concordtom said:
I did say years ago that there's plenty of pride and enjoyment when Yale beat Harvard. I dunno why we feel the need to pay generational wealth for (circular door of) guys to do something that many would do for free.
Society's values are screwed up.
Meanwhile, Chinese are in their factories - and we'll complain about losing to them. Hmmm.
LOL. I wonder why we can see that and others can not. I am not at ALL convinced that Cal draws less against Davis and Cal Poly than yesterday. 30K tickets sold but probably 20K in the stands. It would require a different kind of relationship to football than this board has but it feels so doable.
Consider.....
There are a HUGE number of students that went to the same high school but now are at UCD and UCB. Consider a fairly simple marketing effort where students could request some tent space (and maybe a pop up) to have a tail gate with their buddies and besties from the respective schools. Bus transportation (or discounted tickets on Amtrack). Afternoon game. Band plays. Everyone happy. Rinse and repeat.
It feels like so many posters here are in their 70s or older. Their relationship to Cal football (and honestly the school/higher ed) is just different than the current generation of students. And remember - those students become the alumni of the 2040s and 2050s. Will they be as into it as sebbear?
And here is the data point that helps illustrate SOME of the above. The Big game for years always sold out and was always the last game on the schedule. In the years prior to Hairball and Tedford both programs usually "sucked" if that metric is "national relevance". But it always sold out. It was the talk of the Bay area for a week. The pranks were legendary. I really think you can bring that back by DEEMPHASIZING participation in the arms race.
Would it take effort? Absolutely! Will it be among the hardest alumni meetings a chancellor has gone to? Yup. But I just don't see a pathway that alows Cal to be competitive in the current and emerging landscape. Yes, I will take the "Loser" moniker on that but the LONGGGGG track record of Cal's football "success" really bears out the proposition that Cal can do "OK" in the middle but lacks lots of factors which combine to create a perennial top 20 program.
The challenge with all of these posts is that people of very good faith are rowing in a different direction. They deserve support for that because only an Ahole doesn't appreciate 1000s of hours of volunteer work. I just worry about the hangover when cal is relegated....or maybe even worse, gets in the super league and is the laughing stock of a league withiout a salary cap, no draft and unlimited free agency.
Take care of your Chicken
