What follows is a back-and-forth communication between a City of Davis employee and an ordinary citizen of our town whose name and address shall remain anonymous.

A few days ago, this otherwise law-abiding citizen received a letter from a Public Safety Specialist at the Davis Police Department addressed to “Dear Resident.”

“It has come to the attention of the Davis Police Department that there may be conditions on or near your property which may constitute a public nuisance as defined by the Davis Municipal Code,” the letter begins ominously.

Ouch.

Did someone forget to pluck the dandelions from the front lawn or not roll the garbage cans away from the curb after collection day?

“More specifically,” the letter goes on, “you have a piece of indoor furniture on your driveway. Please remove the furniture off your driveway.”

Uh-oh, sounds like another furniture felony in the old hometown.

Since the letter specifically mentions “indoor” furniture, it begs the question if maybe only outdoor furniture is allowed on one’s driveway.

Or perhaps, no furniture at all.

I’m honestly not sure what distinguishes indoor furniture from outdoor furniture. Worse yet, my Irish friend and neighbor Paddy O’Furniture has no clue either.

Maybe it’s like that fuzzy definition of “nuisance” that is basically “you know it when you see it.”

I suppose if the furniture in question is a Barcalounger with three reclining positions and a vibrator, that might meet the definition of “indoor” furniture.

But what about a folding chair that usually hangs around the kitchen table but is sometimes dragged outdoors when someone wants to work on their tan and the only place with full sun is the driveway?

Adds this stern communique from Big Brother, “We find that most conditions are easily corrected and nothing more than this friendly reminder is needed to prevent further contact regarding the condition.”

I guess friendly is as friendly does.

Let’s call our resident-in-trouble D.D. for Driveway Dorothy (not her real name).

Not willing to take this scolding sitting down - on either indoor or outdoor furniture - D.D. responded in kind. In other words, with a “friendly reminder” about a private citizen’s right to driveway autonomy.

We all learned in kindergarten that a man’s home is his castle, but left unsaid is whether that rule includes the castle’s driveway.

However, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case of Pinocchio v. Geppetto that there is no legal distinction between indoor furniture and outdoor furniture.

Writes D.D. to the city’s driveway protector, “I recently received a letter from you in your role as Public Safety Specialist for the Davis Police Department.”

Sounds friendly so far.

“Specifically, the letter stated that ‘there may be conditions on or near your property which may constitute a public nuisance,’ and I was asked to remove a piece of furniture on my driveway.

“The piece of ‘indoor furniture’ was a wooden toy box. This toy box had been listed on Facebook Marketplace, was marked ‘FREE’ and was entirely on my driveway and not blocking the sidewalk.”

Driveway Dorothy goes on to describe her long and distinguished career as a Director of Risk Management for both private corporations and public agencies, positions that regularly required her to assess public nuisances and safety concerns.

She may have even come across the occasional toy box in a driveway.

Adds Dorothy, “Given my over 31 years of risk management experience, it is puzzling to me that this toy box on my property rose to such a level of concern as to cause the Davis Police Department to send this correspondence to me.

“I am pleased to know that the Davis Police Department is well-staffed enough to send such Davis Municipal Code correspondence to all the residents of Davis, including our UC Davis students who continually, throughout the year, place clothes, furniture and other household items on lawns, driveways and sidewalks.”

Hey, Dorothy, that’s where I get almost all my wardrobe. Please don’t let the secret out.

“All this is to say that the public nuisance toy box has found a new home and is no longer on my driveway.”

Phew.

“The citizens of Davis can relax and be assured that they are safe from this ‘nuisance’ and, hopefully, the Davis Police Department will have more time to address situations that are truly public hazards.”

As Jack Lord used to say on Hawaii Five-O, “Book ’em, Danno.”

Reach me at bobdunning@thewaryone.com

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NO NUKES ... It’s clear that Jeanine Pirro should never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.

OH MAN, OMAN ... Said the Commander in Chief on national television, using the elegant language we have come to expect of him, “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them.”

Oh man. (Bless me Father, for I almost used an exclamation point.)

TODD BLANCHE’S REAL FIRST NAME ... It has been determined that Todd Blanche’s birth name was actually Carte Blanche, which explains why he plans to give Donald Trump anything and everything he wants.

SPEAKING OF OUR NEW AG ... Mr. Blanche, while addressing federal law enforcement officers the other day, stated firmly, “In my Department of Justice, if anybody touches a federal law enforcement officer in any way inappropriate, we will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.”

Too bad he doesn’t feel that way about inappropriate touching of Capitol Police officers on January 6 or the thousands of victims of Jeffrey Epstein and his still-unnamed co-conspirators.

CRITICAL MASS ... While attending Holy Mass at a nearby parish last Sunday, I clearly heard a prayer petition from the pulpit imploring that “all immigrants and aliens will be treated as the children of God and that we will always welcome all strangers.”

Will ICE soon be paying this humble parish a visit?

OUR SIZZLING ECONOMY ... Donald Trump is insisting that he has created the greatest economy in the world, and from his vantage point, that’s understandable.

I mean, if I’d made $2.2 billion in a mere 12 months, been gifted with a $400 million flying yacht and been guaranteed the IRS will never audit me, I’d be thinking the economy was doing pretty swell too.

FLYING BY THE SEAT OF THEIR PANTS ... Way down deep, I wonder how the sitting ducks on that “decoy” plane out of Turkey feel about their value to this administration.

FOAM OR FEATHERS? ... I don’t know about you, but I was sad to see Mr. Pillow lose his primary race for Governor of Minnesota.

I’ll miss seeing his earnest buffoonery on the Nightly News.

HHS FOLLOWS EUROPE’S LEAD ... We hear all the time about American exceptionalism, but apparently RFK Jr. doesn’t believe in the concept.

This, from the Department of Health and Human Sacrifice, about how folks in Europe, especially Denmark, are so much smarter than we are when it comes to vaccinating kids.

“The Department of Health and Human Services completed a scientific assessment, which identified a set of consensus vaccines that are consistently recommended in all peer countries and found that the United States currently recommends more childhood vaccines than any peer nation, including more than twice as many vaccine doses as some European nations.”

After touting American superiority in all things, this administration is now suggesting we should play follow the leader behind Europe when it comes to basic healthcare.

Bottom line: measles is back.

HE’S A LUMBERJACK AND HE’S OKAY ... So, a little theme song for the Democrats of Maine who have now nominated an honest-to-goodness lumberjack to replace an oysterman in the U.S. Senate race against Susan Milquetoast Collins.

With thanks to Monty Python.

CAN I HAVE THIS DANCE FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE? ... Portland’s famed Lloyd Center, a worldwide sensation when it opened in 1960 as the largest mall on the planet - complete with an immensely popular ice rink - sold its last pair of jeans and its last box of popcorn earlier this month.

I remember visiting there numerous times over the years and even crashed ungraciously on that very ice when my unfamiliar rental skates clearly malfunctioned.

My oldest son Ted remembers when he was very young there used to be a hamburger place at the Lloyd Center named the Hippopotamus that had a burger garnished with peanut butter and jelly instead of ketchup and mustard.

Every kid’s dream.

Jerry and Tally Leonard met at the Lloyd Center ice rink nearly 60 years ago and have skated there almost daily ever since.

They were honored to have the last dance in the final moments before the mall closed for good.

Reach me at bobdunning@thewaryone.com

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By 1915, The Farm had fielded an intercollegiate football team that earned its first-ever win over Nevada in that inaugural season. This, despite the fact UC Davis had just 354 students, including football team captain Hira Hall.

That was also the year the Department of Vegetable Crops was established on campus, while the first all-weather road to Sacramento opened.

From humble beginnings was athletic prowess born.

As the Aggies now take a bold step into the Mountain West after a 20-year run in the Big West, competition against a whole new slate of schools has begun in earnest this month.

