ducky23 said:

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panda said:

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JSC 76 said:

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panda said:

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Respect the guy for his spirit and his donation to the school. But he's def a weird fella of an older generation. Let the students do their thing instead of trying to be in the spotlight.

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Been waiting for a long time for the students to decide what their thing actually is. Apparently it doesn't involve organized cheers, showing up on time, staying to the end, or card stunts.

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That's funny. I heard the student section was the only loud section at the UW game in comparison to the rest of memorial which looked empty on TV.

Every year old alums complain about student sections without looking around at other sections of Memorial and seeing how empty and dead everywhere else is. Is the student section perfect? No. But that's on the new generation of students to figure out on their own and not some old guy who had his glory days long before the new students were even born. If Ken wants to relive his glory days as a Mic Man, maybe he can convince the AD and alums to allow him to lead chants for non-student section fans. However i guarantee you it won't be as "lit" as during his glory days.

Want the student section to be louder? Maybe dont give an extension to an average at best coach with a boring style of play. Let's fix that first.

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I don't want this to turn into an alum v student thing, but cmon. Congrats, the students were the loudest section at the UW game. Do you want a cookie?

The student section has always been the loudest section in the stadium for the last 100 or so years. That's your job! That was my job when I was a student. You act like we weren't all students at one time. It's the students job to be loud and it's our (the alums) job to pay the godamn bills. Do you know how lucky you are to be sitting on the 50 yard line paying student prices?

As far as Ken goes, i know it's hard for you students to understand this because you've only seen crappy mic men, but good mic men were almost as valuable to winning games as players

And of all the mic men I've seen in my 40 years of going to games, Ken has the highest WAR of all of them. I can think of at least two games in which he was a gigantic factor in us winning. I know this is hard to believe, but when Ken was micman, we had the best student section in the country. Period. It's not even up for debate. But because you didn't see it, it's hard for you to understand how much an influence good mic men had on the game.

So you have to understand the alums point of view on all of this. We are seeing our traditions crumbling before our eyes. Our traditions, our cheers, our band, used to be a huge sense of pride for all of us. Even during our darkest seasons, we had these things to look forward to and take pride in. But now we're afraid that our traditions which have lasted for decades are going to disappear.

If standards were being met, if our traditions were being continued or even if new traditions were being made, I wouldn't care as much if the younger generation of mic men said "thanks but no thanks" to Ken.

But, I'm sorry to be so harsh, but the mic men from the last 5-10 years or so have been failing. There is no justifiable reason to shut Ken out. I promise you, if Ken had been allowed to mentor the younger kids, the mic men would be better than they are today. There is zero doubt in my mind. So from my perspective, the younger mic men are being plain selfish. They could improve. They could have a greater impact on games and help us win more. But because of, I don't know, stubbornness, all of that institutional knowledge that Ken has is going to be lost forever. So Congrats!! You guys will be known as the generation that lost our traditions forever. Thanks

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A) Im not a student, I graduated a long time ago but attended during the Tedford days when arguably the student section was always loud and packed. Im just pointing that alums like you EVERY year complain about student sections. I personally think yall need to stop complaining about "losing traditions." Times have changed and the student body has also changed.

B) Alums keep harping on students for not being loud yet alums are the ones not going to games. IMO you are focusing on the wrong problem -- rather than harping on student sections, why not look around and see why there are empty areas of non-student sections in the crowd? It's hard to get the stadium rocking if it's half empty.

C) Can you blame the mic men from the last 5-10 years for "failing"? The students havent seen a winning football team in a very long time. And now we are stuck with a boring style of play that doesnt generate excitement. That's the problem.

D) It's great that Ken "had the highest WAR of all of them" but who tf cares? Again, I respect his passion for Cal and his devotion to the program. But does that mean he gets to have his way whenever he wants? If the current mic men dont want him to lead chants, then who is he to complain? HE IS NOT A MIC MAN ANYMORE. Let the students figure it out on their own. BTW have you ever considered maybe they dont allow him around because he's been rude to them? We dont have the full story but to say "the Mic Men are selfish" seems unfair? Ken hasn't shown he's the "nicest" guy out there.

E) I bet if alums had online message boards when you were a student or during Ken's time, you would've heard the same complaints -- how the students are ruining traditions, how they are not loud enough, etc etc. It's a tale of time. Traditions are made to evolve over time. You want to bring back traditions? Start winning again.

