(Written by jsnell)

Over at California Golden Blogs (essentially the go-to Cal blog), Avinash recaps the big game with an appropriate headline: “113th Big Game Recap: Golden Bears Lose To Better Team.”

And so what’s his first paragraph about? How the old alumni suck and apparently cost Cal the game.

The Stanford Cardinal dominated the California Golden Bears, taking back the Axe with a final score of 48-14. By the time Andrew Luck flattened Sean Cattouse on a scramble that’ll be replayed for ages down at the Farm, I pretty much resigned myself to the fact there would be no upset. The crowd, so energetic a week ago, was flat for most of the game. The secret of Big Game week is Cal crowds are full but rarely boisterous. It’s filled with old types from alumni reunions dating back to the 30s and 40s who never make noise unless Cal is ahead or scores. Since the Bears didn’t score, we could’ve played this game at the War Memorial Opera House and there’d have been more noise generated from the alumni. The only thing I heard for most of the game was “All Right Now”, which is thankfully so forgettable that I’ve already forgotten what it sounds like. Props to the students and the Cal Band for staying until the end of a tough one. Wish I could say the same for the so-called Cal fans on the other side of the stadium.

Wow, yeah, Stanford outclassed us but the real story is that the Cal alumni are old and quiet and not real fans!

I’m getting really tired of the lazy shots at the crowd, particularly the alumni, taken by some bloggers. From where I was sitting, we started out as loud as the Oregon game, even after the fumbled snap led to the field goal. But once your team is down 17-0 and shooting itself in the foot repeatedly against a team that has completely outclassed you, it’s awfully hard to keep up the noise and enthusiasm. Unless you’re young and drunk, apparently.

Cal laid an egg. Stanford is really good. I doubt there’s any appropriate place to rank the noise of the crowd and the second-half enthusiasm of the old alumni in the hierarchy of reasons Cal lost, but if you must, perhaps a bit lower down than the FIRST PARAGRAPH.

Really? The story of the game is that the alumni weren’t loud and left early? Talk about a complete lack of perspective.

Here’s a little writing exercise. Let’s make a list of things that happened in the game. I’ll just make it off the top of my head.

• Stanford’s offense is really good.
• Cal brought its entire team to the coin-flip, a classless provocation that fired up the nation’s best one-loss team.
• Cal has no quarterback because of Riley’s injury.
• Andrew Luck is really good.
• Cal bobbled two snaps in the first drive, one recovered by Stanford, firing up the Cardinal.
• Cal’s offense committed numerous stupid penalties that showed poor coaching, specifically the multiple illegal-formation penalties.
• Cal’s defense played poorly.
• Bryan Anger is a good punter.
• It was rainy, but not as bad as we had feared.
• A lot of fans left before the game was over.
• The alumni section just didn’t seem to be as loud as it was against Oregon.

Now you rank those in order of importance, and write your own blog post.

Those “so-called” Cal fans on the other side of the stadium were going before you started, Avniash, and will be going long after you’re gone. They were going when the team didn’t go to a bowl game every year.

And “flat for most of the game?” The Bears were flat for all of the game. And for most of the game, they were trailing by twenty-plus points while being shut out! Wow, you’re right, we should have been gleefully chanting “Roll On Your Bears” every time Cal got a first down after returning a kickoff following one of Stanford’s eight consecutive scores. Perhaps they should have started firing the cannon off after completed passes. That would have riled up the crowd too!

If you want to pour your frustration at Cal getting blown out by Stanford into something, I suggest you find a target that’s a little more appropriate than the people who come every year and pay through the nose to fund the football program and upgrade all of its facilities. (That’s what I did. I found your story. Thanks.)

Oh, wait, I forgot an item for my list of things that happened yesterday.

• A bunch of spoiled fans who don’t remember the era before Tedford wanted to find a scapegoat for a complete disaster of a game so they chose the alumni, because hey, they’re old and (slightly?) less drunk and introspection is painful so let’s just point a finger across the field and be done with it.

There, that should do it.

[This post started out as a comment on CGB, and you’ll find it over there.]