Aggie football, which owns a national record of 20 consecutive conference championships - 18 of them under legendary head coach Jim Sochor - will remain for the time being in the Big Sky Conference at the Football Championship Subdivision level, but the vast majority of UCD sports are now fully functioning members of the Mountain West.

Before looking ahead at what’s to come, a look back is appropriate to examine the century-long highlights of those sports that will now compete in the Mountain West.

For the Aggie women, that means basketball, cross country, golf, gymnastics, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field, soccer, softball, swim and dive, tennis and volleyball.

For the Aggie men, the new competition features basketball, baseball, cross country, golf, outdoor track and field, soccer and tennis.

All of those sports have had their moments in the sun in the previous century.

It’s hard to top the four national championships the women’s tennis team accomplished, with the first two coming at the Division III level in the old Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women in 1980 and 1981.

The latter two were at the NCAA Division II level in 1990 and 1993.

In 2014 longtime women’s tennis head coach Bill Maze was inducted into the United States Tennis Association Northern California Hall of Fame, celebrating his contributions to the game both as a player and a coach.

Maze played alongside John McEnroe at Stanford and later competed professionally.

From 1973 through 1992, the Aggie women ran the table with 123 consecutive conference wins.

UC Davis men’s tennis, of course, had a long string of successes of its own, highlighted by an NCAA Division II team national championship in 1992 under head coach John Nelson and individual singles championships by Tim Monroe in 1976 and Mark Segesta in 1993.

Steve Summer and Jeff McCann claimed the national doubles title in 1992, while Segesta teamed with Dave Allen for a doubles crown in 1991.

The men’s tennis foundation was built in 1967 under head coach George Stromgren when UCD won its first-ever Far Western Conference championship.

In 1968 the Aggies captured the NCAA West Regional crown under head coach Will Lotter and made the program’s first NCAA championship appearance in Fort Worth, where UCD finished seventh in the nation. Mike Talmadge earned All-American honors.

Under current head coach Eric Steidlmayer, UCD won its first Big West tennis championship in 2015, then ranked No. 49 in the country the following year.

Aggie baseball came to prominence under head coach Phil Swimley, with Division II World Series appearances in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1995 and 2003 finishing tied for fifth both times.

Moving into Division I in 2008, UCD qualified for the postseason, upsetting host Stanford, 4-2, in regional play and finishing the year at 35-24.

Former Aggie infielder Daniel Descalso now wears a Major League World Series ring for his stellar play when the St. Louis Cardinals won it all in 2011. Descalso hit .667 in the Series.

Speaking of national championships, the 1998 Aggie men’s basketball team claimed a Division II national championship with an 83-77 win over Kentucky Wesleyan to finish the year 31-2 under Bob Williams.

Current UC Davis assistant Kevin Nosek was a member of that 1998 team.

The Aggies thus became the first and only non-scholarship team to win the national championship as they ran off four straight conference titles under Williams.

Moving to Division I in the Big West under Jim Les, the Aggies beat UC Irvine, 50-47, to qualify for March Madness in 2017.

Women’s basketball has been a long-term success.

In 2011, Sandy Simpson’s final year as head coach, the Aggies qualified for the NCAA tournament by winning the Big West.

Under current head coach Jennifer Gross, the Aggies won five straight Big West titles from 2017 through 2021, with Gross being named Coach of the Year each time.

In 19 Big West seasons, the Aggies have never failed to qualify for the Big West tournament.

Led by All-American Jade Light, volleyball enjoyed perhaps its best season ever with a Big West championship in 2025.

Light, a senior hitter, was recognized as one of the top 100 Division I volleyball players in the country.

Coach Dan Conners passed Kathy DeYoung as the all-time winningest Aggie coach in volleyball. DeYoung had several conference championships in Division II.

This past season, the Aggie softball team had its best run in the Big West to qualify for the conference tournament.

In 2010, UCD qualified for its lone Division I postseason appearance, earning a berth in the Los Angeles regional.

Softball has had 15 members elected to the Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame, making it among the best represented women’s teams.

Gymnastics, meanwhile, qualified for the 2025 NCAA regionals for only the second time in school history and celebrated its 50th anniversary as a team in 2026.

The cross country program has sent four runners to the NCAA championships, with Bri Weidler (2022 and 2023) leading the way along with Kim Conley (2008), Kaitlin Gregg (2008) and Jonathan Peterson (2010 and 2011).

Peterson was awarded All-American honors after finishing 14th overall in the meet hosted by Indiana State.

The UCD women’s golf team has four times made it through the NCAA regionals to compete for the national championship in 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2015, with the best finish an 11th place in 2015.

In the 2016 Stanford regional, Andrea Wong placed first at four-under par.

Overall, the Aggies have claimed six Big West championships and crowned six Big West individual champions.

The men’s golf team had the ultimate thrill of winning the 1979 Division II national championship on its home El Macero Country Club course under coach Joe Carlson.

It was the first national title for UC Davis in any sport.

Scott Gordon, who finished his career in 2004 with what was then a school record scoring average of 71.54, became the first UC Davis golfer to earn a PGA Tour card, a feat he accomplished in 2010.

Since joining Division I, the Aggie women’s swimming and diving team won a 2010 championship in the Big West before moving to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation with titles in 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2016.

Retiring dive coach Phil Tonne, who spent over 20 years guiding the Aggies, earned Big West Co-Diving Coach of the Year in 2026.

UCD’s men’s soccer team has been a consistent power in the Big West, taking the 2024 title behind the strong play of Cason Goodman, who was named as the Big West Tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

Former Aggie Max Arfsten is a member of the 2026 U.S. World Cup team. Arfsten was named Big West Offensive Player of the Year in 2021.

The women’s soccer team enjoyed its best Division II success with a 15-4-1 mark in 1996.

After moving to Division I, the 2024 team went 13-5-2 as Sam Tristan became the first Aggie to be named Big West Offensive Player of the Year.

The Aggies have had many standout performers over the years in both men’s and women’s track and field.

Anthony Terry got the parade started by winning the NCAA Division II triple jump title in both 1973 and 1974, while Patti Gray took national crowns in the 3,000 in 1982, the 5,000 in 1982 and the 10,000 in 1983.

After transitioning to Division I, UCD has picked up 17 All-American honors, highlighted by Ashley Hearn in the discus, Erinn Beattie in the high jump and Dani Barrett in the 10,000 meters.

In an incredible feat of excellence, the UC Davis women’s track and field program has picked up two NCAA Woman of the Year Awards, with Jamila Demby winning in 1999 and Tanisha Silas taking the honor in 2002.

The program’s elite training has consistently propelled student-athletes onto the global stage, highlighted by multi-time All-American Erinn Beattie winning a bronze medal for Team USA at the 2019 NACAC U23 Championships, Thomas Phillips capturing a gold medal for Great Britain on the 4x400 relay team at the 2011 European U23 Championships and Ashley Hearn advancing to compete in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials.

To top it all off, an incredible 280 Aggies were named to the Big West 2025-26 Commissioner’s Honor Roll for academic excellence.

All in all, a fitting goodbye to the Big West as UC Davis faces its first year of competition in the powerful Mountain West.

The conference may have changed.

But the goal to compete at the highest level while maintaining the cherished student-athlete model has remained the same.

Reach Bob Dunning at bobdunning@thewaryone.com

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That exercise reminded me of a day several decades ago in Downtown Davis when I was the “victim” of an errant driver.

It was a beautiful Friday afternoon and I had just left the world headquarters of the local newspaper where I had filed yet another Pulitzer-quality column explaining the meaning of life.

I was in my beloved ’72 Ford, already 10 years old, on the way to pick up my two oldest kids at an elementary school on the north side of town when I stopped for a red light at 5th and G.

I knew my car had magnetic appeal, but I didn’t realize how much until I was slammed from behind by some sort of Chrysler product of a similar age and condition as my vehicle.

