Three comments on yesterday's game.

Why do I continue to go to Cal games and not watch them on the big screen at home? Games like yesterday, where circumstances made tens of thousands of people, myself included, share in being ridiculously happy together, is why. TV is great, but to duplicate that feeling at home is not doable.

I sat in Section 236. I didn't see an elevator. The steps on the stairways up to the seats are ludicrously long. Everyone going to their seats were commenting on how strenuous they were. It then dawned on me why the fan numbers for this stadium are so low. At our stadium our fan base has a large percentage who are middle age or older. I would presume furd fans are similar percentage wise (just fewer of course). Furd stadium is the least Senior friendly place ever. As mentioned before, the stairs are awful and a bit scary. The restrooms are new, but small compared to CMS. The lines for the restrooms (Men's too) were terrible. Bad restroom facilities, scary stairs, and bad food makes staying home the easy choice in Palo Alto.

The Cal Band made the furd band look pathetic and stupid.

Not to mention, once you get to your seats, the "non-college football" vibe. You could replace the 20,000 Stanfurd fans with 35,000 "real" college football fans and the vibe would still be lacking, just because of the stadium design. Weak.

PRD74 said:

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I sat in Section 236. I didn't see an elevator. The steps on the stairways up to the seats are ludicrously long. Everyone going to their seats were commenting on how strenuous they were. It then dawned on me why the fan numbers for this stadium are so low. At our stadium our fan base has a large percentage who are middle age or older. I would presume furd fans are similar percentage wise (just fewer of course). Furd stadium is the least Senior friendly place ever. As mentioned before, the stairs are awful and a bit scary. The restrooms are new, but small compared to CMS. The lines for the restrooms (Men's too) were terrible. Bad restroom facilities, scary stairs, and bad food makes staying home the easy choice in Palo Alto.

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On that topic, people are saying the Warriors' new Chase Center in SF has the steepest stairs and upper decks anyone's ever seen - so furd may not be the worst Bay Area venue on that particular point.

If that's true, it seems to be part of a trend in which brand-new sports arenas are only an improvement for the big-money crowd and are the same (or worse) for everyone else.

As a big guy I was very uncomfortable sitting in section 235. I had to try to fold my legs under my seat. I vaguely remembered that there is litigation about airline passengers suffering injuries due to lack of leg room in coach. It crossed my mind that maybe I should sue...

I plan to turn 70 in June. (If God has a conflicting plan He hasn't let me know yet.) I weigh over 350 lbs. I was able to walk up these steps. I live in the Santa Cruz Mountains where there is very little flat land and you can legally discharge a firearm. If you had trouble negotiating those steps I suggest that you practice on my driveway. It will do you a world of good. There is a refrigerator full of beer waiting for you at the top and a nice deck to sit on and enjoy the forest.

510 Bear said:

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PRD74 said:

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I sat in Section 236. I didn't see an elevator. The steps on the stairways up to the seats are ludicrously long. Everyone going to their seats were commenting on how strenuous they were. It then dawned on me why the fan numbers for this stadium are so low. At our stadium our fan base has a large percentage who are middle age or older. I would presume furd fans are similar percentage wise (just fewer of course). Furd stadium is the least Senior friendly place ever. As mentioned before, the stairs are awful and a bit scary. The restrooms are new, but small compared to CMS. The lines for the restrooms (Men's too) were terrible. Bad restroom facilities, scary stairs, and bad food makes staying home the easy choice in Palo Alto.

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On that topic, people are saying the Warriors' new Chase Center in SF has the steepest stairs and upper decks anyone's ever seen - so furd may not be the worst Bay Area venue on that particular point.

If that's true, it seems to be part of a trend in which brand-new sports arenas are only an improvement for the big-money crowd and are the same (or worse) for everyone else.

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Some of the old geezers at The Who Concert were really struggling walking up the stairs from floor level to take their repeated leaks.

Does anyone remember the outside stairways at the old furd stadium. That thing was steep and long as hell.

I remember a fairly respectable stairway at the north end of Memorial outside the fence.

ducky23 said:

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Does anyone remember the outside stairways at the old furd stadium. That thing was steep and long as hell.

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Those are the steps I was commenting on. CMS is a joy compared to this rush job.

Beating Stanfurd made this season a success IMO. I doubt a Rose Bowl victory would make me as happy as I was yesterday.

ducky23 said:

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Does anyone remember the outside stairways at the old furd stadium. That thing was steep and long as hell.

