GOLD OUT! - Cal v. Arizona, Feb. 2
If you read the post about a new student section for Men's Basketball Games and The Bench, then this should come as no surprise to you. As I mentioned in that post, we need to heighten the experience of the game for students so that we can Pack the Haas. This here is one of our first ideas and a good way to get The Bench back into it.
On February 2nd, Cal hosts Arizona and it will be a GOLD OUT. It's definitely one of the top highlights of our home schedule. At this game, the students will ALL be donning GOLD SHIRTS. That's right, The Bench isn't going to be a mixed sea of colors, nor will it be a sea of blue. It will be GOLD as in GOLDen Bears. The Bench Comittee has convinced marketing to purchase 500 Gold Shirts, with a special Cal graphics on them, for all the students of The Bench. So it's guaranteed that the entire Bench will be "Golded Out." But a GOLD OUT isn't really a GOLD OUT if only the students are wearing Gold...
Read on if you want to be a part of this Gold Out and make this a REAL GOLD OUT...
A (insert color here)-OUT only works if the ENTIRE stadium is in on this. Unfortunately, we're a public school and our departments to have the money to purchase 10,000 gold shirts for all of Haas Pavilion. We've only been able to cover the students. We feel that if we tell them they get a free shirt, they will ALL show up. But JUST the students won't work.We need the WHOLE CROWD in on it too. It's gotta look like this, except GOLD...
http://miasportsguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/whiteout2.jpg
So, here's a thread to help us come up with some ideas on HOW to raise the money and HOW to get the word out to ALL the Cal Fans out there. I've already got word out to Alumni for them to put it into their newsletter and Cal Athletics will also be advertising it in their newsletters.
So Cal Fans, how are we going to make this a legit Gold Out?
Go Bears!
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An excellent start! Hopefully this event is announced loudly and clearly at Haas in every game prior to the Arizona game, starting next week against Colorado and Utah.
The #1 greatest threat to America: BEARS
by norcalnick on Jan 9, 2012 4:53 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
Yes.
I was waiting for this announcement.
Does Monty know?
Love the GOLD OUT
It used to automatically be a gold out for the Bench in the Braun days. I remember the Bench switching shirt colors from year to year.
How about the Bench distinguishing itself in all GOLD but the rest of Haas wear navy blue or even white? The contrast would be cool.
But for simplicity sake, yes, maybe all of Haas doing the GOLD OUT would be cool. Let’s finally do something and get it done. So many other colleges and sports stadia do this and I know it can be cliche but it still looks good no matter what. Let’s do this and then be blase about it if we don’t like it. But don’t complain until we actually do it once! Go Bears!
My freshmen year for the 00-01 season, the bench shirt was gold. Then the next three it was all navy.
As I slowly accumulated navy Cal shirts over the year, I have found myself seeking out the gold shirts lately, just for some variety.
by LEastCoastBears on Jan 11, 2012 12:44 AM PST up reply actions
I was a Bench member from 2001 to 2005 (i.e. with Braun)
And we always had navy shirts.
But the place was rocking. Watching games on TV recently, I’ve been pretty ashamed with the energy of the Bench.
I’ll definitely go to the Gold-Out and buy some Gold shirts for my wife and I.
by Oski4Heisman on Jan 11, 2012 9:48 AM PST up reply actions
Shit.
I just realized this is for a Thursday game. Oh well, I guess I’ll be watching on TV.
by Oski4Heisman on Jan 11, 2012 9:51 AM PST up reply actions
First off, I love the enthusiasm...
LOVE IT!
But…. I am not a big fan of the “color” outs simply because they’re derivative and not particularly compelling any more. Having said that, if you’re going to do it, use blue. For whatever reason, people simply do not like the gold t-shirts. SO you’re forcing people to do something they don’t want to do.
I had a job (for the Gap) that had all these trite-isms, but they made sense… one was “Set yourself up to succeed, not to fail.” Take that advice my friend… set yourself up to succeed.
Please DO NOT take this input at being critical. I love your thinking. we just need to refine it.
GO BEARS!!!
