I've never been a huge fan of the videos shown on the big screen just before player introductions. I've always thought they've gone on too long particularly when you're at Haas seventeen or so times in a season. I always watch before the first game and tune it out thereafter. This year I've noticed that it's really long. I timed it yesterday. From the time the lights dim until Matt Foley introduces the first Bear was one minute and thirty-two seconds. That's almost twice as long as it needs to be. I can sense the air coming out of the gym and people tuning out. You should always leave people wanting more. I've only talked to a couple of people about this and they agreed with me. I wonder what other attendees of Cal women's basketball feel about the length of the video. I see the value in it and like the content but a minute and a half?
One minute and thirty two seconds
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39 Replies |
Last: 1 mo ago by Finnish Oski
Finnish Oski said:
I've never been a huge fan of the videos shown on the big screen just before player introductions. I've always thought they've gone on too long particularly when you're at Haas seventeen so times in a season. I always watch before the first game and tune it out thereafter. This year I've noticed that it's really long. I timed it yesterday. From the time the lights dim until Matt Foley introduces the first Bear was one minute and thirty-two seconds. That's almost twice as long as it needs to be. I can sense the air coming out of the gym and people tuning out. You should always leave people wanting more. I've only talked to a couple of people about this and they agreed with me. I wonder what other attendees of Cal women's basketball feel about the length of the video. I see the value in it and like the content but a minute and a half?
Completely agree. The whole concept of the pregame video is theoretically to hype the home team up. The video drags so long that it becomes irrelevant. How about a 30 second spot that gets right to the point?
Of course, a senior like me doesn't care for almost any of the "programmed" hype, pregame or during game. If the team is playing hard the fans will create their own authentic hype. Unfortunately in today's sports world everything has to be a "presentation." Not my thing.
I have absolutely no problem with viewing this video each and every game. I rather enjoy it.
Keep in mind, there are likely first-time attendees at each home game. For them, the video is something new and unique. It's a public relations tool for Cal WBB.
Fyi. These two gentlemen are part of Cal WBB Support Staff:
Luigi Aficial, Director, Creative Content
luigiaficial2002@berkeley.edu
or
Jake Pykkonen, Video Coordinator
jake.pykkonen@berkeley.edu
Keep in mind, there are likely first-time attendees at each home game. For them, the video is something new and unique. It's a public relations tool for Cal WBB.
Fyi. These two gentlemen are part of Cal WBB Support Staff:
Luigi Aficial, Director, Creative Content
luigiaficial2002@berkeley.edu
or
Jake Pykkonen, Video Coordinator
jake.pykkonen@berkeley.edu
SFCALBear72 said:
I have absolutely no problem with viewing this video each and every game. I rather enjoy it.
Keep in mind, there are likely first-time attendees at each home game. For them, the video is something new and unique. It's a public relations tool for Cal WBB.
Fyi. These two gentlemen are part of Cal WBB Support Staff:
Luigi Aficial, Director, Creative Content
luigiaficial2002@berkeley.edu
or
Jake Pykkonen, Video Coordinator
jake.pykkonen@berkeley.edu
I'm with you, SF72. I also notice that the Cal players are indeed hyped up by the intro video, and if for no other reason than that I say keep it up! Also, in years past the video and creative team has either added new content or done a second intro sometime during the season. And finally, after watching the Valkyries intro every home game, I still love watching that one!
Always wonder who our marketing people are trying to appeal to. The hard core fans will always show up. But to attract anybody else, you have to be thinking about an enjoyable experience for casual fans. Has anyone ever heard of an actual marketing survey being conducted to see what people actually want or don't want?
SFCALBear72 said:
I have absolutely no problem with viewing this video each and every game. I rather enjoy it.
Keep in mind, there are likely first-time attendees at each home game. For them, the video is something new and unique. It's a public relations tool for Cal WBB.
Fyi. These two gentlemen are part of Cal WBB Support Staff:
Luigi Aficial, Director, Creative Content
luigiaficial2002@berkeley.edu
or
Jake Pykkonen, Video Coordinator
jake.pykkonen@berkeley.edu
Just my opinion, with all due respect, if a 90 second video being shown to Cal fans who are already at the game is considered a "public relations video", I would wonder what else Cal has to offer in the public relations department outside of Haas Pavillion? Does anyone else know what that might be?
Love the video EVERY Time I attend in Haas, and they do change the highlights. If I'm a player I'd like it too.
Interesting that 90 seconds is considered too long. We are in the TikTok generation!
By the way, I love the band intro every time too
Interesting that 90 seconds is considered too long. We are in the TikTok generation!
