I have been to Australia numerous times and have dozens of friends there...Every single person I know or have met from there wouldn't be caught dead drinking Foster's. They see it as complete p!ss, and only for tourists...not unlike what I think of Bud or Bud light, but I digress.

Son-of-California;842553458 said:

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I have been to Australia numerous times and have dozens of friends there...Every single person I know or have met from there wouldn't be caught dead drinking Foster's. They see it as complete p!ss, and only for tourists...not unlike what I think of Bud or Bud light, but I digress.

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I don't believe you. I've heard from television that, in fact, Foster's is Australian for beer.

Eeyore;842553437 said:

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Is Sandy still the AD?

This is going to be disastrous for the players and the team. If you have done any travel half way around the world, you know how long it takes for the body to readjust and recover. On top of that, these kids are in the middle of classes and they have to get back to practice.

Just shows u how desperate Cal is for money. I don't think Sonny wants this, and he wins 8-9 games this year, I don't think he'll stick around.

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Agree about the body adjustment, especially school will already be in session for Cal at that time. Better to schedule a home and home with Hawaii.

Hope you're wrong about Sonny leaving though.

No, thanks.

okaydo;842553464 said:

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I don't believe you. I've heard from television that, in fact, Foster's is Australian for beer.

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I heard beer means pisss in Australian

grandmastapoop;842553405 said:

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I don't see why we'd get 13 games. The 13 game exemption is for road games at Hawaii, because Hawaii was having trouble getting any OOC opponent to come to Hawaii. This is not that.

Additionally, I don't think we'd WANT 13 games. We'd need to schedule at least one bye after the game, but that will prove difficult given the current schedule. Hopefully we can do something like schedule the Australia game the Wednesday or Thursday before Labor Day, and then have a bye in week 2 - giving the team a full 17 days off to recover. But that means we'd have to move the game at SDSU, which would be tough to get them to agree to. And even then - you then have to play 11 straight games to finish the year.

Maybe you schedule it Wed/Thurs before Labor Day, take 10 days off, play the weekend after Labor Day vs an FCS opponent, and save your bye for later. But right now we have SDSU there, followed by Texas.

I hate this plan. It's going to screw with the rest of the season.

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2016 is kind of transition year ... going to Australia hasn't been properly explained, especially with classes being missed at the start of a semester.
It could very well screw with both the Pac12 season and with academics, since so many courses are cumulative instruction, and how do you make up labs.

Son-of-California;842553458 said:

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I have been to Australia numerous times and have dozens of friends there...Every single person I know or have met from there wouldn't be caught dead drinking Foster's. They see it as complete p!ss, and only for tourists...not unlike what I think of Bud or Bud light, but I digress.

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The other stuff they have there is **** too. Victoria ugh...

again, not many folks care to think what the student athletes want. after all, they are the ones going and playing the game. If the players want it for bonding/team building and life experience, who are we to object.

GB54;842553422 said:

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If you want exposure play in Jerry World, South Bend, Baton Rouge, or Ann Arbor. Nobody will care about this.

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I would agree in isolation, but think about this: this will be the first game (by a long shot) of the season after 7.5 months of no football. I think it will get better viewership than you think.

so what if the Aussies don't care? is that the deciding factor? They didn't care when our bball team went there. Yes, we sold out the Hawks game, but that is only after the game was moved from a 5000-capacity arena to their old home (500 capacity) and it took almost right up to game day for it to sell out.

okaydo;842553427 said:

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+1

(Also, nobody in Australia will care about it, either. Or they will care about it as much as the British do every time the NFL plays a game at Wembley, which is not much.)

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NeverOddOrEven;842553550 said:

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I would agree in isolation, but think about this: this will be the first game (by a long shot) of the season after 7.5 months of no football. I think it will get better viewership than you think.

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Well on August 30, 2014 Penn State played UCF in Dublin Ireland. Do you recall that being a big deal? I confess I had to look it up. I think these games are viewed as exhibition games rather than the opening of the season

The only one that can really pull this off is Notre Dame( and to a lesser extent Boston College), both of whom use Dublin as a base. This makes sense for both their real and fake fans to work in a pilgrammage to the ould sod, but this is an appeal to a whole ethnic group. FYI, BC is opening against GaTech in Dublin next year.

I would go to Dublin in a heartbeat should the Fighting French deem us a worthy opponent.

My main objection to this is that because Australia is closer to Hawaii than Berkeley it is giving the Rainbow Warriors home field advantage. Plus people who live on islands tend to stick together. What's that you say? Australia is a continent? Well, whatever. It's island shaped so that's close enough. Basically we are doomed. Might as well play Baylor.

This idea is absolutely moronic. If anyone has any connections in the athletic dept they should voice their concerns to them.

If only Tosh were here to revive Cal tradition.

:rollinglaugh:

SFBear2012;842553693 said:

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This idea is absolutely moronic. If anyone has any connections in the athletic dept they should voice their concerns to them.