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... and wooden ..... and creaky ..... and crowded. Once you got into the 'mezzanine', it was cramped. I always wondered what would have happened had a fire broken out.

PRD74 said:

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As mentioned before, the stairs are awful and a bit scary. The restrooms are new, but small compared to CMS. The lines for the restrooms (Men's too) were terrible. Bad restroom facilities, scary stairs, and bad food makes staying home the easy choice in Palo Alto.

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They absolutely built the place on the cheap. With the two deck design sharing one concourse, the amenities are just jammed up. They actually kept the old bathrooms from the old stanford stadium in those little house like things by the entrance gates. I'd bet that was done to meet code, but keep enclosed space in the actually stadium to a bare minimum. I haven't been in a while, but I do remember seeing absolutely packed restrooms 'in stadium' under the stands in 2011, and then heading outside traversing a not so short distance to use the restroom huts with no lines. It was also raining heavily that evening and there were just tons of people hanging out in the concourse to keep dry.

ducky23 said:

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Does anyone remember the outside stairways at the old furd stadium. That thing was steep and long as hell.

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The current outside stairways at Circus Minimus are actually in the locations of the old stairways, only vastly improved and slightly shorter. When daddy warbucks Arrillaga was spearheading the 11-month rush job to build the current band box, they elected to leave the massive earthen berm in place that was the support structure for the old Stanford Stadium.

My issue with the current stadium is it's outright sterility and soullessness. The old Stanford Stadium was an awful venue in terms of sight lines, slope of the stands, distance from the field, walkways so narrow and congested that they made old Memorial's pre-renovation walkways look like boulevards, and access and egress issues created by the Stanford engineering genius that decided to have the entry portals located at Row 72. Not to mention the bleachers were built directly on top of the dirt berm, so heaven help you if your keys slid out of your pocket as you sat on the bench, sliding all the way down the corrugated metal understructure below the seats. Restrooms were non-existent, so generations of fans watered the shrubs growing on the earthen embankment for decades on end.

Old Stanford Stadium was a terrible stadium, but it had more character than this reincarnation. I know Memorial's rebuild cost more than 3X as much as Stanford's 11-month, around-the-clock rush job, but you feel like you are in an historic stadium when you're in Memorial, whereas you feel like you're at some miniature version of a faceless, soulless NFL stadium when you're at Circus Minimus.

510 Bear said:

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On that topic, people are saying the Warriors' new Chase Center in SF has the steepest stairs and upper decks anyone's ever seen - so furd may not be the worst Bay Area venue on that particular point.

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I won't be visiting the Chase Center any time soon, but I'll say that the 3rd deck at Levi's Stadium is kind of scary steep. If you have any balance issues, you don't want to be up there.

BearBoarBlarney said:

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Old Stanford Stadium was a terrible stadium, but it had more character than this reincarnation. I know Memorial's rebuild cost more than 3X as much as Stanford's 11-month, around-the-clock rush job, but you feel like you are in an historic stadium when you're in Memorial, whereas you feel like you're at some miniature version of a faceless, soulless NFL stadium when you're at Circus Minimus.

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I say this to the furdies I know and their response is, "We'll take getting a new stadium built in a year as opposed to the 99 years it takes at your sad bureaucratic useless public institution."

I don't think any of them are all that happy about furd's stadium though. They know what we know, that there are downsides to getting a new stadium built in less than a year and that they'll be stuck with those pesky downsides just like they'll be stuck with our amazing 2019 Big Game win for the foreseeable future.

ColoradoBear said:

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PRD74 said:

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As mentioned before, the stairs are awful and a bit scary. The restrooms are new, but small compared to CMS. The lines for the restrooms (Men's too) were terrible. Bad restroom facilities, scary stairs, and bad food makes staying home the easy choice in Palo Alto.

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They absolutely built the place on the cheap. With the two deck design sharing one concourse, the amenities are just jammed up. They actually kept the old bathrooms from the old stanford stadium in those little house like things by the entrance gates. I'd bet that was done to meet code, but keep enclosed space in the actually stadium to a bare minimum. I haven't been in a while, but I do remember seeing absolutely packed restrooms 'in stadium' under the stands in 2011, and then heading outside traversing a not so short distance to use the restroom huts with no lines. It was also raining heavily that evening and there were just tons of people hanging out in the concourse to keep dry.

