Cal Football Gameday Experiences

It’s been a while, but I’ll chip in as I can

1. Gameday Experience: Cal is not a great tailgating school, so we’d have to be creative. There was a lot of pre-game festivities in Faculty Glade, in the various dorms, and over by the fraternities, but at least back in the early 80’s, not a lot of pre-game tradition. Other than stopping by Togo’s or Top Dog for a bite before heading to the stadium.

The games themselves were usually a form of controlled chaos in the student section. Keep in mind, this was in the Kapp era, so we weren’t very good, which meant a lot of entertaining ourselves. This almost always involved mutilating the cards for the stunts in some way or other — playing frisbee with them, wearing them as hats, or just crumpling them and using them as balls. After the halftime show they would get shredded and tossed as confetti.

Other game-time traditions involved rolling-up malcontents or undesirables and unceremoniously dumping them out of the stadium (when did it change from being punishment to celebration??), and the requisite artillery assault of oranges, eggs, and/or water balloons during the Furd, $C, or Ucla halftime shows.

Post game tended to be a top at Henry’s for a Golden Bear (or seven), then off to Blake’s, Manny’s, the Bear’s Lair, or Kips for a few beers.

2. Proper Fall Saturday: Hard to define, really. Away games were often not televised back in the last century, so we’d just spend them doing whatever.

3. Anecdotes: Oh god, yes. But they’d sound too much like a Grandpa Simpson story.

4. Wisdom: Take Berkeley for what it is, not what you want or expect it to be. First timer’s should absolutely take a stroll along Telegraph, and eat at the Dog, Blondies, or Fat Slice. But the big thing is to soak up the immediate culture of places like Moe’s & Revolution Books, while also enjoying the delightful carnival of south campus.

5. Gameday cocktails are Golden Bears.

6. Dress code: Take off that RED SHIRT

1. Clue in the uninitiated—what defines the Cal gameday experience?

It’s the walk-up from the west side of campus (if I’ve driven or taken BART) up towards the stadium. As a student it was dogs at Top Dog or a burrito at La Burrita or a slice at Fat Slice and then up towards Memorial Stadium. If Cal was sucking that day, we could look over the West Side of the Stadium towards San Francisco. I was lucky enough to have two great Mic Men in my 4 years – so we had a very funny, sarcastic, crowd. And if the football team wasn’t bringing it, we always always have the Pacesetter of College Marching Bands.

Now as an alum, my friends tend to gather at Henry’s pre-game and whatever Raleigh’s is now post-game. I still need two Top Dogs though.

2. What makes a proper fall Saturday in Berkeley for you, personally? (Favorite pregame/postgame hangouts, especially—name your favorite gameday bars/restaurants.)

Oh I listed that above. If I have time I still like to stop by Amoeba Records, grab a Daily Cal and sit on Sproul for the pre-game rally, Henry’s pre-game and whatever-Raleigh’s has become post-game. Top Dog is appropriate pre and post game. If I’m hungrier – IB Hoagie’s is always a possibility. In years that I attend the Big Game, there’s a 2 RV Tailgate located on Stadium Way above the stadium that I attend.

3. Any anecdotes from past years you’d like to share? (Pictures welcome! Anonymity guaranteed, if necessary.)

Nothing too outrageous. Most weird stuff, oddly enough, tends to happen on road trips outside of Berkeley.

4. What essential wisdom would you like to impart to first-visitors to your fair school? (Where to set up, secret parking lots, etc.) And, more abstractly, for first-timers: What elements of the gameday experience are not to be missed?

You have to wander Telegraph Avenue. You have to stop by Top Dog or some other southside eatery. You have to experience the weirdness that is Berkeley. Also, when at Memorial, take a second to look over the west rim towards the Campanile and the Bay.

5. What’s your poison? Does your school have a signature cocktail?

Bockwursts from Top Dog.

6. Is there an unspoken Bears dress code? What will you and yours be wearing?

Preference is for school branded clothing that has the script Cal, and NOT Berkeley. DO NOT WEAR RED.

1. Clue in the uninitiated—what defines the Cal gameday experience?

A surprising amount of tradition for a school with very little on field success in the last 50 years. Card Stunts, Tightwad Hill, The Cannon, an old man mascot, songs and cheers written a century ago, a stadium that may not be the oldest in the country, but looks the oldest in the country. In a way all this stuff probably kept many Cal fans involved over years of suck. Sure, we may lose, but all of the other stuff going on brings back the nostalgia train

2. What makes a proper fall Saturday in Berkeley for you, personally? (Favorite pregame/postgame hangouts, especially—name your favorite gameday bars/restaurants.)

You start your day on Telegraph, eating a Top Dog. Then you walk through campus, giving a listen to the band on the way. The arduous walk uphill gets you ready for the game and Cal fans are everywhere, trying to stake out a place to tailgate in an area generally tailgate unfriendly. A delightful mix of fraternity debauchery and family friendly fun times combines for a uniquely Cal atmosphere.

3. Any anecdotes from past years you’d like to share? (Pictures welcome! Anonymity guaranteed, if necessary.)

Rushing the field whenever we beat Stanfurd, unless the Cardinal cravenly build a mental fence and hire riot police again. I don’t care if Cal is 12-0, 0-12, or somewhere in between. We celebrate beating Stanfurd because sometimes that’s all that matter. I swear in 2005 I felt like I could have braved the batons and tasers to take down that wimpy little fence protecting their fancy ass field.

4. What essential wisdom would you like to impart to first-visitors to your fair school? (Where to set up, secret parking lots, etc.) And, more abstractly, for first-timers: What elements of the gameday experience are not to be missed?

If you want to park and you don’t want to pay either arrive many many hours early or give up your pipe dream. If you want to absorb what Berkeley is about, spend an hour or two on Telegraph and observe the amazing synthesis of a football crowd, indigent homeless, and aging hippies. All of who more or less tolerate each other. It’s a unique vibe that I’m guessing isn’t really reproduced anywhere else. Buy yourself a Cal shirt and then buy an anti-Israel bumpersticker. We’ve got it all!

5. What’s your poison? Does your school have a signature cocktail?

…one keg of beer for the four of us! Sing glory to be God that there are no more of us, for one of us could drink it all alone, damn near!

6. Is there an unspoken Bears dress code? What will you and yours be wearing?

You’ll see a wide variety of attire at any Cal game, clothing both related and very very unrelated to football. But God forbid you go near the student section in red. If we’re playing Stanford or USC and you do that, you’ll probably be accosted by drunkards. Sure, police will probably step in and protect you but is it really worth it?