Cam Jordan's wait in the green room of Radio City Music Hall in New York City has come to an end.

The former Cal defensive end was picked 24th overall by the New Orleans Saints to continue a streak of first rounders out of Berkeley that includes Tyson Alualu, Jahvid Best, and Alex Mack.

Stick around on Calbears.com for more extensive coverage of Jordan throughout the evening.

Former Cal defensive end is still waiting to be selected in the 2011 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. So where will he land?

There has been a lot of talk about the New England Patriots liking Jordan, to the point where some speculated they would trade up into the top ten to pick the former Golden Bear. With a rush of quarterbacks being taken in the top half of the first round, Jordan may still be there for the Patriots' original pick at 17th overall.

If Jordan lasts beyond New England, many more think he will end up in San Diego, which is certainly in the market for a defensive end.

Regardless, we should be getting closer to the point when Roger Goodell will call the former Cal standout's name from the podium.

With nine picks down in the 2011 NFL Draft, former Cal defensive end Cameron Jordan is closer to hearing which team will select him with their first round pick.

With the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft officially under way, there is plenty of speculation regarding where former Cal defensive end Cameron Jordan will end up.

Earlier today, Chris Mortensen of ESPN reported that the New England Patriots are looking to trade up to the Cowboys' ninth overall pick in order to select Jordan.

A few hours later, however, Michael Smith (also of ESPN) reported that the Patriots will not trade up to select Jordan after all. Knowing how New England operates on draft day, however, says that it could still certainly happen.

One thing is for sure: Cam Jordan is a consensus first round pick and is one of 25 prospects to be on hand at Radio City Music Hall in New York City for today's festivities. He should hear his name called sometime soon.

Have you ever wondered what a first-round NFL Draft prospect does in the hours before he's drafted ... "interviews, interviews, interviews" and apparently affable former Cal defensive lineman Cameron Jordan doesn't mind doing them. Here's a few more snippets from a recent phone conversation (i.e., interview) CalBears.com had with him a few minutes ago from New York.

What's the vibe' been like since you arrived in New York yesterday?
"It's all good. There's a lot of things going on. Everybody's busy."

What you been up to?
"I missed ringing the [New York Stock Exchange] bell, but so far I've done a lot of different things. I've been to Radio City Music Hall ... I've just sort of been everywhere. I went to the Niketown, that's sort of what I've been happy about."

Who's the coolest person you've met since you've been in New York?
Besides my agents, assistants and my publicist [laughter from he and his publicist in the background] ... I reintroduced myself to Jerry Rice, I met Landry Fields."

Landry Fields the NBA guy? Did you know he was from Stanford?
"Yeah, I ragged on him but it's cool."

What's the rest of your day look like?
"I'm doing interviews all day. That's all I'm doing, interviews, interviews, interviews. Hopefully that will get my stock moving upwards. I'm projecting myself, nah I'm just playin'. Hopefully I'll get some East Coast attention. It started at like 6 Eastern."

What do you think you're going to feel like when your name is called?
"When my name is called, I'm going to book my flight to go home. I'm going to party it up like it's 1969 [laughter]. I'm actually supposed to go home Monday and then I'll probably have to wait for the weekend for people to not have things to do. I'm in New York through the weekend."

Thanks for taking the time out of your busy day, Cam, and we wish you the best of luck tonight.

Cameron Jordan will be featured on CSN Bay Area's SportsNet Central on Wednesday night with a video piece called Pursuit of a Dream. Tune in at 7:30 or 10:30 p.m. to catch it.

Cam arrived in New York City for the 2011 NFL Draft and already he's hitting us on his Twitter account. Here's what he's tweeted to us so far.

• Did I mention I just landed in NY

• NY! Staying at the w

• hoofin it to niketown. 10 blocks down

We'll see what he comes up with yet. Thanks, Cam

Former Cal defensive end Cameron Jordan has made quite the name for himself heading into this week's NFL Draft.

The soon-to-be Berkeley alum is expected to go in the first round on Thursday night, extending a streak of first-rounders from Cal that includes Tyson Alualu (2010), Jahvid Best (2010), Alex Mack (2009), and Marshawn Lynch (2007).