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"Built on the cheap" says it all.
Stanfurd stadium reminds me of the extended seating areas of the Las Vegas Bowl. I doubt that Stanfurd Stadium will be standing 40 years from now.

BearBoarBlarney said:

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ducky23 said:

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Does anyone remember the outside stairways at the old furd stadium. That thing was steep and long as hell.

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The current outside stairways at Circus Minimus are actually in the locations of the old stairways, only vastly improved and slightly shorter. When daddy warbucks Arrillaga was spearheading the 11-month rush job to build the current band box, they elected to leave the massive earthen berm in place that was the support structure for the old Stanford Stadium.

My issue with the current stadium is it's outright sterility and soullessness. The old Stanford Stadium was an awful venue in terms of sight lines, slope of the stands, distance from the field, walkways so narrow and congested that they made old Memorial's pre-renovation walkways look like boulevards, and access and egress issues created by the Stanford engineering genius that decided to have the entry portals located at Row 72. Not to mention the bleachers were built directly on top of the dirt berm, so heaven help you if your keys slid out of your pocket as you sat on the bench, sliding all the way down the corrugated metal understructure below the seats. Restrooms were non-existent, so generations of fans watered the shrubs growing on the earthen embankment for decades on end.

Old Stanford Stadium was a terrible stadium, but it had more character than this reincarnation. I know Memorial's rebuild cost more than 3X as much as Stanford's 11-month, around-the-clock rush job, but you feel like you are in an historic stadium when you're in Memorial, whereas you feel like you're at some miniature version of a faceless, soulless NFL stadium when you're at Circus Minimus.

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Upon hearing the pre-game what-to-do-in-case-of-an-earthquake warning.
I thought it should have been revised to:
"Abandon hope all who enter here."

Anyone else catch this?

In an area that is critical to me --- No radio in the bathroom and one crappy, small, ill placed TV on the second concourse near the concession stand to keep up on the game while transacting business. Really not impressive in the least.

It shouldn't be so hard to fill a water bottle at halftime. They have very few fountains on the lower concourse, so the line is absurdly long at halftime with people filling bottles. The upper concourse has none unless you stand in line to get inside the bathroom and use the one sink that has a fountain. Perhaps they did this on purpose to force people to buy water.

ajm9191 said:

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Anyone else catch this?

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Geez. I'll bet that got the crowd revved up for the game.

Agree about the quantity of stairs up to and inside the stadium. I sat in 237 and was almost high enough to see Santa Cruz.

One other thing I noted about the stadium experience - TV time outs and the time allocated.
We had several TV timeouts of 3 min 5 sec on the "countdown clock".
I don't recall anything that lengthy on games at Cal - seemed to typically be 2:25 or so from what I recall.

This was a Pac 12 network broadcast - and I hope that 3 min and 5 sec is not the new standard for TV timeouts, but wasn't sure why this was longer than what had been typical up until last Saturday. Doesn't seem that they have huge numbers of sponsors signing up for ad time ...

There is nothing like feeling the emotion of a Big Game victory in person, and getting to share the moment with my 4 year old son was surreal. It's one of those things you will never forget just how awesome that moment was. What was even sweeter was having seats at the 50 yard line in the section just behind the Cal bench that cost less than $100 each on stubhub.

When Garbers scored the go ahead touchdown we erupted so loud all the furd fans just turned around to stare at us. The same thing happened on the 4th down stop. 10 years worth of frustration was released in those few minutes. It was also fun to rush the field but since I was the first person down from that section and the security lady wouldn't open the gate I had to jump over the fence by stepping on the railing with my son in my arms. It was epic!

And yes, the furd stadium really sucks. I highly recommend the lower sections and especially the ones with the individual chairbacks because it's a lot more comfortable and easier to get to. It's pretty lame that they don't have cup holders in a chairback section on the 50 yard line. Those season tickets can't be cheap!

BearBoarBlarney said:

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ducky23 said:

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Does anyone remember the outside stairways at the old furd stadium. That thing was steep and long as hell.

---

The current outside stairways at Circus Minimus are actually in the locations of the old stairways, only vastly improved and slightly shorter. When daddy warbucks Arrillaga was spearheading the 11-month rush job to build the current band box, they elected to leave the massive earthen berm in place that was the support structure for the old Stanford Stadium.

