The Tiki Bar is Open

I think it's safe to go out on a limb and say that the cold and rainy weather that put a damper on the Memorial Day weekend is a thing of the past. Of course, who am I to play Mother Nature? I just know it's about time to open the Upland Family Robinson tiki bar for summer, even if that means moving the activities to the garage pool hall... So give us a call or drop by for weekend refreshments. And when I resume a summer schedule with Fridays off from work, the weekends start on Thursday night. Aloha.

Those Old College Days

Claremont High's Class of 1976 started a Yahoo chat room in 2006 in anticipation of their 30-year reunion. The chat room -- and the reunion -- were so popular that they even got coverage in the Los Angeles Times in July 2006...

The Yahoo chat room is still going strong. And the postings are in the tens of thousands. But this one from Bill Baldwin (CHS 1976) is worth sharing. Enjoy...

I have been "outing" as many embarrassing stories as my memory serves up and it is electrically jolted by many of these posts. Sid Robinson popped up today and I thought I would share yet another story from our youth that at least Sid and I may shield from our kids.

Around 1979-80 Sid, Brent Bosson, myself and few others crash a large Claremont Colleges party. There are probably 200 to 300 in attendance and Sid shows up primed with more that a couple in him. If you know Sid... he is bright, mild mannered and nice as can be....put a few beers in him and the term "liquid courage" does not touch his chemically infused bravado.

As a number of the students rolled a large beer keg into the center of the building, I noticed Sid transfixed on the keg. Two guys are looking for the tapper when Sid looks over at me devilishly.

"Let's take the keg."

"You’re kidding me" I replied.

"I mean it... we are having a party tomorrow night...lets take it now! Get on the other end!"

Without another word Sid and I pick up the keg and simply begin saying, "excuse us… keg is coming through"... the sea of faux Ivy Leaguers parts and even holds the door as we exit the building. In the confusion, they must think we are "in charge of the keg". We run as far as we can holding the keg and then begin to roll it down Dartmouth Ave. In the background we can now hear screaming and then the thunder of dozens of running feet.

Sid and I stop... roll the keg behind a bush and Sid leaps the fence to get his car. I stand my ground in front of the bush and try to remain calm... lean against a tree... as the hysterical hoard runs right by me and down Dartmouth... all the while screaming about the "beating those mofo's are going to get"

About 5 minutes later my heart begins beat again. Sid pulls up from around the corner.... we wait for the clear an load the keg into his car.

Sid looks at me... same devilish grin… "Let's go back to the party."

"Now you have lost your mind," I tell him.

"I am serious," he says "They can't remember what we looked like…Let's just switch shirts and go back...we can't miss seeing this."

"And if by chance someone recognizes us?”

"Hell Bill... you'll kick the #@#@ out of at least a couple of them before we die"

It was hard not be infused with his infectious immortality.

We arrive back to find a melee. Sid and I inquire about what has happened and we join their " let's kick some #$%" attitude and are quickly enlisted to help find ourselves.

We run into Brent and he tells us that we should leave.... “Some maniacs have stolen the keg right out from under the party’s nose.” We both smile. Sid's devil smile and Brent is beside himself... laughing so hard we fear our cover (you know the clever "shirt switch") will be blown.

The guys who bought the keg have sent their assassins out on the hunt and are returning to their dorm room... custom "eagle tapper" in hand to call about getting another keg. Sid and Brent follow them back to the dorm and I stay at the party and watch Kathy Weatherall (sp) (Mil.... Helen’s sis) ... the only person who recognized Sid and myself.... go on at length about some guy she saw with the keg...about 7-foot-tall with one eye, anything to throw them off the hunt.

Meanwhile Sid and Brent are hiding as the two with the tapper leave their room sans the tapper. At the colleges all the door hinges are on the outside of the doors in case of an emergency... and after our two victims leave, Sid and Brent pry the hinges off the door...take the tapper and leave a note on the floor "same guys that took the keg."

We had a large party the next night and after the keg was spent... quietly placed the empty keg and tapper in front of their dorm door…

It was mean.... but we didn't want them to lose their deposit.

Brehaut the Bruin

UCLA has offered Richard Brehaut a non-binding scholarship, and he has accepted, meaning the Los Osos quarterback will be a Bruin in fall 2009. Brehaut is the first quarterback recruit for Rick Neuheisel and Norm Chow at UCLA.

Brehaut won the competition at the Steve Clarkson Super 7 football camp on Saturday in Santa Barbara, but even before that, Chow was convinced this was the guy after a Wednesday workout at Los Osos. He worked out both Brehaut and Upland's Josh Nunes during the week. Brehaut's performance Saturday was the last piece Neuheisel and Chow needed to select him over Nunes.

