Cal Football 2008 Top 10 Moments - Moment #2
by TwistNHook on May 26, 2009 4:30 AM PDT
in California Golden Bears Football
53 comments
#8 - Shane Vereen TD Run against MSU
#7 - Best Bush Run against Washington.
#4 - Rudy Carpenter takes a ride on the Pain Train.
If you missed last week's posts, you missed discussion of Coach Tedford's play-calling, the Cal Coach's Tour (Part I and Part II), and Cal spirit in exotic locales.
We continue our countdown of the Top 10 Football Moments of 2008 with #2:
2. Fans rush the field after the Big Game
Avinash: Best rushing the field moments in the Tedford era...
TwistNHook: I'll sprinkle my photos/videos from the event throughout this post. You can find their original home here.
TwistNHook: Firstly, where is Furd 2008 on that list? That's what this post is ostensibly about. How did you get into Cal if you can't even read a simple prompt?!?!
Secondly, it reads more like this:
Furd 2002
USC 2003
OTHER GAMES OF LESSER INTEREST
Also, last on that list should be Furd 2006.
Avinash: I wasn't around for Furd 2002. I just assume beating a top 5 team in triple overtime trumps all.
TwistNHook: When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me. And I don't need any more help.
"You had to be there" is always the currency of people who ply their trade in terrible, non-sensical jokes. But here, it is relevant. Completely and totally relevant.
Avinash: I remember Tennessee 2007 being the silliest thing ever. Took them five minutes to get going after the game wrapped up, and even then it was a very sparse thing, more like "how can I get Desean's autograph?"
Furd 2008 was more organic, but then again we'd just lost to them and witnessed their horrific mosh pit of rushing the field. The Force needed to be balanced.
HydroTech: Well, 02 and 03 was a long time ago, so I don't have the clearest of memory. However, I do think that I, unfortunately, will have to agree with Twist that rushing the field in 02 Big Game game > 03 USC triple OT win.
02 Big Game was absolute madness... even before the game ended people were on the field. It took like 90 minutes after the game until you could actually see the field because everyone was still on it toting around the field goal posts. It was madness like i've never seen before.
TwistNHook: Avinash, were you at Big Game 2006? That was, by far, the worst Rushing the Field Ive seen. Firstly, this was before new Stanford Stadium. So, Cal and Stanford respected the season tickets of the other. So, Cal put all the Stanford season ticket holders in the young alum section and moved us to the tippy top part of like the Gold Zone. Very odd. But it took me like 20 minutes to make my way through the crowd to the field.
Of course, by the time I got there most of the crazyness, if it could be called that, was finished. People didnt really take to rushing the field quickly. It was more like they sauntered the field. Ambled the field. Meandered the field. It was a slow process. Seemingly more like "Ok, well, we just beat Stanford for the 5th straight year, ho hum, I guess we should rush the field."
But that was terrible. Tennessee 2007 was infinity times better.
HydroTech: I think this was one of those things where you don't know what you got until you've lost it. Because Cal had destroyed the Furd from 2002-2006 (5 straight years), the players didn't think Big Game and winning The Axe was a big deal. And then they lost Big Game and The Axe in 2007. That's when it all was very real - the shame, and the humiliation of being defeated by a lesser opponent. So that made 2008 that much bigger. It made winning 2008 seem like 2002 again, when Cal had just beat Stanfurd after losing to them 7 straight years.
Yellow Fever: Maybe this goes back to what we were discussing on the blog a few days ago, but growing up in a different generation of Cal fans and not being in Berkeley, I can't say I was all that excited to watch the team beat Stanford. Yeah, we'd lost the year before, but I kind of shrugged that loss off too because in the grand scheme of things, the team was already mired in a huge freefall. Who cares that we lost to Stanford? That Oregon State loss shattered my hopes for a number one ranking and caused me to sulk for hours. The loss to Stanford just made me crack open another beer. Viewed in that light, beating Stanford last year didn't mean that much to me, because, well, we were supposed to. The game in 2007 was the outlier, not last year's. So no, it wasn't all that exciting to me.