When I looked in the rearview mirror to determine who or what had hit me, I saw what appeared to be a driverless car.

I hadn’t heard any breaking glass, but the jolt was strong enough that I was sure my rear bumper would not live to see another day.

Still, I wondered through it all how this ramming machine had come to be driven down G Street without a human being behind the wheel.

As I continued to look in the rearview mirror for evidence of life, a smallish woman, about 95 I’d say, straightened herself up off the floorboard and peered over the dashboard to see what she had done.

She turned at least 110 as I watched her, hands to her face in horror, as if she had just rammed the presidential motorcade with Ronald Reagan in the back seat.

I turned around, gave her a shrug and my best so-you-wrecked-my-car-but-I’m-not-really-mad smile, and signaled to the nearby Shell station as a likely place for us to both pull over, assess the damage and share insurance information.

I even planned to give her the standard 10 percent senior citizen discount.

After the light turned green and oncoming traffic had all passed, I turned carefully into the Shell station, popped out of the car and prepared to be calm and kind to a woman who clearly meant me no harm.

But as I turned to greet my tormentor and assure her we could work things out amicably, her Chrysler shot off down Fifth Street like the pace car at the Indy 500.

Not wishing to pursue an elderly woman through our busy city streets (“Columnist arrested chasing woman - bail denied”), I drove instead into the instant-claims office of my local longtime insurance agent.

He and his team of experts pulled my policy from their files. I knew it was mine when a “premium past due” notice slid out of the folder and onto the floor in front of me.

They went over my car with a fine-toothed adjuster. The trunk, they discovered, didn’t open. I explained it was already that way from the time I backed into a metal pole at 7-Eleven.

The door on the passenger side, however, did open, which was an improvement over its previous condition.

After three or four minutes of consultation behind closed doors, the team of experts emerged to say that in their opinion the car’s appearance had been enhanced by the latest collision and I owed them $399.57.

They also noted my policy carried a $200 deductible and that my car was considered “totaled” when damage exceeded $129.98 or the hubcaps were stolen, whichever came first.

My concern then turned to this poor woman, who didn’t dream she’d be on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list when she got up that morning and must be cowering in fear every time the phone rang or someone knocked on the door.

She surely didn’t know that I could live with the damage to my car and would have told her so if only she had stopped.

Wherever she is today, I hope she knows that all is forgiven.

Not to mention the statute of limitations on whiplash has likely run out as well.

Reach me at bobdunning@thewaryone.com

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Folks who have gone away from the local high school to set the world on fire, then return home to the town that gave them a head start in life.

A couple of years ago my class at Davis High School had one of those significant reunions that ends with a five or a zero and all I can say is that those in attendance were glad that everyone was required to wear a name tag.

“Bill, is that you?”

“No, I’m Susan.”

Because I could not get a hair appointment in time, I actually missed that reunion. In fact, I’ve missed all of my reunions.

I mean, how much fun is it to hang out with a bunch of old people?

I do, however, remember my actual graduation night well.

It took place outdoors on the quad at what was then a nearly brand new Davis High School on 14th Street, replacing the historic one on Russell Boulevard that is now the Davis City Hall.

My proud father, who was immensely happy to see that my 2.25 GPA was good enough to earn me a diploma, was there with Mom and my four siblings, three of whom had already gone through this song and dance.

Although I was pretty casual about a ceremony I basically regarded as a waste of time, I was shocked when I started to tear up when the school band launched into Pomp and Circumstance as we graduates marched in to take our seats among the folding chairs stolen from the cafeteria.

The top 25 students in the class got to walk across the stage first and receive a beautiful new dictionary, even though those of us who didn’t get to walk across the stage were actually the ones who needed a new dictionary.

In the rush to get the whole family into our Ford Ranch Wagon, Dad forgot his camera and had no way to record this grand event.

Discouraged but not defeated, Dad spotted a photographer for the local newspaper and offered him five bucks to snap a photo of me when my name was finally called and I got to walk across the stage to shake the hand of Superintendent of Schools Dean Lobaugh.

Which is why the next day, much to my embarrassment, my photo was on the front page of the local newspaper instead of that of the class valedictorian.

Fast forward a handful of decades and I’m happy to report that the proud Class of 1976, truly the Spirit of ‘76, America’s bicentennial year, will be holding their 50th class reunion the weekend of Oct. 2-4.

This, by the way, is not my graduating class by a long shot. These folks were barely out of diapers when I graduated from Davis High School.

For those too young to remember, the bicentennial was a big deal, though no one was creative enough back then to have a cage fight on the White House lawn.

One member of the Class of 1976 sent a note to remind me that streaking became a national phenomenon about that time since we no longer had to worry about Watergate or the energy crisis that sent gasoline prices soaring to nearly 60 cents a gallon.

I do, in fact, remember a streaker around that time who sprinted down the east sideline of Toomey Field one November night, causing a comical commotion during a lopsided Causeway Classic.

Security quickly corralled this clothing-optional criminal, threw a towel over his private parts and escorted him out of the stadium, never to be seen again.

Today he’d be deported to El Salvador.

When these Class of ‘76 youngsters were in high school, the town of Davis was about half the size it is now. Homes cost a 10th of what they command in 2026.

As someone who grew up here, I keep telling myself that when I was in elementary school I should have been collecting real estate instead of baseball cards.

Most members of the Class of ‘76 still live in California.

The Golden State holds 153 of these graduates, followed by Washington with 10, Nevada with 7, Colorado with 6 and Oregon with 5.

Wrote one member of the Class of ‘76, “This was the year many of us graduated from Davis High School and called Davis home for the last time. But these formative years were when we developed and shaped our minds for entering the world outside our comfort zones.”

A group of these folks have scheduled three full days of activities including - you guessed it - a pickleball tournament in honor of a game no self-respecting Blue Devil would have played in 1976.

In addition to many gourmet meals, there will be tennis, cycling, golf, birding and Berryessa boating. (Go to dhs76reunion.com).

Wrote another organizer of this classy reunion, “If ever there was a time to come back to where it all started for us as young adults, this is the event. We all experienced good times and sometimes difficult times, but our time at Davis High School helped build who we are today and the values we took with us during the next 50 years of our lives. Who wouldn’t want to look back and share some of those memories?”

As a gift to their alma mater, the class is donating a “Spirit Rock” to be placed on the Davis High School quad along with a bronze plaque.

Says the plaque, “In honor of the enduring spirit of Davis Senior High School and in celebration of the Class of 1976’s 50th Anniversary Reunion, we dedicate this Pride Rock to inspire future Davis Senior High classes representing the timeless ideals of unity and perseverance.

“This gift affirms our DSHS Values of Perseverance, Respect, Integrity, Determination, Empathy.

“Dedicated with pride by the DSHS Class of 1976 and CORE Construction, commemorating our nation’s 250th anniversary.”

Go Blue Devils.

Reach Bob Dunning at bobdunning@thewaryone.com

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As great as all those strides have been for mankind, we’ve now reached the point, of course, where mom and dad can genetically engineer their own offspring.

In fact, with the current administration’s emphasis on American exceptionalism and absolute disdain for anyone who struggles to keep up, I suspect the day is coming when genetic engineering will become mandatory for anyone wishing to bring an American citizen into this world.

With “perfect” children being born without a flaw, healthcare costs will plummet. We’ll need fewer schoolteachers as well, since kids will be able to recite the alphabet by age 1 and speak at least three languages by age 2.

When it comes to hair color and eye color and height and weight and IQ, parents will pretty much be able to dial up any trait they wish before their child takes its first breath.

A custom order, likely delivered by Amazon.

As I’ve noted before when writing about this topic, certain characteristics will, of course, be more expensive than others, simply because there will be a need to control talent.

After all, if every kid on the block can hit 60 home runs in a Little League season, his or her “talent” will become ordinary and thus basically worthless.

If all the kids in the nursery school can outshine Picasso, what will their parents be able to brag about at the end-of-the-year potluck?

