"Q" has the "A" for the MLS' Chicago Fire

Former Aggie All-American Quincy Amarikwa is among Major League Soccer's top goal scorers thus far in 2014. (Photo Courtesy USA Today Sports Images)

In your best Alex Trebek voice, ask yourself the following, "This former UC Davis standout has been on 'Fire' for his MLS squad, ranking among the league's top goal-scorers in 2014."

If you said, "Who is Quincy Amarikwa?" Collect your "Daily Double" winnings and select your next category.

While his name may not be associated with the long-running television game show (yet), the Bakersfield native and Aggie All-American has been the answer offensively for the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer (MLS) thus far this season, experiencing a scoring renaissance of sorts to the tune of a career-high five goals in eight matches for a side that has been fit to be tied in 2014 (1-2-6 as of May 13) -- including an MLS-record six consecutive draws -- but is coming off its first win of the year, 5-4, over the New York Red Bulls on May 10, with the tying goal scored by Amarikwa off a header in the 49th minute (watch highlights)

Amarikwa, in the midst of his sixth MLS season and his second with the Fire, leads the team in scoring and is one of six players tied for fifth in the league in goals scored, while also standing second among his Chicago teammates with 18 shots on the year (as of May 13). He has scored a goal in each of Chicago's last three matches -- tied for the second-longest active streak in the league entering the week -- and has a point in his last five straight contests, trailing only Brad Davis (six matches) of Houston among active streaks.

The 2008 Big West Conference Offensive
Player of the Year and an NSCAA All-American,
Amarikwa finished his career third on the all-time
UC Davis goals list and fifth in points.
(Photo by Wayne Tilcock/Davis Enterprise)

Selected by the San Jose Earthquakes in the third round (32nd overall) of the 2009 MLS SuperDraft -- the first-ever Aggie to be taken in the SuperDraft and only the second UC Davis player to be drafted into the MLS ("Who is Ryan Shaw?") since 2004 -- the now 26-year-old Amarikwa made his league debut later that season against New England, eventually scoring his first career point with an assist against Columbus on May 27 and finding the back of the net for the first time against FC Dallas on Oct. 7.

Following stops with Colorado (which claimed the 2010 MLS Cup) and Toronto FC from 2010 to 2012, scoring three goals in 31 matches during that span, Amarikwa signed with Chicago prior to the 2013 season and immediately paid dividends as a spark ("fire" reference) off the bench, scoring three times in just 299 minutes of action -- all coming in the final 10 minutes of regulation or stoppage time -- including one strike that was up for the league's Goal of the Year (watch the final goal in Group P).

This season, Amarikwa has also scored highlight-worthy goals against Chivas USA on March 9, D.C. United on March 29, Montreal on April 12, and New England on April 19 -- the latter his first goal scored in front of the hometown crowd at Toyota Park.

His career at UC Davis was also nothing short of highlight-worthy, finishing off his four years as a collegian ranked third in school history in goals scored (31) and fifth in points (69), while his 15 goals as a senior in 2008 led the Big West and ranks tied for third on the school's single-season list.

He was named the Big West Conference Offensive Player of the Year and earned all-conference first-team laurels that season, as well as earning All-Far West Region First Team and All-America Second Team honors from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

Amarikwa, who lettered at UC Davis from 2005-08, twice led the Aggies into the NCAA Tournament, including a second-round appearance in 2008.

Whether he can help the Fire accomplish the same is yet to be seen, but the former Aggie is well on his way.

- Jason Spencer, assistant athletics communications director, has never been a game show host, but once used a cassette recorder (kids, ask your parents) to tape the audio off an episode of "Press Your Luck" to practice with when he was younger.

Aggie Baseball: The Honolulu Chronicles

UC Davis baseball just got back from a four-game series in Hawai'i and, despite going 1-3 against the Rainbow Warriors, the Aggies still had plenty of stories - and sunburns - to go around.

Back on the mainland, I could more or less guess how the scene was unfolding. Of course the skies were blue. Of course the temperature never wavered from 81 degrees. Of course the sands were white and the water was crystal clear.

But I got to see a little more than I thought I would thanks to two of the four games being featured on ESPN3.com. It may not be ESPN in the truest sense, but it's still pretty fun to see this as part of the worldwide leader in sports' family of channels:

So on Thursday night, I settled in for a night of Aggie baseball.

