Starting a protest
(Written by kencraw)
Just got an e-mail from the athletic department: No backpacks allowed in Memorial Stadium this year.
THIS IS COMPLETE BS!
I’m not a criminal and I don’t expect to be treated like one. I tried to call 1-800-GOBEARS, but the line was busy… Likely because I’m not the only one who’s upset.
It’s ridiculous policy for a number of reasons:
- First and foremost, because bags up to 14x14x6 are still allowed. The prior rule was the same except backpacks of that same dimension were allowed. So what defines a backpack? Thankfully, at least they’re willing to define it: “A backpack is considered a bag worn on or over your shoulders. It can have one or two straps, have one or more zippered pockets.” Uh, what kind of security concerns does limiting bags that meet that sort of description limit?
- It’s ridiculous to release this policy two weeks before the first game, long after people have made ticket purchasing decisions and perhaps after people have purchased bags or other stuff that they might put in an existing backpack for the season, that they now are stuck with. They’d better at a minimum be willing to issue refunds for those who find this policy unacceptable.
- This hyper-security, over-bearing mindset is ridiculous. The e-mail starts out with “due to heightened security”. What sort of ridiculous BS is that. WHAT REASON do we have for heightened security!?! It’s all a bunch of scare tactics. More people have and will continue to die in their cars on the way to the game than will ever be killed by something that somebody is going to sneak in with their backpack.
Write a comment if you agree and answer the poll question.
August 19th, 2013 at 9:59 pm
I suggest bringing to the game a crappy worn-out backpack labeled with Janet Napolitano’s name. Maybe even Sandy Barbour’s name. And if so inclined, Nicholas Dirks’ name. You will be required to leave said backpack at the gate.
Fill said backpack with dog poop. Or cat poop. Or human poop. Anything you’d like to dispose of. Rocks from your garden, for instance. Weeds. Trash.
Use your imagination.
August 20th, 2013 at 4:33 am
I’m with you, but you obviously haven’t been to an NFL game yet where a woman’s wallet can often be “oversized”
August 20th, 2013 at 6:58 am
KR, yeah, I don’t go to NFL games, but I have heard about it. And I thought to myself “thank God I go to Cal games where they are sane about these things.”
So to some degree, part of what upsets me is that they are getting sucked into the NFL type policy.
August 20th, 2013 at 5:18 pm
I am so fricken tired of the absurd dumbing down of rules and regulations all across the country because a select few behave inappropriately.
August 24th, 2013 at 3:13 pm
I have a feeling this has as much to do about concession sales as it does security.
I just started bringing my twin 4 year olds to games–a backpack is absolutely necessary to carry all of their gear and snacks. I can’t being a duffle or purse-like bag because I need two spare hands to hold their hands crossing streets, in crowds, etc.
The absurd start times and now this make me happy that I failed to re-up my season tix for the first time in over 20 years. It’s no longer about the game day experience–it’s about TV revenue. I get it,
but I don’t have to take part in it. I’ll take my family to 1 game a year and follow the rest on TV or radio.
August 24th, 2013 at 4:12 pm
I won’t lie, I’ve had my bouts of thinking that as well joshiemac, but in the end I don’t think that is the motivation. It is all about what happened in Boston. But in either case, it sucks for those who bring more kids than parents and need two hands for kids in the crowds, etc..
As a practical solution, after hearing my uncle Rick’s comments, I bet you can bring in any bag with any number of shoulder straps as long as it does not “look like” a backpack. This really is about the perceptions that a backpack can create in the eyes of a hyper paranoid person.
Some unlucky 20 something young man of Arab descent brings in a backpack filled with sweatshirts and snacks, leaves it at his seat when he goes to the bathroom, creating an international incident.
The university just doesn’t to deal with that, not from either side… So no backpacks is the result.
That is not to say I agree, obviously not, but I get it now.
But the upside is that as long as it doesn’t look like a backpack, particularly after the first game and they are done making a point of enforcing the policy, I bet they let you right in.