Friday Fish Fry: Former Aggie stars in national ad, Rosa Parks gets the boot, the world's loneliest sunflower
Counting calories at the Black Bear Diner with Bernie and Tulsi
THERE'S ALWAYS A LOCAL ANGLE ... So there I was, sitting in a reclaimed Barcalounger and watching the national telecast of an important football game, when on came an AT&T ad with a theme about "nothing is guaranteed."
The ad showed several quick and humorous scenes supposedly from everyday life, including a college football player slipping and sliding on wet ground as he approached the team locker room. It all happened so quickly that it didn't register in my brain that the football player in question looked a lot like someone I knew from covering UC Davis football over all these years.
I paid closer attention when the same ad came on later in the game and noted that the helmetless player in question was headed for a locker room decorated with a giant "A" for the University of Arizona.
It was then that I excitedly yelled out to startled family members and neighbors with their windows open, "Hey, that's Chubba." As in Chubba (pron. chew-bah) Ma'ae, an extremely talented defensive tackle who had indeed played for the Aggies, but had transferred to the University of Arizona for his senior season.
His long flowing hair blocked the name on the back of his jersey, but the number "92" was clearly visible. It took our son Mick about 10 seconds to check the 2024 University of Arizona football roster and there, indeed, was a mug shot of No. 92, one Chubba Ma'ae, all 6-foot-2 and 349 pounds of him, with a notation in his biography that he had previously played at UC Davis, where, presumably, he was not yet a national TV star.
Chubba was one of those guys that I always loved to interview. Happy, easy going, extremely quotable and always treating you as if you were the best friend he ever had. He could make anyone smile or laugh. I'd see Chubba at soccer and basketball and baseball games, always there to offer support to his fellow Aggie athletes.
He brought a lot to the table when he was here, both on and off the field.
I don't know if that ad will run during Sunday's Super Bowl, but if it does, remember that Chubba is a cherished UC Davis alum.
SPEAKING OF CHUBBA ... So how did things work out for this former Aggie superstar at his new home in Tucson?
Well, it was a mixed bag.
Chubba was an instant starter as an Arizona nose guard, playing well in the first three games, with wins over New Mexico and Northern Arizona and a loss to Kansas State.
But a leg injury sidelined him for over two months and he didn't play again until the final game of the season, November 30, against archrival Arizona State. He had three tackles in that game, giving him eight for the season. The good news here is that he was once again healthy at the end of the season.
Because he played in only four games, he is eligible for a medical redshirt year, meaning he could play for Arizona next fall if he so desires.
Then again, Hollywood may be calling his name.
DINING WITH BEARS ... I don't know about you, but I'm always happy to grab a bite to eat at the Black Bear Diner, which, as it turns out, is where Bernie Sanders had a meal before appearing at a UC Davis rally when he was running for president in 2016. (Tulsi Gabbard, believe it or not, was Bernie's opening act, but whether she dined with Bernie beforehand is lost to history.)
The Black Bear Diner is small and friendly and comfortably cozy, the menu is as big as the San Francisco phone book - back in the days when we had phone books - and, as I understand it, one of its two founders, Bob or Bruce, is a UC Davis grad.
I've eaten in the original in Shasta City, but I prefer the one in Davis in the space first occupied by Sambo's long, long ago.