Blaming the current students for "killing traditions" is backwards thinking IMO. Wilcox is killing them by putting a product on the field that is not attracting alums to games. Cal marketing is killing them by not marketing the program effectively (What do you see? U C a sh*t effort at marketing).

panda said:

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ducky23 said:

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panda said:

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JSC 76 said:

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panda said:

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Respect the guy for his spirit and his donation to the school. But he's def a weird fella of an older generation. Let the students do their thing instead of trying to be in the spotlight.

---

Been waiting for a long time for the students to decide what their thing actually is. Apparently it doesn't involve organized cheers, showing up on time, staying to the end, or card stunts.

---

That's funny. I heard the student section was the only loud section at the UW game in comparison to the rest of memorial which looked empty on TV.

Every year old alums complain about student sections without looking around at other sections of Memorial and seeing how empty and dead everywhere else is. Is the student section perfect? No. But that's on the new generation of students to figure out on their own and not some old guy who had his glory days long before the new students were even born. If Ken wants to relive his glory days as a Mic Man, maybe he can convince the AD and alums to allow him to lead chants for non-student section fans. However i guarantee you it won't be as "lit" as during his glory days.

Want the student section to be louder? Maybe dont give an extension to an average at best coach with a boring style of play. Let's fix that first.

---

I don't want this to turn into an alum v student thing, but cmon. Congrats, the students were the loudest section at the UW game. Do you want a cookie?

The student section has always been the loudest section in the stadium for the last 100 or so years. That's your job! That was my job when I was a student. You act like we weren't all students at one time. It's the students job to be loud and it's our (the alums) job to pay the godamn bills. Do you know how lucky you are to be sitting on the 50 yard line paying student prices?

As far as Ken goes, i know it's hard for you students to understand this because you've only seen crappy mic men, but good mic men were almost as valuable to winning games as players

And of all the mic men I've seen in my 40 years of going to games, Ken has the highest WAR of all of them. I can think of at least two games in which he was a gigantic factor in us winning. I know this is hard to believe, but when Ken was micman, we had the best student section in the country. Period. It's not even up for debate. But because you didn't see it, it's hard for you to understand how much an influence good mic men had on the game.

So you have to understand the alums point of view on all of this. We are seeing our traditions crumbling before our eyes. Our traditions, our cheers, our band, used to be a huge sense of pride for all of us. Even during our darkest seasons, we had these things to look forward to and take pride in. But now we're afraid that our traditions which have lasted for decades are going to disappear.

If standards were being met, if our traditions were being continued or even if new traditions were being made, I wouldn't care as much if the younger generation of mic men said "thanks but no thanks" to Ken.

But, I'm sorry to be so harsh, but the mic men from the last 5-10 years or so have been failing. There is no justifiable reason to shut Ken out. I promise you, if Ken had been allowed to mentor the younger kids, the mic men would be better than they are today. There is zero doubt in my mind. So from my perspective, the younger mic men are being plain selfish. They could improve. They could have a greater impact on games and help us win more. But because of, I don't know, stubbornness, all of that institutional knowledge that Ken has is going to be lost forever. So Congrats!! You guys will be known as the generation that lost our traditions forever. Thanks

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A) Im not a student, I graduated a long time ago but attended during the Tedford days when arguably the student section was always loud and packed. Im just pointing that alums like you EVERY year complain about student sections. I personally think yall need to stop complaining about "losing traditions." Times have changed and the student body has also changed.

B) Alums keep harping on students for not being loud yet alums are the ones not going to games. IMO you are focusing on the wrong problem -- rather than harping on student sections, why not look around and see why there are empty areas of non-student sections in the crowd? It's hard to get the stadium rocking if it's half empty.

C) Can you blame the mic men from the last 5-10 years for "failing"? The students havent seen a winning football team in a very long time. And now we are stuck with a boring style of play that doesnt generate excitement. That's the problem.

D) It's great that Ken "had the highest WAR of all of them" but who tf cares? Again, I respect his passion for Cal and his devotion to the program. But does that mean he gets to have his way whenever he wants? If the current mic men dont want him to lead chants, then who is he to complain? HE IS NOT A MIC MAN ANYMORE. Let the students figure it out on their own. BTW have you ever considered maybe they dont allow him around because he's been rude to them? We dont have the full story but to say "the Mic Men are selfish" seems unfair? Ken hasn't shown he's the "nicest" guy out there.