From the broadcast, I could tell that Les Murakami Stadium is pretty impressive and the team wholeheartedly agreed that it was a really great place to play. First baseman Eric Johnson told me that there is even a third level of seating that hangs over the field, causing an echo that makes the stadium sound even louder than it really is.

Also noticeable? When third baseman Paul Politi forgot to take his hat off during the national anthem... right as the camera panned over UC Davis lined up outside of its dugout. Oops. Luckily he remembered, slyly glanced from left to right to see if anyone else noticed, then slowly slipped his cap off as shortstop Adam Young smiled next to him.

If you saw Thursday's game or took a look at the box score or postgame recap, the highlight of the night was another stellar pitching performance from senior Dayne Quist. In seven innings, he struck out nine Hawai'i batters and gave up just four hits as the Aggies took the 5-3 win.

But it seemed the crowd, and then the cameramen, were much more interested in another situation that was unfolding. All of a sudden the camera was pointed on senior second baseman Ryan Allgrove as he was... shagging foul balls?

It's true. The camera and the broadcasters were transfixed on Allgrove as he jogged up and down the left field line collecting foul balls. He probably had a solid half inning of air time. They showed a graphic with his name, bio info and mugshot. And everytime he ran out, the home crowd heckled him with every step.

Well what could a foul ball shagger ever have done to get a crowd that riled up?

It seems as if our own Mr. Allgrove is a bit of an instigator, I'm afraid. The story goes like this:

There were signs posted all over the Aggie dugout instructing the players to please return all foul balls. So that's exactly what Allgrove set out to do. At one point, one foul shot looked like it was going to hop over the fence and into the crowd, when, at the last second, Allgrove snatched it out of the air. The crowd clamored for the ball and Allgrove tossed... but completely faked the crowd out. The entire section half stood, hands in the air, waiting for the toss that never came, then laughed and applauded when they realized Allgrove had pulled one over on them.

The whole rest of the game they razzed him and the camera followed it, even as he took his cap off to give the crowd a salute as he sat back down after retrieving yet another foul ball.  Nice touch Ryan.

Allgrove wasn't the only Aggie to feel the heat of 2,500 Hawai'i baseball fans.  Turns out, every Aggie got their fair share of heckling after it was discovered that a 15-page "scouting report" was passed out to the fans to give them plenty of ammunition against our boys. Sisters' names, girlfriends' names, and who knows what else were all part of this packet of info and the fans used it all weekend long.

But the joke turned out to be on the Hawai'i fans in one instance.

UC Davis has a set of uniforms that features blue jerseys with gold numbering. If you've seen these at Dobbins Stadium, you probably know which ones I mean. And you probably remember them because the font that the numbers are written in is one of the most difficult fonts to read.

Evan Wolf in the dreaded blue jersey... Is that 36? 38? It could even be 39 maybe? 

Let's say we have a pinch hitter and the Aggies are in this particular set of uniforms.  The exchange from the press box at Dobbins Stadium generally goes like this:

Me: We have a pinch hitter on deck. That's... 19?
Someone in the press box: No that can't be 19. 19 is Johnson and he's on first. 16?
Me: No. 16 is Patrick Hennessey and he's a pitcher.
Someone else: Is it 18?
Me: Yes. Yes that's an 18. Ok so that's Spencer Brann pinch hitting. Good work everyone.

Well Eric Johnson experienced this exact confusion - for lack of a better term - as he stood at first base on Friday night.  Fans kept yelling "Spencer! Hey Spencer!" throughout much of the game. Obviously Eric didn't turn around. They kept yelling "Spencer! Spencer!" but got no response from Johnson.

Later on, it finally dawned on the Aggie senior: They thought he was wearing No. 18 and thus exhausted all of their heckling energy trying to rile up backup catcher Spencer Brann, not first baseman Eric Johnson.

I feel your pain, Hawai'i fans. I really really do.

All in all, a couple more wins could have really made the trip one to remember, but it's back home to Davis and on to the next one. And for a few more days they'll have the stories... and the sunburns... to remember the trip by.


Assistant director Amanda Piechowski was lucky enough to travel with women's basketball to Honolulu in December, so she really didn't want to push her luck with a return trip with baseball. But it would have made waiting for the 9:35 p.m. Pacific first pitch - and writing the post game recap at the end of the three-hour game - a heck of a lot easier...

National Signing Day Coverage

Fax machines in college athletic departments across the country will be turning-and-burning throughout the day on Wednesday as prospective student-athletes make their official commitments as part of National Signing Day.

