Mic Man

15,238 Views | 112 Replies | Last: 3 mo ago by TilWeWobble
LunchTime
How long do you want to ignore this user?
panda said:

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.


What the hell is their thing? Ignoring traditional chants and replacing them with off the shelf "cal-eh-four-nuh" clap clap clapclapclap?

There have been some new awesome chants, like the stadium wide c-a-l that speeds up with the cadence of the bands percussion. That one was ****ing amazing, and just gone.

Tradition needs to be nurtured, passed on, added to. Ken has been trying to connect these new group to that tradition, and NOW is absolutely the most critical time to do it: after two years of lost tradition it's absolutely imperative to connect the new school back to the old school.

Instead I take my 3 year old kid to games absolutely hyped to do cross stadium go-bears and roll on you bears, and he leaves deflated. Today he refused to go. There is nothing there for a kid but a low quality pro-game. That is the next generation lost. Students don't go to games. QQ might have 5% capacity. There is no Cal football in 20 years at this rate.

TBH, it's time to take spirit out of the hands of students. Not "let them do their thing" because their thing is lazy and lacks any connection to why I go to games.
Big Dog
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Thanks for checking in, Ken. Wish you the best in WY.

I have no doubt that Carol is a wonderful person adn terrific Chancellor. My only beef is her hiring of Knowlton, who, IMO, did not have the resume for a P5 AD. And his hiring of Mark Fox and guaranteed extension of JW just reinforce my point.

But she extended Knowlton, so he must be doing what she expects, even if that means bottom-dwelling revenue teams.
LunchTime
How long do you want to ignore this user?
panda said:

ducky23 said:

panda said:

JSC 76 said:

panda said:

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

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).








Honestly, I think your post might hit all the right notes.

It's time to let go of Cal football. The traditions are dead and as you point out, they are never coming back and new traditions are not going to be created to replace them "until we win."

Cal has only been good in spurts over the last 80 years. Being **** is nothing new, but again, like you point out: the traditions that kept students going during those long **** periods before are dead and gone and won't be replaced by anything.

I think it's clear that what I loved about Cal football won't exist again. I'm like a decade late, but it's time to call it.

Oh well.
pingpong2
How long do you want to ignore this user?
TheFiatLux said:

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.




Based on Avi's clownish (that's being generous) behavior here on BI many moons ago, I do not doubt for a second your side of the story. I don't question his fandom, but as a person he's a bigger POS than I am, and that's saying something.
Handsupon3rd
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Ducky, this correction may be buried in this crazy long thread, but bear in mind that Kate was not Mic Man during the Holmoe years. She started, I believe, in Tedford's first year. She was fantastic, no doubt, but also had the benefit of a crazy good team to cheer for. I give a lot of credit to the late 90s Mic Men for keeping things strong despite a turd of a program.
ducky23
How long do you want to ignore this user?
I dunno. I remember seeing her while I was in the student section (my last year was holmoe's last year). But it's very possible I was sneaking into the student section after I graduated (:
fairweatherfan
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Yes.
GMP
How long do you want to ignore this user?
ducky23 said:

I dunno. I remember seeing her while I was in the student section (my last year was holmoe's last year). But it's very possible I was sneaking into the student section after I graduated (:

I believe she and I graduated the same year (2004), which would mean she was in school during Holmoe's last two seasons but I don't remember when she began as a mic woman.

Edit: Wikipedia says she graduated 2005, which puts her freshman year as 2001. It also says she began as a mic woman as a sophomore, so 2002.
Sebastabear
How long do you want to ignore this user?
TheFiatLux said:

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.


Thanks for setting the record straight Ken. It's sad that someone who was beIng honored at a game for making a multi-million dollar pledge to the University is being trolled based on an apparent fabrication of events from that very game. I'm sorry you have to deal with that. Though just to say it, given how the season is going a part of me would have been tickled to hear you had a fit in the AD's suite - after all, I shouldn't be the only one having daily fits
cbbass1
How long do you want to ignore this user?
eastcoastcal said:

Can I ask a serious question to all you alums? Is society now more strict/harsh wish punishments for fooling around? I hear all these stories, even hear stories from my dad, his friends, etc. about things they used to do when they were younger-- all harmless fun of course but I can't help but feeling like if I were to do those things there'd be serious consequences; suspension/expulsion, arrest, etc

Could you get away with more years ago?
Absolutely. If you were white.