By the way, I love the band intro every time too
HoopDreams said:
Love the video EVERY Time I attend in Haas, and they do change the highlights. If I'm a player I'd like it too.
Interesting that 90 seconds is considered too long. We are in the TikTok generation!
By the way, I love the band intro every time too
Well at the very least it's nice to know that many people like it. I guess if sitting through a video at the beginning of a Cal BB game is the worst part of it for me, I can deal with it and take it every time!
Quote:
Interesting that 90 seconds is considered too long. We are in the TikTok generation!
Well I'm certainly not part of the TIkTok generation and enjoy a good long read or a good long movie so my problem with the video is not related to that. I think a shorter video would pack more punch in a less is more kind of way. It seems I'm in the minority here which is fine I was just curious how others felt. Ultimately it's no big deal but I do bristle at the suggestion I suffer from a short attention span -- that's very much not the case.
RedlessWardrobe said:HoopDreams said:
Love the video EVERY Time I attend in Haas, and they do change the highlights. If I'm a player I'd like it too.
Interesting that 90 seconds is considered too long. We are in the TikTok generation!
By the way, I love the band intro every time too
Well at the very least it's nice to know that many people like it. I guess if sitting through a video at the beginning of a Cal BB game is the worst part of it for me, I can deal with it and take it every time!
I don't like any videos at a live event but they can be ignored if they're not too loud. Since they are too loud I plug my ears for a minute and a half. When they're finished I can enjoy the game without further annoyance.
I agree with Stu. Too loud is annoyng
Surprisingly it didn't seem as loud yesterday. It was tolerable
annarborbear said:
Always wonder who our marketing people are trying to appeal to. The hard core fans will always show up. But to attract anybody else, you have to be thinking about an enjoyable experience for casual fans. Has anyone ever heard of an actual marketing survey being conducted to see what people actually want or don't want?
Haven't heard of an actual survey. For more than 10 years, I've politely complained about noise, via e-mail, and in person with a marketing person who stopped by my seat a couple of times. I'm not impressed by the polite nothings I've been fed; I wasted my time, and will not do so any more.
"Don't get distracted, myself. Don't get distracted." Self-talk from a young relative
stu said:RedlessWardrobe said:HoopDreams said:
Love the video EVERY Time I attend in Haas, and they do change the highlights. If I'm a player I'd like it too.
Interesting that 90 seconds is considered too long. We are in the TikTok generation!
By the way, I love the band intro every time too
Well at the very least it's nice to know that many people like it. I guess if sitting through a video at the beginning of a Cal BB game is the worst part of it for me, I can deal with it and take it every time!
I don't like any videos at a live event but they can be ignored if they're not too loud. Since they are too loud I plug my ears for a minute and a half. When they're finished I can enjoy the game without further annoyance.
Perhaps Haas could hand out free blue and gold ear plugs? (But I'm not counting on so-called marketing to do anything about the noise.)
"Don't get distracted, myself. Don't get distracted." Self-talk from a young relative
HoopDreams said:
Love the video EVERY Time I attend in Haas, and they do change the highlights. If I'm a player I'd like it too.
Interesting that 90 seconds is considered too long. We are in the TikTok generation!
By the way, I love the band intro every time too
+1
I like the video (and my ear plugs do their job) but I do wish Haas still had a big video screen in the high corner since looking up from my seat hurts my neck so I can't really watch easily.
Just looked at the current Cal MBB record vs. the WBB: roughly equal and probably equal in close games as well. So why did the last MBB game at Haas draw 8k people, while 2.3k attended the WBB game against Louisville?
I could, and will, cite sexism, along with simple ignorance, as in how many of those 8k people have ever bothered to attend more than one or two women's games?
On the other hand, I just now asked BearBloke (an old heterosexual male, reared on British football), whether he considered a Valks or Cal game as exciting as the Warriors or Cal men; he stared at me and said, "Of course-- why should it be any less?"
Thoughts?
I could, and will, cite sexism, along with simple ignorance, as in how many of those 8k people have ever bothered to attend more than one or two women's games?
On the other hand, I just now asked BearBloke (an old heterosexual male, reared on British football), whether he considered a Valks or Cal game as exciting as the Warriors or Cal men; he stared at me and said, "Of course-- why should it be any less?"
Thoughts?
"Don't get distracted, myself. Don't get distracted." Self-talk from a young relative
You married the right man.
ANOTHER WORTHLESS BUREAUCRATS UPDATE FROM JAY AND JENNY: FEBRUARY 2026
Welcome Berkeley Bears Fans!!
