Cal Couldn’t Pull Rank on the Bruins

Unbeaten UCLA is ranked No. 2 in the country, but after beating California, 28-16, on Saturday at Berkeley, the Bruins didn’t get much respect from Cal wide receiver Dameane Douglas.

“They definitely don’t look like a No. 2 team--maybe a No. 27 or a No. 28,” Douglas told Brian Higgins of Oakland Tribune. “I’d play them every day. I think they’re pretty happy with a win. We beat them up, and I think whoever plays them next week should be happy how soft they are.”

It’s only a hunch, but it’s doubtful that Stanford, UCLA’s next opponent, is gloating about the “soft” Bruins. The Cardinal has its own problems, losing six of seven games.

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Trivia time: UCLA has won 16 consecutive football games. What is the conference record for consecutive victories?

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Homecoming? Yogi Berra vowed never to return to Yankee Stadium after owner George Steinbrenner fired him as manager in 1985, but he has softened his stance. “I’m thinking about it. Maybe next year,” Berra said.

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More Berra: “Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.”

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Geography major: Jaguar wide receiver Keenan McCardell, on how much he knew about the city of Jacksonville before joining the team: “I thought it was in Mississippi.”

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Sneaky hitchhiker: Australian Commonwealth Games road cycling gold medalist Jay Sweet was caught cheating and was ejected from the Commonwealth Bank Classic in Sydney after he was seen holding onto a car for several minutes.

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Defensive struggle: Susquehanna football Coach Steve Briggs after a 62-61 victory over Juniata, which set an NCAA record for points by a losing team:

“How in God’s name can we give up 61 points and still win the football game? I’m drained, completely drained.”

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His hobby: Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller collects Caterpillars. However, he is not into insects, but tractors.

He has Caterpillar tractors and other machinery made during the mid-1920s and the early 1930s.

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Beer logic: Edmonton Oiler winger Bill Guerin on getting booed in his return to New Jersey to play against his former team: “I don’t think I left them enough beer in the refrigerator.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1968, the L.A. Rams defeated the Bears, 9-7, in Chicago. It was the Rams’ sixth victory in a row on their way to an 11-game streak.

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Trivia answer: USC, 25, from 1931 to 1933. The streak ended with a scoreless tie against Oregon State.

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And finally: Hollywood Henderson, the former NFL player who should know, said this to the the New York Post about Lawrence Taylor:

“One of the side effects of cocaine addiction and smoking crack is extreme paranoia. I peeped out the window and thought the police were after me for years before they actually knocked on my door.

“Somebody could be driving Miss Daisy and you think it’s the FBI.”