Problem with blue for a game against Arizona, is that blue is one of their colors. Gold is not.
www.LosAngelesRams.org
CALIFORNIA ANGELS . . . ANAHEIM DUCKS . . . CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS
1920 • 1921 • 1922 • 1923 • 1937 • 1947 • 1951 • 1957 • 1959 • 2002 • 2007
Not sure blue would provide the same effect here… It would just be… Dark inside.
no bear, no care
by EchoOfSilence on Jan 10, 2012 8:46 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
which in fact looks cool in and of itself.
again, i don’t want to be a debbie downer here, but gold outs simply don’t work at cal. sometimes you just have to face reality and not try and force something where it doesn’t work, especially if it’s not organic.
my personal opinion is the whole “color out” thing has been done to death and is no longer remotely cool or impressive. having said that, if we’re intent on doing it, at least do it in way that will work.
GO BEARS!!!
My only beef with blue is that it doesn’t look like people are dressed for a sporting event. jeans and a blue shirt is just way too normal. That’s why the greens and oranges look so great in college sports. Because you KNOW its game day. I made myself a yellow Oski sweater for the UCLA game this year…wish I could be there to join in the gold out.
6 1st round draft picks, 2 Super Bowl Champions and counting
by Another Successful Tedford QB on Jan 11, 2012 10:34 AM PST up reply actions
Minor problem with Gold Out
Lots and lots of people don’t own a gold shirt. A navy or white one would be easy for virtually everyone, but people look like shite in gold so tend not to buy it. Bench in gold and gym in white? Bench in gold and gym in navy?
Working on getting student store, etc. to heavily discount gold shirts
*Insert something witty here*. Oh, and Stanfurd Sucks.
Frank, if you talk with the ASUC student store, they will tell you that they sell 8 to 1 blue shirts over gold. They just don’t sell gold shirts.
So again, while I LOVE LOVE LOVE your enthusiasm and energy, I’m just afraid it’s not going to work. Going with something that WILL work.
I also have to be honest with you… the whole “color out” thing has been done to death. There is nothing special about it. It’s derivative. Even when schools pull it off 100% there is nothing really special about it… Penn State “owns” this with their “white out.” we should be focusing on something new that CAL can own.
Again, I don’t want this to sound like I am being Debbie Downer, I just want you guys to succeed at what you’re trying to do.
I definitely understand all of these concerns
The main reasons we chose to have a “Gold Out” were in its uniqueness…a “Blue Out” just doesn’t have the same hype, because, for the most part, people (especially students) are already wearing mostly blue. For example, while our “Blue Out” for the Maryland football game was moderately successful, it just didn’t seem too buzz-worthy.
Also, I disagree with there being nothing special about a color-out, if it is done correctly. Look no further than Arizona’s white out against UW last season. That event created a large amount of buzz for U of A hoops.
The shirts have already been ordered for the first 500 students and we’re trying to find the best ways to have discounted shirts available for alumni/general fans. I understand there is a risk involved, but I feel as though this could end up creating a special environment.
*Insert something witty here*. Oh, and Stanfurd Sucks.
Good for you man. Seriously, good for you.
So what you need to do is work with marketing and hoops to GET THE WORD OUT and to GET PEOPLE COMMITTED to this. You simply cannot rely on people “just sort of hearing about it.” You need to have Montgomery involved. You need to have Wally Haas involved. You need to have Adam Duritz involved. You need to have Sean Lampley involved. You need to have Coach Tedford and the football team involved. You need the band involved. You need Rally Comm involved… you need CAA involved…
Get what I am saying here?
Yeah, for sure!
Going to be meeting about this soon, and we’ll be hyping it up big time shortly thereafter
*Insert something witty here*. Oh, and Stanfurd Sucks.
whether it works or not
great job trying! I think it’ll look cool, even if the colors are more puke yellow than gold
by ucsdgoldenbear on Jan 10, 2012 10:08 PM PST up reply actions
Good for you to get behind this xultaif
Even though you don’t agree. That’s a team player. And don’t think I forgot that you wore your GOLD shirt to the Michigan State game, in our previous GOLD OUT fail.
that was an epic fail. but that is actually my point… we need to learn from mistakes and just understand what will and will not work at Cal.