EXCITING times with new Head Coach Tosh Lupoi on the recruiting front and ticket sales which is ironic because we've been asked to have NOTHING to do with the football program since General Manager Ron Rivera was hired and in light of both of us working AGAINST football for the last decade (right before we were hired as Co Athletic Directors we tried to cut the football nutrition budget and self reported several staff members for minor football recruiting violations)!!
We're also excited that new Chief Marketing Officer Jason Hobar will NOT be reporting to us (which is not the normal chain of command at every other D1 school) but rather Beth Tafolla-Voetsch after our kinda failed marketing experiment with Markeisha Everett. That's less work for us for sure!!
So what exactly do we do for our each just south of $500,000 annual salary??
Jay's primary job these days is Cal Men's Basketball which despite a potential NCCA tournament team is 17th out of 18 teams in ACC attendance and fundraising for a dedicated basketball practice facility which has ZERO progress primarily because Jay has the personality of a dead squirrel!!
https://theacc.com/stats.aspx?path=mbball&year=2025
The EVIL as **** Jenny who is best remembered for her role with the abused suicidal women's swimmers is overseeing a Cal Women's Basketball program that is also near the bottom of the ACC in attendance despite the fact that the WNBA Valkyries averaged 18,064 fans per game in the Bay Area's wildly supportive fanbase of women's hoops!!
Cal softball is going to be a ****show this season because Jenny didn't realize that the former head coach was a bully who alienated players, their Bearents and the rest of the coaching staff. Remarkably Jenny extended Coach Spencer's contract just months before her meltdown, who knew!!
And the once perennial NCCA Volleyball program is beyond breaking bad under Jenny's abysmal leadership too!!
Despite not being Berkeley grads (who really don't get it) and failing performances by literally every possible metric Chancellor Lyons is allowing us to remain in power with combined salaries of $1,000,000 (along with the annual General Knowlton payouts of $1,200,000 thru 2029) at a time when a financial tsunami is heading towards Berkeley with reduced State and Federal funding but why should we worry about that, NOT our problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gooooooooo Bears!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Co Athletic Directors
Jennifer Simon-O'neil
Jay Larson
Welcome Berkeley Bears Fans!!
EXCITING times with new Head Coach Tosh Lupoi on the recruiting front and ticket sales which is ironic because we've been asked to have NOTHING to do with the football program since General Manager Ron Rivera was hired and in light of both of us working AGAINST football for the last decade (right before we were hired as Co Athletic Directors we tried to cut the football nutrition budget and self reported several staff members for minor football recruiting violations)!!
We're also excited that new Chief Marketing Officer Jason Hobar will NOT be reporting to us (which is not the normal chain of command at every other D1 school) but rather Beth Tafolla-Voetsch after our kinda failed marketing experiment with Markeisha Everett. That's less work for us for sure!!
So what exactly do we do for our each just south of $500,000 annual salary??
Jay's primary job these days is Cal Men's Basketball which despite a potential NCCA tournament team is 17th out of 18 teams in ACC attendance and fundraising for a dedicated basketball practice facility which has ZERO progress primarily because Jay has the personality of a dead squirrel!!
Am I walking into a Cal basketball game or my hotel room pic.twitter.com/RT8xVllY0Q
— GFed (@GfedGoCrazy) November 19, 2025
https://theacc.com/stats.aspx?path=mbball&year=2025
The EVIL as **** Jenny who is best remembered for her role with the abused suicidal women's swimmers is overseeing a Cal Women's Basketball program that is also near the bottom of the ACC in attendance despite the fact that the WNBA Valkyries averaged 18,064 fans per game in the Bay Area's wildly supportive fanbase of women's hoops!!
Cal softball is going to be a ****show this season because Jenny didn't realize that the former head coach was a bully who alienated players, their Bearents and the rest of the coaching staff. Remarkably Jenny extended Coach Spencer's contract just months before her meltdown, who knew!!
And the once perennial NCCA Volleyball program is beyond breaking bad under Jenny's abysmal leadership too!!
Despite not being Berkeley grads (who really don't get it) and failing performances by literally every possible metric Chancellor Lyons is allowing us to remain in power with combined salaries of $1,000,000 (along with the annual General Knowlton payouts of $1,200,000 thru 2029) at a time when a financial tsunami is heading towards Berkeley with reduced State and Federal funding but why should we worry about that, NOT our problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gooooooooo Bears!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Co Athletic Directors
Jennifer Simon-O'neil
Jay Larson
Where are your season tickets located ?
Who me? I'm down courtside (since the days of Boyle).
BearBint said:
Just looked at the current Cal MBB record vs. the WBB: roughly equal and probably equal in close games as well. So why did the last MBB game at Haas draw 8k people, while 2.3k attended the WBB game against Louisville?
