I know I haven’t written anything for 3 seasons and there’s a good chance that nobody ever reads the following, but I feel the need to write one final post on this site today and consider that the official end.

Because yesterday I officially decided to give up my football season tickets. I will no longer be going to Memorial Stadium on Saturdays in the fall. And I’ll admit, there’s a part of me that is very sad about that. There have been so many great moments both in Berkeley and when I’ve traveled to Cal games around the country. A few that will always be a part of me I’ll put at the bottom of this post as a final thank you to the Cal Bears of the past.

But that’s not really what this post is about. It’s about my reasons for calling it quits.

And here it is in a nutshell: College football is no longer *COLLEGE* football. It’s some weird mutant NFL minor league with some vestige of a connection to a bunch of Universities that are only trivially involved with “their” teams.

How did we get to a place where none of the “student” athletes are on campus because they actually care to go to that school? Sure, some of them will get degrees. But the stars in particular are taking whatever classes ensure their eligibility. Since the portal ensures they will attend 2, 3 or even 4 schools over their career, there’s no way they’re getting even a marginally appropriate college education.

And this says nothing of the fact that as a fan, I have no idea who will be playing on the team I root for from year to year. Each year 20-30 transfer out and a new crop replaces them. That’s in addition to the 20 lost to graduation. HALF the roster. Gone are the days when we’d see a promising Freshman break a long run or intercept the ball or get a sack and say, “I’m really looking forward to seeing that kid develop.”

And then there’s the “Now It’s Legal” NIL money. I believe the Supreme Court would have ruled differently in the landmark case that enabled the NIL payments if they understood how their ruling would be abused. They thought they were allowing students to make money off T-shirts, hats and TV comericals/endorsements. What they really did was allow schools to give pseudo professional students a salary that is only in theory about the ‘endorsement’ revenue. Everyone know that this money is not a contractual tit-for-tat where the collective expects to recoup any significant revenue based on the athlete’s contract. There are effective zero cases where the contract will generate anywhere enough money to reach a break even point on the millions of dollars paid.

And it’s all been tugging at my conscience for a while now. Why am I supporting this? Why am I putting money into a system that I find abhorrent?

This been bugging me for a couple of years now… but one thing and one thing only has prevented me from dropping my tickets: My son Peter had a real shot at getting into Cal. He’s #2 in his class at high school and a remarkable young man. He’d be valedictorian if there weren’t another remarkable young woman who took one more AP class than he did, so despite the fact she has one B on her transcript whereas he doesn’t, she’s a smidge above him on the GPA. And both of them have been varsity athletes in their respective sports (she even got an athletic scholarship to MIT) and involved in other extra curriculars.

That’s a long way of saying I couldn’t stomach the idea of, after having been a 25+ year season ticket holder (my first year was 1999), not having tickets when my son Peter attended there as a student.

But yesterday we found out that he didn’t get in to the Engineering school. I can’t imagine what more he could have done to get in, but apparently it wasn’t enough.

And so it is time. It is time to admit that the College Football that has given me so much joy over the years is dead. It’s time to admit that the current system is morally repugnant. It’s time to admit that fond memories are not a reason to cling to something that is no more.

And so, like the Oakland Raiders who I swore off when they moved to Las Vegas, and like the Oakland A’s that I swore off when they actually moved 100 miles closer to me (as a pitstop), I must now swear off another sports team that has has grudgingly accepted the new college football system, a system that corrupted itself on the altar of capitalism at all costs.

Thank you for the great memories:

• 2000 UCLA game – An overtime classic that bought Holmoe one more season in Berkeley, taking down #13 UCLA. I’ll always remember that seating didn’t matter in the half empty stadium. When the overtime was on one end, the entire crowd shifted to that half of the stadium, only to shuffle to the other end when the next overtime started.
• 2002 Big Game – Tedford ends Stanford’s winning streak (and starts his own) in his first season.
• I’d love to say the 2003 USC game, but sadly I wasn’t there.
• 2006 Oregon Game – One of the best Tedford team performances against a very good Oregon team.
• 2007 Tennessee game – DeSean Jackson’s last great punt return and in addition a great game overall.
• 2007 Oregon game – Sure, Longshore’s broken ankle ruined not only the rest of the season, but it could be argued was the beginning of the downfall of the Tedford era (the OSU game was the following week), but that was one entertaining game and the Bears came away with a great victory.
• 2008 Oregon Game – The rain bowl and a dog-fight… who can forget watching the maintenance staff stabbing the turf to try and get it to drain?
• 2009 Big Game – In Palo Alto – Mohammed’s interception to seal the victory was epic.
• 2015 Texas game – in Texas – The missed extra point obscured an overall great game and one that I firmly believe Cal would have won in overtime… and so it was still just to win via the missed extra point.
• 2016 Utah game – both a big upset and the one time a Dykes led team won on defense (that goal-line stand was amazing).
• 2018 Washington – The first of the great defensive stands that defined the early Wilcox era.
• 2018 USC – The great road upset, again, won on the back of the defense.
• 2022 Notre Dame game – in South Bend – Sure the Bears lost this one, but it was a pretty darned good game and I’ll always be thankful I made the trip.
• 2025 Oregon State – My last road game – at my 2nd son’s Alma Mater, – and a moment of early hope in a season I’d rather forget.

And now I go off in search of my next great adventure. Thank you for everyone who’s read this blog over the years and listened to the podcasts.

Got back from my trip yesterday and spent the rest of the day catching up on all the work/personal stuff that were neglected while I was gone. But my hope is starting this evening I can do a total of 6 posts about the trip:

• Overall trip report
• The Chicago -> South Bend train debacle
• Standard game review/thoughts
• Thoughts on Notre Dame stadium and environment in South Bend
• Re-watch of game via TV footage thoughts

(That’s in order of likelihood – 1st being most likely)

The Bears kick off the season today versus UC Davis and I’ll be back this evening (or tomorrow morning) with my thoughts on the game. I again have season tickets so I’ll get to see the bigger picture that is often off-screen on TV. (I’ll also be going to the Notre Dame game in South Bend.)

Go Bears!

I’ve been thinking over whether it is time to shutdown this blog. But, it’s not yet quite time. The day will come, I am sure of it, but not yet. For me, it is cathartic to write about the Bears. It also makes the games more fun and keeps me more engaged.

One thing is coming to an end… the ‘On The Road Home’ podcasts. Feedback from the family is they don’t like having to be quiet in the car while I do them and since I haven’t been going to any road games, it’s a less interesting podcast than back in the days where I traveled a lot.

But I will keep up the game reviews and once we’ve gotten a few games under our belt I’ll probably do some previews.

“No previews to start?” …you say? Yeah, I just can’t bring myself to pontificate when the data available is so scant. This team could be 9-3 good, it could also be 4-8 bad… heck, even 3-9 bad when one considers the potential risks in the non-conference games. So I won’t pretend to have any answers… at least not yet.

Here’s hoping the Bears come roaring out of the tunnel tonight and deliver a great win over a team that has been nothing but trouble for us, Nevada. Go Bears!

We find ourselves in uncharted territory… how are we to survive a Fall without Cal football? Are we to (to quote Fletcher from the movie ‘Liar, Liar’) “piss and moan like an impotent jerk and then bend over and take it up the tailpipe!?!”?

Well perhaps… that seems to be the theme of the year.

But, fear not! I have a plan to at least take some of the sting out our predicament. Why not make up a “fantasy season”, a season that was the best possible season one could imagine? Think about it, haven’t you said to yourself “wouldn’t it be great if we had a season where the Bears played at their best every week?”

Let’s do that this “season”!

Since the only way we can watch Cal football is to watch games from seasons past, I say we watch the best game from modern Cal history (from the hiring of Tedford in 2002 onward) from each week of the year. I’ll take recommendations for each week if people would like to make them.

(Quick note, the 4th week of the season is not necessarily the same as the 4th game of the season. Bye weeks count. So make sure you account for that when you make a suggestion.)

I’ll announce the game mid-week based on my analysis of what weeks the best games were played on combined with your recommendations (well, except for this week, where I will announce it today). Then I’ll watch the game sometime over the weekend and share my thoughts on the game in a blog post.

Sound good? Anyone out there?

Fear not Cal fans… the longest running Cal Football blog is back for another season. (Can you believe this is my 16th season blogging about Cal football as a whole and my 13th season here on EMFMV?) Here’s the posts you can expect before the season starts:

• Reasons for optimism post
• Reasons to be concerned post
• Game by game score prediction
• Detailed UC Davis game prediction

Then throughout the season, expect to see the following for each game:

• Game prediction post
• On The Road Home podcast for all games I attend
• Post game thoughts post
• Mid-week updates and thoughts as they come to me

Are you excited? Who’s ready for another season of Cal football?

