Random Observations from BYU Game (mostly not game related)

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Sebastabear
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Enjoyed the trip out to BYU immensely. A few observations.

Pre-game.

1. Wandered the streets of Provo Friday night. This is an unusual place. Saw a place calling itself a "dry comedy club." Pretty sure that wasn't referring to the brand of humor. It was six tables and a stage in a room the size of a small kitchen. Basically Dante's sixth circle of hell.

Lots of people on dates which seems to involve walking around the outside of the Temple eating ice cream (which was really, really excellent by the way. Highly recommend it). Place was mobbed.



Yes, this picture is from the day time. Yes that means we went back again the next day. Don't judge me.

3. Also saw a dance club lit up like a rave with a bar exclusively stocked with bottles of water. Come to think of it, it was exactly like a rave. . . but without the ecstasy. Oh and the music was time warped in from 25 years ago.

4. On Saturday we were hard pressed for things to do. We finally wound up on Main Street in a virtual reality club. I flew around a city putting out virtual fires with my virtual fire hose. It all seemed like great fun until I realized I was put in the simulation reserved for very small children. My boy apparently got to fight space aliens or something.







Sebastabear
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4. Wilcox's secret weapon seems to be having the guys walk around the parking garages for hours before the game. Don't tell the opposing teams as they might try to steal this from us.



5. They actually divided up in to offense and defense inside the garage after wandering around outside it for a while. I would have stayed to try to figure out what was happening, but that ice cream wasn't going to eat itself . . .



Ok, getting late. Will have to do what happened inside the stadium tomorrow.
B.A. Bearacus
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Keep 'er coming, Sebastabear. As usual, I enjoy your tidbits.
NYCGOBEARS
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Sebasta, love your recaps!
MilleniaBear
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Some other completely random observations from Provo-

  • Big, giant lake - no boats on a beautiful day
  • Drizzled for about 10 minutes during the afternoon and felt muggy briefly
  • Lots of jogging coeds saturday morning
  • Several pregnant coeds (rarely see that on Berkeley campus)
  • Lots of families at the game - 3, 4 kids per family
  • Utah is booming - construction everywhere
  • Most everybody was pleasant
  • Outdoor concert on campus Friday night - not far from the ABG bar which was small
  • The free ice cream at game n SebastaBears comments make me think ice cream is a thing in Provo


wifeisafurd
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As someone who lives in Park City part-time, I can't even being to tell you how different Provo is than the Salt Lake valley. Even LDS people make jokes. That doesn't mean to judge, but it is like going back to the 50's where you went out on a date to a soda bar and everyone is polite.

Went to a game with the team to a school which is in a somewhat isolated location, and a night game (visiting night games really suck for student athletes by the way). Wilcox had the players practicing formations in the parking lot, just to keep them busy and out of trouble. Nothing else to do.Walking through parking lots is a new one. Maybe part of the new QB strategy?

Edit: btw, Sebasterpool, enjoy the humor.
wifeisafurd
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One note on construction. It is booming and a lot of its due to Bay tech companies expanding in the Silicon Slopes area (Thanksgiving point), which is between the Provo and Salt Lake Valleys. So the demographics of particularly the Salt Lake area are changing.
YamhillBear
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OldenBear
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Been to SLC/Provo/Ogden/Orem a lot, for business reasons. It always strikes me as a different planet - very very close to Earth, but there's something there that's just a little bit 'off'. Creepy, almost. Yeah, Stepford or Pleasantville kinda touches that. I wouldn't be surprised if, at some point, a big siren when off in any of those cities, and every resident turned, and marched into a Temple with their eyes wide open, not blinking, and glazed over.

Sebasta, way to rep the shirt (by the way)!
Sebastabear
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Ok, here are some from inside the stadium.

5. Place was pretty packed. Crowd was loud and engaged (at least through the first half). I was wondering if any of our starters had ever played in front of a larger crowd for an OOC game? Maybe Addison Ooms played in Texas? Anyway, the team handled the environment very well. Maybe there's something to that parking lot thing?

6. Level of clothing coordination for their fans was unbelievable. There couldn't have been more than 10 people in there not wearing white (excluding the Cal fans of course). It made our effort at a white out a few years back look . . . uh . . . "somewhat less successful." But as a practice tip for our friends in Provo: If you have the whitest fan base in the world, don't host a whiteout unless you want to look like you are sponsoring a Klan rally. Not a good look.

7. Not the largest Cal fan attendance but we were pretty loud given our numbers. They did one of those "sliver configuration" things, so our section was very long (basically from the field to the rim of the stadium) but very narrow. Seems like a good way to break up the visiting fan energy, but didn't really work out for them in our case.

8. BYU had a t-shirt gattling gun. We absolutely need one of these. Talked to Knowlton about it. He didn't exactly say "no". What could possibly go wrong?

