Gone are the days when you thought of Cal as a basketball school, with football being seen as an afterthought. The Bears finished the 2006 campaign with a 10-3 record, including a share of the Pac-10 conference championship, and went out in dramatic fashion tonight, after thumping Texas A&M in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, by a score of 45-10.

The game, broadcast on ESPN, featured a pair of 100-plus yard rushers in Marshawn Lynch and Justin Forsett, and near-flawless passing by Cal quarterback Nate Longshore, who only had a first-half interception to blemish his record.

Though the game was close through halftime, Cal poured on 31 unanswered points in the second half to run up the score, much to our delight. As three-year season ticket holders, my wife and I have grown to know this team and its players. Now, the season is over, and we look to the next year with new faces, new challenges, and ever higher expectations.

Oh to be 28, left-handed and with a baseball career sporting more than 100 wins and a Cy Young award. That's the resume one needs to garner a 7 year contract worth $126 million, and not even needing to move. Barry Zito, who has been a San Francisco resident during his time with the Oakland Athletics, now will drive even less each day to make his starts, donning the orange and black to toss at AT&T Park.

Blez at Athletics Nation aptly describes our response - as we go through "The Five Stages of Grief". Sure, I'm disappointed we won't have Barry on our team any more. But I'm glad that he's staying nearby so we can see him pitch, glad he's not pitching in the American League, and especially in the AL West, but also, I'm dreading the nonsensical comments I'm already starting to get from Giants fan coworkers, who apparently think this makes economic sense for their poor excuse for a baseball team.

What to do now? Kristine has an "I (Heart) Zito" t-shirt she won't be wearing much longer. I'll need to delete a ton of Zito pictures I had saved up for future ANtics (though I knew they were done by the end of the year). And as a fan, I get to move on... again. Just like we said goodbye to Frank Thomas, and Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder and Miguel Tejada and Jason Giambi and Mark McGwire, we have to keep hoping the A's know what they are doing, and that we will survive. It's the only way.

While stuck at the San Jose airport on Christmas Eve, I was struck once again by the vast number of white iPod earbuds I saw around the hall, from all varieties of people. The white earbuds were so clearly Apple. But that got me thinking - can Apple branch out now that they have such momentum? Why not embrace the route they took in the late 1990s with colors. Remember the first iMac? Colors were big.

That's the idea behind my most recent contribution to The Apple Blog, titled I’m Tired of White Apple Products. Per agreement with them, I will not be cross-posting the piece, but instead, have provided a link. Enjoy.

Listening to ''Drums 4 Better Daze (Excession'', by Jerry Bonham (Play Count: 5)

While in Vegas, you should experience Vegas. That's my feeling. Rather than coop up in a hotel room or watch television, you should make time to play the slots, play the tables, see shows, go to nightclubs, or whatever finds your fancy. This week being Christmas week, we made time for the relatives, and time to get entertained. Last night's presentation by Penn & Teller was a great show, and if you're willing to suspend skepticism, magical.

The pair are well-known, with Penn playing the part of the large, boisterous dominant type, and Teller, the mousy, silent sidekick. In fact, Teller doesn't speak at all. The pair entertained the audience yesterday with a wide variety of tricks from the age-old "hidden cup and ball" maneuver to juggling broken wine bottles, and catching bullets in their teeth.

While they took the time to explain the origin of some optical illusions, some have been so well honed, I'd rather not try and figure out how they did it. Outside of a theater's special effects, Penn & Teller managed to have you just wondering the secrets they dared not tell. And they were funny. Penn is an excellent emcee, and plays his role well - keeping the audience's attention and respect throughout.

Though unlike the show we saw the previous night, Menopause, in just about every way, Penn & Teller is similarly a must-see. My only major regret from this week's trip was our inability to see Jerry Seinfeld. Maybe next time.