Sort of obnoxious to start a new thread JUST for my thoughts... but eh... it's what it is...
I stick this on facebook with photos so you can see more there https://www.facebook.com/montgomeryken/posts/10156067487102835
But here you go.
Just my traditional Sunday morning thoughts after the Big Game. The Big Game is such a great college tradition, actually such a great Bay Area tradition and it deserves the robust support and passion it got last night. More on that below. (and to my Stanford friends please keep reading).
Now listen, I'm sort of getting tired of the "I'm proud of this team in loss" thing, but you know what, I AM PROUD OF THIS TEAM, it's not just after last night's 3 point loss to Stanford, just for what they've done on and off the field. Rome wasn't built in a day and we're turning this thing around. Think about this; the 5th year seniors on the team, people like James Looney, Ray Davison, JD Hinnant, Tony Mekari, Matt ANderson, Darius Allensworth, Ray HUdson, COMMITTED to Cal after a 3-9 year (Tedford's last). The fourth-year seniors on this team like, Noah Westerfield, Vic Enwere, Tre Watson, Luke Rubenzer, Devante Downs, all COMMITTED to Cal after a 1-11 season.
They were also committing to Cal when there was a very real threat we could face sanctions academically. Back then we were dead last in the Pac12 in APR (measurement of players' progress towards their degree) and one of the worst in the country. It was, frankly, embarrassing. Today we are the best in the PAC12! Think about with all that was going on what it took for these guys to commit to Cal. And these are good guys. These are people you can feel good about representing Cal. I have the advantage of being friends with some of them and seeing them on campus every day, including at their 8AM classes on a Friday Seeing them in management classes at Haas and programming class in CS. Seeing them studying in the library after practice at night. You get the idea. And just representing Cal so great. We all - all of us - owe them a thank you, a beer, a pat on the back and our sincere gratitude for being such reprsentatives of this great university.
As for the game, it was heartening to see such a great Cal turn out (despite the losing streak to Stanford). God bless us, we still show up, proudly wearing the blue and gold, and in particular the students who came out in such force. And as every year, it was great seeing so many friends (wearing blue and gold and, yes, red and white), both new - lots of current classmates - and great old friends like my old college housemate (first stint) Andy Sugarman who when he was 18 looked 60, so nice to see him finally looking his age in his 40s! My buddy Amit who i had classics classes with who flew in from New York for the game and everybody else it was so nice for me to see.
And I would be remiss if I didn't congratulate my many Stanford friends. It may hurt to admit this, but they've built an amazing almost decade long run down on The Farm. We need to - and are laying the foundation to - do that in Berkeley. In particular a special thank you to Lauren, Tom and Betsy, for once again inviting me to their awesome tailgate. It was great running into Chris Preimesberge and his family... That get together is what the Big Game, in fact life, is all about; friends coming together to have fun, passionately root for their team, but at the end of the day celebrating the deep friendships. It's pretty frickin' special.
OK, we have one more conference game left against UC Los Angeles. Let's go out their, trounce them, and get that 6th win and head to a bowl game!!
As always, Fiat Lux and GO BEARS!!!
(me fat and excited, as always, well at least the excited part)
I stick this on facebook with photos so you can see more there https://www.facebook.com/montgomeryken/posts/10156067487102835
But here you go.
Just my traditional Sunday morning thoughts after the Big Game. The Big Game is such a great college tradition, actually such a great Bay Area tradition and it deserves the robust support and passion it got last night. More on that below. (and to my Stanford friends please keep reading).
Now listen, I'm sort of getting tired of the "I'm proud of this team in loss" thing, but you know what, I AM PROUD OF THIS TEAM, it's not just after last night's 3 point loss to Stanford, just for what they've done on and off the field. Rome wasn't built in a day and we're turning this thing around. Think about this; the 5th year seniors on the team, people like James Looney, Ray Davison, JD Hinnant, Tony Mekari, Matt ANderson, Darius Allensworth, Ray HUdson, COMMITTED to Cal after a 3-9 year (Tedford's last). The fourth-year seniors on this team like, Noah Westerfield, Vic Enwere, Tre Watson, Luke Rubenzer, Devante Downs, all COMMITTED to Cal after a 1-11 season.
They were also committing to Cal when there was a very real threat we could face sanctions academically. Back then we were dead last in the Pac12 in APR (measurement of players' progress towards their degree) and one of the worst in the country. It was, frankly, embarrassing. Today we are the best in the PAC12! Think about with all that was going on what it took for these guys to commit to Cal. And these are good guys. These are people you can feel good about representing Cal. I have the advantage of being friends with some of them and seeing them on campus every day, including at their 8AM classes on a Friday Seeing them in management classes at Haas and programming class in CS. Seeing them studying in the library after practice at night. You get the idea. And just representing Cal so great. We all - all of us - owe them a thank you, a beer, a pat on the back and our sincere gratitude for being such reprsentatives of this great university.
As for the game, it was heartening to see such a great Cal turn out (despite the losing streak to Stanford). God bless us, we still show up, proudly wearing the blue and gold, and in particular the students who came out in such force. And as every year, it was great seeing so many friends (wearing blue and gold and, yes, red and white), both new - lots of current classmates - and great old friends like my old college housemate (first stint) Andy Sugarman who when he was 18 looked 60, so nice to see him finally looking his age in his 40s! My buddy Amit who i had classics classes with who flew in from New York for the game and everybody else it was so nice for me to see.
And I would be remiss if I didn't congratulate my many Stanford friends. It may hurt to admit this, but they've built an amazing almost decade long run down on The Farm. We need to - and are laying the foundation to - do that in Berkeley. In particular a special thank you to Lauren, Tom and Betsy, for once again inviting me to their awesome tailgate. It was great running into Chris Preimesberge and his family... That get together is what the Big Game, in fact life, is all about; friends coming together to have fun, passionately root for their team, but at the end of the day celebrating the deep friendships. It's pretty frickin' special.
OK, we have one more conference game left against UC Los Angeles. Let's go out their, trounce them, and get that 6th win and head to a bowl game!!
As always, Fiat Lux and GO BEARS!!!
(me fat and excited, as always, well at least the excited part)