Sebastabear
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9. New rule. Anyone complaining about piped in music at Cal is required to attend a minimum of three away games to see how bad this is across the rest of CFB. Does BYU have a band? Do they know how to play? I honestly couldn't tell you. But I do know that they served up a continuous stream of horrible rap music (including from someone called "the Mormon rapper") at ear piercing volume. Yea gods.

Actually the point about their band isn't entirely true since they did come out at halftime and play what was probably the least soulful version of R-E-S-P-E-C-T I've ever heard. It was like the Muzak that Muzak listens to when it goes out shopping.

Here's a shot of that show. May be hard to see, but their flag girls not only wore knee length dresses but pants as well underneath those dresses. Dorothy, we aren't in Kansas any more (actually maybe this is exactly what is happening in Kansas . .

[img][?1[/img]



wifeisafurd
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Sebastabear said:

9. New rule. Anyone complaining about piped in music at Cal is required to attend a minimum of three away games to see how bad this is across the rest of CFB. Does BYU have a band? Do they know how to play? I honestly couldn't tell you. But I do know that they served up a continuous stream of horrible rap music (including from someone called "the Mormon rapper") at ear piercing volume. Yea gods.

Actually the point about their band isn't entirely true since they did come out at halftime and play what was probably the least soulful version of R-E-S-P-E-C-T I've ever heard. It was like the Muzak that Muzak listens to when it goes out shopping.

Here's a shot of that show. May be hard to see, but their flag girls not only wore knee length dresses but pants as well underneath those dresses. Dorothy, we aren't in Kansas any more (actually maybe this is exactly what is happening in Kansas . .

[img][?1[/img]




You are so dead on with the piped music.
Sebastabear
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10. Speaking of piped in noise, BYU does some horrible piped in cougar growl every time they get a first down. Like a more annoying (or at least equally annoying) version of the Oregon State chainsaw. I was willing to kiss the feet of our defense for not letting them play it basically for the entire second half. I know all teams have their traditions but having your fans say "first down" every time you make a first down is just stupid.

11. How in the world do they get their students to attend games in those numbers? Was beyond impressive. They stayed until the bitter end as well. I guess if you take drinking and premarital sex totally off the table college football looks pretty good compared to other activities. They also did some cool thing where they unfurled flags over the student sections who would undulate them in waves. Looked great.

12. Sat next to the BYU coaches booth up in the press box for a while. The amount of screaming coming out of there in the second half was awesome. No angel song could have sounded sweeter to my ears.

13. Insanely bad guy running the scoreboard. Didn't start the clock on several BYU plays (coincidentally when they were running out of time). Almost never got down and distance right. At one point had the quarter, the down, the distance and the time all wrong simultaneously. If he'd had the score wrong it would have been a clean sweep"


socaliganbear
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Yes on the music. Every other stadium I've gone to is sooooo much worse.
KenBurnski
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Muzak that muzak listens to at the grocery store is absolute gold. Thanks for the trip reports.
Sebastabear
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14. Striking a pose? Is that a penalty? Are we going to get flags for "Being Simply too Fabulous" next?

Sebastabear
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and lastly a few tidbits on the post game / aftermath.

15. Apparently Wilcox's speech to the players after the game was "Well our offense needs work, our defense needs work, our special teams need work . . . and were 2-0." Players loved it.

16. Team flew home on the same charter plane that took CU back from Lincoln earlier in the the day. That plane had a very good day. We should lock it in for all future away games.

17. Chancellor Christ was very pumped. Sent Knowlton several texts after we won - the first one of which was "Woohoo!!" I guess her TV broke right before kickoff so she got in her car and drove to a bar to watch the game. When was he last time we had a Chancellor who would do that?

All in all, a great trip. Go Bears!

Big C
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Sebastabear said:

and lastly a few tidbits on the post game / aftermath.

15. Apparently Wilcox's speech to the players after the game was "Well our offense needs work, our defense needs work, our special teams need work . . . and were 2-0." Players loved it.

16. Team flew home on the same charter plane that took CU back from Lincoln earlier in the the day. That plane had a very good day. We should lock it in for all future away games.

17. Chancellor Christ was very pumped. Sent Knowlton several texts after we won - the first one of which was "Woohoo!!" I guess her TV broke right before kickoff so she got in her car and drove to a bar to watch the game. When was he last time we had a Chancellor who would do that?

All in all, a great trip. Go Bears!


Actually, Chancellor Tien TOLD me he did just that... three different times. By the second time, I figured he was making it up and probably didn't remember having any interaction with me, ever before.

