GMP said:
JSC 76 said:
The video appeared in my Facebook feed, so I don't know what the problem was here.
It sounds like Starkey's voice, saying the Bears and Huskies have played every year since 1916. Not true...we missed them in 1978, 1980, 1983, 1987, 1995, 1996. That's why we had a 19-game losing streak that lasted 25 years (1977-2001).
Yes, it was Starkey, yes I knew that was wrong, too.
I suspect that this was in the game notes for the media (can't guess if it was put out by Cal or UW), because the broadcasters on FS1 said something similar during the pre-lightning delay portion of the game, except they said that Bears and Huskies were the ONLY Pac-12 conference teams that had played every year since 1916.
My wife said, "Really? Not Cal and Stanford?" I was already puzzled. I had a full blown seizure 8 hours earlier and was still suffering some post-seizure confusion, so I was not 100% sure I was right in instantly thinking the announcers had to be wrong. It took me a few seconds to pull it out of my head, and I told my wife, "It isn't true, because there was a lengthy period when the Pac-10 played a 7-8 and then 8 game schedule, and in maybe a half dozen years, Cal didn't play UW. During the Pac-10 years, for each of the conference teams except Spoiled Children, Lower Achievers, and the Junior University, there were seasons in which we didn't play them. I'm also pretty sure UW was missed during at least one WWII year. As for Stanford, I'm pretty sure they missed during some war years, too."
Unlike the FS1 broadcasters, Starkey was the Bears announcer during all of those Pac-10 years, and you'd think he could at least be aware that the Bears hadn't played UW every year. UCLA, USC, and Stanford are the only schools that Cal played every year during the Pac-10 years. Starkey should know that.
I expect the FS1 guys to assume the facts in the media notes are true and not have the knowledge to know this "fact" was wrong, but I wish our play-by-play announcer of 45 years had enough awareness to instantly know we have not played UW every year since 1976, not just 1916. I know Starkey's old and his brain doesn't work as well as it used to, but even with lingering post-seizure confusion, I still felt as soon as I heard the FS1 guys that they were wrong, and only needed a few seconds to remember why. If Starkey's brain is worse than my brain was 8 hours post-seizure, it is time to go.