TwistNHook: But I think 2007 sort of reconfigured those type of Cal fans to start hating Stanford again. I mean OK, fair enough, you didnt live through 7 years in the wilderness like us. Nonetheless, I'd like to think 2007 made 2008 that much sweeter. Perhaps not, though.
Avinash: They haven't been to a bowl game in the Tedford era, have they? It's just not the same if your rival blows.
I think if we lost a Big Game at home...that would turn the tide. Although a game at the Furd is technically a home game.
HydroTech: I don't think a game at Furd is technically a home game since they limit how many Cal fans can purchase tickets now.
Aviansh: They could put a hundred seat limit and it'd still outnumber the true Furd fans in the crowd.
Ragnarok: Well, in 2005, with Cal fans outnumbering Stanford fans in their own yard by a wide margin, it was pretty much a home game. With the seat limit in 2007? It was probably about 50/50.
In any case, the 2007 was a disaster of epic proportions. Tom Holmoe may not have been a very good coach, but his teams fought like hell against Stanford, which was a damn sight better than the sorry effort put forth by our Bears the last time they visited The Farm. I can handle losing to USC, but if there was a Cal fan watching that game in '07 that wasn't ashamed to hand over The Axe to Stanford, I don't want to know them.
Avinash: I'm guessing Holmoe era Bears people will have much more Furd hate than Tedford era people. For the young ones like me, it's great to beat them because they're our 'rival', but unless Cal and Furd are both competitive the antagonism isn't really there. It'll probably get bigger for us the older we get.
TwistNHook: Well, we didn't really discuss the actual rushing of the field, per se (although hopefully some of photos/videos help), but more a discussion of it in regards to other field-rushings. What are your thoughts and feelings on this Cal football moment?
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I wasn’t there, Leon, so I’ll take your word for it. But for me, Memorial 1986 will always be the standard.
Go Bears!
by California Pete on May 26, 2009 6:21 AM PDT up reply actions
24 is close
But for me it is, sadly, actually spelled “42”, which makes me rather old around these parts.
Go Bears!
by California Pete on May 26, 2009 12:44 PM PDT up reply actions
How old ARE you? I thought you were like 24
Unleash the Honk! Train. Honk Honk.
by rollonubears on May 26, 2009 7:12 AM PDT up reply actions
You really think I would care enough to fact check that one? Just add like and everything is alright.
Unleash the Honk! Train. Honk Honk.
by rollonubears on May 26, 2009 5:00 PM PDT up reply actions
Apparently I’m so old as to not be able to pick the correct “reply” link. (See above).
Go Bears!
by California Pete on May 26, 2009 12:45 PM PDT up reply actions
I wasn’t there, but my sister (a Cal freshman at the time) was and she assures me that it was most awesome. I have only one field-rushing moment in my life: 1990 ucla game at Memorial when we broke the 18 -game losing streak from hell. It was fun but sort of anticlimactic. Didn’t really know what to do once I got down there. And my lasting memory of being on the field was thinking that it must have sucked for the players to play on the old AstroTurf we had at that time.
Marshawnthusiastic Jahvidtician and member of the PRileytariat.
The thing about 1993
We hadn’t beaten them in about 7 years at that time either. Plus they kicked our ass up in Berkeley the previous year. And rushed our field – getting into a massive brawl (I think BearStage is mis-remembering – the fences started after we rushed in 1993) I vaguely remembering chucking oranges into the Stanford section from mid-field. It was pretty shameful.
So the next year, behind a pretty damn good Cal team (Dave Barr, Lindsay Chapman, Inheanyi uwaezuoke,) we went in and put a 46-17 beat down on in their house. It was pretty epic.
We actually weren’t really going to rush the field, but the Stanfurd Axe committee wouldn’t hand over the axe, so the students just said “we’ll take the thing back” – also there was attempts to tear down both goal posts. I think one went down.
While I was on the field in 1993
I was pleased to rip up chunks of the field, focusing on the s in the middle, and then “donate” those chunks to the police who kept us from tearing down the other goalpost. GOOD TIMES.