Well my point was more to thank you not to draw out notoriety for the fail
It was an epic fail. Actually we didn’t even do it because the naysayers already talked it down on BI. But part of it was that we have so many whiners in the Cal community (not you, since you put your money where your mouth was) who pooh pooh anything that is brought up. I’m convinced that it’s not necessarily the merits of their position but the inertia of people just hating to do something different — it’s this Cal fan mentality that “no one makes me do anything, I’m an individual.” It’s that faux group think that arrogant Cal grads think is so cool. But they don’t see how awesome it would be to go to a game in solidarity. It’s a spectacle. Yes, it’s cliche to you but it’s not cliche to us because we’ve never done it. When I saw it first done by the Winnipeg Jets fans during the playoffs way back during the Teeamu Selanne days, I thought it was just amazing (every one down to the person wore right).
Yes, are ideas crazy and sometimes not particularly the best? Sure. Are they always thought out? No. Can we all concede a little for the cause and get behind it? Yes (like you did, even though you hated it). I just want people to try it — whether at Haas and CMS and THEN make the judgment. After we first try it in earnest and we have a see of gold for a game. If people after that said it was “meh” or that it was a waste of time. Fine, I would never bring it up again. But until that happens — until we really do it once — the critics are part of the problem. Just my opinion.
I gotcha. And I think passion is a great thing. But KAB I think in regards to this specific issue, you’re banging your head against a wall.
As you know, part of what I dislike about these particularly things (and frankly, why I don’t think they work well here) is that they’re derivative. I am not criticizing any of the kids who want to try this, but from a bigger perspective the whole thing is just sort of “lazy thinking.” Though, I’ll tell you where i’ve had a bit of an epiphany. I was watching the Broncos / Steelers game on Sunday. I was very impressed with how visually impacting the terrible towels were – particularly at a road game. That would be something I could get behind for Cal… all road games every Cal fan would have a gold towel to wave. Those towels make a visual impact because they take up more “visual space” than actual space… Like the Tennessee Orange.
In any event, I see the student sections wants to do this with their section. That is awesome. If they want to attempt this with all of Haas there is a lot of work that needs to be done. I think it can be done, just nothing in my past with Cal Athletics suggest it will.
I like your epiphany
You should run that by Sandy. Gold Bear terribles for road games. Leverage the optical illusion that there are more fans using the movement of the towels. I love it!
may I point out
in support of your color choice, that the SF Giants have had great success with the “Orange Friday” concept. And as to Scootie’s comment above, some people don’t look good in gold, but EVERYONE looks like crap in orange except CalTrans workers and convicts.
It’s been pretty popular and over the last couple of years folks have come up with a T-shirt, which by the way will be a hell of a lot better of an idea Harmon Gym (shut up all of you) than it is at outdoor baseball games in the fog in summer. And FFS, it’s a T-shirt. Go in the discount rack in the student store and find one, or down Telegraph before the game. It’s cheap compared to the ticket.
The above comment is not affiliated with the San Francisco Giants, is not based on a secret source of team information, and may contain personal opinion.
"I'll never forget San Francisco and all those beautiful moments."- Andres Torres
by natteringnabob on Jan 15, 2012 9:29 AM PST up reply actions
At this point the shirts have been purchased, so there’s not much point in debating the choices of color. Best to just focus on making this as successful as possible.
The #1 greatest threat to America: BEARS
Sounds good. I will say this is a little disappointing. So much better to get feedback and input from people who have some perspective before hand than just charging into something. Enthusiasm and passion are GREAT, but unfocused and without context it can be a real waste.
It sounds like they talked to a decent amount of people before they started on this path. I don’t think “random internet people” rank high on the list of people to consult with beforehand.
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I don’t think it sounds like that at all. again, i love the enthusiasm by the students. but sometimes the idea itself needs to be better thought.
for instance, did they talk to the ASUC to see what shirt colors sell best?
Did they talk to anyone who was a part of the previous “color outs” to see what they did and what they could have done differently?
