Matt Ortega

In San Francisco, the Cal Bears (9-4, 6-3 PAC-10) delivered for the hometown crowd with a seven-point victory, 24-17, over the Miami Hurricanes (7-6, 4-4 ACC). Sophomore tailback Jahvid Best was in top form with 186 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 20 carries — nearly 10 yards per carry — and a late touchdown reception by freshman tight end Anthony Miller.

Check out some of my sideline photos from the game, and highlights from the national coverage on ESPN:

At Sam Boyd Stadium, the Arizona Wildcats (8-5, 5-4 PAC-10) defeated sixteenth-ranked BYU Cougars (10-3, 6-2 MWC), 31-21, in the Las Vegas Bowl. Wildcats quarterback Willie Tuitama completed 24 of 35 passes for 325 yards and two touchdowns, earning Player of the Game honors.

The bowl victory was the first for the Arizona football program in ten years when the 12-1 Wildcats edged the Nebraska Cornhuskers, 23-20, in the 1998 Holiday Bowl sealed with an interception by cornerback Chris McAlister.

Writing from the nation’s capital while sporting an Arizona Wildcats football jersey from 2002, this is a reminder that the Wildcats (7-5, 5-4 PAC-10) meet the BYU Cougars (10-2, 6-2 MWC) in the frigid cold of Sam Boyd Stadium in the Las Vegas Bowl. (Weather forecasts show 47 degree high/34 degree low for the game.)

ESPN conducted an EA Sports NCAA 09 simulation of the Las Vegas Bowl, predicting a 38-35 victory for the Wildcats in an evenly-paced game that is won on a last-second field goal from Jason Bondzio. (The simulation predicted a Wake Forest win over the Navy Midshipmen, 27-10, in the Eagle Bank Bowl. That game, played this morning at RFK Stadium here in Washington, proved similar with the Demon Deacons claiming a 29-19 bowl victory.)

The last time Arizona and BYU met was in the beginning of last season in Utah — the first game the Wildcats employed the spread offense — and failed to score until the final minute, losing 20-7. This time around, with a bowl championship on the line, Arizona looks for redemption.

The Associated Press is reporting that Congresswoman Hilda Solis (D-El Monte, Calif.) will be named Secretary of Labor-Designate for the incoming Obama administration in the coming days.

Reports of the nomination sent cheers through various political circles in labor unions, environmental, progressive thinkers, workers rights groups, and the Latino community, all hailing the choice. Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-Anaheim, Calif.) said she was “thrilled” with the decision.

A strong supporter of hers is Oakland-native and green jobs icon, Van Jones so green-collared folks ought to be ecstatic with this selection.

CQ Politics is up with an profile on the next Secretary of Labor here.

Governor Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee,  was profiled in The Nation as his tenure winds down come January 2009.

Almost nobody is questioning the fifty-state strategy anymore. Dean’s popularity among party activists has never been greater. At a December DNC meeting in San Diego, party leaders from New Hampshire to Kansas to Nevada spoke about how their states had been transformed, with Dean’s help, in under four years. The state chairs passed a resolution praising Dean for taking “on all foes to defend the inherent brilliance” of the fifty-state strategy, and calling him “the most successful Democratic chairman in decades.” (He’s certainly the least pretentious: Dean took the same JetBlue red-eye back to New York as I did. “I only take red-eyes,” he told me as we boarded.)

Also, Governor Dean can recite the flight schedules of Southwest and JetBlue. I have seen it with my own eyes.