2
Sep
2007
Sep
2007
So, our trip to Berkeley wasn’t quite what we were hoping for. I will have a full write up early in the week, along with some observations about the lameness that is Memorial Stadium (not so much the fans who, for the most part were ok, except for one asshat who was making some less than stellar comments when Xavier was hurt), but their penchant for blaring crap over the loudspeakers (including FAKE CROWD NOISE)…
Look for the review coming up soon, but until then, I’m gonna go break something… and then sleep, because it’s tiring being on the road for 12 hrs in less than 2 days.
P.S. Thanks Jason!
Email this Post
I honestly have no idea what’s going on with the crap on the loudspeakers. That’s not a penchant — that’s brand new. I hope it doesn’t become a penchant. It was horrendous. But the people who manage Cal’s gameday media stuff have been incompetent for years, and it’s only getting worse.
The playing of crowd noise, or bears roaring, or music right up until the ball was snapped — I hope they get rebuked for that immediately, because that was supremely lame. But again, I don’t think it was a directive from above. Just sheer incompetence.
I too, hope that was the case, cuz it was indeed supremely lame. I was impressed with the crowd turnout though, and it seemed like Cal’s fans (long tooths included) were jacked up for the game, which always makes for a fun atmosphere.
Anyway, good game bears, and like I said, for the most part, the fans were pretty cool.
The fans that travelled to Knoxville last year were first class douches. I happened to get tickets in the middle of the Cal section.
wow, that sucks to hear. I mean, for the most part, it seemed the Tennessee fans were very courteous. In fact, at one point around downtown Berkeley, there were a lot more orange shirts than any other color. We dubbed it “West, West Knoxville.”
There were def. some douche-tastic people there, especially after the game with people and their clever “oh, who won the game?!?” things… but there were others who were genuinely interested in the fact that there was a football game, and if we wanted some “bionic chronic”
I flew down from Seattle for the game.. and sat in the middle of the Cal young alumni section. First off, Memorial Stadium is a dump.. and it’s downright dangerous. There was an ugly fence around the entire stadium, creating several areas of pedestrian gridlock. People were literally pushing and shoving each other to get past some choke points. After spending nearly an hour trying to get to our seats.. we then found all the Cal fans standing on top of their seats. I don’t mind fans who want to stand for the entire game.. but standing on top of old wooden bleachers that are about to fall apart is another thing. As for the loudspeaker crap– I totally agree. They played music down to the very last second. Lame crowd– lame stadium.
First, fans are exceedingly emotional and judgmental as hell. I’m a Cal alum who was at the game last year…wearing Cal colors–I was not exactly handed a mint julep and shown legendary southern hospitality; I didn’t expect it either. And yes, Vols fans also include “douches”, “chodes”, “rednecks’ and other socially repulsive people…but I went to watch a game…not the fans. We (Cal) got rolled on; this year the Vols, while they lost, clearly don’t suck and made it a very exciting game to watch. Because the Vols lost, the simple minds in this thread seem to need to dish on the fans, the stadium, ANYTHING to soothe the pain of getting out finessed and shattering any hope of a national championship.
Memorial Stadium is unique. Also, being “Berkeley” it is not going to be a cookie cutter experience…who the hell wants the same experience wherever they go (YAWN). I suspect, if the Vols won, there would be a lot less acrimony regarding ANYTHING that didn’t happen on the field.
Tom,
All valid points, and thank you for your comments. I agree that there are crappy fans everywhere, and it usually only takes a few bad ones to make a bigger group look worse than they are. There was a group of Cal fans behind us, and next to us Saturday, and they were all very pleasant. Also, a few guys we talked to on the BART after the game were pretty nice.
I think, even if we had won, I would have still made a stink about the PA system and the guys with microphones hollering during the play clock, but that’s just me. Thanks for writing, and congratulations on a big win.
Why are you congratulating him on the win? He didn’t do anything, probably had no effect on the game.
@Tim: “The fans that travelled to Knoxville last year were first class douches.”
Well, I travelled to Knoxville next year and in my immediate vicinity were about 100 really good Cal fans and, sitting right in front of me, one first class douche. Who was also a Cal fan. He was, by far, the worst fan I met in my entire visit to Knoxville.
But it takes all kinds. Most of the people I met in Knoxville were incredibly polite and I was really impressed. Of course, after the game a few drunken Tennessee students were asshats, but what do you expect? That happens everywhere.
In Berkeley I made a point of returning the favor to any Vols fans I could help. I helped point some people in the right direction in our parking lot, and helped direct a couple other fans to the right section as we entered the stadium.
I think it’s pretty dangerous to stereotype any team’s fans. There will always be drunken boobs and there will always be nice, kind, polite die-hard fans.
When I got back from Knoxville I went out of my way to praise the nice people of Tennessee, despite the fact that my team had lost. I think it shows class when you can refrain from taking cheap shots when you’ve had your season blown away in game one. Your mileage may vary.
Frankly, I’ve been impressed with Vols fans and I think I’ll have a bond with the Vols from now on, after these two games. Here’s hoping for more teams having the balls to schedule good teams for nonconference games. I think we can all praise Cal and Tennessee for doing this home-and-home series. Let’s see more like that. I’d love to see Cal playing an SEC team every year, and a Big Ten team every year. Not that it will ever happen. (Though it happened last year!)
Fat Simon,
Cheers to you too…I was right, the Vols don’t suck and the pollsters know it too. They were the only team to lose and maintain a spot in the top 25.
As for this Saturday, I pitty anybody associated with the Oregon Ducks.
jason,
i think that was very well said. there are always boobs in every city (and not the good kind), and for the most part, most of the cal fans were pretty hospitable, especially when they weren’t in the bigger mobs using their “groupthink” brains.
i wish the bears well in their future endeavors (read: beating sc), and hope that they can attain better things and make the Pac more relevant in terms of the national picture. i think it’s in everyone’s best interest of college football for there to be more competition, and hopefully, this type of series will create better matchups in the future. it’s been fun watching this series, and i’d love to see it renewed sooner rather than later.
Hello, just doing some research for my Seattle 4g website. Amazing the amount of information on the web. Looking for something else, but cool site. Cya later.