Driver of the Cal Um Bus
by CALumbus Bear on May 26, 2009 8:00 PM PDT up reply actions
Two of them for me:
1) Big Game 1996.
Home game. Yes, we lost to the ’Furd (again). But when it was over, we rushed the field. The mic-man basically told us, “if they step on our field, we will dominate!” When they started to rush the field when the game was over… It. Was. On.
We rushed the field because we were pissed. We rushed the field because those Stanfurd fans put their stinkin’ feet on our field. We charged, and it was not pretty. On the field, I saw the top of the Stanfurd Tree over the tops of all the heads. I saw it sway left, sway right, and then fall over, disappearing into the crowd. The Tree got his s*** ruined something fierce. Costume torn apart into pieces and shreds – people took them home and hung them on their walls like badges of honor.
In the aftermath, the mic-man was actually put on student trial (whatever the hell that’s called) and stripped of his position for basically inciting a riot. To be fair, we wouldn’t have rushed the field if they hadn’t started to first. They started putting up plastic fences around the student sections at Big Games for a couple of years after that (at the Farm anyway) and the Tree had a security detail for at least a few years after ‘the incident.’
2) Big Game 2002.
I can’t even explain it. We won. We actually got the freakin’ Axe back. After all that time. The streak had been broken, the curse was lifted! Words cannot express how amazing it was to run onto that field and just get lost in the glow of victory. Incredible. On the way to the game, one of my friends joked that we should drive to Tahoe after the game if we won. So what did we do after that amazing win? Drove our asses to Tahoe, gambled til the wee hours of the morning and drove straight home. So exhausted we almost didn’t make it back… but dammit it was worth it! Such an incredible day.
I haven't seen that many tear-stained dollar bills since my dad hired a stripper for my uncle's funeral.
The best part of about 1996 was when that Tree was prancing around on the field . .. mocking us, some huge Cal student went down there and tackled the tree and kicked the shit out it.
(Yo, go back and click on the link)
That was 1992
The scene you are remembering is actually from the 1992 halftime show. It went down like this:
As the Stanfurd band embarrassed themselves during their halftime show we were launching oranges from the stands onto them, as we always did back then. But in 1992 they brought their lacrosse team onto the field with them and they were catching the oranges and loading them onto a homemade catapult that was aimed directly at our student section. As this unfolded a general unease swept through the student section with the realization that if we got showered with our own oranges a halftime riot was going to break out.
Finally, three heroes broke out of the stands and got to the catapult and were able to dismantle it to the delight of the crowd. While the lacrosse players chased these heroes away, Mark Bingham sprinted from the stands on the other side of the stadium to the center of the field, untouched and with perfect rugby form, nailed the tree and planted it to the ground. Lacrosse players caught up with him on the ground and beat him with their sticks. Eventually he made his way, bloodied but unbowed, to the sideline in front of the Cal student section. With security bearing down on him from all sides he pumped his fist into the air just before getting hit again and taken down by security.
The crowd went NUTS. The Cal football team got its ass kicked but Cal students won the day.
The mic-man said if you ever see that guy at a bar buy him a drink and the legend is that Mark Bingham never bought his own beer at a Berkeley bar again.
RIP, Mark.
by Dajo9 on May 30, 2009 7:02 AM PDT up reply actions 2 recs
If true, that story is beyond amazing. Rec’d!
I am the Tyrant Boy King Of UC Eugene! An endless cavalcade of worthless inanities is my currency!
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com
It's true
Accounts of Mark Bingham rushing the field and hitting the tree in 1992 are easy enough to find from a google search. The whole lead-up I’ve never read about online but just remember as an eyewitness. I didn’t know who Bingham was until after 9/11 and I started reading accounts of his life including the 1992 halftime event. Only then did I know what a truly remarkable Golden Bear he was.
But the riots of the later 90’s didn’t happen out of nowhere. There was buildup. I think Cal fans gradually decided that we may lose the football games but we own the stadium.
In any case, if you ever come across a Stanford band member from that time ask them if they remember putting together a catapult. The bastards.