Watch "Animal House."
Gobears49
How long do you want to ignore this user?
LessMilesMoreTedford said:

ducky23 said:

panda said:

JSC 76 said:

panda said:

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
Yell leaders are a thing of the past.

Fans will make noise if the team is good and exciting. They will be on their phones if the team is not those things.
In relation to all of the comments above in the aggregate, most of you do not realize how difficult it is to get the student section to make some real noise, especially leading a new yell. IT'S HARD. Most important is to convey your complete confidence, with a swagger, that you can do the job and, second, you have to HAVE A PRODUCT THAT THE STUDENT SECTION WILL LIKE. THE CONFIDENCE ASPECT IS MOST IMPORTANT. ONCE YOU HAVE SUCCEEDED WITH A YELL, THERE WILL LIKELY BE FOLLOW-UP SUCCESS WITH YOUR NEXT YELL. SUCCESS BREEDS MORE SUCCESS.

I was not someone with great confidence, but I had devised an over a minute long "call and response" yell that a was totally different and was easy for the Cal students to follow (a yell with rhythmic clapping by the students, where all they had to do was yell "CAL BEARS" to the beat between my lines that were really good and all about how great Cal was.

Bob Tuck was all balls because he had done the same thing as assistant director at Cal Camp (Camp Blue) and had done the same sort of thing over and over many times as The Rooster at campfires. Still don't see how his jumping over everything at campfire didn't kill him.

HIs leading the California spellout at the top of the flagpole after he graduated was something nobody else could do (see reference to it above in his video). He was the perfect yell leader for Cal -- creative (and like a maniac), supremely confident. and didn't let anything bother him. He was clearly Cal's best yell leader of all time. Too bad nobody will get to see him do his thing. I am shocked that nobody has ever a tape of Bob doing his California spellout (with the crowd following along with him) from the top of the flagpole. If some has a tape of that, the should show us a link of it. If that happens maybe someone will let Bob do his thing once again to show how a Cal yell leader with true guts and creativity gets the job done.
bearister
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Who was the "It's on the table, the Black label….it's in the locka, a 5th of vodka…"

Cheer dude?
Cancel my subscription to the Resurrection
Send my credentials to the House of Detention
I got some friends inside
Big C
How long do you want to ignore this user?
bearister said:

Who was the "It's on the table, the Black label….it's in the locka, a 5th of vodka…"

Cheer dude?

Ben Dixon. He was pretty good. "Oh yeah!"
Dgoldnbaer
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Hell, I would LOVE to see a video of his gorilla suit moment! I was there & seeing it again would greatly enhance my my memory of it! (Even though it's one of those "happened like yesterday" memories)
bearister
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Cancel my subscription to the Resurrection
Send my credentials to the House of Detention
I got some friends inside
HoopDreams
How long do you want to ignore this user?
a fun cal tradition was roll em up after touchdowns, AND if someone did not take off that red shirt

I think the roll em was stopped due to safety, but I haven't heard any take off that red shirt chants this year (and I even thought I saw someone with a red shirt)
bearister
How long do you want to ignore this user?
HoopDreams said:

a fun cal tradition was roll em up after touchdowns, AND if someone did not take off that red shirt

I think the roll em was stopped due to safety, but I haven't heard any take off that red shirt chants this year (and I even thought I saw someone with a red shirt)


There a few cold cases involving students that disappeared under the old wood benches while being rolled up. Similar to students that disappeared in the Dwinelle Hall Annex.
Cancel my subscription to the Resurrection
Send my credentials to the House of Detention
I got some friends inside
kirklandblue
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Big C said:

bearister said:

Who was the "It's on the table, the Black label….it's in the locka, a 5th of vodka…"

Cheer dude?

Ben Dixon. He was pretty good. "Oh yeah!"

"…We get to smokin',
and there's no chokin',
Oh yeah!"
Gobears49
How long do you want to ignore this user?
HoopDreams said:

a fun cal tradition was roll em up after touchdowns, AND if someone did not take off that red shirt

I think the roll em was stopped due to safety, but I haven't heard any take off that red shirt chants this year (and I even thought I saw someone with a red shirt)
Forgot all about rolling spectators us in the student section and "take off that red shirt."