(We should note that All-Pro wide receiver and return man Desean Jackson somehow slipped out of the first round in 2008, being picked up by the Eagles in the second round. Plenty of teams are certainly regretting that move now.)

Calbears.com will be hosting Cal NFL Draft Central for Thursday's first round and the Bear Blog will be functioning as an NFL Draft blog for the weekend.

We also will host Candid Cam, where Cameron Jordan will offer Bear Blog readers an inside look at the life of a first round prospect waiting for his name to be called at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

Needless to say, for all of your NFL draft coverage regarding former Golden Bears, this is the place to be. At least Cam Jordan will be here.

Former Cal defensive lineman Cameron Jordan will give fans a little insight into his trip to New York City to attend the 2011 NFL Draft on Thursday, April 28. The events of the day are expected to keep the projected first-round pick quite busy, but when he finds a little time he will post some comments, photos and possibly a few other tidbits for the "Candid Cam" blog on the 2011 Cal NFL Draft Central page (calbears.com/nfldraft).

Former assistant coach Lindsay Gottlieb has accepted the head coaching position of Cal's women's basketball program, athletic director Sandy Barbour announced today.

Gottlieb is returning to Berkeley after serving three seasons as the head coach of the UCSB's women's basketball. She will be addressing the media in full tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 p.m. at Haas Pavilion.

You can read the complete release here.

For any of you who have faithfully checked the blog this week only to find no new activity, I'm here to offer my deepest apologies.

If you have been with the Bear Blog from the beginning, you remember that I am currently in the process of writing an honors thesis on the polarization of the American news media. Having turned in a 42-page rough draft this week (with the final draft due on May 5), well, things have been a bit crazy on my end.

We'll be back with more complete coverage of Cal sports after the holiday weekend. If you are staying in Berkeley, I would suggest you check out the Brutus Hamilton Invitational, softball's series with rival Stanford and the first ever Swim With Mike event at Spieker Pool.

Last night the International House on the east side of the Berkeley campus was overtaken by Cal athletes past and present adorned in their zebra-striped varsity sweaters. The Big C Society hosted the banquet in honor of this year's graduating seniors.

This particular class of athletes, according to athletic director Sandy Barbour, delivered eight national titles for the Bears, 46 more individual titles and countless Pac-10, MPSF and Nor-Pac crowns as well.

"You were part of arguably the most successful era in Cal sports history," said Barbour from the lectern. "Our primary message to you is one of thanks, as your accomplishments were nothing short of remarkable. We recognize that these achievements came as a result of much sacrifice."

Along with Barbour, pole vaulter Allison Stokke and Nathan Adrian, Cal swimming's resident Olympic gold medalist, addressed the crowd. The special guest speaker was none other than Joe Starkey, who you might recognize as the voice behind this call.

While the banquet was recognizing the finish of an era of Cal athletics, not all of the athletes are done competing for the blue and gold.

"I had five minutes to get dressed after practice today," golfer Pia Halbig said. "We leave for the Pac-10 Championships this weekend."

Even still, there was much to celebrate last night as yet another group of student athletes prepares to graduate from what Barbour described as "the preeminent public university in the nation."

You can see photos from the event below.

As promised, we are set to announce the winners of last week's caption contest right here on the Bear Blog. After much deliberation, our decision has been made.

The following comment, submitted by wevegottheaxe68 was deemed hilarious, but after some in depth investigative journalism, sources have confirmed to us that this particular person is indeed a current student athlete at Cal.

While his entry, "Nathan Adrian doesn't need tiger blood, he needs only Bear Blood to fuel his domination" was thoroughly enjoyable, NCAA compliance does not allow for current offensive lineman Mark Brazinski to be rewarded the championship prize.

Instead, GoBears91's caption, "To be fair, in the future Cal should be made to swim up hill" will take home the grand prize of $25 to the faculty club here on campus because the absurdity of the caption is equal to the absurdity of the Bears' margin of victory.

The two runner-ups, who will receive an official Cal pennant, were Ken Go Bears, with "The Cal Men's Swim Team BEARly has any competition! Nathan Adrian BLUE past the competition for the GOLD!" and Troy Smith - and I hope this is actually Troy Smith - who delivered some enjoyable dry humor with this: "Either we are really far behind, or this is just embarrassing. Go Bears."

