportsNet BayArea about Cal’s super wide receiver Keenan Allen. Jeff Tedford’s offense usually focuses on all those terrific running backs Cal has had. This year the best player is the wide receiver. Tedford knows it and he knows what he has to do about it. To read Grant’s piece on Keenan Allen click here.

In Praise of Mike Montgomery

Monday, at 7:26 by

I don’t think Cal has a great basketball team or even a very good one. I don’t think the Bears will win the Pac-10 Tournament although they may win two games. I don’t think they’ll be invited to the NCAA Tournament. I think they will play in the NIT. Having made all those disclaimers I want to praise coach Mike Montgomery. I believe, given what he had, this is one of his best coaching jobs ever. You could make a… Read More »

Cal dumps baseball yet again

Friday, at 9:28 by

I’m running out to a doctor appointment so I’ll make this fast. Cal just sent out a press release indicating which sports it will save and which it will dump. Baseball is getting dumped. I’m not blaming Cal. I’m just saying it’s too bad. Three teams made the cut because of donors stepping up and that’s very good. So this is a happy/sad day. To learn the full details of which teams stay and which don’t click here to read… Read More »

Cal players in the NFL

Wednesday, at 2:58 by

My kid Iggy (Grant) wrote a piece for CSNBayArea about all the Cal football players in the National Football League. His blog just got posted. It’s in honor of Aaron Rodgers who will play quarterback for the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl on February 6. Iggy goes on to name several distinguished Cal players in the league — there are 33 in all from Cal — and to rank the top five Cal players currently playing. To read… Read More »