First, because of the accident which closed the bridge early Friday morning, I had to drive to El Cerrito del Norte to catch a BART train that would get me to the city in time for my class. This meant that while I'd be cutting things closer for my flight than I'd like, I'd still make it, if I rushed. After work, I was able to rush back to my car, and then arrive at Oakland Airport with 20 minutes before my flight left (good thing there was no traffic). Unfortunately, I also noticed that my flight which was supposed to arrive in Burbank at 8pm, wasn't going to *leave* Oakland until 8:15pm (and I was worried that I might miss the plane). So much for seeing all of the hockey game.
Eventually our plane arrived, and we watched Jim and Keith board and claim some seats for us. Later we boarded and the plane took off at about 8:30pm. One of the crew explained to the passengers that the delay was a result of the fog that had shut down the airport in the morning. We arrived in Burbank around 9:30pm, picked up our cars and said "See you at the game".
I decided to see what little of the hockey game was left, and so I drove down Hollywood Ave towards Riverside Blvd. I had never driven that far down Hollywood Ave, so I was again surprised at seeing the Warner Bros. Burbank Studios' water tower (insert music *It's time for Animaniacs*). I then turned onto Riverside, driving past Forest Lawn and The Disney Studios. Finally, I reached Pickwick, and parked the car. By this time, the hockey game had been going on long enough that nobody was at the front door. I entered the Ice Arena just in time to see a Cal player score a goal to put the Bears up 5-1. I then met Dave Friedman who said he'd meet me at the hockey game.
Pickwick's rink is noticably smaller than Iceland's (yes I know Berkeley Iceland's rink is the largest indoor rink in the US), plus it has plexi- glass all around it. I don't know if it's the plexiglass or the rink size, but Pickwick is also much warmer in the stands than Iceland. Anyway, I got to see the Cal Ice Bears score two more goals in the 9 minutes of the match I got to see (it would have been 3 more except that one goal was waved off). The final score was Bears 7, Bruins 1. Oh yes, not enough Cal fans were there to raz the Bruins' "goallie".
Larry, unfortunately, had some important work to do *early* on Sunday morning, so he opted not to join us for the game. We waited for Steve, another friend from Cal, to come by to pick up his tickets for the game. Afterwards, Dori and I slowly made our way to the Rose Bowl, with a brief stop to pick up Daniel whom Dori's mom was taking care of the night before.
We didn't arrive in time to fully enjoy the tailgates, but I was able to meet the folks at the Orange County tailgate (thanks for the Sangria guys!). Dave Friedman and I also were disappointed when we found out why the Orange County Alumni Club used Orange and Green balloons--they're not blue and gold. We preferred my explanation which was that blue and yellow make green, and orange for Orange County.
We later entered the stadium, and after having to show tickets to four or five different people, Dave and I reached our seats. I was able to say hello to Barbara Goodson and her husband, who had the seats next to Dave's (It's always nice to put faces to people's names.) Our seats were at the back of the Cal section, as practically nobody sat behind us. At least this allowed us to spread out. At best there were 1500 fans in the Cal section (including the students).
I should mention that this was the first time I had been in the Rose Bowl since they had remodeled the press box, added the new lights, and the replay screen. All were done very well. A nice thing about our seats was that the diamondvision screen was in perfect view.
I want to give kudos to the yell leaders this time. They tried very hard to get a non-responsive crowd to yell. Dave and I were doing our part from the top of the alumni section. I'd wish that the alumni would take a cue from their UCla counterparts and at least make *some* noise. It looked like the student section made noise, at least they were standing throughout most of the game.
The saddest part of the first half for me was that, because I wanted to watch the bands perform, I left to get some food before halftime, and had to see Cal's first half TD over the replay TVs at the concessions stands. I wish that they had a radio call of the game so I could have followed along.
Anyway, halftime featured an excellent show by the Cal Band featuring songs by Earth Wind, and Fire and some good marching. During the same time, the UCla students entertained us with card stunts. Some were good, others not as good. The show included an upside-down Cal (at least it wasn't red and white) and some stunts showing Joe and Josephine Bruin around the world. My favorite stunt was the one that said "Rally Comm" (did they actually tell the students that was the stunt they were doing?). Surprisingly, they only attempted one motion stunt, the script UCla, and it didn't work as the UCla band was starting its somewhat disappointing performance. The theme was cartoons (something you could do a lot with) and started off with the Johnny Quest theme (nice sound, decent arangement, but I couldn't quite follow what the marching formation was). Next came a pretty sad version of Linus and Lucy with some people running around in costumes. Finally, they concluded with Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody #2 (which is what is featured during the Dueling Pianos scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit). This was a great choice for a finale, and of course, they finished it up with the standard corps move of lining up everyone into two or three rows, and having the front row drop to its knees. Not bad, but I know that the Cal Band could do a better job with it (hey, how about next year? I'd suggest including at least "Powerhouse" by the Raymond Scott Quintet, especially the famous B theme section.)
Only a few other comments on the game. My favorite play the entire game was the bootleg toss to Uwaezuoke, which he grabbed with his fingertips (and made ESPN's "Plays of the Week"). It's nice that the coaching staff has *finally* learned to set up the run with the pass, but I still don't see them surviving. I also agreed with going for two when the Bears did--I did, however, disagree with the play call they used on the two-point conversion.
At the end of the game, the few of us who had remained were treated to a great post-game concert from the Cal Band. Rally Comm looked very happy when the band played The Time Warp and Lights Out. Other people made the comment that we should expect a torrent of "Fire Gilby" posts on gobears.
The flight back was uneventful. Except that one of our flight attendents was dressed up as a caveman...and that, when I asked for raisins instead of peanuts, I didn't get the raisins until we were on approach to Oakland (oh well, it made for some nice munchies during the shuttle ride back to my car). I only had one other surprise that was related to my trip. At the end of The Simpson's Halloween Special, when the 3D Homer started walking on the street and stopped at the Erotic Cakes shop, I reallized that "Hey! That's the street where Dangerous Visions is...I was on that street not more than 5 1/2 hours ago!" (I didn't notice the Erotic Cakes shop though, it was the sign for the typewriter store in the background that actually tipped me off).
Well, congratulations if you've gotten this far. I hope to see some of you at the GoBears night-before-Big Game gathering after the bonfire rally.