The Game
No, not the rapper. The Game. Against Tennessee. Let’s talk about it. Seems apropros right about now. When I left off, the game was about to begin. Man was it packed. It was really packed with about an hour to go, actually. Yknow, they showed the video of Tedford’s first play from scrimmage, the trick play with Boller to Williams to whomever it was, I forget, and the stadium was half empty. I remember people used to show up so late to games. We got there an hour early and it was jam packed. By the time the game started, there were people hanging in the aisles, it seemed. Everywhere you looked, you saw people.
We were right next to the Tennessee fans. I was impressed by the amount of noise they were able to generate. I must disagree with my dear friend HydroTech in regards to the crowd noise. I felt Cal fans made great amounts of noise. But I was also impressed by the amount of noise 25K worth of Tennessee fans can make. There was this 3rd down where it seemed like they were making more than us Cal fans ever did. I can’t quite remember the situation, but it was really late in the game. Mighta been that one where Best barely got the first.
But the point is that the atmosphere was really intense. And especially since we were right by the Tennessee fans, things got a bit ugly. I think 2 fights broke out in the nearby region. Also, for no apparent reason, Tennessee’s pantsless mascot seemed to hate on Tennessee people. After touchdowns, the Tennessee male cheerleaders would do push ups. And I saw that pantsless pooch run over and grab their legs so they’d fall down. And he fell on top of one of the cheerleaders. Why do they keep this thing around??? It scares children. Attacks its own cheerleaders. Actually changed into a tuxedo for the 2nd half. A tuxedo?!?!? And we are the soft conference??? Well, at least a tuxedo involves pants.
Ok, back to the game. Now, I don’t have a photo of Williams fumble recovery. It all happened too fast. And I was too busy jumping up and down and ramming my neck into the shoulder of the person next to me. But don’t worry. Her shoulder is A-OK! The purity of that moment cannot be understated. I think all Cal fans had a worry in the back of their head that this game would be like the other one. That moment cathartically released that worry. The last time I went crazy like that was at UDub last year in OT. Here’s a photo of the XP, tho:
The cathartic purity of that touchdown was matched only by the amazing run back by DeSean. First punt of the year, the anticipation was very high. Could he match his feats from last year? Was it all a fluke? I believe that was his first "touch" of the year, too. People were just going crazy. I think I was yelling "DESEAN IS A GOD" over and over and over again WITHOUT qualifying it with something Marshawn-related. Now, that’s a good sign. There is nothing more pure than the unfettered joy of athletic success, especially when it is your own success. Here it isn’t. We are living vicariously through the feats of others. But who cares? IT’S DESEAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"DeSean, you can have my children!"
So, I don’t have any photos of the runback, because I was too busy screaming random things like "DESEAN MAKES DECOUD LOOK LIKE DESA." But I do have a photo of Nate Longshore sneaking for a touchdown, which, I believe, took place before the runback.
And DeSean looking all lonely just waiting out there, knowing he won’t get a kwality punt to return for a while.
In the 2nd quarter, the focus shifted to the other side of the field, because that was Cal’s endzone. Especially given that we were looking run into the sun, it was difficult at times to see what was going on.
But in the 3rd quarter, Cal came back to me. Yay! Here’s right after Longshore threw that 3 yard TD to Hawkins. The second Hawkins fell into the endzone, Longshore pumped his chest and throw his hands into the air to praise God. I think he really did it before Hawkins fell in, like he knew. Then, he lept into the air to celebrate as shown below.
Honestly, I don’t have a lot of photos because I get so superstitious about it. If I take a shot and a bad play happens, I get all nervous that I caused it. Because that’s a reasonable thing to think. I, random dude in the stands, am affecting the game whether I have a camera out or not. Sports fans are truly crazy. And no camera seemed to be working this game.
After the game, the fans rushed the field. Rushed is a mis-nomer. We walked down the stands. Sauntered the field? Ambled the field? Moseyed the field? Either way, I used my locamotive abilities to slowly make my way to the field and then once I got there, RAN to the middle of it to jump up and down with my finger in the air. Sports fans truly ARE crazy.
I saw that DeCoud was up on the shoulders of somebody. Perhaps other players were up there, but I didn’t see any. I saw that there was a camera on the field, most likely to interview players, but had trouble getting over there. When I got near the camera I saw Mindi Bach (I think it’s her) helping push people out of the way so a dad could try to get his 4 year old crying daughter out of there. I have NO idea why there was a dad with a 4 year old in the middle of the scrum. Kinda surreal.
People were chanting "GOAL-POST" to try to take down the goal post. But unfortunately, there was a phalanx of security guards surrounding it.
Unlike Big Game 02, the fans didn’t take down the other goal post and carry it across the field to use as a battering ram against the security guards. Instead, they just took their photos with the cops:
Out of nowhere a few players emerged from the crowd. Tepper and a guy named Anger, who I didn’t quite know.
With the exception of that random father-daughter couple in the middle, it was a fun time being on the field. I saw one guy rubbing his hands all over the field like it was some sort of place of pilgrimage. Frankly, I think it should be. We should get down 5 times a day and pray to whichever direction Tedford is.
A crazy day, which I think can be perfectly summed up in one photo:
GO BEARS!
