Cal Defeats Arizona Photo Essay 2: The Photo Essaying!

Part 1

Hey, so beating Arizona is a thing. Could beating the #1 team in the nation happen to Cal? Things like that never happen to Cal. At least not since the latter part of the 1900s. Would it happen on Saturday? When we left off, Cal was tied with just a few ticks left with the Wildcats. Senior Justin Cobbs have the ball and was letting time run off to avoid Arizona having much of an opportunity left, independent of whether his shot went in.

The fans knew Cobbs was going to take the shot. The players knew Cobbs was going to take the shot. Were the basketball self-aware, it would have known Cobbs was taking the shot. So, guess what? He took the shot. And here he is driving to take the shot.

And thanks to Leonard Chong, here is the aftermath of the shot: the aftermath of that purest of sports moment when the entire game hangs in the balance. Will it go in the hoop? Will it bounce painfully off the edge? Will this whole charade be a McGuffin for a 3rd option not yet considered. Let's take a ponder:

GREAT SUCCESS! Love Kravish there. Cobbs is right out of the frame here in this moment, on the ground, potentially unknowing of the result of his shot (outside of auditory clues). And if you wanted to see it again from a fan angle, here is valued reader CalBear81's video:

We were going crazy. I inadvertently smacked a random woman in the face extremely hard with my hand. I was just flailing about and just her face got in the way. Lots of hugging in the stands. Just that massive exhale that only comes when you have a moment like that dagger shot. When your heart drops from your throat back to your chest, the air escapes in a most joyous way.

And that is when shot got WEIRD. Firstly, the fans rushed onto the Court. Well, some of them did. I didn't. They, I guess, didn't realize that there was still .9 seconds left on the clock. You can see in this shot here several players and coaches trying to get fans back into the stands. In fact, Monty is like smack dab in the middle of the photo. He was NOT happy! To the right of him is Kravish, who was frantically waving his hands back towards the stands. I didn't see Monty at the time, but I did notice Kravish.

In the stands, we were freaked out that Cal might get T'd up and give 2 free throws to Arizona. What a Cal way to lose? But I guess since it was a TV time out and the play was stopped or something, no fouls were given. PRAISE BE TO MARSHAWN!

So, then like 5 minutes of time outs occurred before the last play. Az took a time out and I think Cal took 2 time outs. I was nervous the entire time. I was concerned a foul would occur on the inbounds or the shot and they'd get two. Monty waited almost for the play to start to see what Az was throwing up there and then took a time out to recraft his D. Whatever he did worked PERFECTLY. Here are some videos from fiatlux, CalBear81 and atomsareenough of the final play and the streaming of the Court from different angles.

And the bedlam was on! We had beds. We had lams! We started to make our way down the stairs to the Court. We had to hop a railing, which was not so easy for my not quite yet mid-30s frame. CBKWit, fortunately, grabbed me as I wobbled perilously a few feet above the stands above. Oh no, not a few feet fall! CBKWit said "I got you [NHook]" We shared a moment. IT WAS MAGICAL.

If you've never been in one of these scrums, it's basically wandering around aimlessly thinking that something is going on somewhere else, while yelling, screaming, and jumping up and down. I kept yelling "GO BEARS!" while walking towards where I thought the players might be. They weren't there. So, you wander somebody else, because maybe somebody is somewhere. Maybe. They weren't, but hey, hope springs eternal when you are surrounded by hundreds of drunk people jumping up and down.

One guy was wandering around going "WHERE'S MY SHOE? WHERE'S MY SHOE??" And then another guy was wandering around with a shoe going "HEY, WHO LOST THIS SHOE???" Would fate bring them together? We'll have to check Missed Connections on Craigslist to find out.

There is also a sense of randomness to the proceeding. We bumped into Oski and then BAM! CBKWit is hoisting Oski up on his shoulders and carrying him around the Court. I bumped into AddictedToQuack blogger Takimoto, who is a super secret Cal agent taking Oregon down from the inside. Of course, a giant (pants-optional) hug was administered to/by fiatlux. The level of joy down on the court is difficult to describe. It's like a giant wedding, where everybody is getting married to everybody else and it is all the greatest day of their lives! MAZEL TOV! L'CHAIM!

I did finally notice Dick Solo, who was getting interviewed. I tried to make my way over there, but the going got tough. I couldn't hear a word he was saying. Nothing. Nada mucho.

But he seemed happy.

Then, he left to a parade of well-wishers back slapping him on the way off the Court.

Here's the receipt for the game.

People started to trickle off of the Court, partially because the energy was dissipating and partially because yellow jackets were telling people to leave the Court (although I ignored that command quite enthusiastically). The band was playing and the cheerleaders were going and hey, yknow what, at that very moment nothing else mattered except for that feeling that you got when the shot went in. You want to hold on to that and never let it go like some sort of crazed and clingy serial killer. So as to avoid ending this with the words "serial killer," let us instead GO BEARS!