Cal v. Maryland Photo Essay II

Photo I

And we are back!  With some unbelievably mediocre looks into the atmosphere at the Cal-Maryland game.  Last we left off, we had started reading the Rally Comm body paint quote.  It took 45 minutes, but we finally made it to the end!

Unfortunately, it took every single Rally Comm member to spell that out and by the end they had just hired extras from the TV show "Greek" to spell out "Die" and do the Bear.  I mean I'm not even sure that quote would fit into a Tweet.

But it was OK, because we were saved from the Rally Comm's poor usage of the serial comma by the one, the only, the Tweedledamn-approved CALIFORNIA MARCHING BAND!  They were Marching!  And being a band!

They actually added California Indian Song, which the band can no longer sing along with due to its "non-PC" lyrics.  Standing in the incredibly lame band alumni section, you start to realize how incredibly lame we all are.  And it's not even the fact that the entire section is singing along to the California Indian Song.  It's more about how people are critiquing the band as it performs.  I think people in other sections say things like "Well, this band performance is fun" or "I greatly enjoy this band performance."  In this section, however, you are much more likely to hear things like "Great segue way from military to grapevine there," "dude, the bass 3rd to the left needs to practice strutting," or the always popular "Back when I was in band...."  That last one is the kiss of death right there.  If you hear somebody say that (and I'm reasonably certain I've said that on occasion) run away as fast as possible. 

The Drum Major caught the baton, too!  He was doing some crazzy kung fu style moves with it, which was great.  But then when he chucked it, it went like 10 feet to his left.  He sprinted over and caught it.  Nags, adding a degree of difficulty are you?  C'mon, let's not make it TOO easy to our opponents now.

First came out the visitors:

Much booing was had by all. 

Then the team came running out in that painfully blurry fashion.  But not to worry, because some how I managed to keep the Oski car in reasonable focus:

I have no idea why they've constructed what appears to be some sort of Cal Model T and put Oski on the back of it.  I have no idea why they decided only to use it at the start of the game.  All I know is that I need Marshawn to ghostride the shit out of that!  And I need it now. 

Perhaps it was because we had waited 9 months for this moment, but seeing the usual "run onto the field" stuff was quite grand.

And soon the game was upon us (click on any photo to enlarge):

Like I said, I had some major troubles with blur in the first chunk of the game.  I was arrogant and wanted to do it without resorting to flash.  Not even a fill flash.  I am so dumb.

Of course, every now and then you luck into an oddly compelling photo.  Try to find the ball in this one:

It is above and  to the right of the 10 yard marker.

Eventually I just capitulated and started using the flash, even though it was insufficient to capture everything.  I probably should have used the manual settings and jacked up the flash.  Yes, I sock.

And when the game wasn't going on, we were entertained by the wishes and dreams of the big board.  Like when they introduced us to Marcus Ezeff's dance moves:

Of course, the first half was full of bunly goodness, so when we weren't experiencing Ezeff's dance-a-teria, we were going crazy over our beloved Golden Bears:

This was one of those games where you didn't do a double take at seeing something like this (notice the down and distance):

At half, the band came out to do the Red Hot Chili Peppers show.  That was a solid group to select, because their use of bass lends itself well to a group where drums and brass tend to dominate.  See the video here.

And back to game action.  Let's practice that play fake, guys!

But first let's learn more about Russell White:

And he runs a shelter for runaways:

Then, the big board told us who was the biggest eater on the team.  It may be Mitchell Schwartz:

I believe that is 65 pieces of sushi at an all you can eat sushi restaurant. I could match that.  IT'S A SUSHI OFF!

Jahvid Best tries to level the playing field by taking out all the plug uglies:

Notice 18 squishing the Maryland QB (although you'll also see the edge of the ball on the left as Maryland was in the middle of running the option):

A Maryland screen?  Or an amazing pass rush? Or can you even tell what's going on here between the white dots and the blue dots?

97 just a second too late:

Bee Tee Dubloonsies, they have a brand spanking new California flag up.  It sparkles in the light of my soul (I don't know what this means either):

More Cal penetration into the Maryland backfield.  Seemed like Cal was getting deep penetration into the Maryland backfield all night long:

And that led to a whole lotta this:

And whole little of this:

After some backups ran out the clock, we got this sweet, sweet receipt: