I've got to get this and a few other blog posts in before I leave for Atherton and then Palo Alto, but man what fun this week has been. So much Big Game fun it curtails the work routine.
The problem of any content creator - with the exception of a game developer of which I also am (just run my Oakland Baseball Simworld) - is that you have to create it before you install it. In my case that means being out and about, then tired, and then again too tired to pull an all-nighter to enter anything. But that's ok.
Now to important Big Game matters, working backward in time from now.
If you're wondering why you've seen so many Stanford photos on the SFGate.com front page it's due in large part to the fact that one of the SFGate editors is a Stanford grad and dad who's shall remain nameless until Cal wins and he has to deliver what will be my prized bottle of Merlot. As I wrote to him, the wine represents Cardinal blood and will be well consumed by me after we (Cal) clobber Stanford!
Friday featured the playing of the 27th annual Little Game. This touch football mega-event is the brainchild of my friend Cal grad and now Yahoo Sports Senior Writer Mike Silver and is played every year on the Friday before the Big Game. We played from (well for me because I arrived late) 4 PM to dark and I made a video of it that you will see next week.
As for the game's outcome, it ended in a tie and with 10-year-old Zach Heywood running 98 yards to score a touchdown as a group of Old Blues tried in vain to find him in the dark!
After that we met at the famous Sacramento and Front Street Cal grad institution that's called The Royal Exchange to catch up with friends and have a decent cocktail, coupled (for me) with dinner at Globe Restaurant, then a jaunt to meet friends at Cafe Prague, then winding up at The Clift Hotel, then home.
Whew!
On Wednesday, it was the Guardsmen Luncheon at The Fairmount Hotel, where comedian Bob Sarlatte delivered his annually good monologue with an array of jokes and quips that included a little factoid that this was former Examiner and Chronicle Sports Columnist Glenn Dickey's 328th Big Game luncheon!
At the event, Stanford Head Coach Jim Harbaugh took the podium to a somewhat muted chant of "Go for two!" by Cal grads - including me. Cal Coach Jeff Tedford reported that star running back Jahvid Best is getting better rapidly and said that it was good he just had the concussion as it could have been worse.
Big Game Day! But a word on the protest
But now, it's time for the Big Game, but I have to say a few words about Friday's protest at Cal that resulted in the occupation of Wheeler Hall for 11 hours. I think one reason Big Game celebration seemed to lack the on-campus zest of the past (and why we went to San Francisco) was the feeling that the University itself doesn't support its students as they try to get an education.
Increasing tuition such that it will eventually cost over $10,000 per semester and in a recession is heartless. Moreover, not decreasing University staff incomes by 20 percent is equally a mistake.
There is a disturbing pattern developing where the people that run California government and education corporations want to tax and charge the poorest consumers of service, rather than feel some of the pain with an income cut.
This is especially true in Oakland with the parking tow sting that's still going on, taking in more Oaklanders in terrible ways that eventually will change the politics of the city. Meanwhile, a number of City of Oakland non-elected staffers enjoy incomes at and over $200,000 a year and with no cut in sight.
If you're wondering what all this has to do with the Big Game, that's just the point: everything! It's hard to have as much fun when your government and education leaders seem to be trying to stick it to you, but the show must go on!
GO BEARS! Beat Stanford!
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