It might be a little trick they pick up at Chancellor Training, although, with Christ, I'll definitely give her the benefit of the doubt.
Sebastabear
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KenBurnski said:

Muzak that muzak listens to at the grocery store is absolute gold. Thanks for the trip reports.
Very much my pleasure. Thanks to you and others for the kind words. Go Bears!
Sebastabear
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Big C said:

Sebastabear said:

and lastly a few tidbits on the post game / aftermath.

15. Apparently Wilcox's speech to the players after the game was "Well our offense needs work, our defense needs work, our special teams need work . . . and were 2-0." Players loved it.

16. Team flew home on the same charter plane that took CU back from Lincoln earlier in the the day. That plane had a very good day. We should lock it in for all future away games.

17. Chancellor Christ was very pumped. Sent Knowlton several texts after we won - the first one of which was "Woohoo!!" I guess her TV broke right before kickoff so she got in her car and drove to a bar to watch the game. When was he last time we had a Chancellor who would do that?

All in all, a great trip. Go Bears!


Actually, Chancellor Tien TOLD me he did just that... three different times. By the second time, I figured he was making it up and probably didn't remember having any interaction with me, ever before.

It might be a little trick they pick up at Chancellor Training, although, with Christ, I'll definitely give her the benefit of the doubt.
Ha. That's funny. Although Christ called herself an "old lady" in the texts, which I'm guessing Tien didn't do.
FuzzyWuzzy
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Sebastabear said:

and lastly a few tidbits on the post game / aftermath.

15. Apparently Wilcox's speech to the players after the game was "Well our offense needs work, our defense needs work, our special teams need work . . . and were 2-0." Players loved it.

16. Team flew home on the same charter plane that took CU back from Lincoln earlier in the the day. That plane had a very good day. We should lock it in for all future away games.

17. Chancellor Christ was very pumped. Sent Knowlton several texts after we won - the first one of which was "Woohoo!!" I guess her TV broke right before kickoff so she got in her car and drove to a bar to watch the game. When was he last time we had a Chancellor who would do that?

All in all, a great trip. Go Bears!


I hope they cleaned out the buff poop before we boarded.
wifeisafurd
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Sebastabear said:



13. Insanely bad guy running the scoreboard. Didn't start the clock on several BYU plays (coincidentally when they were running out of time). Almost never got down and distance right. At one point had the quarter, the down, the distance and the time all wrong simultaneously. If he'd had the score wrong it would have been a clean sweep"



Thanks Just showed this to the wife. Was watching the game in a Santa Clara hotel and the wife threatened to banish me from the room if I didn't stop yelling at the TV about the clock. For example, how do you have an on-sde kick where the ball hits the ground and no time elapses?
Sebastabear
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wifeisafurd said:

Sebastabear said:



13. Insanely bad guy running the scoreboard. Didn't start the clock on several BYU plays (coincidentally when they were running out of time). Almost never got down and distance right. At one point had the quarter, the down, the distance and the time all wrong simultaneously. If he'd had the score wrong it would have been a clean sweep"



Thanks Just showed this to the wife. Was watching the game in a Santa Clara hotel and the wife threatened to banish me from the room if I didn't stop yelling at the TV about the clock. For example, how do you have an on-sde kick where the ball hits the ground and no time elapses?
That was crazy. We were going nuts at the end of the game.
GMP
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wifeisafurd said:

Sebastabear said:



13. Insanely bad guy running the scoreboard. Didn't start the clock on several BYU plays (coincidentally when they were running out of time). Almost never got down and distance right. At one point had the quarter, the down, the distance and the time all wrong simultaneously. If he'd had the score wrong it would have been a clean sweep"



Thanks Just showed this to the wife. Was watching the game in a Santa Clara hotel and the wife threatened to banish me from the room if I didn't stop yelling at the TV about the clock. For example, how do you have an on-sde kick where the ball hits the ground and no time elapses?
I could be wrong, but I believe that is the rule. Clock doesn't start until it touches a player, not the ground. As I said, I could be wrong, but that's my understanding.
run2win
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Correct. Clock starts after a player touches the ball.
joeroth12.com
X: @calgridiron
Facebook: California Gridiron
Sebastabear
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I'm thinking of a few plays earlier in the game when BYU snapped the ball and literally the clock never started. Have to go back and look at the tape.
ducky23
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I agree with the observations already shared in this thread. I'll just quickly add my $.02

- they get to the stadium crazy early. the students especially get there nearly two hours (!!!!) before the game. its a crazy sight to see this huge stream of students heading down the hill to the stadium.

- the setting is gorgeous, with the mountains in the background. the campus is just ok, fairly sterile, kinda like a huge (but very clean) commuter school. architecture has no real character.

- a little surprised how depressed downtown provo is. a lot of vacancies and for lease signs. lots of low end retail, fast food joints, etc. not a lot of development.

- also surprised how little activity there is in downtown, especially on the day of the game. its pretty much dead downtown. i feel like most people just drive into the stadium and then drive straight out.