My issue with the current stadium is it's outright sterility and soullessness. The old Stanford Stadium was an awful venue in terms of sight lines, slope of the stands, distance from the field, walkways so narrow and congested that they made old Memorial's pre-renovation walkways look like boulevards, and access and egress issues created by the Stanford engineering genius that decided to have the entry portals located at Row 72. Not to mention the bleachers were built directly on top of the dirt berm, so heaven help you if your keys slid out of your pocket as you sat on the bench, sliding all the way down the corrugated metal understructure below the seats. Restrooms were non-existent, so generations of fans watered the shrubs growing on the earthen embankment for decades on end.

Old Stanford Stadium was a terrible stadium, but it had more character than this reincarnation. I know Memorial's rebuild cost more than 3X as much as Stanford's 11-month, around-the-clock rush job, but you feel like you are in an historic stadium when you're in Memorial, whereas you feel like you're at some miniature version of a faceless, soulless NFL stadium when you're at Circus Minimus.

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Furd's stadium is very sterile.
Agreed 100%

Guess Cal fans can't do the wave in the new stadium like they did in the old...



What I remember is the wave stopping in the furd sections but the Cal fans kept it going like they weren't even there.

Stanfurd Stadium is a nice tin can (and only cost $90 million which makes it interesting from a utilitarian perspective), but that's about it.

ajm9191 said:

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Anyone else catch this?

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Former judge and Furd alum Aaron Persky?

Watching a football game in Furd's stadium is more enjoyable for me than Memorial. Having a back on every seat, having many more full seats, having fewer, closer to the field seats (ie. sight lines) are all a plus. I wish the Memorial rebuild included these things.

Second PRD74's comment about the stadium not being senior friendly. We were high (HH) in Section 230. I was on the isle, watching fans making their way higher and higher, several that shouldn't have tried! But given the terrible view of the field in the lower stands they give Cal, this is our choice.

Agree with all the other gripes about the stadium, but want to say kudos to whomever got the walkways around the stadium finished in flagstone. In past years when it rained it was a muddy mess. A significant and much appreciated upgrade.

We are 84 and 88--Bruce's 71st Big Game, my 65th. There is nothing more joyful than a Big Game victory, and this year so much more as we waited nine long years. Grateful to Stanford Security for letting the fans take the field, and the fans for their behavior.

The students were terrific, though my eyebrows lifted at a few chants. So be it Gen-X. Cal band was amazing, and I'm sure the Stanford crowd appreciated their half-time show. I'm still playing every clip I can find for post-game. Palms of Victory never sounded so good.

probably already been mentioned (thread too long) but their stadium was gifted, w/o any permits required, by a construction baron. famously arrillaga's only demand was to build it any which way he wanted. from day one mortgage free.
# rich get richer

> As part of making his first nine-figure gift to Stanf*rd, he led the construction of the university's state-of-the-art football stadium completed under-budget and in just 42 weeks' time. He made high-level decisions on stadium design and landscaping while paying attention to detail, overseeing 24-hour construction crews, picking out every tree, selecting seat materials and tasting countless hot dogs before choosing which brand to serve.

ajm9191 said:

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Anyone else catch this?

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Immediate impression based on historical admissions the number 60% comes to mind. Nah!

Mama Bear said:

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We are 84 and 88--Bruce's 71st Big Game, my 65th.

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You two are my heroes.

bluehenbear said:

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Guess Cal fans can't do the wave in the new stadium like they did in the old...



What I remember is the wave stopping in the furd sections but the Cal fans kept it going like they weren't even there.

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This may have been the greatest big game moment in my lifetime

It was like 80% cal fans at their stadium. The wave went around seemingly forever, unbroken, even with the reds trying to not participate... Absolute home game for Cal.

BearBoarBlarney said:

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ducky23 said:

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Does anyone remember the outside stairways at the old furd stadium. That thing was steep and long as hell.

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The current outside stairways at Circus Minimus are actually in the locations of the old stairways, only vastly improved and slightly shorter. When daddy warbucks Arrillaga was spearheading the 11-month rush job to build the current band box, they elected to leave the massive earthen berm in place that was the support structure for the old Stanford Stadium.

My issue with the current stadium is it's outright sterility and soullessness. The old Stanford Stadium was an awful venue in terms of sight lines, slope of the stands, distance from the field, walkways so narrow and congested that they made old Memorial's pre-renovation walkways look like boulevards, and access and egress issues created by the Stanford engineering genius that decided to have the entry portals located at Row 72. Not to mention the bleachers were built directly on top of the dirt berm, so heaven help you if your keys slid out of your pocket as you sat on the bench, sliding all the way down the corrugated metal understructure below the seats. Restrooms were non-existent, so generations of fans watered the shrubs growing on the earthen embankment for decades on end.

