From the man himself on his own blog:

Fans are so important to any football program and I can’t say enough about what it was like last year on September 1 to come into Memorial Stadium and see all that blue and gold for the Tennessee game. I know that last season did not go the way everybody was hoping – believe me, I know! We need to erase those thoughts and play with a new vision and supreme confidence, and you, the fan, can help by providing a positive environment. Over the last four years we are 20-4 in Memorial Stadium – and every one of our fans played a significant role in those wins. We need to come out on Aug. 30 and see 72,000 fans waving their blue and gold and being fired up for our team. Nothing gives our Bears a better lift than our home fans rooting us on. Michigan State is going to be a very tough opponent – you know they will be looking for revenge for 2002 when we went out there and were victorious – but we’ll be ready to go and we want all the fans ready to go as well.

Can one fan make a difference? Can fans, in general, make a difference? Of course they can, its been scientifically proven (home vs away W/L records) and Tedford and the players constantly tell us our attitudes make a difference.

For self interest alone we should tone down our Nate commentary.

I completely agree with what you said, I just realized that what I said outside of context (of me, and people I know joking about our not necessarily warranted desire for Riley to be the QB of the future) what I said can be very inflammatory and insulting. Regardless of whether Tedford actually said those things, they are true, and we should make an effort to be more positive. That said, I think Riley is the clear choice, he’s got more of a winner’s spirit and brings more energy to the offense (with the exception of the Washington game last year when Longshore tried to convince a ref that Forsett being a yard out was a touchdown). It’s a brief moment of conscience, I’ll try not to make a habit of it.

Danzig, Tedford really did say those things. I know for a fact that recruits read the Rivals.com Cal chatboard (as well as recruit’s parents). It is a reasonable assumption that they probably read BearInsider.com as well as Cal fan blogs.

Thus, because recruits really do read our blogs, and chatboards, I think all Cal fans really do have to be especially careful to not be negative. Careful criticism is fine (“X player needs to improve his technique/skills/speed/etc.”) but flat out bashing, like what Longshore received last year (“Nate, you suck!” “I hope you get injured” “Fuck you, Longshore”) was completely completely out of line. Nothing is gained from such comments but much can be lost including recruits, fan reputation, and school reputation.