The three winners will be notified by email. Thank you to all who participated. If you didn't win this time around, fear not - plenty more giveaways are still to come on the Bear Blog.

Happy Monday, everyone. Thanks to all who participated in last week's caption contest. We'll be announcing the winners at 3:00 p.m. this afternoon, so stay tuned.

Three different prizes will be going out - a $25 gift certificate to the Faculty Club here on campus for the first prize and a felt Cal pennant to two runner-ups.

With Cal football's spring practice schedule in full swing, the Bears are left only to reminisce about the relaxing days of spring break and the time when finals weren't looming over the horizon.

Today, we're going to make that a bit easier as we take preseason All-American punter Bryan Anger, kicker Giorgio Tavecchio and former offensive lineman Todd Huber back to their trip to Italy last month.

As is no secret, Tavecchio is a native Italian from Milan who returns to his homeland whenever he has the opportunity to do so. Never before, however, had he taken a teammate with him back to Italy to provide a firsthand tour of his native country.

Anger, Huber and Tavecchio left for Italy on March 18 and spent a week touring Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome. By all accounts they ate impressively and saw as many Italian landmarks as possible.

We sat down with Tavecchio to discuss the trip, but once the senior starts talking about Italy it's tough to keep up. So instead we have for you photos of their week-long stay in Europe. Check those out below.


Tavecchio's aunt and uncle hosted the three Cal students in when they arrived in Milan.


Tavecchio's grandfather avidly supports the Bears all the way from Italy, as is obvious in his shop.


Here Tavecchio is climbing the steps of St. Peter's Dome in Rome.


Huber (left) and Anger (right) joined Tavecchio at the Colusseum.



Family friends in Rome were thanked for their hospitality with Cal gear and a signed ball.


The three football players met up with three of Cal's soccer players: Danielle Brunache, Kaitlin Paletta and Emily Shibata (left to right).

It's been a good couple of months for former Cal football player and current Green Bay Packer Desmond Bishop.

Bishop was a key contributor to the Packers' 2010-2011 Super Bowl winning season, culminating with a crucial fumble recovery in the fourth quarter of the biggest game his career (fast forward to the 5:45 mark of this video to see the highlight).

Today, the former Golden Bear was honored in a different way - on the floor of the California State Assembly by Mariko Yamada, the representative of California' 8th Assembly District, which includes Bishop's hometown of Fairfield. You can read the entire story here.

Here's your opportunity to contribute to the Bear Blog and win some free Cal swag - simply leave a comment listing what you think the caption to the photo below should be.

This shot was taken by swimmer Nick Trowbridge at the NCAA Championships in Minnesota last month. You'll notice that senior Nathan Adrian is completely destroying the competition in the 400 medley relay.

Adrian (freestyle) served as the anchor to a relay team that included Guy Barnea (back), Damir Dugonjic (breast) and Tom Shields (butterfly). While Adrian brought it home, the roar of "roll on you Bears" echoed from the more than 100 alumni and fans present at the meet.

So have at it and be creative. We have three prizes to give out - one for the first place winner and two runners-up awards. Let the best man or woman win.

The No. 10 Cal men's tennis team is currently facing off with the No. 29 University of San Diego on the courts of Hellman Tennis complex here in Berkeley.

The Bears (10-5, 2-1 Pac-10) are celebrating the careers of four seniors today for their last regular season match at home.

We were in the locker room as Cal prepped for this afternoon. And we'll be on hand post-match to receive the benefits of a free Fuddruckers burger.

Here are some photos from the Bears just moments ago.

If there's one thing that could make watching Cal sports better, it would be getting free food for doing so. Fortunately for you, we have just that opportunity for you tomorrow afternoon at Hellman Tennis Complex.

At 1:30 p.m., the Bears will host the Toreros of the University of San Diego and Fuddruckers will be on hand dishing out free burgers to the first 400 fans there immediately following the match.

The day celebrates the late Jim McManus, a Cal tennis alumni and hall of famer, as well as seniors Pedro Zerbini, Bozhidar Katsarov, Jonathan Dahan, and Zach Gilbert for their last regular season home match.

Needless to say, we'll be there to grab a free burger and pull for the Bears. And there really is no reason for you not to be there too.