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Agree ... when has the "logic" of playing a pre-season game in Australia been "explained".
The jet-lag will be fierce which could really F-up the start of 2016, not to mention academics as classes will apparently have already started.
Is this an attempt by someone to F-up the APRs, especially for freshmen.

no offense, but what would you tell the players? how would you explain to them they cannot go? and how would you respond if they tell you the team wants to go for team building and bonding experience.

SonOfCalVa;842553718 said:

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Agree ... when has the "logic" of playing a pre-season game in Australia been "explained".
The jet-lag will be fierce which could really F-up the start of 2016, not to mention academics as classes will apparently have already started.
Is this an attempt by someone to F-up the APRs, especially for freshmen.

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SonOfCalVa;842553718 said:

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Agree ... when has the "logic" of playing a pre-season game in Australia been "explained".The jet-lag will be fierce which could really F-up the start of 2016, not to mention academics as classes will apparently have already started.Is this an attempt by someone to F-up the APRs, especially for freshmen.

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you guys are whining a ton about academics. However, we are talking the first week or maybe second week of classes. The athletes will have loads of time on their flights to do some reading, almost none of them will have labs, and the few that may would likely have labs that don't affect their grades at all. Also, I would be shocked if the athletic department didnt work something out with the professors to make up a lab if necessary. These kids are young and a long flight to Australia won't affect them as much as someone older. I don't like the idea if it means 12 games and canceling a home game from the season tickets again like Oregon, which screws the fans out of some cash, but as a 13th game to kick off the year, I have no problem with it. It might mean working out a waiver for a 13th game with the NCAA, but I would assume the Pac12 and NCAA would be all over this for the exposure.

BearBackerinLA;842553756 said:

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no offense, but what would you tell the players? how would you explain to them they cannot go? and how would you respond if they tell you the team wants to go for team building and bonding experience.

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how do you know players and coaches want this -- in the middle of classes? how do you know the deal is done and they've already told the players?

tequila4kapp;842553403 said:

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The guys on the guys on the team are supposed to be students too. And they are going to go to Australia at the beginning of a term??? This just seems like too much.

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Interestingly, there is a new class called Australian 101. Automatic A if you win a football game in Aussie land.

SFBear2012;842553693 said:

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This idea is absolutely moronic. If anyone has any connections in the athletic dept they should voice their concerns to them.

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We promised Goff's parents a trip to the Sidney Opera House if he stays his senior year. Mom jumped at the offer.

we are talking about a proposal here, not done deal. I am simply asking how we would explain the rationale of not going to the players if the players want to go.

BearBackerinLA;842553762 said:

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we are talking about a proposal here, not done deal. I am simply asking how we would explain the rationale of not going to the players if the players want to go.

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simple: couldn't agree on the terms. do you always give players what they want even if it doesn't make sense? i'd imagine college players would like to get paid like professionals. how do you explain the rationale of not pay them?

look, if a game in Australia is so attractive, why don't top programs like USC and Alabama do it? the answer is that it's not worth the headache for those schools. Cal needs the money and that's why it wants do it.

"couldn't agree on terms" is not the real reason. If that was the case, we would not even be having this discussion.

The issue of players getting paid is different. that is prohibited by NCAA rules. The denial of the trip is a discretionary decision.

Eeyore;842553764 said:

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simple: couldn't agree on the terms. do you always give players what they want even if it doesn't make sense? i'd imagine college players would like to get paid like professionals. how do you explain the rationale of not pay them?

look, if a game in Australia is so attractive, why don't top programs like USC and Alabama do it? the answer is that it's not worth the headache for those schools. Cal needs the money and that's why it wants do it.

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Eeyore;842553764 said:

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simple: couldn't agree on the terms. do you always give players what they want even if it doesn't make sense? i'd imagine college players would like to get paid like professionals. how do you explain the rationale of not pay them?

look, if a game in Australia is so attractive, why don't top programs like USC and Alabama do it? the answer is that it's not worth the headache for those schools. Cal needs the money and that's why it wants do it.

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Well, it also sounds like a pretty damn fun and life-changing experience for many or most of our football players. Also, it's a nice diversion for Cal fans who decide to make the trip out to Australia, too.

I don't think the summer trip to Australia hurt our men's basketball team.

All that stuff about jet lag? These are 18 - 21 year olds. They bounce back from that in a jiffy. People on this board need to remember what it was like to be young and healthy and invincible, lol.

GB54;842553564 said:

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Well on August 30, 2014 Penn State played UCF in Dublin Ireland. Do you recall that being a big deal? I confess I had to look it up. I think these games are viewed as exhibition games rather than the opening of the season

The only one that can really pull this off is Notre Dame( and to a lesser extent Boston College), both of whom use Dublin as a base. This makes sense for both their real and fake fans to work in a pilgrammage to the ould sod, but this is an appeal to a whole ethnic group. FYI, BC is opening against GaTech in Dublin next year.

I would go to Dublin in a heartbeat should the Fighting French deem us a worthy opponent.

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That game was not the first game of the season. It was on the first weekend with the rest of the games. And not really relevant, but I do remember watching (at least part of) that game and it being a close one.