- not a lot of food options. we walked downtown, saw some japanese place (raw fish in provo? no thanks), some pho place (lol), some pizza joint, and that's really it. ended up eating at the team hotel at the marriott

- the gameday experience was very pleasant. byu probably has the least intimidating fans I have ever seen. while driving past this huge mob of byu students making their way to the game, my jacka$$ friend gave a huge "go bears!" and that was just met with very polite smiles and waves. just bizarre

- crowd noise was good, but not great (considering how many students there were). its certainly not close to autzen or UW, more in line with WSU when its full. not a lot of coordinated cheering, or traditions. and anyone who complains about the abilities of our band do not get out enough to see other school's bands

- listened to the byu postgame show on our drive straight to vegas. the show went until 2am (impressive). the postgame guys admitted that they took Cal way too lightly and that Cal simply didn't look that good against UNC so they expected a somewhat comfortable win. they said they were especially surprised with the athleticism and physicality of the defense. were shocked that they were getting out-physicalled by some kids from California. postgame guys also implied that the BYU team and coaches may have overlooked Cal as well, and were looking ahead to wisconsin. despite some super homer takes, the byu postgame show was solid and actually talked about the game, unlike another postgame show we are more familiar with

overall a very pleasant gameday experience (ice cream definitely helped). i'd just advise not staying more than a couple hours in provo if you don't have to .
GMP
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ducky23 said:

I agree with the observations already shared in this thread. I'll just quickly add my $.02

- they get to the stadium crazy early. the students especially get there nearly two hours (!!!!) before the game. its a crazy sight to see this huge stream of students heading down the hill to the stadium.

- the setting is gorgeous, with the mountains in the background. the campus is just ok, fairly sterile, kinda like a huge (but very clean) commuter school. architecture has no real character.

- a little surprised how depressed downtown provo is. a lot of vacancies and for lease signs. lots of low end retail, fast food joints, etc. not a lot of development.

- also surprised how little activity there is in downtown, especially on the day of the game. its pretty much dead downtown. i feel like most people just drive into the stadium and then drive straight out.

- not a lot of food options. we walked downtown, saw some japanese place (raw fish in provo? no thanks), some pho place (lol), some pizza joint, and that's really it. ended up eating at the team hotel at the marriott

- the gameday experience was very pleasant. byu probably has the least intimidating fans I have ever seen. while driving past this huge mob of byu students making their way to the game, my jacka$$ friend gave a huge "go bears!" and that was just met with very polite smiles and waves. just bizarre

- crowd noise was good, but not great (considering how many students there were). its certainly not close to autzen or UW, more in line with WSU when its full. not a lot of coordinated cheering, or traditions. and anyone who complains about the abilities of our band do not get out enough to see other school's bands

- listened to the byu postgame show on our drive straight to vegas. the show went until 2am (impressive). the postgame guys admitted that they took Cal way too lightly and that Cal simply didn't look that good against UNC so they expected a somewhat comfortable win. they said they were especially surprised with the athleticism and physicality of the defense. were shocked that they were getting out-physicalled by some kids from California. postgame guys also implied that the BYU team and coaches may have overlooked Cal as well, and were looking ahead to wisconsin. despite some super homer takes, the byu postgame show was solid and actually talked about the game, unlike another postgame show we are more familiar with

overall a very pleasant gameday experience (ice cream definitely helped). i'd just advise not staying more than a couple hours in provo if you don't have to .

Did they only watch the last ten minutes of the UNC game? The Heels had ONE first down the entire first half.
Sebastabear
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I hope teams spend all season overlooking us. Was pretty clear reading the BYU board their fans at least thought this was going to be an easy win for them.
Strykur
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Sebastabear said:

I hope teams spend all season overlooking us. Was pretty clear reading the BYU board their fans at least thought this was going to be an easy win for them.
We weren't exactly pumping sunshine either.
Sebastabear
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Strykur said:

Sebastabear said:

I hope teams spend all season overlooking us. Was pretty clear reading the BYU board their fans at least thought this was going to be an easy win for them.
We weren't exactly pumping sunshine either.
Correct. This dynamic is perfect (and I don't think unrelated). Other teams are confident they'll easily win and we believe we will struggle. Let's fool everyone as long as possible.
FuzzyWuzzy
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Sebastabear said:

I'm thinking of a few plays earlier in the game when BYU snapped the ball and literally the clock never started. Have to go back and look at the tape.
This clearly happened.

During away games we need a kid who is assigned to just look at clock operation to make sure we don't get screwed, at which point he can say something to an asst. coach in the booth. I think the ref has the power to correct clock shenanigans and honest mistakes if they are pointed out quickly enough. Same for BB away games. Gotta keep them honest!
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