Will GameDay Ever Come To Berkeley?
ESPN’s GameDay is a college football phenomenon, and its broadcasts are must-see TV on Saturday mornings in the fall. Each week it broadcasts from a different location, and usually that location is (for that week at least) the center of the college football world. Its visits are a mark of distinction and a validation of the success of a program. So will GameDay ever make its way to Strawberry Canyon? Until recently, it looked like this might be the year.
ESPN’s Bruce Feldman, in his Friday mailbag, answered the following question:
From Ben in Berkeley, Calif.: What do you think Cal’s chances are for "College GameDay" against Tennessee on opening weekend. I suppose the main competition is GT-ND (which ESPN did last year) and now ECU-VT (new and obvious reasons). Obviously I’m biased, but from a pure football standpoint the Cal-Tennessee game looks like it has more angles (Southerners vs. the hippies hiding in our trees, revenge game, both teams Top 15-20, should be good weather, etc). But then again, Cal getting a "Gameday" has always seemed like a long shot at best.
Feldman: Not sure what the plan is for the opening weekend, but if those are the options, my hunch is that Blacksburg will be the big story that people will be focused on. Just from a personal note, Lane Stadium has been one of my favorite places to see a game. The energy in there is unreal. I saw two night games there in 2005 and it was electric when the Hokies line up at the end of the tunnel and they start playing Enter Sandman. The night they played Miami was amazing. The whole building shook. Last year ESPN had its big company-wide college football meetings near Bristol and they showed the intro of that telecast. It was about five minutes. If you’ve been to a game at Lane, you had to get goose bumps watching that because you know how wild that place gets.
Given all that those people in Blacksburg have endured, I’m sure it will be an incredibly emotional day for everyone there. There was actually a story in the News & Observer today about ECU preparing for that emotional trip:
"The ECU athletics department will present Virginia Tech with a check for $100,000 before the Sept. 1 game. The money will go to the fund set up to provide assistance to victims and their families, grief counseling and memorials for the victims. ‘We are figuring that by then most of the initial thrust of gifts will have subsided so maybe they’ll need more help,’ ECU athletics director Terry Holland said."
You know, I can’t say I disagree with him. I don’t think ND-GT has much of a shot, considering GT hosted GameDay last year for that matchup and NBC has the broadcast of that game already locked up. The Cal-UT game is clearly the best game on the slate from a football standpoint, but I don’t think ESPN will be able to resist the temptation of VT’s home opener, even if it is against a patsy like Eastern Carolina.
So, will Corso and Herbstreit ever make it to Berkeley? Hard to say. Given the lack of an ESPN contract and the early start times on the West Coast, it definitely takes something special to bring them out here. Could a top-10 tussle with USC do the trick? Possibly. If Cal and USC make it to November 10th with only a loss or two between them, it might be enough, though it’s hard to project that far into a season. Other intriguing games that day include Arkansas-Tennessee, Auburn-Georgia, and Michigan-Wisconsin. Hell, Wake Forest-Clemson, also that day, might be relevant again this year. Anything’s possible.
Still, I hope GameDay does make it to the Tennessee game. If you want entertainment, look no further than Southern football fans v. Zachary Running Wolf, and if Lee Corso’s wearing silly hats in the foreground, all the better. 127 days to go!!!!