What about talking with other schools who have had success with it?
You know why this worked for the Warriors? Because they gave the shirts away free to every fan.
but in any event, now that they’re committed to it, they need to do it right. Color me impressed if they can make it happen.
GO BEARS!
One thing...
And I’m kind of echoing fiatlux here, but:
We did the Blue-Out against Maryland. That was decently successful. We know 60000 Cal fans have Blue shirts. It might be easier to get that done.
Also, for future scheduling purposes, I would recommend a weekend game (yes, I know Zona is a huge game!) for an “-OUT”, because many people come from work on weekdays and consequentially may forget, or not be able to, change into Gold (you see quite a few people at Haas on Thursday nights in their working clothes). Weekends: people can bring the whole family, and change at home.
The Gold Out is technically just for The Bench
Students will be handed shirts as they walk into the game. We’re only posting this here because we would love for (and initially pined for) all of Haas to be in Gold for the game, but it’s just not in marketing’s budget. We’re testing the waters here to see how well we can communicate and coordinate with other Cal fans. As far as scheduling, the only other feasible game for this is Oregon State, but the promotion for that game will be more Senior oriented.
That being said,
marketing does have some money to work with, and seems more than willing to help promote the event and related promotions (gold shirt discounts, etc.)
*Insert something witty here*. Oh, and Stanfurd Sucks.
So, yeah,
it’ll be a stadium wide Gold Out (whether or not it is a success is yet to be seen)
*Insert something witty here*. Oh, and Stanfurd Sucks.
Marketing has money?
Funny, they always act as if they are skint broke and need 500 commercials to make for it.
"Our hearts shall sing and our voices ring for the dear old Blue and Gold!"
by Joe Bandsmen on Jan 11, 2012 12:08 AM PST up reply actions
It is for all of Haas!
The free shirts are only for the students, but right now we’re talking to the team, etc. to hammer out some things and plan for promoting a stadium wide Gold Out
*Insert something witty here*. Oh, and Stanfurd Sucks.
By the way I had very odd dream last night and you were part of it… for some reason you were in my office rifling through all my tax returns… and I kept saying “Frank what the hell you doing going through all that stuff?” and you were saying “Just want to see what’s here…” Very random.
Inception!
Maybe I wasn’t looking for something, but was instead trying to plant something!
*Insert something witty here*. Oh, and Stanfurd Sucks.
I have a gold shirt. I will try to make it to the game.
"i, for one, welcome our new atomic overlords" - GoldBlooded
by atomsareenough on Jan 11, 2012 6:05 PM PST up reply actions
There are tshirt places all along telegraph… If you could maybe work something out with them so that all gold shirts are discounted by a significant margin prior to ( and extending through) gameday with the use of some kind of GOLD OUT sign (with included date), that may fare well, as all students and Fans love a good sale incentive.
Also, thinking along the same lines, anyone wearing a gold shirt gets a discounted ticket (if bought that day at the ticket booth).
Both suggestions would take some legwork, but I’m sure they are doable if you apply high effort. And supportive stores always love a reason to have sales when there’s a seperate but related incentive to buy.
no bear, no care
by EchoOfSilence on Jan 10, 2012 9:32 PM PST via mobile reply actions
That would be cool, but how much are they?
no bear, no care
by EchoOfSilence on Jan 11, 2012 6:41 AM PST via mobile up reply actions
$14.40 plus shipping/
In the Game of Trolls, you either troll or you die.
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We have a blue one with a gold design. Although if there was a demand for it, we could switch that up.
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good point
“wear gold and get $1 off” would be pretty freaking effective, if someone has the will and money to make that happen. Especially if they have walk-up tickets going unsold, which might not apply to a game against U of Aholes.
The above comment is not affiliated with the San Francisco Giants, is not based on a secret source of team information, and may contain personal opinion.
"I'll never forget San Francisco and all those beautiful moments."- Andres Torres
by natteringnabob on Jan 15, 2012 9:31 AM PST up reply actions
Gold out The Bench
Maybe a good goal, at least initially is to just focus on The Bench getting the Gold Out. It will be something unique and special for them, and would stand out from the crowd (and if the crowd wore mostly blue, then we’d have the Blue & Gold. It would actually be somewhat unique if the Bench was all Gold, and the rest of the fans wore all Blue.