Not a yell, but I thought a sign I saw a prior Cal yell leading holding up, during the totally lousy Mark Levy years (early 1960's) that said "When is Mark Levying." That type of creativity is now missing at Cal.

BTW, I think Bob Tuck thought up the cross stadium yell between the students and the alumni, maybe the first yell like it in the country -- "Cal" (student side) Bears (alumni side) but didn't prompt the alumni so they didn't know what to yell and when. A few years later some Cal yell leader improved the yell by holding up a big sign on the alumni side with the word "Bears" when it came time for the alumni to yell, and instantly the alumni knew what to yell and when.

I'm going to try to find a video of the Bob Tuck gorilla outfit event at USC, but it seems to me it would have been released by someone if anyone had video taped it. If I can' t find it, I might contact Bob Tuck to see if he knows if there is a video of it. But if there was, he probably would ever included it in his video announcement for the Cal alumni.
cbbass1
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Big C said:

bearister said:

Who was the "It's on the table, the Black label….it's in the locka, a 5th of vodka…"

Cheer dude?

Ben Dixon. He was pretty good. "Oh yeah!"
OH YEAH!!
Big Dog
How long do you want to ignore this user?
HoopDreams said:

a fun cal tradition was roll em up after touchdowns, AND if someone did not take off that red shirt

I think the roll em was stopped due to safety, but I haven't heard any take off that red shirt chants this year (and I even thought I saw someone with a red shirt)
if the MicMan was having a bad day, or ws just bad, we'd roll him up if the game was boring. Would be pantsed half way up, with pants going up, up, up, adn over the CMS wall.

Civil Bear
How long do you want to ignore this user?
HoopDreams said:

a fun cal tradition was roll em up after touchdowns, AND if someone did not take off that red shirt

I think the roll em was stopped due to safety, but I haven't heard any take off that red shirt chants this year (and I even thought I saw someone with a red shirt)
More likely stopped due to not enough students (i.e too many gaps).
DiabloWags
How long do you want to ignore this user?
2010 Big Game Card Stunts.

Stuntmaster, Kendall Plant

Thank You Kendall!


"Cults don't end well. They really don't."
75bear
How long do you want to ignore this user?
I got rolled up in the 90s - it was quite fun! The expert move was to give your keys and wallet to a friend just beforehand, because any items in a pocket often flew out and sometimes were never seen again.
SBGold
How long do you want to ignore this user?
DiabloWags said:

2010 Big Game Card Stunts.

Stuntmaster, Kendall Plant

Thank You Kendall!



Fantastic and entertaining. We probably won't see these again
Gobears49
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Gobears49 said:

HoopDreams said:

a fun cal tradition was roll em up after touchdowns, AND if someone did not take off that red shirt

I think the roll em was stopped due to safety, but I haven't heard any take off that red shirt chants this year (and I even thought I saw someone with a red shirt)
Forgot all about rolling spectators us in the student section and "take off that red shirt."

Not a yell, but I thought a sign I saw a prior Cal yell leading holding up, during the totally lousy Mark Levy years (early 1960's) that said "When is Mark Levying." That type of creativity is now missing at Cal.

BTW, I think Bob Tuck thought up the cross stadium yell between the students and the alumni, maybe the first yell like it in the country -- "Cal" (student side) Bears (alumni side) but didn't prompt the alumni so they didn't know what to yell and when. A few years later some Cal yell leader improved the yell by holding up a big sign on the alumni side with the word "Bears" when it came time for the alumni to yell, and instantly the alumni knew what to yell and when.

I'm going to try to find a video of the Bob Tuck gorilla outfit event at USC, but it seems to me it would have been released by someone if anyone had video taped it. If I can' t find it, I might contact Bob Tuck to see if he knows if there is a video of it. But if there was, he probably would ever included it in his video announcement for the Cal alumni.
Marv Levy, not Mark Levy. I'm a lousy typist.
Gobears49
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Big C said:

bearister said:

Who was the "It's on the table, the Black label….it's in the locka, a 5th of vodka…"

Cheer dude?

Ben Dixon. He was pretty good. "Oh yeah!"
What year or year did Ben Dixon do his Black label yell.

