2024 marks my fiftieth season as a rabid Bear fan. Started my junior season at Cal in 1974. Didn't realize the amount of pain (and a few brief moments of pleasure) it would bring. A couple of rare victories over u$c and ucla at rose bowl, along with a victory over Tennessee. Also a brief stay at #1 in the country until a devastating close loss to Oregon State under Tedford.

My friend sent me this list of our past seasons and it was eye opening that we had so many poor and mediocre seasons over 50 years. Much worse than I remembered.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_California_Golden_Bears_football_seasons

Still hoping for a great season and Go Bears!

Here's hoping this is the best one of your lifetime. There's always a chance. Go Bears!

Congratulations! This year Mark's my 20th year. I entered in 2003, but didn't go to my first game until 2004.

Grrrrah76 said:

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2024 marks my fiftieth season as a rabid Bear fan. Started my junior season at Cal in 1974.

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In that case, 2024 actually marks your 51st season as a Bears fan.

However, perhaps you were smart enough to entirely skip the 2013 season/snuff film directed by Sonny "Ykes" Dykes and co-directed by Andy ("I blame") Buh. If you had had such prescience, this season indeed would be your 50th.

Grrrrah76 said:

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2024 marks my fiftieth season as a rabid Bear fan. Started my junior season at Cal in 1974. Didn't realize the amount of pain (and a few brief moments of pleasure) it would bring. A couple of rare victories over u$c and ucla at rose bowl, along with a victory over Tennessee. Also a brief stay at #1 in the country until a devastating close loss to Oregon State under Tedford.

My friend sent me this list of our past seasons and it was eye opening that we had so many poor and mediocre seasons over 50 years. Much worse than I remembered.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_California_Golden_Bears_football_seasons

Still hoping for a great season and Go Bears!

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My 62nd.
"For better or worse"….

I'm glad the landscape has changed and the Rose Bowl as PAC champ is off the table. When it's over 60 years since achieving a relatively minor goal it becomes an obsession that is mythical or religious. . Beating Wake Forest is a good reset

BearBoarBlarney said:

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Grrrrah76 said:

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2024 marks my fiftieth season as a rabid Bear fan. Started my junior season at Cal in 1974.

---

In that case, 2024 actually marks your 51st season as a Bears fan.

However, perhaps you were smart enough to entirely skip the 2013 season/snuff film directed by Sonny "Ykes" Dykes and co-directed by Andy ("I blame") Buh. If you had had such prescience, this season indeed would be your 50th.

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Maybe what's being skipped is 2020, the cardboard cut-out year, I know that got kind of blurry for us, in terms of calculating consecutive Big Games attended...

70 for me only counting from my first year at Cal.

I am only on 48+ (long story) seasons. I am proud of the 70 year Cal fan and others!

Go Bears!

Anarchistbear said:

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I'm glad the landscape has changed and the Rose Bowl as PAC champ is off the table. When it's over 60 years since achieving a relatively minor goal it becomes an obsession that is mythical or religious. . Beating Wake Forest is a good reset

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Wake Forest before I die!

59bear said:

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70 for me only counting from my first year at Cal.

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This. Is. Awesome. This makes you an Old Blue of the vintage variety.

When your time at Berkeley involves sock hops and predates the FSM, well, you're legit.

golden sloth said:

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Anarchistbear said:

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I'm glad the landscape has changed and the Rose Bowl as PAC champ is off the table. When it's over 60 years since achieving a relatively minor goal it becomes an obsession that is mythical or religious. . Beating Wake Forest is a good reset

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Wake Forest before I die!

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I apologize for asking this in such a non-tactful and non-PC way, but does anyone know what happened to the illustrious poster whose handle was "RoseBowlB4IDie." (?) Feels like a case of Cal football's prowess losing out to Father Time.

55 seasons here.

Started Cal/Texas at CMS. Bears lost 17-0

sonofabear51 said:

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55 seasons here.

Started Cal/Texas at CMS. Bears lost 17-0

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I was there. Willsey could coach defense for sure. James Street was the Texas Wishbone QB for Darryl Royal. Street's son Houston became a major league reliever for the A's and other teams.

53 years for me. Go Bears!

Grrrrah76 said:

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2024 marks my fiftieth season as a rabid Bear fan. Started my junior season at Cal in 1974. Didn't realize the amount of pain (and a few brief moments of pleasure) it would bring. A couple of rare victories over u$c and ucla at rose bowl, along with a victory over Tennessee. Also a brief stay at #1 in the country until a devastating close loss to Oregon State under Tedford.