BearBackerinLA;842553775 said:

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"couldn't agree on terms" is not the real reason. If that was the case, we would not even be having this discussion.

The issue of players getting paid is different. that is prohibited by NCAA rules. The denial of the trip is a discretionary decision.

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you answered your own question on rationale: "we are talking about a proposal here, not done deal".

if you are voicing your objection based simply on the impact on W-L record, I would like to hear how you would explain to the players. Something like ... "look, sorry guys but you cannot go. We think it is bad for our W-L record. We value W-L record more than team building and player bonding/development. And we don't think your body can handle the travel anyway."

Eeyore;842553779 said:

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you answered your own question on rationale: "we are talking about a proposal here, not done deal".

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jaccpot10;842553777 said:

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I don't think the summer trip to Australia hurt our men's basketball team.

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Don't think you can compare to mens' BB situation. First, that was before classes started. Second, when they came back, they didn't a regular reason in 2 weeks.

BearBackerinLA;842553775 said:

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"couldn't agree on terms" is not the real reason. If that was the case, we would not even be having this discussion.

The issue of players getting paid is different. that is prohibited by NCAA rules. The denial of the trip is a discretionary decision.

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As far as I'm concerned, I'd leave it up to the coaches and players. The academics can be managed, and I think people who have probably gotten a lot of opportunities to travel forget what a tremendous opportunity this is for the players. If it were my kid, I'd be in favor.

according to your logic, you should wait until it is a done deal to object to the trip.

Eeyore;842553779 said:

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you answered your own question on rationale: "we are talking about a proposal here, not done deal".

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I never said it was bad for W-L (check my prior posts). I distinctly remember Sandy and Teford being fired for poor academics. So how do you explain being focused on academics while taking one week off from class and being unproductive in the first week back due to jet-lag? If you think guys easily can handle 30 hour round trip flight + 17 hour difference, you have not really traveled. As I said in my prior posts, this is pure money grab for a cash-strapped athletic department. It's not about bonding/vacation for student-athletes. If you ask coaches, I don't think they want to do this.

BearBackerinLA;842553800 said:

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according to your logic, you should wait until it is a done deal to object to the trip.

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Nope, if you disagree, you voice them now to the AD before the deal is done.

Eeyore;842553795 said:

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Don't think you can compare to mens' BB situation. First, that was before classes started. Second, when they came back, they didn't a regular reason in 2 weeks.

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Everyone seems so concerned about classroom attendance.

Did everyone really have perfect attendance while in college? I sure didn't. In fact, I probably had less than 50% attendance for almost all my classes at Cal, and I did fine.

Classes are a red herring.

all I am asking is let the players have a voice. I would think most of them would want the life experience of a trip like this to see the world and broaden their horizons. You can make a case this would be part of their learning experience. Just ask the BB team. And as other posters have pointed out, there are ways for players in travel to stay on top of their classroom workload. aren't there traveling tutors when teams are away in the tournament, for example? And as for the physical toll, it did not seem to affect the BB players by way of comparison. The BB team went 3-1 and won their first game barely 24 hrs after getting off the plane in Australia. And they lost their last game against the Hawks not because of fatigue but foul problems.

If the players don't want this, then I have no problem of not going. I just want them to have a say on this as they are arguably the key stakeholder on this proposal of the trip to Australia. And please don't compare this to the issue of paying them. That is against the rules and this is a discretionary decision to grant or deny them of a trip.

Eeyore;842553802 said:

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I never said it was bad for W-L (check my prior posts). I distinctly remember Sandy and Teford being fired for poor academics. So how do you explain being focused on academics while taking one week off from class and being unproductive in the first week back due to jet-lag? If you think guys easily can handle 30 hour round trip flight + 17 hour difference, you have not really traveled. As I said in my prior posts, this is pure money grab for a cash-strapped athletic department. It's not about bonding/vacation for student-athletes. If you ask coaches, I don't think they want to do this.

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jaccpot10;842553777 said:

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Well, it also sounds like a pretty damn fun and life-changing experience for many or most of our football players. Also, it's a nice diversion for Cal fans who decide to make the trip out to Australia, too.

I don't think the summer trip to Australia hurt our men's basketball team.

All that stuff about jet lag? These are 18 - 21 year olds. They bounce back from that in a jiffy. People on this board need to remember what it was like to be young and healthy and invincible, lol.

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I mostly agree with this. College isn't just about taking classes; this is a great opportunity for the students to travel and go abroad. Team building is just a bonus.
Travelling across the world on a plane and complaining about jet lag? seriously? I was lucky and got to take trips during winter break in college and flew back the day before. Yeah..i was tired at the start of class...but I got to travel abroad!

If the kids WANT to do this, I say we ok it. They can have set study times while abroad to keep up with their class work.

Arguing that hawaii will have home field advantage? Have you seen how shitty of a team they are recently? And neither team will have significant home field. Australians are more likely to just complain about how we don't know how to tackle properly than they are to cheer for any of us.

and honestly, i just want to be selfish and go see our Bears play in Australia myself.