E) I bet if alums had online message boards when you were a student or during Ken's time, you would've heard the same complaints -- how the students are ruining traditions, how they are not loud enough, etc etc. It's a tale of time. Traditions are made to evolve over time. You want to bring back traditions? Start winning again.

Blaming the current students for "killing traditions" is backwards thinking IMO. Wilcox is killing them by putting a product on the field that is not attracting alums to games. Cal marketing is killing them by not marketing the program effectively (What do you see? U C a sh*t effort at marketing).

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A) I was a student during the holmoe days. Holmoe made Wilcox seem like pappy Waldorf. And yet the student section was always engaged. It helped that we had Kate. And I was on these boards when I was a student and no one really complained about the student section.

B) you're arguing against a straw man. Maybe others have, but I don't have an issue with the crowd noise. I understand that's somewhat dependent on the quality of play. My one and only concern with the current student section and mic men is the loss of our traditions. Which isn't something that's complained about every year. Again, the cal student section has been one of the most organized student sections for years. Definitely since the 50's but possibly longer (I can't attest for what happened before then). We've always had unique cheers and traditions. This is the only time I can remember in my 40 years of going to games that this has been lost. Maybe you're not a tradionalist. That's fine. But why follow college sports then. It'd be much easier on your health to adopt the local nfl team. College sports, to me, is about the pageantry, the bands, the student section, the tradition. That's what separates it from professional sports. Why are we so anxious to lose that?

C) again I was a student during the holmoe years. Blaming the loss of traditions because of the quality of play doesn't resonate with me at all.

D) Ken WAS A STUDENT. He had just as much right to be a mic man as every other student. Are you going to argue he wasn't qualified? the story that was conveyed to us from probably the most respected poster on this board is that Ken was told "no" because he was too old and he should give other students a chance (even though he was himself a student). That's bordering on discrimination. So Ken had every right to be upset

Sure it would have been cool to see Ken do his thing again, but the real tragedy was that Ken could have mentored these kids at the same time. He could have taught them how to correctly be a mic man. He could have taught them our traditions and the right way to lead cheers. And then those mic men could've passed those traditions and skills to the next crop of mic men. How could anyone be against this?

You talk about the younger kids beginning their own traditions. But where???? Where is it? You can't just think once we start winning, all these new traditions are going to just pop up. Yeah maybe the student section will be loud again, but the things that made cal special and unique will be lost.

I wish we had a tradition of winning like other schools. But we don't. What we have is our traditions. Our band. Our pride in the best university in the world. It's why so many of us keep going to games despite years and years and years of losing. But if you take that away from us, what do you have left? Who is going to continue to support this program so we can get back to a place of winning again? In my opinion, it's not a good idea to alienate the donors with a poor gameday experience.

panda said:

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ducky23 said:

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panda said:

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JSC 76 said:

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panda said:

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Respect the guy for his spirit and his donation to the school. But he's def a weird fella of an older generation. Let the students do their thing instead of trying to be in the spotlight.

---

Been waiting for a long time for the students to decide what their thing actually is. Apparently it doesn't involve organized cheers, showing up on time, staying to the end, or card stunts.

---

That's funny. I heard the student section was the only loud section at the UW game in comparison to the rest of memorial which looked empty on TV.

Every year old alums complain about student sections without looking around at other sections of Memorial and seeing how empty and dead everywhere else is. Is the student section perfect? No. But that's on the new generation of students to figure out on their own and not some old guy who had his glory days long before the new students were even born. If Ken wants to relive his glory days as a Mic Man, maybe he can convince the AD and alums to allow him to lead chants for non-student section fans. However i guarantee you it won't be as "lit" as during his glory days.

Want the student section to be louder? Maybe dont give an extension to an average at best coach with a boring style of play. Let's fix that first.

---

I don't want this to turn into an alum v student thing, but cmon. Congrats, the students were the loudest section at the UW game. Do you want a cookie?

The student section has always been the loudest section in the stadium for the last 100 or so years. That's your job! That was my job when I was a student. You act like we weren't all students at one time. It's the students job to be loud and it's our (the alums) job to pay the godamn bills. Do you know how lucky you are to be sitting on the 50 yard line paying student prices?