Running the mile in under four minutes used to be a big deal, mostly because only a handful of human beings could accomplish that feat after Sir Roger Bannister became the first to do so in 1954.

Nowadays if you want a kid faster than a speeding bullet, all you have to do is specify your desires on the pre-birth application.

However, if your kid has been engineered to run the 100-meter dash in under nine seconds and the next-door neighbor’s kid can do it in seven seconds flat, the 9-second effort becomes positively slovenly.

“Our kid’s two seconds slower than George and Sally’s kid,” worried parents will tell one another as they consider trading their child in for a faster model.

It might not be as obvious, but the same will be true for smarts.

There’s actually nothing remarkable about knowing your multiplication tables up to 12 times 12 by age 2 if every other kid knows them by age 1.

“Bobby’s a whole year behind his class,” those same parents will say as they furrow their brows with doubt.

There is, unfortunately, one major problem with every kid being fast and smart and so very good-looking.

Someone still has to take out the garbage.

Can you imagine asking your kid to do such a menial task after she’s just recited pi to the 162nd position?

Indeed, depending on who is in power and can force these decisions on parents, American society will have a desperate need for generic children to perform the tasks the newly brilliant refuse to take on.

With a proper government subsidy, the cost of bringing a generic child into the world will be only 10 percent of what the perfect child will command.

Generic children will be available in only one skin color - a sort of pale green - and eye and hair color will have to be accepted “as is.”

Generic children will grow to average height and weight and be of average intelligence as they sit at the back of the class arguing whether Humpty Dumpty is real or fictional.

While they may get colds a little more often than other children, one advantage is that since they’re neither fat nor skinny, they’ll be easy to fit when you go school shopping at Penney’s.

While they won’t be beautiful by any measure, they won’t be ugly either, and they’ll be perfectly acceptable as part of your living unit at picnics, church socials, pizza parlors and family reunions in North Dakota.

Because they aren’t as bright as more expensively engineered children, generic kids may actually present fewer behavioral problems because expectations for them are so low. They will no doubt cry less in the middle of the night, but unfortunately are likely to laugh less as well. Especially at clever jokes with a double meaning.

Generic kids won’t be the stars of the high school baseball team, but they will be good enough to earn an occasional tour of duty in right field and can usually be taught to catch fly balls.

At this point, generic girls will be just like the boys. However, since the only difference between the sexes is cultural anyway, parents who just must have a little girl will be offered a $19.95 conversion kit to teach her all the common stereotypes.

Best of all, because of their ordinary status, generic children aren’t likely to disappoint their parents the way talented children might do.

And finally, it won’t take long, no doubt, for parents of generic children to get used to the big “G” stamped on their kid’s forehead as the family all goes out for ice cream after dinner.

Reach me at bobdunning@thewaryone.com

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Wong, who has also called games in a variety of sports for Stanford, Washington, USF and others, does the heavy lifting by describing the intricacies of every ounce of action, serving as the eyes of folks who are following the game at home or in the car only with their ears.

My job is what I call “potshot journalism,” where I react to Wong’s call, but do my best to never interrupt him. During timeouts we have a chance for a little humor, correcting each other’s grammar or explaining how it came to be that what was once the University Farm was now playing Division I basketball in a large arena built over the sacred ground where Jack Hanna and his buddies developed the first tomato harvester.

Greg has never heard of Jack Hanna. I used to mow Jack’s lawn.

I’ve been hooked on Aggie basketball since my dad took hold of my five-year-old hand and walked me up the stairs to the varsity court in Hickey Gym.

Twenty or so years later I was a newly minted sportswriter for the local newspaper, a dream job that nevertheless required a vow of poverty.

Fast forward another 55 years and you’ll find me sitting to Greg’s right in a cramped booth high above the action at the University Credit Union Center, which I still refer to by its original name of Rec Hall.

Wait. Add all those years together and I think that makes me 110.

As part of our pre-game prep, Greg and I are provided a detailed “pronunciation guide” from the sports information directors for each school that will be competing that afternoon or evening.

When I was five years old attending games in the cramped quarters of Hickey Gym, I didn’t need a pronunciation guide.

And I didn’t need one in my early days as a sportswriter in the simpler days when UCD stalwarts had simple, unmistakable last names like Thomas, Wood, Ford, Frost, Campbell, Johnson, Shepard, Larkin, Steed, Douglas, Underwood, Olson, Cordova, Granados, Rivers, Cooper, Cranford, Crawford, Cupps, Donnell, Hansen, Henderson, Slater, Jones, Kirk, Indart, McWilliams and Towne.

The toughest names I came across as a writer long ago were Baranco, Neumayr, Smrekar and Rabedeaux. (Rab-uh-doo).

My how things have changed.

Last season we had a Rocak and a Sevilla. Simple enough, right?

But is “Ro-chak” or “Ro-cack?”

And is it “Suh-veeya,” rhymes with “see ya” or “Suh-villa,” rhymes with vanilla?

Or something else altogether.

With the home team, you learn right away how to say their names, but with the visitors, you get only one crack at them before they’re done and gone.

Greg and I agree that blowing a player’s name, home or visitor, is a mortal sin.

On the greatest agricultural campus in the world, you can butcher a steer or a hog, but you cannot ever butcher a basketball player’s name, first or last.

To prepare for the 2026-27 season that begins in earnest November 2, Greg and I will be heading to New York City to visit the United Nations in order to familiarize ourselves with the international names on the Aggie roster.

Newcomers have arrived from France, Greece, Germany, Austria, Australia, Poland and seemingly even Mars.

In no particular order, they are Veniamin Abosi, Clarence Massamba and Nnadalu Noble, the first basketball player in NCAA history to have a first name that begins with a double “N.”

Then there’s Aleks Szymczyk. Vanna, I’d like to buy a vowel.

The tongue twisters ease up a bit with the addition of Julian Dabrowski, Koby Moir, Caspian Jones and Julian Margrave.

No matter how you pronounce their names, the incoming talent is readily apparent.

Aggie head coach Jim Les, one of the best game-day coaches in America, says, “This group checks every box with size, skill and athleticism. And they’re walking into a special moment for our program as we begin our inaugural Mountain West season. Our staff is excited to get to work and build this team.”

Clarence Massamba is a 6-5 guard from Paris who played last season at Tennessee.

Veniamin Abosi is a 6-6 guard/forward from Heraklion, Greece who spent two seasons at the University of San Francisco where he shot a sizzling 40.4 percent from 3-point range.

Julian Margrave is a 6-10 forward from Louisburg, Kansas who comes to town after spending the 2025-26 season at Omaha, where his strong academics made him a perfect fit for UC Davis.

Aleks Szymczyk, a 6-10 center from Frankfurt, Germany, gives the Aggies a familiar face in the frontcourt after facing UC Davis as a member of Cal State Northridge last season. He started his collegiate career at Florida.

Nnadalu Noble, a 6-10 forward from Vienna, Austria, arrives after a postgraduate year at Hoosac School in New York and a season at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire, two of the top prep programs in the Northeast.

Caspian Jones, a 6-7 forward from Phoenix, joins the program following a postgraduate year at CATS Academy Boston. As a senior at St. Mary’s High School in Phoenix, Jones averaged 17.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.

Koby Moir, a 6-2 guard from Adelaide, Australia, spent 2026 as the starting point guard for the South Adelaide Panthers of NBL1 Central, running a senior men’s professional league team as an 18-year-old.

Julian Dabrowski, a 6-9 forward/center from Warsaw, Poland developed in the Legia Warszawa Academy and was part of Legia teams that captured back-to-back Polish league championships in 2025 and 2026.

Before the arrival of the eight newcomers, the Aggie cupboard was not exactly bare.

Led by Connor Sevilla and Brayden Fagbemi, UCD has plenty of firepower returning.

