Not done yet. But increasingly frustrated because this BS has gone on way too long.

Grandpa was/is Cal Emeritus. Bacteriology. He loved Cal and everything about it.
Dad is a graduate of Chemical Engineering. Both were and in my father s case ( he is now 98) very supportive of Cal Athletics. Dad and I were ushers for years at CMS. My first game was a loss to Texas 17-0 in 1969. Been there in attendance till 1990 when I moved down south.
My sisters ex, and my nephew, are all Cal graduates and love Cal, as do I.
Am growing tired of the hype that things are getting better, when they clearly are not improving, yet.
The firing of Knowlton is an improvement, should have been done years ago. Thank you.
What is now needed is to get rid of Simons-O'Neil and her cohort. Among other changes needed, and I think the are many.
Faculty needs to get on board, this has been lacking.


I will happily invest in the sports teams when that time comes, until then, the checkbook is closed, and will remain so.

I remain

GO BEARS!!

I, like so many of you, I love Cal and want nothing but success. But I'm starting to finally realize that we Cal fans are delusional. Here are our records 25 years before Tedford (the absolute outlier when it comes to success ) and 13 after him:

25 years before Tedford (1977-2001)
113-159 (.408).

Tedford era (2002-2012)
82-57 (.590).

After Tedford (2013-2024)
61-80 (.433).

History shows that we're just not as good as we think we are. I truly hope Ron Rivera/Lyons and company dump Wilcox and make a Tedford-level winning hire, but I'm not holding my breath. Until I'm proven wrong by the powers that be, I know we're just not going to ever be consistent winners in football. It's sad but true.

Call me a bad Cal fan and part of the problem or whatever, I don't give a ****. I will always be here rooting for us, but I'm starting to come around to what reality is for Cal football. And maybe that's a good thing: I can set my expectations accordingly and enjoy wins when they come, go to a game a year (I don't live in CA anymore) and drink beers with my buddies, and just enjoy the ride. I wish I had a different hope, but I'm a realist.

Go Bears.

oskithepimp said:

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I, like so many of you, I love Cal and want nothing but success. But I'm starting to finally realize that we Cal fans are delusional. Here are our records 25 years before Tedford (the absolute outlier when it comes to success ) and 13 after him:

25 years before Tedford (1977-2001)
113-159 (.408).

Tedford era (2002-2012)
82-57 (.590).

After Tedford (2013-2024)
61-80 (.433).

History shows that we're just not as good as we think we are. I truly hope Ron Rivera/Lyons and company dump Wilcox and make a Tedford-level winning hire, but I'm not holding my breath. Until I'm proven wrong by the powers that be, I know we're just not going to ever be consistent winners in football. It's sad but true.

Call me a bad Cal fan and part of the problem or whatever, I don't give a ****. I will always be here rooting for us, but I'm starting to come around to what reality is for Cal football. And maybe that's a good thing: I can set my expectations accordingly and enjoy wins when they come, go to a game a year (I don't live in CA anymore) and drink beers with my buddies, and just enjoy the ride. I wish I had a different hope, but I'm a realist.

Go Bears.

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Why do self defeatists only look at overall win/loss and not consider the fact that the PAC12 was a far more competitive conference then today's ACC and our strength of schedule was much higher?

gardenstatebear said:

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RSFoldguy said:

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I'm a 32-year season ticket holder and former donor who also tapped out this year. My reasons, in order of importance:

- Transfer portal
- Noise level/stadium experience
- Conference realignment
- NIL
- Players opting out of bowl games (if the players don't care, why should we?)

Go Bears forever, but it's been nice finding other ways to spend my Saturdays.

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I have not been at Memorial Stadium in decades (I'm on the other coast, and for reasons I won't get into it's hard to travel), but my guess is that the stadium experience is a key problem. It's not so bad showing up to watch your team lose if you at least had a good time. This is why, for instance, the Chicago Cubs have always drawn very well even when bad, while the equally bad White Sox have always done worse in attendance. Some of the issues (reaching the stadium) aren't easily solvable; but excess noise can certainly be.

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if you haven't been to cms in decades it's quite different. Sorry you can't make it out.
This is my lasting memory of CMS. Seat benches.

TandemBear said:

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southseasbear said:

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TandemBear said:

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I pity the fool who disparages bicycles!

Like golf carts being driven willy-nilly all over the field ISN'T theater?

Lighten up, bro!

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Of course that is theater too. My point is that 60 seconds of theater is a nice touch (which I love) but is not sufficient. We need to play exciting, competitive football. Here, the product is predictable, boring, and generally not competitive (except we do play close games against mediocre teams such as NC and BC). Symbolically, the product is a meal where the presentation (including garnish) is beautiful but the food is crap.

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The two can coexist just fine together. The excitement that Lynch created when he hopped in the golf cart was amazing. Glad I was there to experience it live. The bicycle thing had the same potential to stir up more excitement and rile up the crowd.

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I do not disagree but the priority has to be on improving the product itself. People go to a restaurant for the meal, not the garnish; similarly, people attend a game to watch a football game, not a fun 60 second joy ride on a golf cart or bicycle. Glad to cheer while watching the latter, but need the former. The current product is not satisfactory.

RSFoldguy said:

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I'm a 32-year season ticket holder and former donor who also tapped out this year. My reasons, in order of importance:

- Transfer portal
- Noise level/stadium experience
- Conference realignment
- NIL
- Players opting out of bowl games (if the players don't care, why should we?)

Go Bears forever, but it's been nice finding other ways to spend my Saturdays.

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All of that, plus the game times are why I finally cancelled my season tickets and stopped donating.

I remain hopeful that Wilcox will be gone sooner than later and we will have a breakthrough in the future! This brand has the ability to play at the competing level. But will need a better coaching staff.

LunchTime said:

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Fans turning their back on the program is the problem. When Cal loses, MORE fans need to show up!

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Respectfully, you have no idea what you're talking about.
Cal doesn't have the fans they used to because they cut them loose.
Linda Creed wrote it so George Benson could sing it.
Paraphrased, " The children are the future, treat them well and they will come and watch the Bears play for decades."
Don't treat them at all and they won't come.......EVER.
When was the last time you saw groups players from local high schools showing up at a Cal game sporting their football jerseys? And with the players came their friends.
But even before high school, Cal won't let kids be kids because all the fields that kids used to use to pretend they were Steve Bartkowski or Joe Roth throwing to Steve Sweeney or Wesley Walker are all locked up.
Cal football was mostly mediocre in the "60s. 70's and 80's, yet many of the fans today were kids fans then.
Yep, respectfully, you have no idea what you're talking about.
Cheers!!
Go Bears!!
Cal Band Great!!!