I had a *VERY* enjoyable weekend at the game and at Disneyland, but I’ve got good news and bad news:

The good news is I’ve got a bunch of content to post about the USC game.

The bad news is I’m very much in “recovery mode” right now.

Hopefully I’ll get one or two things posted today and the rest before the weekend/big game.

It’s been radio silence here at EMFMV since the season ended.  Last year was one of the busiest of my life.  It was my final year of formation to become a Catholic deacon.  Formation weekends/retreats prevented me from going to 4 of the home games.  In addition, the academic courses took up lots of my free time.  If that wasn’t enough, it was the first year of me starting a new business.

The result was it wasn’t the best year for EMFMV.

I was ordained at the end of June, so my schedule this year will be very different and I’m hopeful that I’ll make all but one of the Cal games.  Heck, I might even get lucky and if we get a 7:30 PM start for the UCLA game and I can rush down to Berkeley after an all-day Church commitment.  Plus, without all of the academic classes, I should be able to spend more time blogging.  So, here’s what I hope do to:

• Game by game predictions next week
• Game preview every week
• On The Road Again podcasts after every home game
• Post-game thoughts every week
• Game re-watch every week
• Commentary on news as it happens

So, welcome back to another exciting season of Cal Football and Go Bears!

I’m sure my *huge* readership has been on the edge of its seat wondering if I’m going to keep blogging.  It’s been a particularly quiet off season.

But as the longest continuous Cal football blogger, I can’t just give up my title!

Here’s what you can expect from me this year:

• Previews for each game
• Recap of each game
• Various thoughts as they come up
• Pre-season prediction post (coming soon!)
• Oregon eclipse recap (gotta share my awesome experience)

So stick around for another great season of blogging (notice I didn’t say great season of football)

As I mentioned about a while back, I’m trying to find someone to split my season tickets (2 adults, 5 kids seats) with.  I haven’t yet found anyone, but I still decided to go ahead and renew before the mid-February deadline to renew.

Which means I’m still looking and also open to more flexible arrangements.  Want just specific games?  Want the whole year?  Heck, even want to propose something that you don’t want to move on until later… make me an offer (or proposal), even one significantly below face value.  As long as it isn’t a joke of an offer, there’s a good chance I will accept.

So, if you want to take your family to a Bears game and you want to do it on the cheap but with pretty good seats, particularly from a logistics stand point, I’m your man.  Leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.

(Update: This post was originally titled “Anyone interested in an EMFMV liveblog tomorrow night?”.  But seeing as how no one said they were interested, I won’t be doing one.  No biggie.  I’ll be enjoying the game anyway!)

It’s been a long time since we’ve done a live-blog during a game… anyone interested in participating on one tomorrow night for the OSU game?  Post a comment if you are and if there’s at least a few who are, I’ll have one.

I didn’t get to watch the game over the weekend and this week has been crazy so far.  I watched the good part of the game last night and saved the soul crushing part for tonight after I get home from a Church commitment.  Expect a post up tomorrow with summary thoughts (not a detailed bulleted list).

Fall practice started yesterday.  From the off-season news and the reports from yesterday, it’s looking a lot like 2015: Offense should be productive with an experienced QB (David Webb) and young WR’s but defense may struggle mightily unless they can fill the holes among their young talent.  There’s reason to hope the Bears could be much better than 2015 (better O-Line, reasons to believe defense will not be as susceptible to the big momentum-deflating plays), but there’s also reason to fear it will be a season with lots of promise, yet too much of a  frustrating inability to put all the pieces together consistently, game after game.

In any case, I’ll be doing my usual thing: Game predictions, post-game posts, podcasts for games I go to, and random musings.  Any particular requests for content this year?

Go Bears!

(Clarity update: this was written just before halftime during the Oregon game)

I’ve got better things to do with my life than watch this garbage.  How can the team that got those stops in the 1st quarter and looked mostly unstoppable turn into completely incompetent on both sides of the ball?

The only answer is effort.  This team doesn’t have it.  Goff couldn’t care less and the rest of the team with him.  Defense too.  Over 400 yards in basically 1 quarter.  Are you FREAKING kidding me!?!

