This was the first post-Thanksgiving Cal game that I can remember. We had had some games the week after Thanksgiving, but not the weekend of Thanksgiving. Given that coupled with the forecast of rain and the team's mediocre play, I expected attendance to be low.
It was rough. The usually hopping streets of Berkeley were like a ghost town. Here is a photo of a parking lot that is normally pretty packed an hour or so before gametime. You can see it is quite empty. :(!
After the jump, more photos from the pre-game and first half of the Cal-UW game. GO BEARS!
The band's show at Sproul, even in the drizzling rain, was very impressive. They did a funk show. Apparently, one of the members of the band Tower Of Power had written a song specifically for the band. It seemed to have specific rests so people could say "Go Bears" in it. So, if thats true, then that is pretty cool.
Entering the stadium was ridiculously easier than the week before against Stanford. It was sad, really. Too bad we have to have these post-Thanksgiving games from now on. Let's just make sure it is never the Big Game.
Soon, it was close to gametime and the band came out to do the last pre-game show in Old Memorial.
The weather was very confusing. While it rained heavily later in the game, at this time, the skies were blue and it was somewhat warm.
It was Senior Day for the band, too, so they got to honor the seniors for one moment. I don't remember being able to run around. I feel like we just stood up for a second. Kids these days.
Soon, the band was finished and it was time for the team to run out!
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It was Senior Day, so they honored the Seniors, such as Cameron Jordan.
The Seniors all ran out. However, Kevin Riley, he of the injured knee, could not run. So, he slowly walked out. Jeremy Ross came out after him and I was hoping that Ross would hurdle Riley on the way out! Didn't happen.
These photos are taken from right before the game began. The attendance did fill in a little, mostly in the west and east part of the stadiums near the 50. However, in the corners, things stayed fairly rough. This is not some punk kid trying to dig the old alumni, you'll see that even in the young alum and student sections, things were rough.
I don't remember them announcing the attendance, I wonder what it was.
Not a ton of UW fans in attendance. However, they seemed to make a LOT of noise for their size. More than the Stanford fans last week, it seemed. Very odd, how loud they were.
And, then, the game began!
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The Cal fan speech this time was about a fan from the 1960s (when things were exploding around Berkeley) who used to climb a speaker pole to be an amateur mic man.
We saw a LOT of wildcat at this game. Especially with Keenan Allen at the QB position. With Brock Mansion essentially a giant black hole at QB, Ludwig did everything in his creative playcalling power to get the ball into the hands of the play makers. Fans behind me were grumbling about it at times and I yelled at them "So, you want more Brock Mansion passes?" That shut them up.
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The sun came out!
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The offense might have sucked, but the D was amazing. It played nearly perfectly. Here are some great shots.
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As it was the last game played under Old Memorial configuration, Cal had many montages regarding the 87 year history of the site. Here was some information regarding its construction. It cost 1.4 million to build! It looked gorgeous upon finalization.
There is no way it could be built today. Not only is it on a major fault, but apparently Strawberry Canyon was truly gorgeous. One of the best parts of Berkeley. And then we came along and paved it over. GO BEARS!
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Here, Isi Sofele got an opportunity to play at QB!
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I would not to look up and see this visage tearing towards me!
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It was 0-0 as we careened helplessly towards half. What a rough first half. Stunningly, Tavecchio attempted and made a 50+ yard field goal to put Cal up 3-0. The fans went CRAZZY!
Could we win 3-0? 3-2? DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?