My friend sent me this list of our past seasons and it was eye opening that we had so many poor and mediocre seasons over 50 years. Much worse than I remembered.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_California_Golden_Bears_football_seasons

Still hoping for a great season and Go Bears!

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i have 11 years on you. My first full season of Cal football was 1963.
i learned that the way to enjoy Cal Football is to enjoy and remember the wins and quickly forget the losses.

Big C said:

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BearBoarBlarney said:

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Grrrrah76 said:

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2024 marks my fiftieth season as a rabid Bear fan. Started my junior season at Cal in 1974.

---

In that case, 2024 actually marks your 51st season as a Bears fan.

However, perhaps you were smart enough to entirely skip the 2013 season/snuff film directed by Sonny "Ykes" Dykes and co-directed by Andy ("I blame") Buh. If you had had such prescience, this season indeed would be your 50th.

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Maybe what's being skipped is 2020, the cardboard cut-out year, I know that got kind of blurry for us, in terms of calculating consecutive Big Games attended...

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2020 was the season to miss for many reasons

These past 15 years our revenue sports have had their worst run in campus history, this has to turn around quickly otherwise we are on our way out of the major college sports scene and will be riding the pine along with the fine folks out in Corvallis and Pullman...

Strykur said:

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These past 15 years our revenue sports have had their worst run in campus history, this has to turn around quickly otherwise we are on our way out of the major college sports scene and will be riding the pine along with the fine folks out in Corvallis and Pullman...

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Sadly, I don't think this is true. The 70s and 80s were truly putrid for both (minus 1975 in football).

calumnus said:

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Big C said:

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BearBoarBlarney said:

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Grrrrah76 said:

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2024 marks my fiftieth season as a rabid Bear fan. Started my junior season at Cal in 1974.

---

In that case, 2024 actually marks your 51st season as a Bears fan.

However, perhaps you were smart enough to entirely skip the 2013 season/snuff film directed by Sonny "Ykes" Dykes and co-directed by Andy ("I blame") Buh. If you had had such prescience, this season indeed would be your 50th.

---

Maybe what's being skipped is 2020, the cardboard cut-out year, I know that got kind of blurry for us, in terms of calculating consecutive Big Games attended...

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2020 was the season to miss for many reasons

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Well, we did beat the conference champion that year. (If I recall correctly, we were the only team to beat them.)

This is my 53.5th season...I only attended a couple of games in 1971, because I didn't realize we had a football team until I'd been on campus for a few weeks. My first game was a loss to USC. Not the last time I'd see the Bears lose to the Toejams....

Been to every Big Game since 1974*

*except 2020. Stupid Covid.

Keep the faith, baby.

Alkiadt said:

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Grrrrah76 said:

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2024 marks my fiftieth season as a rabid Bear fan. Started my junior season at Cal in 1974. Didn't realize the amount of pain (and a few brief moments of pleasure) it would bring. A couple of rare victories over u$c and ucla at rose bowl, along with a victory over Tennessee. Also a brief stay at #1 in the country until a devastating close loss to Oregon State under Tedford.

My friend sent me this list of our past seasons and it was eye opening that we had so many poor and mediocre seasons over 50 years. Much worse than I remembered.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_California_Golden_Bears_football_seasons

Still hoping for a great season and Go Bears!

---

My 62nd.
"For better or worse"….I r

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I think this is my 63rd year. Growing up in Berkeley (born at Alta Bates), my family wasn't real sporty, and I only went to occasional games with family friends. I vaguely remember Randy Gold at QB and certainly got to a few Craig Morton games including the victory over Navy in 1964. What I really remember are the grey, grim Ray Willsey years. Occasional wins, plenty of character-building losses. Punt on fourth-and-one, even if you're behind with two minutes to go. It's no wonder I also became a Raider fan in 1967. Still, at least from age 11, my folks let me go to Cal games without an adult, so I went to more.

Grrrah76, 1974 (also my Jr year at Cal) was a great year to be initiated to Cal football. Steve Bartkowski finally put it together and Chuck Muncie and Harold Strickland made for a potent running attack. Others may correct me here, but I think that was the first year Cal emerged from an NCAA-mandated TV embargo due to the Isaac Curtis recruiting scandal and the Cal-UCLA game was televised. It suddenly felt like Cal was playing (if not always winning) big-time football games. I know that some on this board hate the Roth uniforms, but for me, they recall Cal emerging, if only for a couple of years, from years of bleak mediocre football. I love'em!