As far as Ken goes, i know it's hard for you students to understand this because you've only seen crappy mic men, but good mic men were almost as valuable to winning games as players

And of all the mic men I've seen in my 40 years of going to games, Ken has the highest WAR of all of them. I can think of at least two games in which he was a gigantic factor in us winning. I know this is hard to believe, but when Ken was micman, we had the best student section in the country. Period. It's not even up for debate. But because you didn't see it, it's hard for you to understand how much an influence good mic men had on the game.

So you have to understand the alums point of view on all of this. We are seeing our traditions crumbling before our eyes. Our traditions, our cheers, our band, used to be a huge sense of pride for all of us. Even during our darkest seasons, we had these things to look forward to and take pride in. But now we're afraid that our traditions which have lasted for decades are going to disappear.

If standards were being met, if our traditions were being continued or even if new traditions were being made, I wouldn't care as much if the younger generation of mic men said "thanks but no thanks" to Ken.

But, I'm sorry to be so harsh, but the mic men from the last 5-10 years or so have been failing. There is no justifiable reason to shut Ken out. I promise you, if Ken had been allowed to mentor the younger kids, the mic men would be better than they are today. There is zero doubt in my mind. So from my perspective, the younger mic men are being plain selfish. They could improve. They could have a greater impact on games and help us win more. But because of, I don't know, stubbornness, all of that institutional knowledge that Ken has is going to be lost forever. So Congrats!! You guys will be known as the generation that lost our traditions forever. Thanks

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A) Im not a student, I graduated a long time ago but attended during the Tedford days when arguably the student section was always loud and packed. Im just pointing that alums like you EVERY year complain about student sections. I personally think yall need to stop complaining about "losing traditions." Times have changed and the student body has also changed.

B) Alums keep harping on students for not being loud yet alums are the ones not going to games. IMO you are focusing on the wrong problem -- rather than harping on student sections, why not look around and see why there are empty areas of non-student sections in the crowd? It's hard to get the stadium rocking if it's half empty.

C) Can you blame the mic men from the last 5-10 years for "failing"? The students havent seen a winning football team in a very long time. And now we are stuck with a boring style of play that doesnt generate excitement. That's the problem.

D) It's great that Ken "had the highest WAR of all of them" but who tf cares? Again, I respect his passion for Cal and his devotion to the program. But does that mean he gets to have his way whenever he wants? If the current mic men dont want him to lead chants, then who is he to complain? HE IS NOT A MIC MAN ANYMORE. Let the students figure it out on their own. BTW have you ever considered maybe they dont allow him around because he's been rude to them? We dont have the full story but to say "the Mic Men are selfish" seems unfair? Ken hasn't shown he's the "nicest" guy out there.

E) I bet if alums had online message boards when you were a student or during Ken's time, you would've heard the same complaints -- how the students are ruining traditions, how they are not loud enough, etc etc. It's a tale of time. Traditions are made to evolve over time. You want to bring back traditions? Start winning again.

Blaming the current students for "killing traditions" is backwards thinking IMO. Wilcox is killing them by putting a product on the field that is not attracting alums to games. Cal marketing is killing them by not marketing the program effectively (What do you see? U C a sh*t effort at marketing).

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Ken's claim to fame is that he's "THE" First Mic Man. Just ask him, he'll tell you all about it! People on here are either defending him or tearing him apart. The question we should be asking is, Did he do it? If he didn't, why would someone make it up? If he did, Is he that full of himself to think he has that kind of clout? I don't know which side to believe. I could see him doing it, but I could also see him being humble enough to never do something like that.
In the scheme of things, a male cheerleader isn't that important! It may make the game more enjoyable for the crowd, but does very little for the outcome of the game. Having a competitive football team is what matters!

I'm not convinced that yell leaders/micpeople are capable of contributing to wins as much as you suggest. I think that disrespects the players more than they deserve. I'm not sure which two games you think the Bears may have lost but for Ken.

I respect that some of the greats like Bob Tuck, Ben Dixon, Damon Moore, Ken Montgomery, and Kate Scott, got the crowd fired up. I think most importantly, they made the game more fun for the students and fans within earshot.

But outside of the WSU-Cal basketball game on January 13, 1979, when the late Tom Caselli, mostly from his seat behind the south basket, fired up the crowd, I don't think I've seen a game where I thought the crowd clearly got the team to win.

