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 and I’ll put those 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 actually on campus because they actually care to go to 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 it if they understood how their ruling would be abused. They thought they were allowing students to make money off T-shirts and hats with their name on it. What they really did was allow schools to give pseudo professional students a salary that is only in theory about the ‘endorsement’ revenue, which in more cases than not will never generate anywhere enough 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 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, snd 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 turn 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.