I could, and will, cite sexism, along with simple ignorance, as in how many of those 8k people have ever bothered to attend more than one or two women's games?
On the other hand, I just now asked BearBloke (an old heterosexual male, reared on British football), whether he considered a Valks or Cal game as exciting as the Warriors or Cal men; he stared at me and said, "Of course-- why should it be any less?"
Thoughts?
I find this topic very interesting, here's what I got FWIW:
I've played and followed basketball for 60 years. I started watching Cal MBB around 1967 and have been an avid fan attending hundreds of games over the years. Also, about twenty years ago I started watching and became a fan of WCBB as well.
In my opinion both the Men and Women's games are great. I enjoy them both, but as a long time basketball fan I accept the fact that to a certain degree the style and optics of the game are simply different. For example, in the men's game there are times when the players are playing above the rim, while in the Women's game it rarely happens. And to me, that's okay. The two types of basketball simply have differences based on the physical makeup of the players playing. As a fan, I am able to enjoy them both.
Now one may be able to accuse many bb fans that don't care for the women's game as sexism. I think, the reality is that the fans that reject WBB do so because they think that the women's game has to be very similiar to the men's game. It is not. What you get from one you don't get from the other, but again, what's wrong with that? When I go see the Cal women play, I am amazed at how good these players are and I truly enjoy it. Same with the men. Both are playing basketball, but the style of play in general is not quite the same. The fans that bash Women's BB just don't want to accept it. Ultimately, that's what this all comes down to.
Agree Redless. Ithink of women's games more like boys high school basketball 30 years ago. Below the rime. n the other hand, I used to go to the state basketball tournament in Sacramento and sit thru 10 games in two days. Enjoyed both girls and boys basketball. I used to have season tickets for men's basketball but lost interest .
Asking for season tickets was for shocky. The empty aisle could have been taken during an off day. In all the games i have attended, I have never seen the hall that empty.
Asking for season tickets was for shocky. The empty aisle could have been taken during an off day. In all the games i have attended, I have never seen the hall that empty.
wvitbear said:
Agree Redless. Ithink of women's games more like boys high school basketball 30 years ago. Below the rime. n the other hand, I used to go to the state basketball tournament in Sacramento and sit thru 10 games in two days. Enjoyed both girls and boys basketball. I used to have season tickets for men's basketball but lost interest .
Asking for season tickets was for shocky. The empty aisle could have been taken during an off day. In all the games i have attended, I have never seen the hall that empty.
I think Shocky's ultimate intentions are extremely good. He has made his messages completely clear and I for one agree with almost all of them. But maybe, his messages tend to be a bit repetitve? (lol)
FWIW I know more than a few women who follow men's sports but have no interest in women's sports. Dunno why.
stu said:
FWIW I know more than a few women who follow men's sports but have no interest in women's sports. Dunno why.
Without a doubt, it can sure get complicated.
stu said:
FWIW I know more than a few women who follow men's sports but have no interest in women's sports. Dunno why.
Odd, huh? My oldest friend, a devout feminist and former labor organizer, respects women's sports, and sticks to viewing football and the NBA. But her family was from Nebraska, and football was What One Watched. I've heard this from another long-time female friend, a retired sailor and wind surfer, as well.
"Don't get distracted, myself. Don't get distracted." Self-talk from a young relative
Does your friend have any interest in flag football?
wvit, that empty hallway wuz taken on a men's gameday by a young man who is visiting collegiate arenas and stadiums across the country
check out his other gram fotos of haas pavilion from november 18th which documents his gameday experience
check out his other gram fotos of haas pavilion from november 18th which documents his gameday experience
One difference between the men's and women's games is athleticism. The men will make more impressive athletic plays -- jumping, acrobatic, etc. -- than the women, and that's part of the entertainment. That's just strength and fast-twitch muscles, but the men have more of both.
but what has that to do with women's basketball since it was at a men's game. It could have been taken during the game when no one is in the halls.
Where are your season tickets located?
Where are your season tickets located?
Fandom is cultural. So in a culture that still downplays women in sports (getting better all the time) the interest will reflect the social values. Fandom is also reliant on tradition. Rooting for a team or sport is often handed down. So if your parents didn't attend women's basketball you too are less likely to do it. Both of these are just functions of time and establishing new culture and tradition.
But the primary reason might just be as simple as bandwidth. There are only so many teams, sports, and entertainment sources one can have. If you are already a big pro basketball, or pro football, or college football, etc fan, you may not have the time or interest in adding another.