But even if you think that yell leaders have spurred the crowd to spur the team to victory, I'd put Ben Dixon's WAR up against Ken Montgomery's any day. And while Bob Tuck was before my time as a yell leader, I'd put his WAR in leading cheers from the stands against Ken Montgomery's as micman any day, in part because he could get both alums and students fired up. Not that Ken didn't go a great job, he is among the greats.

And while we had a very good student section at various times in the past, I don't see how anyone could call it the best in the country. I'd go for best in the Pac at times, I am biased, but even my bias won't delude me into calling it the best in the country.

In the end, I don't think it is about making the team win, but about making the game experience more fun and entertaining (although yes, winning is part of that). And the yellleades/micpeople have always been up and down. In 1978, they didn't know what they were doing. They were awful, especially coming on the heels of Ben Dixon. When Damon Moore showed up, things were much better. They've been awful a lot since, and great at times since.

It is kind of disgusting to see a current micperson who can't do Roll On You Bears in anything approximating the right tones and who is still trying to lead cheers while the Cal QB is barking signals. I'm not sure yell leaders/micpeople win games, but maybe they can contribute to losing them if they're going to have the crowd make noise at the wrong times.

In the end, however, the biggest problem right now is the product on the field. I sure wish that could change.

ducky23 said:

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I'll name three games off the top of my head but I'm sure there's more

Cal v Oregon 1993 (greatest cal comeback) I know for sure they don't win that game without the micman

Cal v usc 1991. We probably win this anyways, but don't tell me that the mic man didn't have a significant impact on the game. Mike pawlaski has stated publicly multiple times how integral the mic man was during the game

Cal v Arizona 1996 (4 OT game): again maybe we win anyways, but mic man has significant impact on game

These are some of the most famous cal football games in the modern era. All wouldn't have had the same outcome if not for the mic men

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Funny how you pick two nail biter games and one blow out. That 91 game would've been the same in front of zero fans! Cal was up 35-7 at half time! I'm sure the Mic Man intimidated $C!

Cal8285 said:

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It is kind of disgusting to see a current micperson who can't do Roll On You Bears in anything approximating the right tones and who is still trying to lead cheers while the Cal QB is barking signals. I'm not sure yell leaders/micpeople win games, but maybe they can contribute to losing them if they're going to have the crowd make noise at the wrong times.

In the end, however, the biggest problem right now is the product on the field. I sure wish that could change.

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I've been on the alumni side since 1976. I've seen good teams (mid 70s, early 90s, early 00s) and bad teams (everything else). The crowd size rises and falls with the quality of the team, but the traditions remained constant through all that.

Until recently.

I think it began with the remodel, and got worse with Covid ... but there was a discontinuity in our spirit traditions (both Band and student section/mic men) that we haven't gotten back. Learfield's game management has contributed to it but they're not the only culprit.

It feels like the recent mic men have never seen a football game before, if they don't know the value of noise on defense vs offense.

This has nothing to do with Ken Montgomery. But we needed some way of maintaining continuity in tradition and we didn't get it.

StillNoStanfurdium said:

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BearGoggles said:

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SpecSlayer said:

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Ken posts things like this on Twitter:

"Almost in tears seeing my timeline filled with people -posting photos in the airport or on the plane without their masks"

Avi is not the goon here.

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What does Ken's twitter have anything to do with this? Beyond that, being anti-mask in April 2022 makes you a "goon"?

Both these guys post political stuff on twitter. Unless your opinion is based solely on defending the politics you like, its hard to understand why you think only one is a "goon."

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He's been posting anti-mask stuff and downplaying COVID since at least summer 2020 and I also see some tweets questioning media coverage of the last election and overall support of people in the DeSantis/Trump realm.

I don't doubt his passion for Cal and I'm happy that Cal athletes will benefit from his donation. But I don't find it surprising that his politics and opinions outside of Cal athletics will cause people to not want to celebrate him overall as a person or give him additional visibility and adulation.

And regarding the Mic Men, I'm the first to say that the new class of Mic Men needs some guidance for sure. 2 out of 3 of them need serious work and the students at large seem to have suffered from a huge spirit/tradition disconnect after the pandemic. But nothing says it's gotta be this one alumni to be the one to help re-build some of that tradition.