Rags nailed it
I can handle losing to USC, but if there was a Cal fan watching that game in ‘07 that wasn’t ashamed to hand over The Axe to Stanford, I don’t want to know them
Nailed the crap out of it. That game still pisses me off. We’d prolly have to beat them 20 years in a row to have that game not piss me off. Shameful performance against an awful team. I hope I never have to see something like that again.
Marshawnthusiastic Jahvidtician and member of the PRileytariat.
We’d prolly have to beat them 20 years in a row to have that game not piss me off.
I accept your proposal!
I am the Tyrant Boy King Of UC Eugene! An endless cavalcade of worthless inanities is my currency!
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com
Life is soooooooooooooooo much better when you black out everything that happened after Oregon. As crazy as it seems, pretending it never happened makes it better. Now I just have to delete all the pics from it so nobody can show it does exist.
Unleash the Honk! Train. Honk Honk.
by rollonubears on May 26, 2009 5:03 PM PDT up reply actions
so, we still don't believe in equality.
stupid.
Go Bears Go
by Rocksanddirt on May 26, 2009 10:48 AM PDT up reply actions
Crap
I guess we shouldn’t rush the field.
That’d be funny. Anytime a spontaneous event occurs that we all love, we should take trains, planes and automobiles to Memorial Stadium and rush the field.
Bork bork bork!
by Avinash on May 26, 2009 10:56 AM PDT up reply actions 4 recs
rec'd
Remember, the enemy's end zone is DOWN!
by GoldBlooded on May 26, 2009 11:03 AM PDT up reply actions
lunchtime.
….RUSH THE FIELD
CGB: Our points are reliable. Our logic is infallible. Our past records are illogical. And our ham is dynamite!
by Spazzy Mcgee on May 26, 2009 11:10 AM PDT up reply actions
Even better: just after something you love. Rush the field. Be the only one. Try tearing out the goalpost.
Unleash the Honk! Train. Honk Honk.
by rollonubears on May 26, 2009 5:04 PM PDT up reply actions
I still have a piece of the turf from 2002
I went to Cal from ‘97-’99 (JC transfer)…moved back to LA in ’02….so I had never seen a season when we beat the ’Furd. Its hard to explain just how worthwhile it was for me to make the trek back up to Berkeley from SCal to go see the BIg Game in 2002.
So when we rushed the field, I ripped up a piece of the turf, and still have it in a ziplock bag. Its probably time to throw it away, I suppose. But considering the field is now artificial, maybe its worth keeping!
The FDA has recalled Nyaninmeum, and are now recommending consumers switch to the use of Marvinium as the top receiving boost available.
Re: '02
Having gone through the 2001 season and all of its misery, I, along with most of my friends, were keeping our expectations looow going into 2002. So, it was a shock to all of us when we had that halfback pass as the first play from scrimmage in the Baylor game. It literally rousted us from our reclining positions in the some-22,000 person stadium.
When that season finished with a win over the ‘Furd — and a winning season at that! — most of the folks I knew lost their damned minds when we rushed the field. It was cathartic unlike any other field rush I’ve experienced. It wasn’t a celebration, it was a party.
I was pretty happy with the way we rushed the field in 2008. It was my first Big Game, so I can’t really compare it to much, but it felt good. I figured it made a lot of sense to rush the field after beating an opponent as hated as the furd, and it was a pretty organized rush, unlike some I’ve seen where the crowd charges onto the field before the game is over and gets their team penalized.
The whole furd-usc thing seems kind of ridiculous to me at times. Can’t we just hate both? I mean, I feel like the USC game is the bigger date on our schedule, but I still denigrate anyone seen wearing red near our stadium. I am an equal opportunity hater.
Alright, fine, I admit it! "Hydration Technician" really DOES just mean "water boy!"
Like Texas Tech having to kick off from their own 7 and a half against Texas last year.
Unleash the Honk! Train. Honk Honk.
by rollonubears on May 26, 2009 5:08 PM PDT up reply actions
This has been discussed many times, but...