Richard was tops among the best QBs Saturday, including other local star QBs like Nunes and some of the best junior quarterbacks in the nation. The event also included other groups with current top seniors like Terrell Pryor (Ohio State) and Dayne Crist (Notre Dame), as well as college QBs like Jimmy Claussen (Notre Dame) and others.

The L.A. Times and Rivals.com have the stories, which are pasted below... Also, check out these sites for more on the story...

Bruins Nation: http://www.insidesocal.com/ucla/

Inside UCLA: http://www.bruinsnation.com/

LA Times What's Bruin: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/bruin/

ERIC SONDHEIMER:

Los Osos quarterback commits to UCLA

Richard Brehaut, only a junior, accepts scholarship offer after evaluation by Norm Chow.

May 27, 2008

Richard Brehaut, a 6-foot-3 junior quarterback from Rancho Cucamonga Los Osos, said Monday he has committed to UCLA. He was offered a scholarship over the weekend after offensive coordinator Norm Chow evaluated him during a spring practice Wednesday.

"I was so fired up," Brehaut said. "It's an unbelievable dream come true. I grew up loving UCLA. It's always been my favorite school."

Brehaut's stock has risen this spring and he was on the radar of many schools after his performances in combines and camps. UCLA has been patiently scouting and trying to figure out who's the second-best quarterback in the Southland behind Santa Ana Mater Dei's Matt Barkley, who committed to USC.

On the same day last week that Chow visited Los Osos, he visited Upland to scout another promising junior quarterback, Josh Nunes.

"They really took their time on this and wanted to make sure they got the right guy," Brehaut said.

Brehaut passed for 2,248 yards and 22 touchdowns as a junior, completing 65% of his passes. He's an outstanding athlete, being a standout catcher for the baseball team.

As for what happened this spring, Brehaut said, "I had a bunch of schools come by. I just threw for a lot of great schools. I went to some camps and had pretty good performances. That helps, but overall it comes down to what Coach Chow thinks of you in person and what Coach [Rick] Neuheisel thinks."

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com

May 26, 2008

Bruins land four-star QB

Rick Kimbrel

Recruiting Analyst

UCLA came to a very tough decision over the weekend. They had two outstanding four-star quarterbacks in Richard Brehaut (6-3, 205, 4.8) from Rancho Cucamonga (Calif.) Los Osos and Josh Nunes (6-4, 207, 4.85) from Upland, Calif., who were very interested in continuing their football and academic careers close to home in Westwood.

UCLA lands four-star quarterback Richard Brehaut.

Complicating matters was the fact that the two talented signal callers have become friendly with one another during the process and even roomed together this past weekend at the Super 7 Quarterback Camp held in Santa Barbara, Calif.

The reason this story didn't break on Saturday Evening was deference to everyone involved. Both families are class acts and both are very respectful to one another. Everyone involved knew about the decision before it hit the media. As you would expect it was handled by class by everyone concerned.

In the end the Bruins offered Brehaut the scholarship and he accepted. The first course of action by Brehaut was to call the colleges involved to thank them for their consideration and to let them know of his decision so that the colleges involved could move ahead with their plans.

"It is an unbelievable dream come true," Brehaut said. "UCLA has been my favorite school since I started watching college football when I was younger and to be able to play for UCLA is an unbelievable opportunity. I can't wait to get there to compete.

"UCLA is a perfect fit for me," Brehaut said. "I can't think of a better combination for a quarterback to learn from than Coach Neuheisel (Rick Neuheisel) and Coach Chow (Norm Chow.

"Originally I wanted to take some unofficial visits, but it hit me that UCLA was where I wanted to go so in consideration to the other schools involved I wanted them to be able to continue their search without further delay," Brehaut said. "I can't wait to help the UCLA program get to where we are supposed to be. I want to help make UCLA the powerhouse football program of Los Angeles."

There is a good chance that Brehaut and Nunes will meet on the gridiron again after high school. The better news is, both players wished nothing but the best for one another.

"Josh and I have been friends for awhile and this won't affect our friendship," Brehaut said. "We both knew that we would end up at great schools regardless."

UCLA wins this battle over Arizona, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa State, Kansas, Wake Forest, Utah, Boise State and San Diego State are a sampling of schools that have offered.

As a junior, Brehaut was co-League Offensive Player of the Year after throwing for 2,248 yards and 23 touchdowns. He also rushed for 528 yards and scored five rushing touchdowns. He also earned all-state, all-county and all-area honors in 2007.

Great get for the Bruins.

Future Fantasy Football Pick?