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The fact that you don't find it surprising doesn't make it right or mean that it should be perpetuated/endorsed. I wasn't aware there was a political litmus test for being a mic man or Cal sports fan.

And beyond that, Avi's twitter feed makes it pretty clear that his personal vendetta against Ken is driven by personal animus, likely driven by politics. That's BS in my book.

And FWIW, I have done internet battle with Ken at times on this board when we've disagreed about Cal sports related things (never met in person). Disagreement about sports is fair, but that's not what Avi is doing.

No one says Ken is the only guy to rebuild the mic man traditions. Who else has stepped forward?

BearGoggles said:

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StillNoStanfurdium said:

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BearGoggles said:

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SpecSlayer said:

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Ken posts things like this on Twitter:

"Almost in tears seeing my timeline filled with people -posting photos in the airport or on the plane without their masks"

Avi is not the goon here.

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What does Ken's twitter have anything to do with this? Beyond that, being anti-mask in April 2022 makes you a "goon"?

Both these guys post political stuff on twitter. Unless your opinion is based solely on defending the politics you like, its hard to understand why you think only one is a "goon."

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He's been posting anti-mask stuff and downplaying COVID since at least summer 2020 and I also see some tweets questioning media coverage of the last election and overall support of people in the DeSantis/Trump realm.

I don't doubt his passion for Cal and I'm happy that Cal athletes will benefit from his donation. But I don't find it surprising that his politics and opinions outside of Cal athletics will cause people to not want to celebrate him overall as a person or give him additional visibility and adulation.

And regarding the Mic Men, I'm the first to say that the new class of Mic Men needs some guidance for sure. 2 out of 3 of them need serious work and the students at large seem to have suffered from a huge spirit/tradition disconnect after the pandemic. But nothing says it's gotta be this one alumni to be the one to help re-build some of that tradition.

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No one says Ken is the only guy to rebuild the mic man traditions. Who else has stepped forward?

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Exactly. It doesn't have to be Ken. If Kate wanted to do it, that'd be awesome. But I feel like she might be a bit busy at the moment.

But Ken offered to do it. He was a student at the time. It was during a time where our traditions were beginning to wane. It was a perfect confluence of events.

Sure if he was a jerk, fine. I can see a rationale for saying no. But what evidence do we have that he was a jerk to the mic men? Avi? Is that our source here?

Sebastabear, who I think may have more insight and credibility on the matter, was flabbergasted by the decision not to let Ken be a mic man while he was a student. And he specifically said that the reason given was that he was too old and should give other students a chance. Maybe sebastabear is wrong and isn't aware that the true reason is that Ken was a jerk.

But at the end of the day, who are you gojng to believe? Avi or sebastabear?

ducky23 said:

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If you believe Mike pawlawski, that's exactly what happened

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I'm pretty sure Mike and Ken were apartment-mates at the time.

I do know that ABC wanted some shots of the student section while Ken was leading the cheers. Ken was fortunate to have some good support within the Dept in the early 90's and he also had Coach Snyder's ear on ideas to fire up the crowd. Remember the entrance to the UCLA when the team came down through the student section?

Students were more engaged and the product was certainly better.

100% AGREE, ducky23. I'm just now catching up on this thread, and I was just about to post something similar when I saw your post. Ken was an extraordinary micman. He paid close attention to the game, so the cheers he led were always in line with what was happening in the game. (I know that sounds obvious, but the micmen since then haven't gotten the memo on this. Kate has been the only one anywhere close to Ken on this.) Ken had the entire student section paying attention to him, and involved with the cheers. He let the students know what the plan was before each cheer, so everyone was on the same page, cheered in unison - and were incredibly loud. He was friends with several of the football players, so he would incorporate their input into how he led the cheers. (i.e. "This is the only song you know. It's boring and it's slow..." This is cheer continues today!) Ken always had witty, hilarious responses/cheers to the opposing teams' cheers. And, he most definitely turned the student section (and, frankly, the entire east side of the stadium) into a hostile environment/12th man. No question about that. There were multiple times when my friends and I met students from the opposing school that had "snuck" into our student section - with jackets on, so nobody would know they were opposing fans - because they had 'heard' about our student section and wanted to 'experience' it/see what all the hype was about. Ken's micman leadership also made the games tons of fun, and even my friends that had no idea about the game of football (and went to games solely for the social aspect) would actually pay attention to the game. I don't think people can fully appreciate the impact Ken had, unless they were in the student section at that time.