Sevilla led the Aggies with 13.3 points a game and was 12th nationally in free throw accuracy at 90.3 percent while shooting 39.9 percent from long range to earn All-Big West honorable mention. He also earned All-District academic honors.

The Aggies also bring back a proven two-way guard in Fagbemi. The point guard led the Big West at 2.0 steals per game, a mark that ranked 36th nationally, while 4.3 assists per game ranked second in the league. Fagbemi led the team in both assists and steals, added 3.5 rebounds per game and closed the regular season with a season-high 16 points and five steals at UC Irvine. Off the floor, he joins Sevilla as an All-District academic superstar.

Also back from the team that went 19-14 last season are veterans Jalen Stokes, Chase Rawlins, Ylan Esso-Essis, Isaiah Chappell and Omer Suljanovic.

Noted Les, “This returning group is our foundation with leadership, experience and toughness. They know what it means to wear the UC Davis jersey, and they chose to keep building something special here. As we step into the Mountain West, I’m most excited about the growth we expect from this core. They’ve earned the chance to lead this team during this exciting transition.”

While the Mountain West is not expected to announce the league schedule until next month, UCD just released its 14-game nonconference slate that includes eight home games at the UCUC, beginning with North Alabama on November 2.

Other home games include Menlo, Incarnate Word, Alabama State, Portland, Cal Baptist, Idaho State and Pacific Union.

Away nonconference games are at Sacramento State, North Dakota State and Seattle, plus a three-game Resorts World Classic in Las Vegas featuring Omaha, Jacksonville State and Pacific.

The conference tournament will be held March 10-13 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, home of UNLV, with all 10 Mountain West teams participating.

2026-27 UC Davis Men’s Basketball Nonconference Schedule

• Mon., Nov. 2: NORTH ALABAMA

• Thu., Nov. 5: MENLO

• Wed., Nov. 11: INCARNATE WORD

• Sat., Nov. 14: at Sacramento State

• Tue., Nov. 17: ALABAMA STATE

• Nov. 25-27: Resorts World Classic (Las Vegas) vs. Omaha, Jacksonville State, Pacific

• Tue., Dec. 1: PORTLAND

• Thu., Dec. 3: at North Dakota State

• Mon., Dec. 14: CAL BAPTIST

• Thu., Dec. 17: IDAHO STATE

• Tue., Dec. 22: at Seattle

• Mon., Dec. 28: PACIFIC UNION

Home games in CAPS at University Credit Union Center

Reach me at bobdunning@thewaryone.com

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And I’m not talking about excess zucchini, which should be flushed down the garbage disposal uneaten as the most useless vegetable known to man. I mean, did you ever wonder why every gardener has extra zucchini? It’s because everyone likes to give it away and no one actually likes to eat it.

There are apparently only three things you are allowed to do in our town with what’s defined as yard waste.

First, you can chop it into tiny pieces and put it in your organics cart.

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The Aggies are coming off two straight FCS playoff appearances, reaching the quarterfinal round both times.

With the Big Sky Conference going to nine league games this fall instead of the customary eight, UCD will face Big Sky action in its season opener August 29 at Portland State.

“Conference games are always important whenever you play them,” said third-year Aggie head coach Tim Plough, who noted he is an enthusiastic supporter of the nine-game league schedule.

“In terms of preparation, we won’t do things much differently, but there is certainly added emphasis on this game.”

In previous Big Sky years, the Aggies would open with three or four nonconference games, then go nonstop into the league schedule to finish out the season.

The early start was necessitated when Sacramento State pulled out of the Big Sky at the end of the 2025 season to move up to the MAC in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

That move also cancelled the long-running UCD-Sac State Causeway Classic that had been contested every season since the first showdown in 1954. (A 14-0 Aggie win, by the way.)

To replace the Hornets, who had become one of several Big Sky powers in recent years, the conference added Southern Utah and Utah Tech to push league membership to 13 schools.

The Big Sky is regularly one of the strongest FCS leagues in the country, recent evidence being reigning national champion Montana State, which tops the preseason poll with all 57 first-place votes.

Montana State claimed the championship at the end of a 14-game winning streak with a dramatic 35-34 overtime win over Illinois State in the FCS championship game.

“So how do we get motivated from success?” asked MSU head coach Brent Vigen. “It’s recognizing that it’s not just about the end result. It’s how did we get there, and really being able to lean into last year or any previous years. It’s really about this is a new team going back to square one.”

New or not, the Bobcats remain as the odds-on favorite to claim a second consecutive national title.

Fellow conference member Montana, which comes to Davis for a huge Big Sky showdown September 26, is listed No. 2 in the poll.

Big Sky member Northern Arizona is No. 25, with Idaho State No. 26 and Southern Utah No. 32.

The always powerful Missouri Valley Football Conference checks in with six schools in the top 25, led by No. 3 South Dakota State.

Missing from the poll for the first time in many years is North Dakota State, the gold standard of the FCS with multiple national championships, which also moved up to the FBS this year by joining the Mountain West.

UCD has also joined the Mountain West for the majority of its sports, but not football.

Illinois State (4), Tarleton State (5), Rhode Island (7), Villanova (8), Youngstown State (9) and North Dakota (10) round out the top 10.

The 2026 Aggies appear to be loaded on both sides of the ball, featuring All-Conference and All-American nominees in all phases of the game.

Leading the way on offense is Walter Payton Preseason Watch List senior Samuel Gbatu Jr., the 2025 Big Sky leader in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. He will challenge UCD’s long history of great receivers in the school record book before all is said and done.

Defensively, the Conners brothers, Rex and Porter, have returned after seeing their 2025 seasons cut short due to injury, then being awarded another year of eligibility by the NCAA.

Both Conners brothers have been named STATS Perform and FCS Football Preseason All-Americans, while Rex has been named to the Buck Buchanan Preseason Award Watch List for the third straight year after setting the program record for career tackles last season.

Other notable starters include center Zaire Collier, running back Jordan Fisher, defensive linemen Trent Carrade and Rayne Mayo Jr., and sophomore defensive back Drew Cofield.

After Portland State, UCD will play the three non-conference games on its schedule at the University of San Diego September 5, SMU September 12 and the home opener against Stetson September 19.

Reach Bob Dunning at bobdunning@thewaryone.com

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Next in line would be James “Seashell” Comey, followed by special prosecutor Jack Smith and, finally, our favorite 85-year-old uncle, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

What happened to David Hearn is pure evil in action.

Lies were told early and often by the commander in chief about the disaster that took over the Reflecting Pool and caused him to postpone renaming this body of sludgy green water the Trump Tank.

The president blamed the pool problems not just on vandals, but “left-wing vandals,” who apparently spent their time at the bottom of the pool plotting to rig the upcoming midterm election.

That lie was repeated and treated as fact by talk-show hosts both local and national, causing 32.7 percent of Americans to consider Hearn as Public Enemy No. 1.

That damage will stay with Hearn until the day he dies.

The 67-year-old Hearn, a dedicated left-wing vandal if I’ve ever seen one, was in the middle of a 64-mile bike ride when he passed by the pool one fine June afternoon and stopped to dip his fingers in the water.

He apparently saw a small flap of matter and actually touched it before returning it to the water intact.

As they say in the NBA, “no harm, no foul.”

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I have received several dozen emails from friends and family suggesting that this story could well have been about me, given my lifelong love of “all-you-can-eat” buffets.

Olive Garden is famous for its “never-ending” pasta bowl and “unlimited” soup, salad and breadsticks deal.

Generally, you get six breadsticks each time you request more, which means Ruth would have received the original six, plus 14 more orders for a grand total of 90 breadsticks.

She allegedly ate several of the breadsticks and put the rest in a roller bag she kept hidden under the table.

When police were summoned and leveled a felony charge for bread burglary, Ruth insisted she had done nothing wrong and wanted the definition of “unlimited” included in the police report.

True story?

Not likely.

