Cal is likely a Pac-12 After Dark fixture again. Thoughts?

How do you feel about Cal playing late night games at Memorial? Are you a fan? Do you hate it? Has it impacted your fandom?

Nick Kranz: Late night kickoffs are wonderful for my enjoyment of my time in Berkeley, and absolutely awful for the general maintenance of the rest of my life. I love getting to Berkeley early for lunch on a beautiful fall day, tailgating for hours in the early evening, and watching a football game under the lights - yes, even when it's cold.

But (and maybe for the first time in my life I'm starting to show my age) it messes up my weekend. I don't get home until 1:30 a.m. at best, and I'm usually wired and have trouble falling asleep. Sunday is a slog and the 'hangover' can sometimes last a bit into the work week. It means I get absolutely nothing productive done all weekend.

When we're playing important or exciting games it's easy to justify. But if 3-6 Cal is facing 2-7 Oregon State it's pretty easy to justify skipping out because of a late start.

Ruey Yen: In Philly, the bars close at 2 AM. When the Cal game is only going to 4th quarter (or not even that) when the bar is doing last call and kicking everyone out, that's no fun. In the past few years, there are many times where I end up watching the end of the game on my phone while walking home late at night.

Personally I am a night owl so I don't quite mind the late starts. Nonetheless, my impression is that the more casual Cal fans/alumni are less likely to stay up late to watch the games...no matter how exciting #Pac12AfterDark is on a weekly basis.

HydroTech: Whether or not I mind the late night games just depends on if I'm going to the game or not. If I'm not going, it doesn't matter to me because I can watch the game from the comfort of my couch and not have to worry about traveling to and from Berkeley. If I'm going to the game, it's annoying because then it's likely that I'm not getting home until 1 a.m. or later. As for this upcoming 7:30 p.m. game against Ol' Miss, perhaps the late start will work in Cal's favor. These late night Pac-12 games seem to have a special mystique about them where craziness (usually in favor of the Pac-12 team) ensues. Maybe the #Pac12AfterDark magic will favor Cal. One can hope.

Nik Jam: I don't mind 7:30PM games because it means I can sleep in the morning and watch some early games before heading to the tailgates. This may have something to do with the fact that it takes me about 25 minutes to walk from Memorial Stadium to my apartment though. I can empathize with people who live far away.

I don't mind day games either. This is because when the game is over there's plenty of time to go out to bars and restaurants (or you know, home) and watch the primetime and #Pac12AfterDark games. Also, in September, I can sometimes even pull off doubleheaders with the A's... now that the USC game is a 12:30PM start I can attend the fireworks game in Oakland that same night... but of course if that conflict didn't exist I would have rooted harder for a 4:30-5:30PM game.

Waking up and pretty much having to leave with a quick shower and breakfast is not ideal, (Although the days of me staying up late on Fridays are all but over...) but I'm used to it from Raider home games (RIP) usually being 1PM on Sundays.

ragnarok: I rather like the late night Memorial experience, but as a parent of young children, I just can't bring my kids to post-7pm kickoffs. It just doesn't work, and I'm not even going to try and make this week's game vs. Ole Miss...I'm already looking to offload my season tickets, and it's really hard to justify the season ticket package if I know I can't make 50% or more of the games.

I don't foresee that there's ever a time I won't be a Cal Football fan, but I can certainly see doing what a lot of my other friends have done, which is to drop the season ticket package and just pick up select game tickets when you know you can make that game.

boomtho: I like night games SIGNIFICANTLY more now that Justin Wilcox is the coach instead of Sonny! That means the games won't run 4 hours+, and I won't have to catch the absolute last BART or spring for an Uber back into the city.

I do also like night games for two more reasons: weather and activities. The weather tends to be much more temperate (especially on the non-shaded side of the stadium), and it allows me time to do stuff during the day (see friends, play basketball, etc) while still making it to Berkeley for pre-game.

atomsareenough: I'm fine with once a year at home, and once a year on the road. A little #Pac12AfterDark is fun. If it happens a bunch of times though, that's not particularly fan friendly, just as weeknight games aren't. My ideal start time is in the 3:30-5:30 PM range on a Saturday. That means you don't have to wake up early, you can get a decent amount of tailgating in if you prefer, and the game is still over at a reasonable hour.

Joseph Cooney: Enjoyment of night games for me is wholly dependent on what week the game is occurring. I definitely am a fan of early-season evening games (i.e. 2016 Texas) when the weather is mild and enjoyable. However, when the 7:30 starts are occurring in November, I have a hard time motivating myself to put on a jacket and gloves and sit on the cold metal Memorial Stadium benches (I better not see any comments to the tune of "Well our fans will come and stay for the game in -500 degree weather...while it's hailing...and they walked uphill.")

As far as the timing within the day, I personally enjoy the nighttime start. Students tend to show up en masse better for the later kickoffs and it really frees up the mornings for most fans. Plus, with the games trending faster this season, I can now easily get to bed at a reasonable hour so that my entire Sunday isn't spent brooding over the Bears' inevitable frustrations from the previous night.