Richard Brehaut from Los Osos was named MVP of the Nike camp at Stanford on Saturday, May 17. As expected, his performance drew the interest of major college football recruiters, who consider Richard to be among the top high school quarterbacks in the nation. Another is Josh Nunes at Upland.

This week alone, Brehaut received scholarship offers from the University of Oregon, University of Washington, University of Nebraska and Wake Forest to bring his total to 16. He threw for UCLA offensive coordinator Norm Chow on Wednesday. Among the others who have extended offers are Arizona, Washington State, Oregon State, Kansas, Colorado, Boise State, Idaho State, San Diego State and Utah.

And the word on the street is that Notre Dame has Brehaut as its No. 2 quarterback recruit, and the No. 1 guy just committed to Wisconsin. Let's see if the Irish were serious. Ohio State is also said to be serious, but is in no rush to get verbal commitments yet, since the Buckeyes signed the nation's top QB from the class of 2008.

With a good showing this weekend at Steve Clarkson's Super 7 Quarterback Camp in Santa Barbara, more offers should come pouring in. The speculation is that UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel is in Santa Barbara this weekend and will take a look at the QBs, and that the Bruins will make an offer to a quarterback after this weekend.

Below are excerpts is the posting from Rivals.com after Richard's MVP performance at the Nike Camp.

http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=808884

Passers shine at Palo Alto NIKE Camp

Sean Callahan

Staff Writer

PALO ALTO, Calif. - The quarterbacks set the tone this weekend at Friday's Elite 11 workout in Berkley, and they finished things off with a strong day during Saturday's NIKE Training Camp in Palo Alto.

In a group headlined by San Diego (Calif.) Scripps Ranch's Tate Forcier, it was it was Rancho Cucamonga (Calif.) Los Osos's Richard Brehaut that ended up stealing the show.

Brehaut was named the named MVP of the quarterbacks on Saturday in a narrow margin over Upland's (Calif.) Josh Nunes and Oceanside's (Calif.) Jordan Wynn. Forcier was limited on Saturday due to the fact he had his appendix removed a couple weeks ago.

"He has good size, arm strength and he's really, really accurate," NIKE quarterback coach Tee Martin said of Brehaut. "Yesterday we had chance to see him at the Elite 11 workout and he kind of jumped on the radar yesterday. I just wanted to see him put it together today with one-on-ones and everything else, and he didn't disappoint.

"From what I understand and from watching his film, he's a gamer. So when you are watching him, you know it's just not in shorts that he looks good and that carries over to the field. That's why we went with him as the MVP."...

Rivals.com recruiting analyst Barry Every was also high on what he saw from the quarterbacks on Saturday in Palo Alto.

"Several things stood out about the quarterbacks," Every said. "I obviously liked Richard Brehaut because he's athletic, he has a strong arm and I think he's the one in the long run that's going to be a great quarterback..."

Spreading the Love

The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin announced this week that Claremont's Kevin Bosson committed to pitch next year at Cal Poly Pomona. And today's paper showed Kevin on the North roster for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin's annual High School All-Star Game June 12 at the Epicenter in Rancho Cucamonga. He likely won't start the game on the mound, since he'll be graduating from Claremont High first, then rushing over to the game before heading out to the grad night part after the game. Kevin went 5-2 for the Wolfpack this year, including a no-hitter against Upland and had 15 strikeouts against Los Osos... And keep an eye on the Major League Baseball draft June 5-6. There were several scouts sniffing around when Kevin pitched, including some of his banner days...

Here's the link to the Daily Bulletin story:

http://www.insidesocal.com/college_sports_ccaa/2008/05/cal-poly-pomona-announces-base.html

Cal Poly Pomona announces baseball signees

By Michelle Gardner on May 16, 2008 9:21 PM

POMONA - Cal Poly Pomona baseball coach Mike Ashman has announced that 14 student-athletes have signed letters-of-intent to study and play baseball for the Broncos next season.

The group is headlined by Claremont High School RHP Kevin Bosson, who was 5-2 with a 1.99 ERA for the Wolfpack this past spring. His season included a no-hitter against Upland HS and a 15-strikeout performance against Los Osos HS.

"This is a sound group of newcomers who we look forward to having in our program,'' Ashman said. "Our staff worked exceptionally hard this offseason and in particular credit should be given to recruiting coordinator Ryan Heil, who since coming on board as a full-time assistant this year has been passionate in his recruiting efforts.''

Blah Blah Blog

Seems it's time I joined the blogging world, too. There's a lot of great stuff out there, and this will hopefully be something you'll come back to and participate in. But, it's clear that I know nothing... In the meantime, I'll spew out news and notes about whatever seems important at the time... I'll hope you'll comment and contribute your own articles.... So, away we go...