For college football fans, it's a can't-miss day on their calendars; that day when hope springs eternal and everyone is still undefeated for another seven months. Fans will scrutinize their favorite school's newest recruits, compare them to their rivals and wait for their coaches to size 'em all up.

At Tennessee, fans will actually be able to watch online the fax machine as it goes into overdrive with NLI's. Hopefully someone remembers to load it up with paper tonight.

At UC Davis, we're not going to have a webcam on our fax machine, lest all those offers of free trips to the Bahamas get more play time than they actually deserve. But we are going to bring you more and quicker coverage than ever before. And not just of the Aggie football team's newest members, but also those for men's and women's soccer and field hockey as well which also have signing days on Wednesday.

We'll have plenty of ways for you to follow all the action.

UCDAVISAGGIES.COM - Your home for all things Aggies is your home for all things NLI on National Signing Day. Jump on our first-ever Football Signing Day Central Page as we add the names of the Aggies' signees as soon as their paperwork is approved. Check out the list of names, where they're from and all the other particulars as soon as we receive them in Athletics Communications.

Of course, at the end of the day, we'll have complete news releases with bios, coaches comments and other key data for all of our signees across the different sports.

TWITTER AND FACEBOOK - All signees, whether they're for football, soccer or field hockey, will be immediately tweeted to nearly 2,000 followers of the official UC Davis Athletics twitter page. We'll give you the important up-front details so you'll know almost the exact moment we know. Want to be part of that group? Follow UC Davis Athletics by going here.

FOOTBALL SIGNING PARTY - Come on out to Aggie Stadium - future home for those newest UC Davis football players - and join the football coaching staff and other supporters for a celebration of the recruiting class on Wednesday at 5 p.m. Head coach Bob Biggs will talk about the newest Aggies and will show a highlight film (which will be available on the website in coming days). Note: Per NCAA rules, no prospects or family of prospects are permitted to be in attendance.

There's a lot going on throughout the day Wednesday. It's more than we've every done before and we hope you're a part of it.

And our fax machine is loaded with paper and ready to go.

Mike Robles, assistant athletics director for athletics communications. 

Podcast Contest: Name That Podcast

Football is finally here. If you're like me, Aggie fans, then you're excited for the start of football camp and you are wanting more. More football. More coach Bob Biggs. More all-around Aggie coverage. So here's the plan: We want to make a podcast with coach Biggs.

There are many factors to consider when making a podcast. Who should host the podcast? How many hosts? Do you have guests? Will you play music? How long will it be? Will there be weekly segments? What structure will you choose for the podcast? I'd like to say I have all the details ironed out and the perfect plan to give our fans just what they want. But I don't. I just know that I want a podcast. And if you're like me, then you want a podcast too. So here's what I do have so far:

Host: Doug Kelly

Co-Host: Bob Biggs

Available weekly on ucdavisaggies.com

That's about it…

But I think we're on the right track. Coach Biggs will be the focal point of the show and the content will obviously be centered around the football team. I'm sure that coach Biggs will review past games and give fans an in-depth look at what's on slate for the week to come.

Doug Kelly was a nice pick up too. He has been a fixture in the radio booth for years, providing detailed analysis for UC Davis football. A familiar voice for Aggie fans, Doug is sure to bring the podcast to the next level.

The rest is up to you. We want our fans to weigh in on the podcast and tell us what you want. Because after all, this podcast is for you, the fans. Here's what we're looking for:

A Name: We're open to suggestions. Leave on comment on our blog, post a message on our Facebook page or send us a tweet on Twitter. Ex. "The Bob Biggs Podcast"

Guests: What guests do you want to hear from throughout the season? Do you want to hear from alumni? Assistant coaches? Players? Should we include guests or do you want all coach Biggs all the time?

Segments: What fun segments do you want to hear each and every week? Ex. A play of the week with audio from last week's game.

Let us know what you think, Aggie fans. Make sure to your comments are on one of our social media outlets and stay tuned for a football podcast this season.

Social Media 101

It's no secret that social media has been infused into pop culture, athletics and our everyday lives as a whole. For those of you not born into the millennial generation, the abbreviations and twitterspeak can be a little overwhelming. If you are used to reading 140 characters at a time, then you are up-to-date with the tweets, retweets and all the tweeps in the twitosphere. (Check out the twictionary if that last sentence confused you.) If not, then you are considered illtwitterate and this blog will help you. 