Just had an idea. We get five or more old Cal yell leaders to hand a whole game and let the youngsters watch, and learn. If I get a lot of good responses to that I could send the list to our AD, Knowlton, who I sometime correspond with. I would tell him that most Cal yell leaders are not up to snuff and the youngsters need to see how the great one, with confidence and balls, lead a yell. Must be some new ones out there who would be inspired by what worked in the past.
Big C
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Gobears49 said:

Big C said:

bearister said:

Who was the "It's on the table, the Black label….it's in the locka, a 5th of vodka…"

Cheer dude?

Ben Dixon. He was pretty good. "Oh yeah!"
What year or year did Ben Dixon do his Black label yell.

Just had an idea. We get five or more old Cal yell leaders to hand a whole game and let the youngsters watch, and learn. If I get a lot of good responses to that I could send the list to our AD, Knowlton, who I sometime correspond with. I would tell him that most Cal yell leaders are not up to snuff and the youngsters need to see how the great one, with confidence and balls, lead a yell. Must be some new ones out there who would be inspired by what worked in the past.

I wanna say he was yell leader in '77 and '78?

Alumni Yell Leader Day! I like the idea, in theory, but it might meet some of the same resistance that Ken got. Ideally, the students (yell leaders, band, all of that) would want to get together with folks who have done it before (maybe over the summer?), so they don't have to keep reinventing the wheel.

The key word there is "ideally".
Eastern Oregon Bear
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Big C said:

Gobears49 said:

Big C said:

bearister said:

Who was the "It's on the table, the Black label….it's in the locka, a 5th of vodka…"

Cheer dude?

Ben Dixon. He was pretty good. "Oh yeah!"
What year or year did Ben Dixon do his Black label yell.

Just had an idea. We get five or more old Cal yell leaders to hand a whole game and let the youngsters watch, and learn. If I get a lot of good responses to that I could send the list to our AD, Knowlton, who I sometime correspond with. I would tell him that most Cal yell leaders are not up to snuff and the youngsters need to see how the great one, with confidence and balls, lead a yell. Must be some new ones out there who would be inspired by what worked in the past.

I wanna say he was yell leader in '77 and '78?

Alumni Yell Leader Day! I like the idea, in theory, but it might meet some of the same resistance that Ken got. Ideally, the students (yell leaders, band, all of that) would want to get together with folks who have done it before (maybe over the summer?), so they don't have to keep reinventing the wheel.

The key word there is "ideally".
My freshman year at Cal was 1975 and Ben Dixon was in the dorm room next to mine in Bowles Hall. So, being a yell leader in '77 and '78 would be about right.
Gobears49
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Big C said:

Gobears49 said:

Big C said:

bearister said:

Who was the "It's on the table, the Black label….it's in the locka, a 5th of vodka…"

Cheer dude?

Ben Dixon. He was pretty good. "Oh yeah!"
What year or year did Ben Dixon do his Black label yell.

Just had an idea. We get five or more old Cal yell leaders to hand a whole game and let the youngsters watch, and learn. If I get a lot of good responses to that I could send the list to our AD, Knowlton, who I sometime correspond with. I would tell him that most Cal yell leaders are not up to snuff and the youngsters need to see how the great one, with confidence and balls, lead a yell. Must be some new ones out there who would be inspired by what worked in the past.

I wanna say he was yell leader in '77 and '78?

Alumni Yell Leader Day! I like the idea, in theory, but it might meet some of the same resistance that Ken got. Ideally, the students (yell leaders, band, all of that) would want to get together with folks who have done it before (maybe over the summer?), so they don't have to keep reinventing the wheel.

The key word there is "ideally".
Maybe the older yell leaders could send in videos of their best yells to a predetermined list of old and new yell leaders, along with their telephone numbers so younger yell leaders could call them for explanations of the yells and when to lead them Might be fun if all of them were posted on BI for comments from readers. I would do my call and response yell and my basketball game yell, which I've offered some money to lead again at that venue (but the band needs to learn to play "The Middle" like they did a few years ago). Am thinking of explaining how that yell goes, as the refrain matches certain parts of the refrain words to that song. Would be equivalent to Stnaford's theme rock song, "All Right Now" with the famous "Stanford Jump."
HearstMining
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Big C said:

Gobears49 said:

Big C said:

bearister said:

Who was the "It's on the table, the Black label….it's in the locka, a 5th of vodka…"

Cheer dude?

