Question about Haas Pavilion seating

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BearBoarBlarney
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10:48a, 1/25/24
I haven't been to a game recently, and cannot remember if sections 1-3 are on the west side (closest to Evans Diamond) or on the main entrance on the east side ("Spieker Plaza" side)?

Also, does Cal still do the padded benches above the chairbacks, and if so, what row numbers? Thanks.
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stu
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In reply to BearBoarBlarney • 11:42a, 1/25/24
Sections 1, 2, and 3 are on the west side (same as the team benches). There are a few rows of "premium bench seats" above the chairbacks but I don't know the row numbers. Above those are more rows of plain bench seats.
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RedlessWardrobe
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11:48a, 1/25/24
Actually, the padded premium benches don't exist behing section 1,2,3 or east side 15,16,17. They exist on the on the corner sections of the court, and directly behind the chairbacks on the north side, sections 8,9,10.
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stu
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In reply to RedlessWardrobe • 11:53a, 1/25/24
Thanks, I was just looking at a seating chart. I've only used the padded benches in the corners at women's games when I needed to spread out to get through the game after knee surgery.
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RedlessWardrobe
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In reply to stu • 12:16p, 1/25/24
stu said:
Thanks, I was just looking at a seating chart. I've only used the padded benches in the corners at women's games when I needed to spread out to get through the game after knee surgery.
Hopefully, tomorrow night's game will not have a padded bench "spreading out" option.
Hope your knee surgery resulted in a full recovery.
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stu
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In reply to RedlessWardrobe • 12:20p, 1/25/24
RedlessWardrobe said:
stu said:
Thanks, I was just looking at a seating chart. I've only used the padded benches in the corners at women's games when I needed to spread out to get through the game after knee surgery.
Hopefully, tomorrow night's game will not have a padded bench "spreading out" option.
Hope your knee surgery resulted in a full recovery.
Yeah, I hope every seat is sold and some extra students sneak in.

Thanks, my surgery was last month so I have a ways to go.
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Cal8285
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In reply to RedlessWardrobe • 1:17p, 1/25/24
RedlessWardrobe said:
Actually, the padded premium benches don't exist behing section 1,2,3 or east side 15,16,17. They exist on the on the corner sections of the court, and directly behind the chairbacks on the north side, sections 8,9,10.
I really don't think that's correct. There are a very few rows of padded benches behind at least section 2, I'm pretty sure all of sections 1, 2, and 3. Not sure about 15, 16, or 17.

I'm pretty confident that in Section 2, the chair backs go through row P, and the first row behind them is a padded bench, row 23, there are at least 2 more padded rows, and I think 3, pretty sure padded goes through row 26, but not positive. And I think that sections 1 and 3 are the same, but not sure.
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RedlessWardrobe
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2:27p, 1/25/24
Cal 8285, you might be right on that. I'm curious so if I get to the game early tomorrow I will take a look for myself.

When stu commented about extra students sneaking in it made me laugh and prompted me to give you a quick story you might find amusing.

I met my eventual wife in 1985 at the age of 29. My brother and I had had season tickets to Cal Basketball for a few years. When the 85-86 season started my brother and me started sharing the two tickets and my future wife really enjoyed the games (btw we married in '87 but it only lasted 8 years.)

Anyway, when the famous Cal/UCLA game of Jan. 26,1986 came up and it was obvious that we were likely going to finally end the streak, my brother and I wanted to go, and so did my wife to be. I foolishly put off buying an extra ticket, and on the day of the game decided to let my brother and wife have the tickets. and I would hang outside Harmon Gym and buy the ticket off of a scalper. I was willing to go as much as a $100, in those days considered quite a chunk of change for any sporting event.

Well, with less than a half hour until game time, the problem was not that I couldn't afford a ticket. The problem was I literally couldn't FIND a scalper. I really tried, walking around in circles around Harmon. 20 minutes to go and panic was really setting in. Then, my big break came. Heading in a single file to the isolated northeast entrance was about 25 to 30 members of the UCLA band. The entrance was being manned by what looked like a Cal student, and from the looks of him he probably had been partying the night before. As the band approached the entrance, without even thinking twice I positioned myself on the east side of the band, as the kid attendant was closer to the inside (west) part of the door. I don't think he even batted an eye as the band proceeded right through without even stopping. I proceeded in with them on the opposite side (using them as a screen) as they did.

As I walked in I headed west straight down the lobby figuring what could the guy really do? He had to man his post, there were no cell phones in those days and I doubt they would trust this guy with any kind of communication device.

As I reached the west corner I quickly pulled off my blue Cal sweatshirt, leaving my gold t shirt which I figured would make it harder to indentify me!

I met up with my brother and wife to be, squeezed into the bench seating at Harmon, and enjoyed seeing the Bears finally beating UCLA. I never had snuck in before that, and I have never snuck in since then, but I figured that for one glorious day, the Cal athletic department owed me one! Not a single regret. Go Bears!
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oskidunker
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In reply to RedlessWardrobe • 3:11p, 1/25/24
RedlessWardrobe said:
Cal 8285, you might be right on that. I'm curious so if I get to the game early tomorrow I will take a look for myself.

When stu commented about extra students sneaking in it made me laugh and prompted me to give you a quick story you might find amusing.

I met my eventual wife in 1985 at the age of 29. My brother and I had had season tickets to Cal Basketball for a few years. When the 85-86 season started my brother and me started sharing the two tickets and my future wife really enjoyed the games (btw we married in '87 but it only lasted 8 years.)