The integration of Twitter and Facebook as a news source has directly impacted the way we (Athletics Communications) promote the athletics teams and student-athletes at UC Davis. This movement has flowed over into nearly every news outlet, whether its the addition of a newspaper Twitter account or a change in writing style for magazines. Take a recent football release for example:

One of the best preseason football publications you can read is Phil Steele's College Football Preview. Phil Steele and his team of writers have fully embraced a writing style that mirrors Twitter; more information in less space. Here is an excerpt of the recent UC Davis preview page, looking at the quarterback position.

"Into ‘08 it was a 2-man battle for the starting spot but in game 2, after not starting the opener, Greg Denham took over and started the next 2 yrs throwing for a comb 6,410 (64%, 46-24). He was All-GWC both yrs and was set to ret LY but in the spg decided to forgo his senior ssn. RFr Randy Wright stepped in and earned 2nd tm GWC and ROY throwing for 2,432 (58.9%,17-8). UC Davis now has an exp’d All-Conf player returning and is far ahead of last year."

If you need a decipher to make it through that paragraph, here is some help:

yrs - years
comb - combined
GWC - Great West Conference
ret - return
LY - last year
spy - spring
ssn - season
RFr - Redshirt freshman
tm - team
ROY - Rookie of the Year
exp'd - experience
All-Conf - All-Conference

Most football-minded readers can make it through Phil Steele's magazine without pause, but you can see my point. Many news outlets have adopted this type of reporting; present a lot of information in short bursts. Phil Steele goes on to breakdown every position, the coaches and the upcoming schedule to provide a great forecast for the 2011 season. There's no question that this form of reporting is effective for the given audience.

If you have watched ESPN at all in the last year, you have likely seen multiple stories that have "broke" through a post on Twitter. Depending on the person tweeting, Twitter has become a reliable news source. Shaq single handedly put Tout, a new social media outlet, on the map by announcing his retirement via a Tout video.

All of these factors have influenced how we approach coverage for athletics teams at UC Davis. While we still write our news releases in AP style (Associated Press), there is a conscious and consistent effort to drive more traffic to our website and more attention to our teams with social media strategies. This blog in itself is a new way to present information to fans. In another blog post, What's In A Name?, Mark Honbo explains further the growing need to think of creative ways to distribute information to our fans.

Our official athletics Facebook page currently has 5,407 likes and our Twitter handle has 1,344 followers. That's a lot of fans that are cheering at football games or checking up on their favorite teams at ucdavisaggies.com. The folks at Athletics Marketing and Promotions have done a great job promoting these sites and increasing our fan support.

But if you are an Aggie fan and you aren't involved in social media, what does it mean to "like" us or "follow" us and why would you want to do that?

First, lets tackle Facebook. If you aren't one of the 750 million active users on Facebook already, I encourage you to sign up for one simple reason: If you are reading this blog, then you will probably be interested in the Facebook content we provide on our official athletics page. If you are signed up but don't "like" us, then it's time to jump on board. Simply search for "UC Davis Athletics" and then click "like" at the top of the page. Now you will see recent stories, comments by other fans, the latest photos from Gunrock and much much more.

Now what about Twitter? After reading this blog, you should be well versed enough in twitterspeak to feel comfortable signing up. Upon signing up for a personal account, search for "UCDavisAggies" and click "follow." You can even opt to have our twitter messages sent straight to your mobile phone. If you are confused by what you see on our Twitter page, here is a quick breakdown on some common practices.

@ - The @ symbol prefaces every username on Twitter. If you see the @ symbol before another name in a UC Davis post, @BigWestSports for example, then that will provide a link to the Big West Conference official Twitter page.

# - The # symbol prefaces any word or phrase that is "trending" on Twitter. If you search for #UCDavis on Twitter, you will see a list of tweets referencing UC Davis. At the time of this blog post, a heat wave is sweeping the US and one of the top Trends is "#its2hot4that".

mini urls - At the end of several of our posts, you will see a link to an external website. Often this sends you back to ucdavisaggies.com to give you a more complete story on the information that you originally read.

There are more aspects of Facebook and Twitter that you will inevitably come across, but the information in this blog should give you everything you need to keep up with UC Davis Athletics. The Athletics Communications and Marketing staffs will be updating social media content daily throughout the year, so make sure to "follow" us or "like" us.

Whether you are following your favorite team or reconnecting with friends, social media outlets can be a great tool. Make sure to follow #UCDavis this year in the hunt for @BigWestSports, #GWC, #WWPA, #NorPac, #MSPF and @NCAA #championships.

- Ryan Burns, Assistant Director, Athletics Communications