GivemTheAxe said:

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i learned that the way to enjoy Cal Football is to enjoy and remember the wins and quickly forget the losses.

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^
Logically, this lesson is 100% correct. Emotionally, I struggle with this important tenet of Cal fandom + well being.

My 51st year. First game in 1974, a 40-10 rout of Oregon. I thought Cal is a good and fun team. Next game, reality struck when the bRuins held Cal to a single field goal. Lots of great times, frustrations and heartbreaks since, but always a fan.

JSC 76 said:

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This is my 53.5th season...I only attended a couple of games in 1971, because I didn't realize we had a football team until I'd been on campus for a few weeks. My first game was a loss to USC. Not the last time I'd see the Bears lose to the Toejams....

Been to every Big Game since 1974*

*except 2020. Stupid Covid.

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BTW, I thoroughly researched this and asked for all the right blessings: Whoever had a consecutive Big Game streak, except for 2020, you are entitled to still claim that your streak is still intact, though you may not count 2020 as a year.

For example (to simplify): Fan X began a streak of Big Game attendance in 2018, continuing through last season, until today. He/she has a current streak of five consecutive Bog Games attended. This November will be number Six.

2018 (1st)
2019 (2nd)
2020
2021 (3rd)
2022 (4th)
2023 (5th)

Basically, it is "Big Games that fans were allowed to attend".

JSC 76 said:

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This is my 53.5th season...I only attended a couple of games in 1971, because I didn't realize we had a football team until I'd been on campus for a few weeks. My first game was a loss to USC. Not the last time I'd see the Bears lose to the Toejams....

Been to every Big Game since 1974*

*except 2020. Stupid Covid.

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i don't count the 2020 Big Game since there were no paying fans in attendance.

BearBoarBlarney said:

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59bear said:

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70 for me only counting from my first year at Cal.

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This. Is. Awesome. This makes you an Old Blue of the vintage variety.

When your time at Berkeley involves sock hops and predates the FSM, well, you're legit.

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I remember sock hops from high school but not at Cal. I presume FSM refers to the '60s troubles, by which time I was long gone from Berkeley. Campus political radicalism of my tenure was largely led by the Hallinan brothers and their supporters.

59bear said:

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BearBoarBlarney said:

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59bear said:

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70 for me only counting from my first year at Cal.

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This. Is. Awesome. This makes you an Old Blue of the vintage variety.

When your time at Berkeley involves sock hops and predates the FSM, well, you're legit.

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I remember sock hops from high school but not at Cal. I presume FSM refers to the '60s troubles, by which time I was long gone from Berkeley. Campus political radicalism of my tenure was largely led by the Hallinan brothers and their supporters.

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Good article on Cal student activism in the 1950s focused on Civil Rights:
https://www.berkeleyside.org/2018/12/12/how-a-little-known-berkeley-group-sparked-the-1960s-student-movement

BearBoarBlarney said:

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GivemTheAxe said:

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i learned that the way to enjoy Cal Football is to enjoy and remember the wins and quickly forget the losses.

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^
Logically, this lesson is 100% correct. Emotionally, I struggle with this important tenet of Cal fandom + well being.

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Looking back on 62 years of watching Cal Football. (1959 and 1962 were only partial years). I can clearly remember all the Cal cliff hanger wins, all the close wins and the blow-out wins. I remember all the Big Game wins All the Cal wins over USC and USC.

i have great difficulty remembering many of the losses except a few awful or quirky losses. The Stanford 54 yard FG on the last play of the Big Game, or the 2020 collapse Or the loss to USC down at USC that prevented Cal from going to the Rose Bowl. The rest are all a blur.

My tricks are simple:

After a football loss,
1. If it is a home game and my family is available, we go to Juan's Place. Or La Vals Pizza. They are always packed with Cal fans who don't want to talk about the game.
2. I watch the most violent shoot 'em movies i can see on TV from after the game until 2 am.
3. My wife destroys all sports pages on Sunday.
4. I watch no college sports until the middle of the following week.
5. Starting on the following Wednesday i start focusing on the upcoming game.
6. Most important: I STAY AWAY FROM BEAR INSIDER until after the next Cal win.