Also, who the #$@k cares how old Ken was? He was a Cal STUDENT at that time. Period.

And, I specifically recall that people on this board came up with the suggestion - and several people encouraged Ken at that time - to try to go lead cheers (for at least a quarter) to show the micmen/students 'how it was done.' Sadly, the students and micmen (and Cal fans that weren't lucky enough to have been in the student section with Ken at the helm) have no idea what they missed out on.

Just want to say that Ken is the best. If half our fans had 1/10th of his passion we'd rule the world (please don't check my math on that one - you get my drift).

And if it's really true that Ken stormed into the AD suite and threw down . . . well then I really am pissed that our video screens are so small. Because THAT would have been an outstanding thing to see on replay. Sorry I missed it.

Big C said:

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calumnus said:

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ducky23 said:

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I'm fairly sure im the president of the fire knowlton club here on BI. So you don't need to tell me who the root of the problem is.

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I started campaigning years before you, but you are more popular so I was happy to join the ticket as VP.

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A number of people jumped on the anti-Knowlton bandwagon when he a) hired Fox and then b) fessed up to his process for the hire ("The search firm saved me so much time; all I had to do was interview the short list they gave me!").

That said, if Wilcox had scored big with his latest OC and OL coach hirings, I wouldn't be posting this now.

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I seriously questioned his hiring. Seemed like a horrible fit a Republican career Army officer whose focus is hockey, never lived on the West Coast, only worked at military academies, never hired or fired, and he had none of the business and negotiation skills or vision we needed at this time in history.

Hi Everyone. Avi's tweet (and the other stuff in the thread) got brought to my attention last night. Let me say this unequivocally, so there is no misunderstanding. What he states (repeats) is 100% false. It never happened. Period.

After being introduced on the field during the first time-out of the 1st quarter, Kirk, Jeff and I were taken up to the AD's box. At some point in the 2nd quarter, I was INVITED to the Chancellor's box where Carol and I had a lovely, private conversation about many things - NONE OF WHICH WERE SPIRIT RELATED. NONE. We talked about Wyoming (she was amazed by the change). We talked about things she has going on. She asked for my input on a few things. We talked about some past experiences she and I shared while I was back at Cal (including how at the Red Box Bowl she came and joined us in our box because as she said "It was more fun than her box.") About midway through the second quarter Carol's assistant let her know it was time to go over to the student section. It would also be the ASUC president, his chief of staff and someone else. Carol asked if I wanted to go over with her. Of course I did.

The student section was awesome and there was amazing energy. I had a wonderful conversation with one of the mic-men who wanted my number and we on the spot exchanged texts. I then joked around with a lot of the students. They were great. At one point I asked "Do you think I could lead a cheer" and the gal leading cheers, who I thought had tremendous ooomph, said they just couldn't because of the timing of everything and they're on the same band as the events going on. I said of course no problem. That was the extent of that. I think the group of us was there for another 5 minutes or so, Carol led her cheer and beamed and said "Ken, isn't the energy great over here." I don't care what people think of her (I have great fondness and respect for her) it was incredibly sweet.

Carol and company then proceeded to go back to the box via the field north, I hugged Carol good-bye, that was the last I saw of her that night. I proceed to make my way around the stands to the south, saying hi to and talking with many friends - including Sebastabear. For the remainder of the game I was in the AD's box and general University Club (especially by the prawns!).

There was no booing. There was no storming or ranting. There was nothing other than a lot of Cal love, as you would expect for this sort of event. I was touched by strangers who wanted to say hi after seeing the onfield recognition.

Avi is a terrible person. He actually stalks me, including during my time running for office in Wyoming. It's, honestly, unhinged. He is an absolute ingrate (for instance he had no problem asking me for /and accepting money in the past and of course never paying, offering to pay, for meals). For the most part, the group with whom he associates are also terrible (there are a few exceptions). Seriously not all people are nice, not all Cal fans are quality people (as some of the comments in this thread will attest), with whom you'd want to share time. Avi is basically a cypher, desperately trying to be relevant.

So there you go.

Not that it matters but I briefly got to speak to Mr. Montgomory before the game and he was very nice & generous with his time, as he was with his friends and had no obligation to give me the time of day. Was very appreciative of that and was delighted to meet him.