Probably what I like to call Ai - with a lowercase “i,” which stands for Artificial Idiocy.

First off, there are only nine Olive Gardens in Wisconsin, not 41.

Second, if it were truly possible to escape with 15 orders of breadsticks from Olive Garden, I’d have done it first.

Their breadsticks alone are worth the price of admission.

Several times when our kids were younger, my Sweetheart and I would take a late-night ride up the valley on our way to Oregon, stopping by an Olive Garden in Redding just before closing time and picking up a large to-go order to keep everyone happy for the rest of the moonlit journey into the Great North.

I’ll admit there are few things I enjoy more than eating while driving. But painful experience has taught me it’s impossible to eat a Big Mac while keeping both hands on the wheel.

Cheetos? Yes. French fries? Fine, but don’t try dipping them in ketchup.

Never-ending pasta bowls? Not in a million years.

But breadsticks are the perfect treat for an ambidextrous driver with three hands.

I’m happy to have every passenger passionately indulging in fettuccine alfredo and meatballs smothered in marinara, just as long as I can have an endless supply of soft and warm Olive Garden breadsticks.

And if I see Ruth Vanderhoff hitchhiking with her roller bag between Redding and Klamath Falls, I will most definitely stop, offer her a ride and have her sit in the front seat.

Trust me on this.

Reach me at bobdunning@thewaryone.com

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Seemingly, camp opens earlier every summer, with regular-season games stretching from late August all the way into late November. Then again, if you’re lucky enough to reach the FCS championship game, you can add December and January to the schedule as well.

For me, it marks the 57th year I’ll be covering our local heroes. I’d like to say I started this labor of love in kindergarten, but I was actually much older than that when I interviewed newly hired head coach Jim Sochor even before he had coached his first game.

Turns out, I covered every game Sochor coached in his 19 years, including a dismal 20-6 loss to lowly Occidental in his very first game, a showing that gave no hint of the utter magnificence that was yet to come.

While every home game Sochor coached took place on historic Toomey Field, there is now a stunning statue of this legendary coach just outside the main gate to UC Davis Health Stadium, a mile or so west of what was lovingly known as “The Toom.”

My first football story in 1970 referred to the “California Aggies,” a friendly title that has now morphed into the more proper “UC Davis.”

Tim Plough is now entering his third year as Aggie head coach, after leading UCD to the FCS playoffs in each of his first two seasons.

While Plough quarterbacked the Aggies a number of years after Sochor finished in 1988, he frequently references the late coach when he talks about the kind of head coach he wishes to be and the type of “championship” program he hopes to develop at his alma mater.

“I’m excited about the 2026 season and the opportunity to continue building something special at UC Davis,” Plough noted today as his charges began the first of 25 preseason practices.

“We often talk about finding joy in what we do, and that’s what this program is about. We want to represent UC Davis in a way that brings joy to our players, our university and our community, and gives people a team they’re proud to support.”

If you’ve never met Plough, you have a wonderful opportunity to have “Lunch with the Ball Coach” on August 6 at 11:30 a.m. in the Bruce Edwards Room at the stadium.

Everyone - except Sac State fans - is invited for an hour or so of honest conversation where no question is off-limits. The food’s not bad either.

Put bluntly, I have never heard a football coach at any level be as brutally honest about his joys and frustrations as Plough is, especially with a member of the press in attendance.

If you want the full unvarnished truth, including everything except the game plan for the season opener at Portland State, this is a “don’t miss” opportunity. Click here to purchase tickets.

As has become the norm in recent years, the Aggies open the season with three straight road games, beginning August 29 at Portland State, September 5 at the University of San Diego and September 12 at ACC power Southern Methodist in Dallas.

The SMU contest is what FCS schools refer to as a “money game,” where you’re supposed to show up, play hard, lose gracefully and take home a fat check that helps to fund your athletic program. Few sports can create such a payday like football can.

The Aggies will receive $450,000 for taking the field against the heavily favored Mustangs, who were long ago nicknamed the Pony Express.

So it will be Mustangs versus Mustangs on what is likely to be a hot and muggy afternoon with a 3 p.m. start time in Dallas. (1 p.m. in Davis).

SMU, by the way, is a well-financed emerging power - think oil - that reached the College Football Playoff season before last.

It is, of course, not unheard of for an FCS team to beat an FBS opponent, but it’s best for the victor to get out of town quickly before cashing the check.

Portland State, incidentally, holds the all-time record for margin of victory by an FCS school over an FBS opponent with a 66-7 shellacking of North Texas in 2015.

North Texas coach Dan McCarney was fired before his team could reach the locker room after that game ended.

The Aggies, too, have several wins over FBS schools, with perhaps the most notable being a 2021 come-from-behind, season-opening 19-17 win at Tulsa, which entered the game as a 23.5-point favorite.

It was a sticky evening in Tulsa as the Golden Hurricane nursed a 17-16 lead into the fourth quarter before a 22-yard field goal by Isaiah Gomez gave the Aggies a 19-17 cushion with 7:35 remaining.

Late in the game UCD faced a third-and-four at the Tulsa 49-yard line, needing a first down to run out the clock and take home a hard-earned victory.

My press colleagues from the Tulsa World and The Oklahoman assumed out loud that UCD would simply run the ball into the line to burn some clock and then punt, allowing Tulsa one last chance with the ball.

I waved them off and said that strategy was not in the playbook of Aggie head coach Dan Hawkins.

I told them to expect a short pass in the flat to running back Ulonzo Gilliam. They all shook their heads with amusement.

Unfortunately, I did not place any bets on my prediction.

Indeed, Aggie quarterback Hunter Rodriguez found Gilliam with a short pass, and Gilliam scrambled for an eight-yard gain and a first down.

Game, set, match, UC Davis.

The Aggies celebrated by chowing down Raising Cane’s chicken fingers on the way to the airport for a wildly celebratory flight home.

They have not been invited back to Oklahoma since.

The interesting thing about that game five years ago is that Tulsa was a late replacement for a previously scheduled game at USC.

USC, however, hired a new athletic director after the game was scheduled, and he declared that it was below his school’s dignity to play an FCS opponent. To this day, USC remains as the only FBS institution never to have played an FCS school.

Nevertheless, because of the lateness of the cancellation, the Trojans had to pony up the entire $700,000 guarantee for a game that would never be played. Chump change, perhaps, for Heisman U., but a bonanza for the former University Farm.

UCD brass scrambled quickly for a replacement, finally landing on Tulsa, which offered a $425,000 payoff.

Thus, the Aggies started the season 1-0 with a win over an FBS school and a whopping $1,125,000 in their back pocket.

I didn’t receive any of that cash, but I did get a box full of chicken fingers, plus coleslaw and Texas toast for my efforts to school Oklahoma’s press corps about the soundness of West Coast football strategy.

Go Ags.

Go California Aggies.

Reach me at bobdunning@thewaryone.com

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But please do not let the Department of Homeland Insecurity know that my hometown is practicing the federally banned practice of DEI by printing critical correspondence in a language other than the Queen’s English that our dear president has declared to be our official - and only - language.

Oops, it turns out the City’s full-time envelope stuffer accidentally put the Spanish-language version of this correspondence ahead of the English-language version without first checking the language preference of the above-mentioned “RESIDENT.”

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Warren, 91, was a three-sport athlete at UC Davis, known most prominently as a four-year starter in football, excelling as a center on offense and as a linebacker on defense.

When Bob was just seven years old and still going by “Bobby,” his dad, Earl Warren, was elected Governor of California.

Earl Warren, however, wasn’t elected just once to a four-year term as governor. No, he was elected three times, and remains as the only California governor so honored. He led the state from 1943 to 1953, but his third term was interrupted when President Dwight Eisenhower named him Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Thus, from the age of seven through his graduation from McClatchy High School, Bob Warren lived with his five older siblings in the historic Governor’s Mansion at 1526 H Street in midtown Sacramento. The mansion still stands, but California governors no longer live there.