Ben Dixon. He was pretty good. "Oh yeah!"
What year or year did Ben Dixon do his Black label yell.

Just had an idea. We get five or more old Cal yell leaders to hand a whole game and let the youngsters watch, and learn. If I get a lot of good responses to that I could send the list to our AD, Knowlton, who I sometime correspond with. I would tell him that most Cal yell leaders are not up to snuff and the youngsters need to see how the great one, with confidence and balls, lead a yell. Must be some new ones out there who would be inspired by what worked in the past.

I wanna say he was yell leader in '77 and '78?

Alumni Yell Leader Day! I like the idea, in theory, but it might meet some of the same resistance that Ken got. Ideally, the students (yell leaders, band, all of that) would want to get together with folks who have done it before (maybe over the summer?), so they don't have to keep reinventing the wheel.

The key word there is "ideally".
'75 was my last season as a Cal student and I thought Ben was there then, but I could certainly be wrong. I still went to a lot of games '76-'78 and could be mixing up memories.
Having read this whole thread, several thoughts come to mind:
  • I agree that successful Mic-men need a ton of confidence and to be a real performers I could never do that, even if I was s****-faced drunk.
  • Current cheers are too long - a California spell-out letter by letter is just too long. They need to come up with short cheers - say 5 seconds, max that they can pull off in the limited time they have.
  • I don't expect current mic-men to carry on every old tradition, but they don't even try create new ones and that's a problem.

Here's a question: when did the term "mic-man" first appear? Sometime in the 1990's?
Big C
How long do you want to ignore this user?

Yell Leaders / mic men: Some of it is the person's personality and makeup, but some of it is an acquired skill. If a mic man starts from scratch the first game, half the season might be over before he's up to speed.

For the spirit groups as well as the Cal Band, we probably need to understand how a "lost" pandemic year like 2020 can set things back: It's 25% of an entire undergrad "generation". But rather than just settling for sucking for a while, they need to take that challenge into account when planning and preparing.
Gobears49
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Gobears49 said:

Big C said:

Gobears49 said:

Big C said:

bearister said:

Who was the "It's on the table, the Black label….it's in the locka, a 5th of vodka…"

Cheer dude?

Ben Dixon. He was pretty good. "Oh yeah!"
What year or year did Ben Dixon do his Black label yell.

Just had an idea. We get five or more old Cal yell leaders to hand a whole game and let the youngsters watch, and learn. If I get a lot of good responses to that I could send the list to our AD, Knowlton, who I sometime correspond with. I would tell him that most Cal yell leaders are not up to snuff and the youngsters need to see how the great one, with confidence and balls, lead a yell. Must be some new ones out there who would be inspired by what worked in the past.

I wanna say he was yell leader in '77 and '78?

Alumni Yell Leader Day! I like the idea, in theory, but it might meet some of the same resistance that Ken got. Ideally, the students (yell leaders, band, all of that) would want to get together with folks who have done it before (maybe over the summer?), so they don't have to keep reinventing the wheel.

The key word there is "ideally".
Maybe the older yell leaders could send in videos of their best yells to a predetermined list of old and new yell leaders, along with their telephone numbers so younger yell leaders could call them for explanations of the yells and when to lead them Might be fun if all of them were posted on BI for comments from readers. I would do my call and response yell and my basketball game yell, which I've offered some money to lead again at that venue (but the band needs to learn to play "The Middle" like they did a few years ago). Am thinking of explaining how that yell goes, as the refrain matches certain parts of the refrain words to that song. Would be equivalent to Stnaford's theme rock song, "All Right Now" with the famous "Stanford Jump."
Don't know the exact years but Bob Tuck did his California spellout from the speaker poll on the east side of the stadium, just south of the student section. Bob's statement of when he was a yell leader at Cal is wrong -- it was in 1970, the same year as me. He probable led yells from the speaker poll most games in the 70's and 80's. I'd suggest he do it again, just to show what guts and flare he had, but now he is too old for that and might kill himself. I guarantee nobody has done a stunt like that one, and I'm sure he did it several times. For one thing, it's much too dangerous.