I remember in the late 90s being intrigues by English soccer. But it seemed impenetrable to me. Teams I didn't know. Iconic players and coaches that meant nothing to me. No knowledge of traditions, cheers, and long standing rivalries and the ebb and flow of certain teams up and down through promotion and relegation. Nonetheless, I traveled to Manchester and watched Beckham and company win a thriller. Then I started driving to the Englander in Alameda at 5AM to watch Man United every Saturday morning while having an English Breakfast. I flew to England once or twice a year and planned the travel around going to different stadiums. I became completely hooked and learned team histories and became a huge fan out of thin air. I would shock cab drivers on the way to matches that as an American I could name the starting 11 from almost any club. The point is that the addiction to sport and/or team has to be sparked by some entrance point (for me it was the exoticness of foreign soccer culture and the star power of Becks) and then you need to invest enough time and information gathering to feel like an insider. I passed on my love of the Premier League to friends and my kids, that is still playing out with women's college basketball I assume.
But the primary reason might just be as simple as bandwidth. There are only so many teams, sports, and entertainment sources one can have. If you are already a big pro basketball, or pro football, or college football, etc fan, you may not have the time or interest in adding another.
I remember in the late 90s being intrigues by English soccer. But it seemed impenetrable to me. Teams I didn't know. Iconic players and coaches that meant nothing to me. No knowledge of traditions, cheers, and long standing rivalries and the ebb and flow of certain teams up and down through promotion and relegation. Nonetheless, I traveled to Manchester and watched Beckham and company win a thriller. Then I started driving to the Englander in Alameda at 5AM to watch Man United every Saturday morning while having an English Breakfast. I flew to England once or twice a year and planned the travel around going to different stadiums. I became completely hooked and learned team histories and became a huge fan out of thin air. I would shock cab drivers on the way to matches that as an American I could name the starting 11 from almost any club. The point is that the addiction to sport and/or team has to be sparked by some entrance point (for me it was the exoticness of foreign soccer culture and the star power of Becks) and then you need to invest enough time and information gathering to feel like an insider. I passed on my love of the Premier League to friends and my kids, that is still playing out with women's college basketball I assume.
The Bear will not quilt, the Bear will not dye!
Good points, blungld. BearBloke has followed his native Sheffield Wednesday, an erratic passel of lads, for 75 years, while our NYC grandboy is a Liverpool fan. (But the females are all WBB folk--hah!)
"Don't get distracted, myself. Don't get distracted." Self-talk from a young relative
I used to follow a lot of teams but now my sports focus is down to three, Cal football, Cal women's basketball and Arsenal of the English Premier League which I've been devoted to for over 50 years (I go to London once a year to see them). My love of Cal football goes back to my childhood (when dinosaurs roamed the Earth). For people in the Bay Area following a lot of sports teams is difficult. There are so many cultural offerings around here as well as outdoor activities. We're only hours away from beaches, skiing, wine country and the list goes on. For most people adding women's college basketball or being regular attendees at games is asking a lot. Mostly people want to see a winner and all the whistles and bells aren't as important as seeing the home team prevail. Very few of us are willing to stick with a team through the lean years. I think we're pretty close to possibly being a regular winner. Here's hoping. And oh by the way....Go Bears!!!
Well, I love Cal (and college) women's basketball but I also have season tickets to the Valkyries and this year bought season tickets for the new PWHL (women's ice hockey) franchises in both Seattle and in Vancouver. I give tickets to family and friends when I can't go, but those games have been great. Climate Pledge Arena has been packed with fans, as has the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
My college roomate was captain of the women's ice hockey team back in the day and being in New England, it was a big sport so I've always liked it. Last year I started watching PWHL games (free on YouTube in the US) after the end of basketball and was hooked. The league expanded this season adding Seattle and Vancouver and is likely to expand by 4 more franchises next year as well for a total of 12. The college pipeline is thriving and lots of European players are heading to play in the league as well. Hockey is fun and fast and it's nice to watch a sport where the referees are not quite as "involved" as they are in basketball. Here's more on the league for any interested. PWHL Winning formula for women's ice hockey
My college roomate was captain of the women's ice hockey team back in the day and being in New England, it was a big sport so I've always liked it. Last year I started watching PWHL games (free on YouTube in the US) after the end of basketball and was hooked. The league expanded this season adding Seattle and Vancouver and is likely to expand by 4 more franchises next year as well for a total of 12. The college pipeline is thriving and lots of European players are heading to play in the league as well. Hockey is fun and fast and it's nice to watch a sport where the referees are not quite as "involved" as they are in basketball. Here's more on the league for any interested. PWHL Winning formula for women's ice hockey
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