Some Cal Bear news

Well, spring practice continues on for the Cal Bears.  I would have had lots of stories about it but… well you guys know.  In any case, nothing remarkable has happened at practice really but it’s always interesting stuff.  I encourage you to read the articles at the Cal Rivals site.  There’s good stuff there about the practices and about various up and coming players.

But spring practice isn’t the only news.  In fact, there has been a flurry of news in the last few days:

  1. Cal has announced when Big Game tickets will be available.  The short answer is that donors who have given $1800 or more in the last year (or are willing to do so soon), will have the ability to buy tickets at various times in early June based on their donor levels.  They’ll also be able to buy up to 6 tickets for the REALLY big donors and 4 if they’re smaller donors.  For the rest of us season ticket holders, we’ll be able to buy up to 4 tickets starting June 29th.  (As an aside, I’ve always thought it sucked that they don’t adjust how many highly sought after tickets (bowl games, Big Game, etc.) one can buy based on the number of season tickets one holds.)  Big Game pricing was not announced and Big Game pricing information was not given on the Stanford site either.  For the very precision minded people like me, they also haven’t announced what time on June 29th one can start ordering.  You can bet I’ll be on the website at 12:01 AM.
  2. The “spring game” is this Saturday (4/14) at 2:00 PM at Memorial Stadium.  I put it in quotes because unlike previous years, there will be no scrimage/game.  It’ll just be a regular practice.  In some ways that is good, especially for those fans who have never had the chance to see a Tedford practice because he loves to keep them closed to the public.  In other ways it is a big disappointment because it won’t be nearly as entertaining.  In any case, considering the weather forecast for Berkeley on Saturday calls for sprinkles, I won’t be coming down with my boys like I had planned… unless the forecast changes.
  3. The first game-time and TV coverage for a 2007 Bears game has been announced and it’s time to check your cable package to see if you get the channel, or if can even be ordered.  The Cal vs. Colorado State game will be televised on CSTV, a fairly rinky-dink sports channel that most cable and satalite packages don’t include.  I know I don’t get it.  I already checked and I’ll probably be paying the $12 for the month of September to add the subscription package that has that channel.  The game time has also been announced: 11 AM PDT, which is noon in Colorado.
  4. Jay Heater is leaving the area and will no longer be one of the best Cal reporters in the area.  This is a crushing blow for Cal reporting, more crushing than… well you guys know.  I met and talked with him a number of times during the 2006 season.  He had a great personality and was generous to the players without pulling any punches.  He loved talking Cal football.
  5. Finally, lest one thinks that the only stadium renovation news involves tree-huggers, the lead construction company has been chosen for the first phase of the project.  They’ll be starting on preliminary work immediately but of course won’t be able to start on meaningful construction until the lawsuits are resolved, which won’t happen until at least mid-summer.

GO BEARS!

One Response to “Some Cal Bear news”

  1. DisplacedBear04 Says:

    You know, have you ever thought about applying for Jay Heater’s old position at the ContraCostaTimes now that he is gone. I really like your writing style and we junkies need committed Bear coverage like Heater’s.