To hell with them all.  Dykes, Goff, Franklin, Kaufman.

Don’t be surprised if you don’t see any posting from me for a while.

Happy Back to the Future Day.  For those not in the know, today is the day Marty McFly and Doc Brown arrived in the future in their time machine: From October 21st, 1985 to October 21st, 2015.

The Cubs almost made the movie’s otherwise completely horrific futuristic predictions interesting (they were predicted to win the world series over “Miami” in the 2015 World Series), but seeing as how they’re down 0-3 in the NLCS, it doesn’t look likely.

In any case, enjoy your hoverboards and flying cars.

I got an e-mail request to get the Pick’Em league back up and running.  It wouldn’t be too much work to get the software working again, but I’d sure like to make sure I get at least a handful of people signed up to put in the effort.

Who’s in?  (Add a comment in the comment section if you are)

Fall practice is upon us so it is time to bring the blog out of hibernation!

It looks like expectations in Berkeley are pretty high.  I was surprised to see the Pac-12 media poll put Cal in 3rd, ahead of Washington (surprising), Washington State and Oregon State (not so surprising).  That would suggest they’re anticipating about a 5-4 conference record and one would expect that they would see us going 2-1 in non-conference play (losing to Texas).  So a 7-5 season.

I guess that jives with what my expectations are, although I have hopes that Cal can beat Texas.  I’d be surprised to see the team go 6-3 or better in conference.  There’s an outside chance Cal finally gets the Ax back, but loses to Oregon and USC seem likely and ASU/Utah is the harder of the two cross-division options we have (the other being Colorado/Arizona).  When you add in UCLA and even Washington (in Seattle), hard to imagine there’s only 3 losses there.

But, maybe the team takes another big step forward this year.

Speaking of which, so far at fall practice the general feel is that the defense is significantly improved.  That would be great news if true.  The defensive line is providing good pressure and the secondary has found a nose for the ball, with Evan Rambo alone picking off the ball 4 times in 3 days.  Of course, there’s plenty of reason to wonder about all of that.  Is the offense regressing?  Or perhaps the offense just isn’t in rhythm yet?  Or is it all talk and “significantly improved” means they’re not unbelievably horrible (125th in nation), but just really, really bad (100th in nation)?  Frankly, I don’t think we’ll really know until they line up against Texas in the 3rd week.

As for the blog, here’s what you can expect this year:

• OTRH podcasts for home games
• OTRH podcast for the Texas game (yes, I’m going!)
• Weekly game preview posts with predictions
• Weekly post-game celebratory posts (or wailing and gnashing of teeth when necessary)
• Occasional mid-week posts as interesting topics come up
• A handful of fall practice posts, including one after the 8/16 practice which I will see in person

So kinda the same as the last couple years.

Here’s hoping for a great season in Berkeley!

I’ve finally had it with my web hosting company, so I’m switching to a new one. It’s a spectacularly painful process to do in a way that has the minimum impact to my users/viewers.

Today is the big day for moving ExcuseMeForMyVoice to the new server. It should be mostly invisible minus just one thing:

If you’re pointed to the old server, comments will be disabled. I’ve already imported all the content to the new server, so I don’t want any additional content on the old server. Your local DNS server should get the address for the new server in about a day.

If you’re still being pointed at the old server as of Friday 10/31, please e-mail me at blog AT excusemeformyvoice DOT com. If you are seeing problems on the new server, leave a comment in this post.

Unfortunately I can’t go to the UCLA game, so my tickets are for sale.

I have two regular reserved ($33) and 5 Youth (under 18 y.o. – $16) tickets. I’m in section C, in the 1st 2 rows above the concourse (which means extra leg room) and on the isle. 4 seats in the 1st row and 3 in the 2nd. While I have to admit that there are better locations around the bowl than section C, you won’t find a better seat to watch the game in that section and the prices are cheaper due to the location, particularly if you’re bringing kids (and it’s a 12:30 PM kickoff).

I can upgrade the youth seats to regular reserved and sell them at that price but I need to know by Saturday’s game (UW) so I can do it at the box office while down there, so let me know if you’re interested.

Either leave a comment or e-mail me at tickets AT excusemeformyvoice DOT com.

I’m not going to have great Internet access tonight. You might see a peep or two from me, but no liveblog.