Like many of you, I just can't enough of all the construction updates, photos, and BearInsider videos of the progress at California Memorial Stadium.
But what has hit me most of all is that I think Cal really got it right this time. Memorial is a special place, and for many of us Cal alums, it's sacred ground. The stadium owes its very existence to the success of Andy Smith's Wonder Teams, and it's the place where immortality was bestowed on the participants in "The Play," where Joe Roth worked his magic on the field and in our hearts, and where Ferragamo found Sweeney in '72.
Cal has found a way to transform and modernize Memorial Stadium without changing the essence of the place and without messing up the beauty of the old bowl tucked into the canyon. The classic lines of John Galen Howard's masterpiece have been preserved, and we've add a whole bunch of bells and whistles that ol' John Galen himself might be impressed by!
Contrast what Cal has done with Memorial with what Stanford (read: Arrillaga) did with Stanford Stadium. I think we can all agree that old Stanford Stadium was not a pretty gal in the best of times, but as god awful as the sight lines were in that monstrosity, the 86,000 seat stadium at least had some character and decent history. When Stanford bulldozed the old gal to make way for Circus Minimus, they essentially lost whatever character the old place had. Oh, sure, the massive dirt mound that defined the former stadium's footprint still survives, as do the old stairwells running up the sides of the dirt mound, but for all intents and purposes, new Stanford Stadium has little connection to historic Stanford Stadium. New Stanford Stadium feels more like a gussied-up version of Boston College's Alumni Stadium, and while it's modern and has great sight lines, it also feels antiseptic and impersonal.
I think Cal has hit a home run with this renovation. They kept the stadium we all grew up with and know and love, but they updated it for this century. Cal and Cal athletics don't always get things right, but in this case, they aced it. Now if the braintrust would just put the Andy Latham Smith Bench back where it belongs....nah, not going there right now.
But what has hit me most of all is that I think Cal really got it right this time. Memorial is a special place, and for many of us Cal alums, it's sacred ground. The stadium owes its very existence to the success of Andy Smith's Wonder Teams, and it's the place where immortality was bestowed on the participants in "The Play," where Joe Roth worked his magic on the field and in our hearts, and where Ferragamo found Sweeney in '72.
Cal has found a way to transform and modernize Memorial Stadium without changing the essence of the place and without messing up the beauty of the old bowl tucked into the canyon. The classic lines of John Galen Howard's masterpiece have been preserved, and we've add a whole bunch of bells and whistles that ol' John Galen himself might be impressed by!
Contrast what Cal has done with Memorial with what Stanford (read: Arrillaga) did with Stanford Stadium. I think we can all agree that old Stanford Stadium was not a pretty gal in the best of times, but as god awful as the sight lines were in that monstrosity, the 86,000 seat stadium at least had some character and decent history. When Stanford bulldozed the old gal to make way for Circus Minimus, they essentially lost whatever character the old place had. Oh, sure, the massive dirt mound that defined the former stadium's footprint still survives, as do the old stairwells running up the sides of the dirt mound, but for all intents and purposes, new Stanford Stadium has little connection to historic Stanford Stadium. New Stanford Stadium feels more like a gussied-up version of Boston College's Alumni Stadium, and while it's modern and has great sight lines, it also feels antiseptic and impersonal.
I think Cal has hit a home run with this renovation. They kept the stadium we all grew up with and know and love, but they updated it for this century. Cal and Cal athletics don't always get things right, but in this case, they aced it. Now if the braintrust would just put the Andy Latham Smith Bench back where it belongs....nah, not going there right now.