Our day started out great with some chill tailgating right outside of the official tailgate. Great view of the band, Oski, and cheerleaders. Chugging beers before noon. We all carried a couple beers each into the game. My friend got caught and kicked out, good thing we had an extra ticket so he could get back in.

It was hot but not unbearable. Leading the game the entire way also made it feel probably 10 degrees cooler.

In the second half, when we weren’t finishing UCLA off, my friend and I were fearing another devastating comeback which never came. Screaming You know the Story at the end of the game was awesome. I was really surprised all the UCLA fans left in the fourth quarter when it was only a 12 point lead. Did they forget 2007? Surprisingly, no interesting run-ins with UCLA fans, they seemed tamer than usual.

Also fun reveling in victory around downtown pasadena. Paying for it this morning.

There were many alumni (including myself) and supporters of Cal cheering behind the passionate group of students, fighting the heat and overcoming dehydration on the edge of that frying pan. Young alumni added noise and elderly ones brought their children and grandchildren who cheered on their behalf. (There were 10-year old kids who definitely knew more about cheering than I did.)

Personally, this was the first official Cal event I attended after graduation, and it was refreshing and just terrific to be surrounded by Cal people again and feel the pride.

Here is my shot of the whole Cal section reveling after the game.

Go Bears!

This was hands down one of the most enjoyable games in the past couple years, and we’ve had some pretty good ones. Can’t understand how I could be so happy after beating a mediocre team when our rose bowl hopes are all but dashed, but this game was AWESOME.

Just a few quick things that I’ll note, more later hopefully:

• UCLA really has a good system with their shuttle buses from downtown Pasadena as well as the emergency support systems in place in case anything happened. I did see someone being pulled away in a stretcher (person looked fine though, prob from heat exhaustion or dehydration), but it felt like they took all the precautions and prepared well for a hot day like it was. There were even those BIG FOGG machines placed around the gate area for us mortals to cool down in. And they kept them on all game. Prices were obnoxious and I spent about $15 on buying water for myself, but it wasn’t because I was thirsty…it was more because I felt I’d die if I didn’t stay hydrated. So good job to whoever was running this part of the operations.

• it was HOT. Sun beating down on your face in dry LA / Pasadena weather sort of hot. And the game dragged on forever. I can’t remember another game where there were about 50 tv time outs, but it sure felt that way. And it was HOT. (Personally, I’m pretty sure this is why both defenses gave up a lot of points today, and I don’t blame them. To make sure you know…It was HOT).

*UCLA fans are prob the most obnoxious, douchebagary type of fans out there. There were these two guys who started talking trash after scoring their first td to continue LOSING THE GAME 14-7. At which a group of us started chanting SCOREBOARD..SCOREBOARD..and they still didn’t shut up.

• THE EXODUS after the kendricks pick 6 was probably when all our frustrations came out in a heap of trash talking. See..us cal fans are never sure of victory, so we can’t really let them know what’s on our minds. But boy did we let loose. Ranging from the get the F outta here and go beat the traffic to the traditional F UCLA phrases were just thrown at the fans who were leaving, and they took it without being able to say anything. That was awesome. Of course you have again those douchebag fans who CONTINUED TO TALK TRASH AS THEY WERE LEAVING!!!!! What the hell. But it was great.

And LA fans know how to exit QUICK. SB should get some kinda tips from the UCLA fans for our evacuation plans while we’re doing the facility upgrades b/c there was about 30,000 fans who left in about 3 minutes. Remarkable, props to that UCLA fans.

• The Cal section was PACKED til the very end. I don’t believe a single cal fan left early because we had just won the game. No no no. It was bigger than just a win, and I HEARD tedford got a gatorade bath at the end. It was like that. It was bigger than just a regular win and we all damn well knew it.

• Did I mention how UCLA fans suck? I recently saw some pac 10 list of the best and worst crowds I think from Ted Miller, but UCLA fans were quiet. Just QUIET. Heck, compared to some of our fans at memorial who don’t know how to stay quiet when we have the ball, it was even MORE quiet than that. They’d get up and clap a bit for 3rd downs when the PA guy would try to get them excited, but good thing our bears converted a crap load of 3rd downs yesterday cuz they’d just sit back down. Of course, we would trash talk and give em the hush sign, show some hand motions reminding them of vereens hands that converted one of the 3rd downs, or just giving the traditional middle finger that they deserved.

• What put the game as one of the best for me was the appreciation the players showed for our fans. Jahvid Best on his first TD looked up at the fans as if to say that ones for you guys. A BUNCH of our TD’s were scored on our endzone so we would go crazy since we saw exactly what had happened.

Marvin Jones is a beast, and that catch he made where the ref had to verify whether he caught it or not, it wasn’t even close. He had it and we all knew it and our section was rocking with not only that play, but with every other big play in the otherwise very very quiet rose bowl.

At the end of the game, Tepper was the first player (if I remember correctly) who came over by himself at the end of the game and held out his helmet in appreciation for the fans that stayed around til the end when the band plays their songs and what not. And then the entire team came over soon after and celebrated with us and they high fived all the fans around the edge of the section.

It was great. It really seemed like the players were glad not only to get the win, but to see our fans support them after what’s been a tough stretch for all of us but ESPECIALLY for the team and the staff. Like I said, it was more than just a win.

Those are just some of the things I remember for now that’s worth mentioning, but lots and lots of great memories from this game. GO BEARS!

Leaving LA is always a good thing; leaving it with a ‘W’ is much better. Many nice memories from the weekend, but this is the sharpest one:

A couple friends now live in Arizona and have a terrible record when it comes to attending away games. I mean, the Bears have lost the last dozen (close enough) games these friends trekked to. However, the husband was exonerated at the Minnesota game, and the wife was cleared on Saturday. Yay!

Anyway, the guy in question is an entertaining fan to sit by. He’s pretty loud, vocal, and humorous; most people around us seemed to agree.

Except for the lady directly in front of him! She turned around after a quarter or so, and was like, I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but you’re very loud, and I’m getting a headache. He firmly pointed out that spectators at games are generally expected to cheer. In the interest of alum harmony I switched places with him, since there was no one in front of me.

As I moved over, I noticed the lady was knitting. Knitting? At a Cal game? Then she put that away and took out a Dan Brown hardcover. She didn’t look up and check in once in a while. When Cal scored a TD in our endzone, in our corner, and everyone (including her husband) jumped up to cheer, she kept her head down and soldiered on with the Da Vinci Code.

Normally I’m pretty respectful towards members of a generation older than mine, but something snapped. I don’t yell commentary like my Arizona friend, but I can be quite loud when Cal’s playing defense. So I cupped my hands and yelled in her ear whenever I could.

She gave up before halftime and left, probably to find a shady spot outside the Rose Bowl and finish up with Robert Langdon. She was so out of place … I kind of blame her husband. Football is obviously not her thing; why drag her to the game? I mean, she was wearing a sundress, had red nail polish, and in general looked like she should have been at a garden party, not at a raucous 45-26 beatdown.