Cal v. Oregon 11.1.08 Photo Essay:  Game

PreGame

Well, since there was hellacious rain on Saturday, I didnt want to risk my camera getting ruined.  So, I got few photos of the game proper.  Luckily, TrisWeb got some sweet shots from his dry perch.  Here is one of his sick photos that I feel really encapsulates the game. 

via blog.tmcnet.com

Great shot.  And Vereen really got some extra yards with that dive at the end there.

I got a few photos in the 1st quarter before things got really bad.

This one came out terribly except for the ball in mid air there.

It was a wet and wild game, but one thing cannot be overstated enough.  WE GOT A SAFETY!  My dream means of point reception!  It took 3 attempts to get one that stuck.  Not even the refs could turn this one around.

And that reflects well upon Nick Sundberg and Bryan Anger.  Everytime we had to punt (especially if we were deep in our own territory), the thought of giving Oregon 2 free points as they did for us freaked me out.  But we never had any problems there.  Anger always dried his hand and then threw that towel on the field.  I was always wondering what would happen if the towel played a role in a play.

What if the Oregon runner is about to score a touchdown (which would suck) and there is nobody in front of him, but he trips on the towel (which would rock)?  What happens there?

But who cares.  WE GOT A SAFETY!

WE SHOCKED THE WORLD!

Longshore faces the team and leads them to victory in the huddle:

TrisWeb had some photos from a dry perch:

via TrisWeb

Via TrisWeb

This is, I believe, at some point in the 1st half.  Look at how few fans there are, especially in the student section. 

via TrisWeb

via TrisWeb

Nate drops back to pass:

via TrisWeb

A bit tough to see (double click to enlarge), but this is the helmet comes off hit:

via TrisWeb

And now we are to the fourth quarter when things cooled off a little.  You can see the situation here:

Conditions were rough.  And at times it was tough to see through the driving rain.

I believe that play there was right before we punted the ball leading to the key fumble by Oregon.  Fans went crazy:

via TrisWeb

End around:

via TrisWeb

Nate yells commands:

via TrisWeb

Down to the goal-line:

via TrisWeb

Could it be?

via TrisWeb

Vereen runs it in for a score!  Longshore celebrates on the right.

via TrisWeb

The band celebrates the TD:

via TrisWeb

Some more 2nd half action:

via TrisWeb

via TrisWeb

This appears to be near the end of the game when a)Roper was put in and b)many, many fans had left:

via TrisWeb

via TrisWeb

It's like a beehive:

The sun was trying to peek out through the clouds, but didn't have a lot of success.  But at least seeing the peek was better than before:

As Oregon's chances at success lessened and lessened in the 4th quarter, Oregon fans started to stream out:

Honestly, based on the first half, I thought the second half would consist solely of running backs hitting the LOS and then falling down.  Maybe, if we were lucky not fumbling.  But thankfully, there was a lot of excitement in the second half and the fumbles all went our way. 

Vereen had some space to run with on this play.

Anger practiced repeatedly on the sidelines.  Just over and over and over and over.  Which was key, given the rainy conditions.

With a few game minutes left in the game, Justin Roper was put into the game. Clearly, Belloti does not respect Masoli's throwing ability.  I can't disagree.  Masoli is a great athlete, but is a RB back there.  Not a QB.

But there still was some running at the end of the game there:

Go Bears!

And we can't forget the final prayer circle:

I feel bad that we don't have a lot of photos of great game action.  So, I have next best thing.  Photos of video of the great game action! 

What a spicy meatball!

Vereen for the score!

Pain Train may or may not be doing something, no idea, the photo is blurry. 

I'd hate to leave you with that painfully blurry shot of the Painfully Painful Pain Train.  So, I'll leave you with the only logic(k)al end to that crazzy Oregon game.

A giant tuning fork.  Yes.  A giant tuning fork.  How much did the city of Berkeley waste on this thing? 

Go Bears?