Saturday, August 25, 2007, which is either today or yesterday depending on when I can get this finished, was one of the greatest days of my life.  I have never been at the birth of a child nor walked on the moon.  Never even had a kid on the moon.  I can only assume those things pale in comparison to the incomprehensible joy that was the Cal FanFest.  I was like a kid in a candy shop.  "There’s DeSean!  No, there’s DeCoud!  Wait, DeSa, too!" 

And it wasn’t just players with the letters D and e in their names.  Many other letters were involved too.  Such as Jeff and, to an equal extent, Tedford.  Yes, that’s right.  Our Lord and Saviour, Coach Tedford.  When I was in the band, I had some opportunities to be near the man.  At the Cal v. UDub b-ball game, I was able to also be near him.  But I’ve never had an opportunity to actually converse with the man. Today was that date.  August 25, 2007, the day I spoke with Lord Tedford.  

But that is for the future.  There is a narrative to this tale of ours.  And like all narratives, it should start in the beginning.  The start to this day doesn’t even start at the stadium.  It starts before the stadium.  With our good friend Runnie Dub.  Now with braids!

"Yellow pants are SO hot right now!" 

I was busy making my way to the stadium, so I didn’t get a chance to stop and talk with R to the Dub.  He was also on the phone and judging from the facial expression above, paranoid about me stealing his yellow pants.  But I did notice that there were a lot of chalk drawings around the region.  

This one says Save The Oaks Tree Sit and then gives the days that they have been doing it.

That one says "Native American Sacred Space," which refers to the report from 1920s that claimed a dead body was found there with a Mexican coin.  Although the report was vague, the Save The Oaks people said it proved there was a Native American Burial ground there.  This claim, along with the claim that the oaks were old growth, has eroded people’s confidence and trust in the Save The Oaks’ peoples beliefs and tactics.

The Save The Oaks people have also seemingly started diluting their message.  To wit:

This one says "No Tree Cutting Allowed" with some stuff thrown in about alcohol.  It’s odd, because the only people cutting the trees are the Save The Oaks people.  They were "pruning" (R-Dub’s words) them earlier this year to make it more comfortable to stay up there.  So far, the only damage to the Oaks have come from the very people claiming to be saving them.  How ironic.  Just like when the cat burgler was caught by the very people trying to catch him!

Also, these drawings are even less related:

That last one there is a bit tough to see, but it basically says that a successful football team won’t solve the problem of global warming but trees will.  I don’t see how driving or global warming really relate to the controversary here.  The oak trees by the stadium might have a minimal effect on stopping global warming, but I doubt they really make much of a difference.  Just another reason why the Save The Oaks’ people political capital has disintigrated.  

So, after that joyful adventure through a magical non-logic land, I finally made it up to the stadium.  There was a long line, but I thankfully saw some old friends from band to cut with.  You can see how the line stretches off into the distance.

While waiting in line, I saw the people from the www.BerkeleyansforCal.com website collecting signatures for a pro-stadium petition.

It is good to see that after all the disinformation out there about the stadium project, finally there is a reaction by the Cal side.  I hope it is successful.  I joked with one of the gentlemen there collecting signatures that I was concerned about how the stadium project might affect my current *free* room and board in a bunch of oak trees near the stadium.  And I remarked about how many of my Native American ancestors had used to live there before dying and being buried.  Clearly, spirits were high.

And thus it was as we made our way to the front.  This software caps the length of posts, so I am goign to split it up.  I will try to get the next installment up either tonight or tomorrow morning.  This one involves DeSean Jackson literally walking 1 foot away from me.  Photographic proof will follow.  GO BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!