I agree that most people don’t own a gold shirt, yet almost everyone, and especially Cal fans own blue coats/shirts, etc.
Also, hopefully the Bench Gold Out will build with more and more students having the Gold Shirt (just like more and more student football fans owning the official blue football tshirt.
Anyway, great idea and thanks for the big efforts!
Funny that it's unique
It used to be the norm. But at some point the policy was relaxed. I like the color solidarity – the more the better. Ideally I would love to see The Bench in gold, the rest of the arena in navy blue, then the Cal Band and the Rally Comm rugbies. Wanna talk about pagentry. And how about that for football too? Up that to 6 times.
Fill the Bench first....worry about what the hell its wearing second
It would be nice if there was more than one center section actually filled at that game. I’d love that, just for novelty’s sake. Marketing may have bought 500 shirts but I doubt they’ll pass out more than a hundred to actual students.
"Our hearts shall sing and our voices ring for the dear old Blue and Gold!"
Fill up the behind the basket next to the Cal Band and Rally Comm
It’s embarrassing as I can see more bench than people there. It also seems that often only half the band and half Rally Comm are there too. Need to pack that section out.
During winter
Alums are invited back to join the band because the students go home, and there are fewer people who go to the games, which is why we look really ragged. The last 2 games either the number of alums equaled the number of current students or was larger to give you a little perspective on our manpower issues, which always come during winter. As for Rally Comm, I’ve only seen two of their members join us behind the basket during the winter, and they moved over next to us during the last women’s game because they were displaced by Cheer SF (I wish they’d go away!). We fill up nice (or did last year) when it came to conference play. We should be fine, as should Rally Comm. There were more students at the Cal/Kansas game last season (last game of fall semester, a little after finals ended) than at any of the home from this past fall, which makes me worried about them filling up for anything except Stanford.
"Our hearts shall sing and our voices ring for the dear old Blue and Gold!"
by Joe Bandsmen on Jan 11, 2012 12:45 AM PST up reply actions
dont be hatin on the band, we’re always there son
Remember, the enemy's end zone is DOWN!
by GoldBlooded on Jan 11, 2012 10:50 AM PST up reply actions
If you're currently in the band
You’re too young and nerdy to be calling anyone “son”. Otherwise, though, I love The California Marching Band and you guys are the best. Yes, keep it up and if you are always there, great. I guess it’s more the students behind you guys — or lack thereof.
i was bone 1 05-09 and i attend many of the winter alumni games. the band puts out more noise than the bench on a regular basis and that is not a good thing.
Remember, the enemy's end zone is DOWN!
Great idea
best of luck with the execution
It’s too bad that we don’t have an alum that starts a major athletic clothing company like Oregon or Maryland. As a grad student at Maryland, I have pretty much gotten a free shirt in something insane like 60% of the games that I attended. They do only have a few special under armor tshirts (maybe 100), while the rest (usually 1000) are of lesser quality (and without the under armor logo).
by LEastCoastBears on Jan 11, 2012 12:47 AM PST reply actions
Rally Comm
Pretty sure you should also make sure to communicate to Rally Comm & Cal Ban to Gold Out as well….
Yeah, planning on doing that once we get some things hammered out
*Insert something witty here*. Oh, and Stanfurd Sucks.
How about this:
For every team that we blew out last year or this year on the road, we have a Blue-out to remind them of the fact. For example, Oregon comes to town and we Blue them Out.
by Oski4Heisman on Jan 11, 2012 9:50 AM PST reply actions 5 recs
HAHA this is awesome. Rec’d
no bear, no care
by EchoOfSilence on Jan 11, 2012 10:06 AM PST up reply actions
Get Businesses Involved
Not sure if anyone touched on this as a way to get shirts for the whole stadium, but maybe trying to engage some of the usual suspects (Bank of the West, Muscle Milk, etc.) into sponsoring a Blue or Gold-out would be a way to make it happen. They could have their logo big on the back of the shirts but also pay for a large portion of the shirts.
