Given California’s 45-24 rout of Oregon this weekend, I thought I’d provide these tidbits from a trip into Golden Bears territory:
Cal’s press box sits outdoors with a clear view down to the field. On my right, a media seat was reserved for Jason Vondersmith, a writer for the Portland Tribune. Only, Vondersmith was nowhere to be seen.
Then came this older Cal fan, who crammed his chair and one more for a second fan into a spaced designed for one at most.
No matter, I thought to myself, I’m an easygoing person.
“I don’t want to get in your way,” he tells me. Cal scored (a frequent occurrence Saturday) and the old man swung his fist in celebration. I guess he hadn’t heard the unwritten (now written) rule – there’s no cheering in the press box.
This wasn’t an anomaly. As I walked around the press area, I felt like it was a party scene celebrating Cal’s ascension to USC-challenger status.
Want to go to the bathroom? Forget about it – either that or wait in line through most of halftime and as the game gets underway down below.
After a Cal touchdown, the Golden Bears fan told me that was a 65-yard score. Apparently, I couldn’t see what’s happening on the field, watch the nearby television screen or read the ever-present stat sheets.
Thanks, I mean, wasn’t the beating down on the field enough without a Cal fan blabbering in my ear?
Where is Jason Vondersmith?
Saturday’s picture perfect sunny weather gave way to the darkness. Cal’s media personnel handed out desk lamps so we could see the glow of our laptop computer screens.
I wrote notes on my pad of paper on my lap and, kindly, the Cal fan moved his hot beverage, and allowed me to use the table.
The media row was covered in Marshawn Lynch mouse pads, and when the devastation was nearly over, the Cal fan asked, ‘Can I have your mouse pad?’
Sure, I said, the last thing I want is a memento of when Oregon’s national title hopes, let alone Rose Bowl dreams, likely disappeared in the flash of a DeSean Jackson punt return for a touchdown.
Here are a few other observations from Berkeley:
– Postgame interviews are relegated to a small tent at the edge of the football stadium and near the tunnel where Oregon players walked out following the game. The location, near fan exits, left the Ducks open to heckling Cal fans.
– Anywhere you walk on campus feels like you’re walking up hill, maybe a reference to Oregon’s performance against the quicker, more smoothly operating Cal football team. The eclectic campus atmosphere feels like Eugene. At least, here the homeless man I see is singing a song as he begs for change.
The sidewalks swarmed with people, a decent mix being Oregon fans, some louder and more obnoxious than others.
– Trying to find a parking lot in Berkeley is a trial in patience and perseverance. Even with a media parking pass, locating the lot – a street zoned off from the public – involves sifting through a mix of busy streets.
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