Old Stanford Stadium was a terrible stadium, but it had more character than this reincarnation. I know Memorial's rebuild cost more than 3X as much as Stanford's 11-month, around-the-clock rush job, but you feel like you are in an historic stadium when you're in Memorial, whereas you feel like you're at some miniature version of a faceless, soulless NFL stadium when you're at Circus Minimus.

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I agree with all your criticisms of the current stadium. It is soulless...tinny is another apt description. But as someone who watches a game there only once every other year, I'll take the new stadium over the old one. I like being in the same zip code as the playing field. Maybe the shortcomings would gnaw at me more if I had to sit in it 6 or 7 times a year, but only a few thousand people do that, apparently.

Quote:

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tasting countless hot dogs before choosing which brand to serve.

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I didn't have one but I saw partially discarded one - and for a stadium dog it looked good to me! #timewellspent

CaliforniaEternal said:

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There is nothing like feeling the emotion of a Big Game victory in person, and getting to share the moment with my 4 year old son was surreal. It's one of those things you will never forget just how awesome that moment was. What was even sweeter was having seats at the 50 yard line in the section just behind the Cal bench that cost less than $100 each on stubhub.

When Garbers scored the go ahead touchdown we erupted so loud all the furd fans just turned around to stare at us. The same thing happened on the 4th down stop. 10 years worth of frustration was released in those few minutes. It was also fun to rush the field but since I was the first person down from that section and the security lady wouldn't open the gate I had to jump over the fence by stepping on the railing with my son in my arms. It was epic!

And yes, the furd stadium really sucks. I highly recommend the lower sections and especially the ones with the individual chairbacks because it's a lot more comfortable and easier to get to. It's pretty lame that they don't have cup holders in a chairback section on the 50 yard line. Those season tickets can't be cheap!

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You have said it all
A Cal win in person is so much sweeter than a win you see on TV.
A Cal BG win in person is so much better than win seen on TV. I cannot come up with the words to describe how much better it is.
When you add in being there with family and friends around it is a further quantum leap.

That is why I attend Cal games in person even when I know that the odds might be stacked against us.
In fact the greater the odds, the greater the joy if Cal pulls off an upset.

That is the answer to all the posts this season asking why do we Cal fans keep doing this to ourselves. Putting ourselves to the torture of being a Cal fan.

Because the joy from a win like Saturday's makes up and exceeds the pain of many losses like those at USC and Utah

GivemTheAxe said:

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CaliforniaEternal said:

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There is nothing like feeling the emotion of a Big Game victory in person, and getting to share the moment with my 4 year old son was surreal. It's one of those things you will never forget just how awesome that moment was. What was even sweeter was having seats at the 50 yard line in the section just behind the Cal bench that cost less than $100 each on stubhub.

When Garbers scored the go ahead touchdown we erupted so loud all the furd fans just turned around to stare at us. The same thing happened on the 4th down stop. 10 years worth of frustration was released in those few minutes. It was also fun to rush the field but since I was the first person down from that section and the security lady wouldn't open the gate I had to jump over the fence by stepping on the railing with my son in my arms. It was epic!

And yes, the furd stadium really sucks. I highly recommend the lower sections and especially the ones with the individual chairbacks because it's a lot more comfortable and easier to get to. It's pretty lame that they don't have cup holders in a chairback section on the 50 yard line. Those season tickets can't be cheap!

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You have said it all
A Cal win in person is so much sweeter than a win you see on TV.
A Cal BG win in person is so much better than win seen on TV. I cannot come up with the words to describe how much better it is.
When you add in being there with family and friends around it is a further quantum leap.

That is why I attend Cal games in person even when I know that the odds might be stacked against us.
In fact the greater the odds, the greater the joy if Cal pulls off an upset.

That is the answer to all the posts this season asking why do we Cal fans keep doing this to ourselves. Putting ourselves to the torture of being a Cal fan.

Because the joy from a win like Saturday's makes up and exceeds the pain of many losses like those at USC and Utah

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Nailed it. A dozen soul-crushing defeats are erased in an instant, when we get a win like this. And I said those exact words to my wife, a newly-minted Cal fan, as the celebration raged: "This is why we do this."