October 19, 1996 Cal vs Washington State

'Twas a cold night in October.

The set-up...

In 1990, my best friend Andy and I looked at the 1991 schedule and decided to attend every Cal football game (home and away). During that year I heard a lot comments along thw line of "You guys sure picked a good year to attend every Cal game." We decided to do it because the Bears' schedule was favorable for atending every game (that the Bears went on to a bowl game and turned our travels into "Andy and Sean's Excellent 10,000 Mile Adventure Through Bear Territory" was a bonus.) After that trip we vowed to watch the Bears play in every Pac 10 stadium. Up through '91 we had seen the Bears play in 7 Pac 10 stadiums. In 1994, we again attended every road game (we called that year "Andy and Sean's Bogus Journey") and visited 2 more Pac 10 stadiums. Finally it was time for us to make the journey up to the Palouse country. We had asked other fans "Where should we stay for the WSU game?" Everyone gave the same answer..."Spokane". So, when Southwest had its $25 air fare sale, we made our travel arrangements. I would fly up early in the afternoon, while Andy and his fiancee, Michelle, would fly up in the evening.

The people you meet on a flight

You just never know who you're going to meet when you fly somewhere. I wanted to show that I was a Bear fan, so I opted to wear my Rally Comm rugby. As I was sitting, waiting for my delayed flight, a woman said "Oh! Rally Committee!". She was with another woman and a man who looked to be in his 20. On her backpack was "Cal Parent #?? (I couldn't quite tell what the number was)". We started talking, and I had to ask "So, your son plays for the Bears. Which Bear is he?" She said "Oh he plays quarterback." Then after some prodding from the other woman, she said "I'm Pat Barnes' mom" The man was Pat's brother John and the other woman was Pat's aunt. We talked some more about various things, including Pat's future. When I asked what Pat was going to do if he didn't get an extra year, Mrs. Barnes emphatically said "He going to get his degree!" I told her that makes me proud. At one point she asked if the game was "homecoming" for WSU. This ended up piquing the interest of a WSU fan who was sittig behind us and caused us to change topics.

Eventually our flight started to board (only over an hour behind schedule). I was in the 2nd group while the Barnes family was in the 3rd. I said I'd try to get a lounge area. As I was boarding, I ended up talking to a fan who was going to the Nevada-Idaho game; Idaho (like Nevada) is in it's first year in the Big West. By the time we got on the plane, all of the lounges were full. Oh well. I ended up sitting two rows behind a WSU fan--who I later found out was the father of one of WSU's linemen, and one row behind a bay area newspaper columnist.

Anyway, when I got off the plane, I received my biggest surprise. I saw someone wearing a Cal sweatshirt, so I said "Go Bears!". He turned around, and then I recognized one of only two people I know in Spokane--Genro. The other person I know--Genro's wife Grace--was with him. They were waiting for their flight to the Bay Area (they didn't check the football schedule when Southwest had its sale). I was hoping I'd get to see them, but I didn't think that it'd happen so quickly. We ended up talking until it was time for them to board. I hope they had a good time in the Bay Area.

Funky Food

After getting my rental car, some maps, and checking in to my hotel (which I could have walked to from the terminal), I watched the weather report to see what I was going to face--game time temp in the 30s, lows in the upper 20s, but only a small chance of rain. With that out of the way, it was time to eat. Grace and Genro reccommended three places for food--Fort Spokane Brewery, The Birkebeiner Brewing Company, and Rock City (which Grace described as "Funky Food"). After looking at each place from the outside in a short driving tour of downtown Spokane, I decided to appeal to my eclectic tastes and go to Rock City.

Rock City describes itself as "Seriously Fun Italian--Rockin' American". They offer pasta, pizza, calzones, burgers, and other dishes. Some of the funkier items include "Dungeness Crab and Artichoke Hearts Pizza", "Tequila Chicken Pasta", and their signature item--"Thai Pizza" (it's topped with marinated chicken, prawns, muchrooms, peanuts, mozzarello, and a spicy peanut sauce). I wasn't hungry enough for a pizza, so I had the Thai Chicken Pasta instead; it was delicious and went very well with my "Moose Drool" beer. The service was good (I ate in the bar instead of the actual restaurant) too. I recomend this place if you visit Spokane.

Should it rain or should it snow?

After the scrumptious meal, I had to return to the hotel to check on Andy's flight. I found out that his flight was delayed, which gave me enough time to watch X Files. After the end of Files, I looked out the window, and saw that it was raining (when did it start doing that?) I donned my coat and umbrella and walked to the terminal (yes, that's right, the hotel was within walking distance of the airport. In fact, I've had longer walks in airport terminals than I've had walking from my room to the gate where Andy's flight was arriving). We then walked back to the hotel, and it was time to call it a night.

I managed to beat the alarm when I woke up the next morning. The first thing I did was to open the drapes...I was greeted with SNOW! It was warm enough that it melted when it touched the ground, but it was cold enough to stay intact when it landed on cars and plants. This made me very happy that I was prepared for cold weather.

What to do? what to do?

After a slow morning we decided to spend an hour or two looking around downtown Spokane. The snow had melted, so it wasn't too bad. I was glad to be wearing two layers of clothing. We drove on the downton streets and wandered around Riverside Park--apropriately enough, the park includes an outdoor covered ice-rink. By this time we decided to head off for Pullman, with a brief stop in Moscow, Idaho (just so Michelle and I could say that we had been in Idaho) which is 8 miles from Pullman.