If you went to Cal before 2002, you hate the ‘Furd more than USC, because USC wasn’t that great and the ’Furd dominated us.
If you came to Cal in 2002 or later, you’re used to us crushing the ’Furd and constantly being one step (or occasionally, 39573 steps) behind USC, so you hate USC more.
They’re both legitimate forms of hatred!
Honestly? Behind Oregon. The losing streak in the Rose Bowl has to end this year, though!
So, basically, you gotta Go Bears!
I don’t hate them at all; they’re like rabid SEC fans without the obnoxiousness. I was wondering why ragnarok did.
Bork bork bork!
I actually don’t hate either of them; like HolmoePhobe, I enjoy our rivalry with them. Between Oregon and UCLA, however, I honestly care more about beating Oregon. I just don’t care much about UCLA football at all.
So, basically, you gotta Go Bears!
I, too, would rather see the Bears beat Oregon and USC than Stanford and UCLA. But—here’s the thing with rivalries—I find it much more nauseating to lose to either Stanford or UCLA. A loss to Oregon or ’SC I can tolerate and get over pretty quickly. But those losses to the Bruins and the Cardinal haunt me forever.
What’s more compelling as a fan: avoiding the pain of a loss or celebrating the joy of a victory?
Go Bears!
by California Pete on May 26, 2009 2:37 PM PDT up reply actions
Agreed. Oregon is easily my 2nd favorite team in the Pac-10. I hate UCLA the most.
Unleash the Honk! Train. Honk Honk.
by rollonubears on May 26, 2009 5:10 PM PDT up reply actions
Flagged
Hatred of stanfurd must burn in your veins more so than hatred of any other team. No matter how douchey the other team’s fans are.
Driver of the Cal Um Bus
by CALumbus Bear on May 26, 2009 8:06 PM PDT up reply actions 2 recs
rec'd for cosmic universal truth.
I haven't seen that many tear-stained dollar bills since my dad hired a stripper for my uncle's funeral.
I was only able to watch the 2002 field rush (my last year before enrolling in Berkeley, in which I attended with my parents and grandparents, who were not willing/able to rush the field), but it was unbelievable satisfying just to watch.
Rushing the field after beating USC in 2003 was incredibly fun because of the sheer joy associated. I was with all of my friends from the dorms, and we ran around the field madly looking for our dorm mate who was on the football team, and then jumping on him as he screamed with joy. I will never forget everybody in the student section holding hands and praying as the last field goal attempt sailed towards the uprights.
The only other rush that seems remotely close was beating the ’furd in 2004, but that was mostly for the joy we felt because we all were so damn sure we were going to the Rose Bowl. FUCK!
The #1 greatest threat to America: BEARS
Um, Tennessee 2007 was justified. It took a while to get started just because security was kinda threatening to push us back and stuff…
JAI HO!
I disagree, I didn’t think that was a worthwhile rush. Those teams were on par with one another and they are not a rival. Thus, no reason to rush the field, unless maybe it would clinch a major bowl, which it wouldn’t since it was the first game of the year. That 2006 loss was embarrassing but I was sorta embarrassed that we rushed the field.
Oh, hell, who am I kidding? I really do love running on the field.
It'll be just you, me, and Peter Nincompoop.
100th Big Game - 1997
Nothing can really compare to what happened after the 100th Big Game at the Furd in 1997. We lost 21-20, with Justin Vedder failing upwards just enough to give us hope. I’m not sure if it was just the lingering aura of rage from the previous year, the taunting from their fans, or what, but all hell broke lose. We invaded the field, tore down one set of goal posts, tried to use it as a battering ram against the guards surrounding the other goal posts, and eventually took one post up to the rim of the stadium and tossed it over the rim of the stadium. There were numerous arrests and injuries, and it was all the more surreal because we invaded their field, tore down their goal posts, and caused so much mayhem after a loss. Not great, or even good, but certainly memorable. The next time Big Game was at the farm in 1999, there was a much sturdier fence between the stands and the field, and they had an unbroken line of security, some of them cops in riot gear, behind it.
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