Anyway, when the famous Cal/UCLA game of Jan. 26,1986 came up and it was obvious that we were likely going to finally end the streak, my brother and I wanted to go, and so did my wife to be. I foolishly put off buying an extra ticket, and on the day of the game decided to let my brother and wife have the tickets. and I would hang outside Harmon Gym and buy the ticket off of a scalper. I was willing to go as much as a $100, in those days considered quite a chunk of change for any sporting event.

Well, with less than a half hour until game time, the problem was not that I couldn't afford a ticket. The problem was I literally couldn't FIND a scalper. I really tried, walking around in circles around Harmon. 20 minutes to go and panic was really setting in. Then, my big break came. Heading in a single file to the isolated northeast entrance was about 25 to 30 members of the UCLA band. The entrance was being manned by what looked like a Cal student, and from the looks of him he probably had been partying the night before. As the band approached the entrance, without even thinking twice I positioned myself on the east side of the band, as the kid attendant was closer to the inside (west) part of the door. I don't think he even batted an eye as the band proceeded right through without even stopping. I proceeded in with them on the opposite side (using them as a screen) as they did.

As I walked in I headed west straight down the lobby figuring what could the guy really do? He had to man his post, there were no cell phones in those days and I doubt they would trust this guy with any kind of communication device.

As I reached the west corner I quickly pulled off my blue Cal sweatshirt, leaving my gold t shirt which I figured would make it harder to indentify me!

I met up with my brother and wife to be, squeezed into the bench seating at Harmon, and enjoyed seeing the Bears finally beating UCLA. I never had snuck in before that, and I have never snuck in since then, but I figured that for one glorious day, the Cal athletic department owed me one! Not a single regret. Go Bears!


Best game I have ever seen.
Go Bears!
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BearBoarBlarney
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In reply to RedlessWardrobe • 3:26p, 1/25/24
RedlessWardrobe said:
Then, my big break came. Heading in a single file to the isolated northeast entrance was about 25 to 30 members of the UCLA band. The entrance was being manned by what looked like a Cal student, and from the looks of him he probably had been partying the night before.

Great recounting of your days as a wanton criminal and trespasser, RedlessWardrobe! I love the details in your post, right down to the description of the Cal student who looked like he's been up to some shenanigans the night before. Hilarious. This game predated my Cal fandom (indoctrinated Fall 1989), but the "older-timers" always point to this one as being one of the all-time epics. Boy we had some loooong losing streaks to the Southern Branch in those years, 25 winless years vs. ucla in hoops and of course the 18 straight losses in football that gloriously ended in 1990.

Finally you have proven that the ucla band is good for something -- screening out Cal's door attendants!
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RedlessWardrobe
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3:44p, 1/25/24
And just think. After this season they won't be a factor anymore. (Although I don't recall them coming up anymore for basketball in recent years.)
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Cal8285
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In reply to RedlessWardrobe • 4:19p, 1/25/24
Nice story.

It felt like I snuck in that entire 85-86 season. I was done with 7 years of being a student, four undergrad plus three more (coinciding with the 7 Kuchen years, not the best basketball, but some interesting games), and no one realized at the start of the year that tickets would start to be hard to come by. I had a friend who was still a student get a couple of friends of his who didn't care about sports to get me a couple of winter-spring AP cards for $15 each, or whatever it was, one for my girlfriend and one for me, and we sat in the student section with other friends. There was no name on the card beyond the "signature," no ID required, just the AP card which had numbers on the edge representing each home game they would punch on the way in.

As the year went on, the student section started getting more crowded, so we'd need to get there earlier to be even close to our regular seats in the first three rows by the south free throw line. For the UCLA game, I was probably about five rows back. A nice night, even if not my favorite game (that would still be the 5 OT game in 1977, when I was a junior in high school, when I sat in the student section after getting a general admission ticket or occasionally sneaking in from the Evans Diamond side). And then I needed to actually get tickets for the 1986 NIT game, if nothing else to avoid waiting forever in a line.

In 86-87, my friend was no longer a student and given how the crowds grew in 1985-86, it was obvious that season tickets were the way to go. So I got two season tickets for my girlfriend and me, and we no longer were sitting in the student section around where we first met each other at a game in early 1981 (didn't start dating for 3 1/2 years), but high up in the south end, the best we could do. After that first year of season tickets she was my wife, and we continued to get season tickets together until last season, I couldn't stomach it anymore, we only went to one game all year, the disgusting blowout loss to Oregon St.(!).

This year is better. Tomorrow will be my sixth game of the year (five at Haas plus one in San Juan Capistrano), and my wife's fourth game of the year (all at Haas). Let's hope for a glorious evening!

GO BEARS!!
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RedlessWardrobe
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7:49a, 1/26/24
Yep, I was at that 5OT Oregon game as well. In those days if you got to Harmon a half hour before game time you could pretty much sit where ever you wanted to.

That 85-86 season was the reason that eventually Harmon would turn into Haas. The following season (86-87), Harmon's season ticket base filled it to capacity. Stayed that way through the renovation. Now it's hard for us to get 6500 at Haas. The irony.
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oskidunker
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9:52a, 1/26/24
The pain!
Go Bears!
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Johnfox
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1:39p, 1/26/24
What are the prediction's for how many people will be in attendance?
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oskidunker
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In reply to Johnfox • 2:46p, 1/26/24
Johnfox said:
What are the prediction's for how many people will be in attendance?

2
Go Bears!
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