As we drove into the Palouse country, the landscape changed from trees to barren hills and empty wheat fields. The weather got colder as there was still snow on the hills and along side of the road...we bypassed several accidents during the drive. About half way down, we got our first taste of WSU "hospitality". After a rest stop, some guy started honking at us and then gave us the finger...Mrs. Barnes told me that WSU fans were some of the most obnoxious in the Pac 10...this didn't seem to bode well.

By the time we got to Pullman, after driving through it to get to Moscow, we decided it was too cold to walk around the WSU campus, so we went directly to Pete's Bar and Grill which was hosting the Alumni Association pre-game party. Much to our surprise, none of the WSU fans made any commnets when we entered wearing our Cal clothing... everyone was watching the U$c-ASU game. Actually, I had a friendly conversation with one of the WSU faithful.

Eventually, the Cal alums started to show up, so we left the bar and went into the main restaurant. Pete's has good food, and good hot cocoa. The best thing though was that they invited people to park their cars their and take a shuttle up to the stadium (and that they'd have a shuttle to take you back after the game). Nothing beats free parking and a free ride to the stadium.

There weren't that many Cal fans there, but conversation was lively, the cheerleaders and yell leaders showed up (but not the band or Oski :( ) and the yell leader even spelled C-A-L correctly ;) After a roasted chicken dinner, I decided to finish my game preparations, and put on one more layer of clothing (I wore three pairs of socks, hiking boots, long underwear, sweatpants, blue jeans, a t-shirt, a turtleneck, my Cal rugby, two pairs of gloves, a ski hat, and a jacket, plus I brought a towel from the hotel to put on the aluminum bench).

You call this SNOW?!?

We didn't end up taking the shuttle; instead we got a ride from Jim Burk and his wife (thank you! thank you!) which got us closer to the stadium. Martin Stadium is similar to Parker Stadium at Oregon State. The only difference is that the press box is bigger and has no overhang, and the seats have metal backs. When we arrived, the WSU student section was pretty crowded. The PA was blasting music interlaced with WSU highlights and an occasional Homer Simpson "Whooo Hooo!" which the students would echo.

A small (20 piece?) straw hat band was also there with the WSU alumni band sitting next to them. The SHB may have been small, but we could hear them. When it came close to kick-off, the WSU band performed its pre-game show--I was not impressed. Still, when we heard the strains of "Fight Fight Fight for Washington State", And and I couldn't help but think of the movie "Volunteers".

When it was time for the kick-off, it suddenly started to snow. This really charged up the WSU fans, though I thought it was kinda cool too; I've never watched a game with snow before. When WSU scored it's first TD, the snow started to fall harder, just as if it was confetti. Andy and I turned our heads to the sky and shouted, "You call this SNOW?!?". It soon stopped.

Well, you know what happened during the game, but here are some observations:

GREAT job by the yell leaders. That was the best performance I've seen at an out-of-state road game. They came up and got the 150 or so Cal fans to make noise, cheer, and hold up the 4 fingers.
GREAT job by the SHB--I only wish you had turned around more often and played to us.
Does the WSU band play anything else beside the fight song and "Louie Louie?"
On the "time out/false start". the side judge nearest the lineman threw his flag...I guess the ref convinced him otherwise. Andy thought that he didn't call timeout in time, but I can't remember.
On the food/drink. There was a hot dog grill below our section. The smell of those dogs drove me to get one during the game...they're pretty flavorfull, plus the stand sold hot cocoa in thermal mugs.
On the bathrooms...they use port-a-potties under the end-zone bleachers. Oh well, they worked.
On the fans...I had no problems with the fans whatsoever. The staff that I had dealt with were all friendly and nobody harassed me. It was funny to see half of the WSU students clear out during halftime. People told us that they had serious drinking to do (what else is there to do in Pullman). Also, the fans do a two sided yell, but it did not sound like "Go....Cougs", it sounded more like "Cooo....gars"
On the scorebard...The scoreboard at Memorial has more info, and is put to better use. One of the wird things that WSU does with its scorebaord is when ever the Cougs get a first down. The stadium announcer would say "Check your reader board". the scorebard then displayed "and...that's....another... Cougar...first...down" and the crowd echoed each word. I was later told by the Memorial Stadium scoredbard operator (who was up to see how WSU used their scoreboard) that the stadium announcer used to say the words "and that's anouther Cougar first down" but when the students started echoing him, the Pac 10 said "Stop THAT! You're cheerleading". What you see now is the result.
On the announcer...not bad. Yes, he's a homer, but he would mention good plays by the bears too.
A name I heard too many times...Michael Black.

The drive home

Surprisingly, after the Bears lost, I didn't feel bad, nor did I feel bitter. I was proud that the Bears did NOT quit, and fought back. Yes, I would have loved to have left seeing the Bears win, but they still made me happy. Anyway, it was time for the drive back to Spokane; it made me think of the scene in Hoosiers where you see the entire town driving to one of the road games. There was a LONG line of cars (moving at 60 MPH) all the way back to Spokane.

We had early flights the next morning, so we went to sleep as soon as we got in. The flight back was uneventful...once again I saw a lot of the same people I saw at the game and on the flight up.

Looking back, I had a good trip. I'll be back again next year for the game on October 18.