It’s safe to say that none of his classmates at Crocker Elementary, Cal Junior High or McClatchy High School had anything close to that living arrangement.

At the age of seven, having just moved to Sacramento from the Bay Area so his dad could assume the governorship, Bob was the new kid at Crocker Elementary and went through a predictably awkward introduction to his new classmates.

Warren remembers that first day of school well.

“The teacher told everyone, ‘This is Bobby Warren. His dad is the new governor,’” Warren said.

“Most everyone had no idea what that meant, and they all went out on the playground except for one kid, Larry, who came over and asked me if I wanted to go outside and play. He was the only one, and we ended up being friends for life.”

As Bobby grew older and became Bob to his friends, he made the football team at McClatchy, one of Sacramento’s historic high schools, with opponents that included Christian Brothers and Woodland High School, along with schools down the Central Valley in Lodi, Modesto and Turlock.

One of his teammates at McClatchy, Gene Weiss, went on to play at Sacramento State.

Touchingly, years later, in 2024, Bob Warren and Gene Weiss participated in the ceremonial coin toss at midfield prior to the Causeway Classic.

After graduating from McClatchy, Bob spent part of the summer in Southern California and fancied the idea of playing football at UCLA. So he went to talk with legendary Bruins head coach Red Sanders, who was not inclined to give him an athletic scholarship.

“So I jumped in my Plymouth and immediately drove to Davis,” Warren recalled.

“Growing up I had a horse and rode most every day, so Davis’ history as an agricultural school had always appealed to me. I registered with a major in animal husbandry and signed up for football in the fall of 1954.”

At various times in his Aggie career, Warren was also on the swim team and the track team in addition to his football exploits.

In his four-year football career, he started every game except one, but he remembers well why he missed that game.

“My dad, obviously, had moved to Washington, D.C., and he had never seen me play football in college,” Warren said.

“So he came out for a game and sat on the 50-yard line down near the field behind the Aggie bench. But within 10 minutes they were loading me in the ambulance with a leg injury, and off I went to the Student Health Center, where Dr. Tom Cooper took care of me. My leg wasn’t broken, and I was okay to play the next week, but my dad had already gone back to D.C.”

Warren played with the likes of Aggie greats John Kidd, Marv Mays, Jim Waller and Myrel Moore.

Ted Forbes was his coach in 1954 and 1955, with Will Lotter taking over in 1956 and 1957. The 1956 team started the season 6-0 and went on to a 7-2 season and a share of the Far Western Conference championship.

In those days, when UC Santa Barbara still had a football team, the Aggies would take part in an annual All-Cal weekend, with UCD and Santa Barbara playing the first game, and Cal taking on UCLA in the so-called main event.

The site would alternate between Memorial Stadium in Berkeley and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The games were frequently standing room only in two of the biggest stadiums on the West Coast.

One year, the game against Santa Barbara was taking too long and delaying the start of the Cal-UCLA game. So, at the end of the third quarter, the game was called.

“We were all upset,” said Warren. “Both teams wanted to finish the game, no matter who was ahead. It didn’t seem fair to us. It was just a lack of respect, and we were all very disappointed.”

While he said it was challenging to be a student and an athlete and hold down a part-time job with the Davis Fire Department all at the same time, Warren noted without a doubt that his greatest joy at UC Davis was being a member of the football team.

“I have memories for life and still keep in touch with a number of my teammates,” Warren said.

After graduation he put all his athletic experiences to good use as an athletic director and coach for the California Department of Corrections at Soledad Prison in Monterey County.

After six years in that position, he moved back to Davis, where he currently lives, and founded Warren Real Estate, primarily covering Davis, Dixon, Woodland and Winters.

But Bob Warren never left the field of play, serving for over 40 years on the chain gang for UC Davis football games along the sidelines at Toomey Field.

Now a prominent booster of Aggie football, Warren said, “the fun is still going on. It’s an exciting time for Aggie football, and we’re taking important steps forward.”

Bob Warren, an athlete for all seasons at UC Davis and a man for all seasons in his adopted hometown of Davis.

Reach me at bobdunning@thewaryone.com

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However, Yolo Superior Court Judge Samuel McAdam rightly concluded that Carlos Reales Dominguez was legally insane three years ago when he killed Davisites David Breaux and Karim Abou Najm and seriously injured Kimberlee Guillory, using a knife in all three random attacks.

As Dominguez’s second trial unfolded in Woodland, we were fortunate to have excellent reports from the county courthouse by local journalists Lauren Keene and Darrell Smith.

Keene, in fact, may well be the best journalist in the country when it comes to covering legal criminal proceedings.

The seven-man, five-woman jury found Dominguez guilty of involuntary manslaughter, but Supervising Deputy Public Defender Dan Hutchinson, acting on Dominguez’s behalf, waived a jury trial on the sanity phase.

This left the determination of sanity solely in McAdam’s hands and he quickly concluded that “the overwhelming evidence at trial” was that Dominguez was not sane at the time of his crimes.

“It’s not difficult to reach the conclusion that the defendant was legally insane when he committed the crimes,” McAdam said.

“He had a mental disease. That was schizophrenia.”

From the outside looking in, there’s no doubt that McAdam’s ruling was sound and in complete accordance with California law.

But for those family members and friends of the three victims, their dismay at the outcome is understandable and their loss unimaginable.

No verdict and no sentence will ever bring back their loved ones or right the wrongs of Carlos Dominguez.

Keene’s all-encompassing report included statements from David Breaux’s sister, Maria Breaux, and Karim Abou Najm’s mother, Nadine Yehya.

“Finally, it’s over,” said Maria Breaux. “What a huge relief. My thoughts and heart are with David and everyone impacted. I hope the overriding lesson from this tragedy is the importance of early intervention for severe mental illness, and of treating every human being with compassion.”

Nadine Yehya said, “There are no words that can adequately express how we feel. We find it outrageous that a killer of two innocent souls might get out with only time served. We ask if the people of Davis are content with this outcome. From our end, we will continue to remember and honor our son Karim and work to keep his memory alive.”

Because he was ruled to be insane, Dominguez will not go free. At least not now, and perhaps not ever. He will soon be sent to a secure state hospital for treatment.

As the Public Defender’s office noted, “The verdicts recognize a difficult but important principle of California law that a person who, because of a severe mental illness, is legally insane at the time of the offense is not criminally responsible in the same way as someone acting with a sound mind. This trial was never an attempt to excuse what happened. It was an effort to ensure that the law accurately addressed Mr. Reales Dominguez’s intent and mental state at the time of these tragic events.”

The statement went on, “The outcome of this trial ensures that Mr. Reales Dominguez will remain confined in a secure state hospital for treatment, unless and until the law determines that he can safely be released. It reflects accountability under California’s legal framework while recognizing the devastating effects of severe and untreated mental illness.”

The case is over and judgment has been rendered.

Despite the correctness of McAdam’s ruling and the overwhelming evidence that Dominguez was insane at the time of his crimes, the pain for the loved ones of his victims endures.

There are not two sides to this story.

Only one very sad story for everyone.

Reach me at bobdunning@thewaryone.com

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The coaches and media, who sometimes don’t agree on anything, marched to the same tune when it comes to which teams will finish 1-2-3 when all is said and done.

Defending Big Sky and FCS national champion Montana State tops both polls, followed by Montana and UC Davis.

That just happens to be the order in which those three finished last year, with Montana State going 8-0, Montana 7-1 and the Aggies 6-2.

The Big Sky grew from 12 teams to 13 on July 1.

Longtime member Sacramento State moved up to the FBS as a member of the MAC, but the Big Sky quickly added former member Southern Utah along with Utah Tech. The Aggies will play both schools in 2026.

Additionally, each conference school will now play nine league games instead of eight, with three non-conference battles on tap as well.

