39. Holiday Bowl Cal vs. Texas December 28

 

We dished out a sizable stack of cash and went to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego:

Cal Berkeley Golden Bears vs. Texas Longhorns.

For an additional wad of change, we got Elite 45/50 yard-line tickets - padded seats with arm and backrests! Dickie was pumped……….and so was I.

The Pre-Game Show was spectacular: Parachute jumpers from the U.S. Navy Leap Frogs,

heart-pounding marching bands, and the famous Holiday Bowl “Big Flag” - the football field size American Flag.........................Then the game started.

Cal briefly took the lead with a field goal; then went sleepwalking for the rest of game. After the spectacular fireworks at halftime, it was back to watching the grass grow, the paint dry, and waiting around for the egg being laid.

B O R I N G!

The bully Texans looked too big, too strong, too fast and athletic for the Bears, who shot themselves in the foot with ridiculous penalties. They couldn’t run, couldn’t pass, couldn’t kick! Other than that, they played a helluva good football game.


In the end the Longhorns stumped the Golden Bears 21-10.

While the Texas band played The Yellow Rose of Texas, all eyes were on us when we left the game early. On the way out a dude with a deep southern drawl said to me:

"You Bears would have been better off remaining behind in Berkeley and just staying satisfied with being smart, y’all."

The Texan cowboy must have read the Washington Post the day before, who ranked the University of California Berkeley the nation’s number ONE public university. With parking spaces reserved for the nine living Cal Nobel laureates, it competes with the big private Ivies, and the Post rated “us” number two overall, with Harvard ahead and Stanford in third place.

Sadly the California-State share of Berkeley’s operating budget has slipped since 1991 from 47 percent to 11 percent and tuition has doubled in six years. “Nowhere are the stakes higher than at the anchor of the nation’s most prestigious public university system, which now admits more students from out of state/country willing to pay a premium for a Berkeley degree”, the Post said.

In closing I wish y’all a Happy New Year – may you be alive and healthy at the same time next December 29^th.

Cheers and

GO BEARS!

P.S. Good luck to the Oregon Ducks in the Rose Bowl.

We love you guys too!