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It may be a cliché to say that you won't know what you've got until it's gone, but that doesn't mean that the feelings of loss are any less felt. I talked with two friends on the phone today, one who has already left for a greener world and another who is likely to follow. I'm happy for them, since there's only so much psychological desiccation a person can take before the reasons for hope dry up in the sun. But I don't particularly like the sensation of abandonment. Now if I could just figure out a way to excise the overly mental aspect of that sensation, so that I might inhabit the "gone" myself, the veil of brown might lift from my own sight.

I'm Happy For Them, Too

Well, three days after the Wildcats couldn't get the defensive stops to beat USC at home, the Sun Devils managed to rule out the possibility of a winless Pac-10 season by beating the Trojans in Tempe. Despite the fact that Herb Sendek's North Carolina State Wolfpack team knocked my Cal Bears out of the NCAA tournament last year, I still have a soft spot for him. He always seems winningly beleagured, like a college version of Jeff Van Gundy. It's nice for him to finally get a meaningful win in his new job at ASU. What will the Arizona faithful say if the Sun Devils make it two in a row next week?