I checked and there is no mention of Bob's gorilla escapade at USC on the internet. I couldn't even find video of him leading the Cal spellout from a speaker poll. I might try to contact him to see if he has one and any video of his "gorilla steals the football" at USC.
Gobears49
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Gobears49 said:

Gobears49 said:

Big C said:

Gobears49 said:

Big C said:

bearister said:

Who was the "It's on the table, the Black label….it's in the locka, a 5th of vodka…"

Cheer dude?

Ben Dixon. He was pretty good. "Oh yeah!"
What year or year did Ben Dixon do his Black label yell.

Just had an idea. We get five or more old Cal yell leaders to hand a whole game and let the youngsters watch, and learn. If I get a lot of good responses to that I could send the list to our AD, Knowlton, who I sometime correspond with. I would tell him that most Cal yell leaders are not up to snuff and the youngsters need to see how the great one, with confidence and balls, lead a yell. Must be some new ones out there who would be inspired by what worked in the past.

I wanna say he was yell leader in '77 and '78?

Alumni Yell Leader Day! I like the idea, in theory, but it might meet some of the same resistance that Ken got. Ideally, the students (yell leaders, band, all of that) would want to get together with folks who have done it before (maybe over the summer?), so they don't have to keep reinventing the wheel.

The key word there is "ideally".
Maybe the older yell leaders could send in videos of their best yells to a predetermined list of old and new yell leaders, along with their telephone numbers so younger yell leaders could call them for explanations of the yells and when to lead them Might be fun if all of them were posted on BI for comments from readers. I would do my call and response yell and my basketball game yell, which I've offered some money to lead again at that venue (but the band needs to learn to play "The Middle" like they did a few years ago). Am thinking of explaining how that yell goes, as the refrain matches certain parts of the refrain words to that song. Would be equivalent to Stnaford's theme rock song, "All Right Now" with the famous "Stanford Jump."
Don't know the exact years but Bob Tuck did his California spellout from the speaker poll on the east side of the stadium, just south of the student section. Bob's statement of when he was a yell leader at Cal is wrong -- it was in 1970, the same year as me. He probable led yells from the speaker poll most games in the 70's and 80's. I'd suggest he do it again, just to show what guts and flare he had, but now he is too old for that and might kill himself. I guarantee nobody has done a stunt like that one, and I'm sure he did it several times. For one thing, it's much too dangerous.

I checked and there is no mention of Bob's gorilla escapade at USC on the internet. I couldn't even find video of him leading the Cal spellout from a speaker poll. I might try to contact him to see if he has one and any video of his "gorilla steals the football" at USC.
My call and response yell (created it to impress a very cute UCLA song girl I liked a lot but forgot to ever do it for her, a huge regret on my part. At that time UCLA song girls were rated #1 in the country, ahead of USC.

(Slow claps -- Cal side responds to my questions "Cal Bears") Claps by the students are on the word "Bears" and they clap rhythmically to the beat during my lines.

My yell lines --

One two three, tell me who are we? (student response -- Cal Bears). Same for all lines below.

Three four five, whose the best alive?

Six, seven, eight, tell me whose lookin' great?

Eight, nine ten, tell me whose gonna win?

Ten down to nine, tell me whose lookin' fine?

Nine, eight, seven, whose got the best eleven?

Seven down to six, tell me who'll get their licks?

Six, five, four, whose ahead in the score? (Note, I was going to lead my yell at the end of the 1982 The Play year, but Stanford had just scored to go ahead right before The Play occurred, but I couldn't because Stanford, rather than Cal, was then ahead in the score, thus making my this line, and the yell)

Three, two, one, who has just begun?

(Point to the alumni side) The alumni can't hear, so yell it loud and clear.

You're sounding' so fine, so yell it one more time.

TheFiatLux
How long do you want to ignore this user?
SpecSlayer said:

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.
So, given that we know (we actually always knew) from science and in fact from the CDC, that the face coverings they insisted we wear on airplanes were pointless, how do you square this attack on me? And looking back, do you think maybe an apology is in order?


(EDIT to include date of chart FEB 2022)
 
×
subscribe Verify your student status
See Subscription Benefits
Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial.