The Surplus Sale
Today was a beautiful day to be on the Berkeley campus - the sort of day that is the reason people move to California. Absolutely gorgeous. I showed up early for some Cal Day festivities and then hung around for Cal Football’s open spring practice (including free hot dogs!), meeting up with my good buddies TwistNHook, HydroTech and CBKWit (and our new bestest buddy, Ken Crawford, who put up with Twist’s incessant ramblings with uncommon patience and good humor). I’m sure they’ll all have plenty to say about today’s open practice, which they’ll cover over the next couple days. Myself? I’ll simply say that I can’t imagine a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
Before we get to all of that, however, I thought I’d share a few photos of today’s athletics surplus sale. Heeding HydroTech’s advice from last year, I arrived shortly before 9:30 AM this morning, only to find people already leaving with boxes full of what I can only assume was the best stuff. S’ok, there was still good stuff to be had, and I didn’t even need to gouge anyone’s eyes out!
The highlight of the sale were the (game-used?) jerseys, going for just $50 a pop. A steal! Anyone who wanted a jersey for some miscellaneous offensive lineman over the past few years had easy pickings, but since I didn’t get there right at the opening, I had trouble finding a jersey with a name I had heard of on it (most didn’t have names at all). When I finally did find one (a Tom Canada jersey), I decided against it; 22 is a pretty good number, but I wasn’t sure I could wear a jersey with the name of America’s bitter rival to the north on my back. (Note to Canada: you’re OK in my book. Just keep making that maple syrup I love so much.)
Got a youth team you’d like to outfit in comically oversized football jerseys? The surplus store is your one-stop source!
Towards the back were the shoes, piled everywhere in a chaotic mess; it looked as though Cal Athletics had knocked off a Foot Locker. That was fine by me, as I picked up a $75 pair of shoes for $20. Guys who looked like former athletes were lovin’ this stash, hoarding boxes of the stuff. All down Bancroft you could see big, athletic guys leaving the stadium with piles of Nikes in their arms, probably leaving prospective Berkeley students to wonder if perhaps Cal was the next Free Shoes University (scroll down to #4 if you don’t get the reference).
Yes, it did feel a little like I was sifting through Cal Athletics’ garage sale. Unfortunately, there were no mismatched place settings or hilariously outdated LPs to rifle through. Next year, perhaps.
Plenty of other gear available too, including branded workout clothes, official coaches’ khakis, elbow and knee pads (just $2!), assorted helmet parts, and, at $75 the most expensive item there, used shoulder pads. I like football a lot, but I can’t imagine what I would do with used shoulder pads, besides get laughed off the field at the next 3 on 3 pick-up game in the park. The oddest item? $10 apparently would get you an official Cal Athletics fax machine. Was this the machine that coaches anxiously huddled over on national signing day, waiting for recruits’ letters of intent to come in? Perhaps! Perhaps!
$5 for a face mask. $10 gets you a fax machine. Not pictured: an official Cal football pencil sharpener, possibly used by Tedford himself. A steal at only $3.95!
Overall, lots of cheap Cal-branded stuff to be had. Not sure if I would have made it out to Berkeley just for this, but definitely worth getting to Berkeley an extra hour or two early. Anyway, keep checking in with the Golden Blogs for further reports on the Spring Game festivities.
I was at the sale about fifteen minutes before you arrived. At that time, there was still a Nate Longshore jersey that people were not quite sure they wanted to buy (at least one guy said it’s probably bad luck). Even at around 915 I managed to find a (nameless, unfortunately) #10 white jersey. A guy who said he showed up at 630am was able to get a Kevin Riley jersey because he was only the 11th person allowed in.
I saw that Canada jersey, but decided that although I liked it, it wasn’t quite worth $50 to me. Too bad I didn’t see that fax machine though. That is a true piece of memorabilia for any Cal fan.
Comment by berkelium97 — April 14, 2008 @ 8:34 am
Who were the best jerseys to be had at the surplus sale? I didn’t get there early enough to see what was available at the beginning.
thanks
Comment by Mike — April 15, 2008 @ 1:51 pm
My fave jersey there was for DeBruin. Um, who let that into Cal? Seems so very very wrong to me. I scored on my second go ’round through the sale, after the initial craziness. Oh, how I wish i needed those size 16 cleats!
Comment by BearBallCarrier — April 15, 2008 @ 4:15 pm
I got there real early and got a #10 jersey with ‘Lynch’ on the back. I also got an old #89 ‘Harris’ jersey and a #92 ‘Mebane’ jersey.
Comment by Cool Bear — April 19, 2008 @ 10:04 pm
THERE WAS A LYNCH JERSEY?!?!?!?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
HOW MUCH DID IT COST??
Comment by TwistNHook — April 20, 2008 @ 10:25 am
I was in the third group let in and i saw one guy with a Lynch and another with a Longshore. I happened to snag a pair of team issue basketball shoes. Jordans with cal embroidered on the tongue. 50 bucks. Did anyone else catch the guy who brought 2 suitcases and just started grabbing stuff and jamming it til it was packed tight…that was great. Even as I’m a USC fan, i can still support Berkeley because my long-time girlfriend is an undergrad there. Love the website. Keep up the good work.
Comment by Daniel — April 22, 2008 @ 8:43 pm
What are some good blog about writing sites!
Comment by abercrombie deutschland — May 28, 2011 @ 12:58 am
Hey dude!!! I think the information that you have given in this article is kind of misleading. Though may have written it with a good intention of informing us, but don’t you think that the article is prompting people to going against the subject instead of going against it?
Comment by Oakley Sunglasses Cheap — June 15, 2011 @ 8:45 pm
46.in which there are many rare animals such as komodo dragons
Comment by gucci bags online — June 27, 2011 @ 6:27 pm
I enjoy reading your post.
Comment by Coach Outlet Online Store — July 3, 2011 @ 7:57 pm