While media members could vote for whichever teams they pleased, coaches were restricted from voting for their own team to finish first.

The obvious reason for this prohibition is that every coach would feel duty-bound to list his team first as a show of confidence to the team when the results were made public.

Otherwise, team members would rightly wonder why the coach voted for someone else.

It should be noted that the overall final results are public even if the ballots themselves are secret.

Montana State received 11 first-place votes from the coaches, while UCD received the other two.

Among the 38 media members voting, Montana State was listed 35 times at No. 1, with two votes for the Aggies and one for Montana.

Northern Arizona was fourth in the coaches poll, followed by Idaho State, Southern Utah, Idaho, Eastern Washington, Weber State, Northern Colorado, Cal Poly, Portland State and Utah Tech.

Idaho State was fourth in the media poll, followed by Northern Arizona, Idaho, Southern Utah, Eastern Washington, Cal Poly, Weber State, Northern Colorado, Portland State and Utah Tech.

Idaho State struggled to a 2-6 mark out of the gate last season, but won its last four games to finish 6-6 under former Aggie assistant Cody Hawkins.

As a result, optimism is high in Pocatello.

UCD went 9-4 overall last fall, opening the FCS playoff with a 47-26 win over Rhode Island before suffering a disappointing 42-31 quarterfinal loss to Illinois State.

With such a large league, a round-robin schedule is not possible, as each team fails to play three league members each season.

This fall the Aggies will miss Montana State, Northern Arizona and Idaho State.

UCD opens the regular season with three road games, traveling to Portland State Aug. 29, University of San Diego Sept. 5 and SMU Sept. 12.

The season home opener and final non-conference game is against Stetson University of DeLand, Florida.

Other home games at UC Davis Health Stadium include Montana, Eastern Washington, Northern Colorado, Utah Tech and Cal Poly.

The Eastern Washington night game will be nationally televised by ESPN2.

(My ballot: 1. UC Davis 2. Montana State 3. Montana 4. Idaho 5. Northern Arizona 6. Idaho State 7. Eastern Washington 8. Weber State 9. Southern Utah 10. Cal Poly 11. Portland State 12. Utah Tech 13. Northern Colorado).

Reach me at bobdunning@thewaryone.com

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TESTING TESTES ... You can add low testosterone to bone spurs as one of the conditions that will disqualify you from being a valued warfighter in this country.

Of course, Pistol Pete Hegseth will generously offer wimpy soldiers the opportunity to boost their testosterone to manly levels, which just happens to be the very definition of gender-affirming care.

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Richard Kleeberg is a retired College Professor and Attorney, living in Winters. His writing has been published in The Winters Express, Sacramento Bee, Los Angeles Times, Davis Enterprise and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Read more from him at JustThePoint.com

Soccer is Such a Silly Sport!

I have tried so hard to appreciate soccer. I really have.

But seriously, soccer is just so silly!

I can’t watch much of a soccer game without bursting out in chuckles. Who created this game? Who came up with these rules?

As the game begins, you’ll see about twenty players all start running toward one end of the field. They run around in large circles for a moment or two, until, suddenly, the ball flies down the field in the opposite direction. The players all turn the other way to chase the ball. And this back and forth chasing of the ball goes on and on. Run down the field to the left. Wait, there goes the ball the other way. Turn around! Run down the field to the right. Wait, there goes the ball back to the left. Turn around and run again! Over and over. That’s pretty much all that happens.

Every five or ten minutes, one of the players will surprise the crowd by trying to kick the ball into the goal, but these attempts don’t happen often. And they hardly ever succeed. Goals are rare in soccer; a 3-1 final score is considered a high-scoring game!

While almost all the players participate in the back and forth running, two players spend the entire game standing alone, one at each end of the field. I’ve been told they are placed there to defend the goal cage. But I suspect they are being punished for bad behavior. These two players must have done something wrong — why else are they forced to wear special costumes, making them look a bit like court jesters?

One of the funniest rules in soccer is that players cannot touch the ball with their hands. Why? Who knows? Maybe the guy who invented soccer just had really bad hands. No other sport denies its players the right to use their hands. It is a rule that is unique to soccer. Can you envision baseball or basketball being played with no hands?

There is an exception to the “no hands” rule. Those two players who stand at each end of the field, who wear the odd costumes, get to use their hands. Why? Nobody knows!

Every once in a while, all the soccer players suddenly stop running, and move off to the side of the field. One player is chosen to try what they call a “free” kick. (It is still not clear to me when a player actually has to pay for a kick.)

I think these occasional free kicks are a clever time-out strategy to allow all those tired runners to rest. The officials don’t say much about the free kicks, but they do seem to enjoy waving big yellow and red cards in the air. What these cards mean is unclear, but they sure are colorful!

When a game ends in a tie, soccer uses a unique method to pick a winner. A few players from each team stand about twenty yards from the goal, and try to score, one-on-one, against the goalie. The team that succeeds most often wins the game! Could you imagine a tied basketball game being decided by a free-throw competition after the game? Could you see a tied football game decided by a field goal contest after the game? Only soccer could have come up with this!

In almost all sports, a buzzer or a horn signals the end of the game. But not so in soccer. When the buzzer sounds to announce the end of a soccer game, the game is not really over. After the official ninety minutes of the game are completed, something called “extra time” is added to the clock. Why? Who knows?

How much extra time is added to the game? The officials don’t say, and even the players don’t know. A soccer game is over, but it is not really over, until it is once again, over!

Read more from Richard at JustThePoint.com

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The University of California, Davis’ Audit and Management Advisory Services (AMAS) released its independent audit of the financial records related to the NCAA Division I Women’s Equestrian program, which transitioned to a club sport on July 1, 2026.

The audit was conducted to determine if all required procedures were followed as the equestrian program was dropped from varsity to club status.

The University of California Office of the President’s Ethics, Compliance and Audit Services’ Quality Assurance team reviewed and confirmed AMAS’ organizational independence, conformance with auditing standards and key audit work papers and supporting documentation.

The audit did not find that Athletic Director Rocko DeLuca, members of the Athletics leadership team and other university officials acted outside of good faith or failed to comply with university protocols and accounting best practices during the evaluation process. AMAS also found no deviation from acceptable practice in how Athletics leadership and university officials carried out their responsibilities.

AMAS found that several outside parties, including consulting firms and concerned external stakeholders, relied on NCAA reporting to understand the basis for a decision to transition equestrian from a varsity to a club sport, and this led to assumptions that the university erroneously included the value of in-kind donations in estimates of potential cost savings. However, AMAS found that the decision was based on budgeting documents separately prepared for the UC Davis budget office, which did not include the value of in-kind donations.

AMAS concluded that UC Davis budget documents “appropriately” excluded the in-kind donations, which resulted in a difference of $690,000 between the NCAA-reported numbers and UC Davis’ internal budgeting in fiscal 2025.

AMAS recommended that Athletics strengthen its financial reporting practices by adopting standardized methods. In recent years, Athletics has prepared and reviewed financial outcomes using processes that were not based on accepted reporting workbooks or other formal, documented procedures. AMAS recommended that Athletics adopt standard practices, such as those that the NCAA uses, to bring its reporting into alignment with industry-recognized standards.

UC Davis leaders accept the audit’s recommendations to strengthen Athletics’ financial reporting processes and will implement appropriate corrective actions.

The university is committed to carefully reviewing allegations when they are brought forward and takes seriously any concerns raised.

UC Davis leaders have confidence in the professionalism, integrity and judgment of Athletic Director Rocko DeLuca, the Athletics leadership team and the university officials who participated in this process.

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Yes, by an overwhelming vote of 308-117, the People’s House accomplished something that even God has been unable to do — creating an extra hour of daylight all over our blessed land for every one of the 365 days in a calendar year.

Cleverly named the “Sunshine Protection Act” to confuse Mother Nature, this legislation promises to add one hour of daylight each day, no matter the day, month or year.

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