Having rally captains and cheerleaders go into the alumni section and convince people to put on the shirts also seems crucial.
Ok: Two Final Options & A Third for Next Season
Here are our options.
1) We stick with an ALL GOLD OUT and get a Cal sponsor like Muscle Milk, AT&T, etc. to sponsor gold shirts. They don’t even need to have graphics, though it would be better. A giant logo of their company on the back would cover it for them. Or ASUC/businesses could do something.
2) FiatLux makes a good point about setting ourselves up for success. We go with an ALL GOLD OUT for The Bench. For the entire stadium, BLUE-OUT. What we get is a Gold&Blue Out. It sounds a little weird but I like the ring to it because we are Gold and Blue. It can get confusing for some fans for a Gold & Blue Out because they won’t know what color to wear and it will just look like puke. However, we will advertise it to Cal Fans as the Blue Out so they all wear Blue. This way, we can also count on people to bring blue shirts and avoid work clothes on the thursday night and also get a sponsor to get us all the blue shirts as well.
3) For Next Season: The Blue Out Idea for teams that we totally blew-out least season or on the road. I like this idea but we need more time to plan it for the whole season and such.
Which is the better option guys?
I really like the GOLD OUT idea. I think it has the potential to really stand out and make a dramatic visual impact. It’s just going to be extra challenging. So, the question is, are you guys organized and motivated enough to rise to the challenge?
I do like the idea of a Blue Out for teams we blew out. That’s easier to do because of the ubiquity of blue shirts, so you shouldn’t need as much lag time to organize. It’d be great especially if we could do it against another top team in the conference or a traditional rival. If we trounce Utah on the road, it’s not the same as if we blow out UCLA or stanfurd.
"i, for one, welcome our new atomic overlords" - GoldBlooded
by atomsareenough on Jan 12, 2012 10:20 AM PST up reply actions
(I know UCLA is down this year but they’re still UCLA and it’d be great to rub it in their faces that we kicked their asses down in LA)
"i, for one, welcome our new atomic overlords" - GoldBlooded
by atomsareenough on Jan 12, 2012 10:21 AM PST up reply actions
I like Option 2
I think that would look so sweet. Completely GOLD student section (both along the sidelines and just as important — behind the basket, which has been a sad sight in recent seasons). This is already going to be done with the free shirts.
Then, completely BLUE OUT the rest of Haas (xcpt for Straw Hat Band and Rally Comm of course). Pageantry. Awesomeness. Sounds like this would be easier to get done than the Gold Out anyway, in terms of convenience for alumni and rest of the non-Bench fans — as most have at least 5 navy blue shirts in their repertoire.
I look forward to seeing you guys rise up tonight though and hope to hear some good heckle jobs on the broadcast mic. Go Bears!
Perfect time to start a new chant to fire up the crowd!
Hey MicMan, great job, I like the enthusiasm. I think this is your best time to start a chant to get the crowd pumped up, a la SDSU.
The Gold Out is a great idea, but you don’t want a bunch of quiet fans in gold, you want them to be ROWDY.
Here’s a thought:
The Yell Leaders yell a “G” then the students respond with a “G!” Follow it the yell leaders screaming an “O” followed by the student’s giving an “O!” Continue it with “B” (with the students still responding)-E-A-R-S" speeding it up until it’s spelled out. Then the yell leaders give a “Go!” with the students responding “Bears!” Repeat this a few times, then try to get the entire crowd (not just students) to jump up and down yelling “Let’s Go Bears! Let’s Go Bears! Let’s Go Bears!”
I love your cheer idea and yes, The Bench needs to show up AND be rowdy
Tell the students to stop the stinkin texting during games. GET INTO IT. Engage.
Btw, good luck getting the rest of Haas to jump up and down. Start with just getting them to stand up on key possessions. That’s hard enough as it is. sigh
Maybe just start with the students. Old people can’t jump that well. We don’t want a bunch of broken hips.
by oskithepimp on Jan 12, 2012 12:20 PM PST up reply actions

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