Excuse Me For My Flag Waving
(Written by jsnell)
Hi, I’m Jason Snell, and I’ve been known to obsess about Cal Football. I’ve been blogging about Cal Football for a few years over at Sturdy Golden Blog and Ken and I thought we’d try to join forces and see how the shoes fit.
The short version of my bio: I’ve been going to Cal games since I was a little kid. My season tickets, in section FF, are the same seats my family has had since I was little. My dad has been a Cal football fan and season ticketholder since the mid-’60s, and he brought me up right. Roger Theder? Saw him coach. J Torchio? Saw him be not a very good QB. The Play? We stayed home because the weather looked bad. But I listened to it live on the radio in my bedroom. In my professional life I’m an editor for a magazine and web site.
Anyway, I’m happy to join forces with Ken and contribute to Excuse Me For My Voice. I hope you’ll all become regular readers of this blog during the football season.
(Photo: Abu Ma’a’fala, Holiday Bowl, December 2006, by yours truly.)
August 16th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Hey Jason–
My family’s been in FF for at least 30 years…my Dad (class of ’60) went as a student–he and a group of friends took a road trip to the Cal/Iowa Rose Bowl–and it’s become a part of my family’s fall ever since…I’ve always thought FF was one of the best sections of the whole stadium…we’re getting screwed out of our parking this year: we’ve been in Upper Hearst for as long as I can remember and without notice, we’ve been demoted to Lower H…SUCKS big time…we’ve been there through ALL THE DARK YEARS when 2/3 of the stadium was empty and now that they’re doing so well, they forget the loyalty and support of many, many years! My parents are hitting their 70s and now they have to walk more hills…Doesn’t stop us from buying our four tickets and going to every home and most away games…never will.
August 16th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
Pretty cool — like I said, my Dad’s been there since the ’70s at least — it’s unclear if they were in FF from the beginning in the ’60s, or moved there in the ’70s. I’ve been going since the late ’70s, the very same seats we’re in now. When they end up re-doing the interior of the stadium (I can dream, can’t I?), it’ll be sad when we’re all reshuffled.
I’m still in Upper Hearst, which is funny because I was in Lower Hearst up till three years ago or so. Upper’s certainly a nicer walk, although if you don’t mind the uphill the lower is a nice stroll. (As a J-School graduate and former lecturer, it was kind of fun to park in the same lot I used to park in to go to North Gate.) But for older folks, Lower Hearst is not good.
September 5th, 2007 at 7:43 am
my story pretty much pales in comparison to your guys’, but my family has had season tickets since soon after they both graduated from cal in ’75. I’m only 16, but I’ve been going since the Holmoe era, and have many memories of running around our section, running up and down our relatively empty row. I haven’t missed a big game since I started going probably 10/11 years ago. Now that I’m older, I can fully appreciate our newfound greatness (Tedford is GOD). I just love college football season. I’m also a Berkeley native, and just love cal everything. I hope we can get Memorial to be as loud as it was during the Tennessee game-I have never seen it that loud in my life. GO BEARS!