(Written by kencraw)

Hello everybody! As you can see from the below pictures, I’m in business in Eugene:

Stadium from the press parking lot:

Field from the pressbox:

View of the pressbox:

I’ll be here and perhaps Jason and I will figure out how to co-live blog… although he’ll be doing most of the writing as I’ll be working my articles and analysis.

Some quick notes about Oregon and their facilities:

The stadium is a lot smaller than I expected. The old bowl was REALLY small. With the mid-90’s addition, it increases to just “smaller than I expected”. The entire stadium is bleacher seating with the exception of 3 donor sections on the 50 yard line. The press box is pretty high off the field, it make me appreciate just how well positioned Cal’s press box is. It’s a 3 row press box and I’m on the top row, as is to be expected for a Rivals reporter.

Despite things being on the smaller side, they are really, really, really nice facilities. I’ve not seen all the Pac-10 stadiums but it blows away the 3 I have (Memorial, LA Colliseum, old Stanford stadium). Admittedly those are probably the Pac-10’s worst. Nevertheless, if Cal’s facilities ever equal Oregon in quality, all Bear fans will feel like they’re in heaven.

The fans are over the top excited, and in a good way. They’ve been respectful of the Bears fans, of which there is a sizeable contingent, albeit a drop in the bucket next to Oregon’s. The student section is just about full at 11:30 AM, a full hour before game time. We just heard a loud round of boos as the Cal bears came out onto the field for their pregame warm-up. I’ll leave any further commentary for live-blogging comments.