posted this on BI... took a long time to write up and some seemed to agree/appreciate, so figured why not...
Pre-game festivities/ funny story
Highlight of my weekend, having... ahem... a few drinks with Brett Johnson, Cal S 2005-2009 on Friday at Haymaker's in East Austin (found a place with A/C and $2 margaritas... done deal). Had a blast, met up with him again Saturday at Scholz Garten. Suffice to say... learned A LOT about the inner workings of the mid-to-late Tedford teams.
Speaking of which, thanks to Txwharfrat for inviting me to that. Pleasure meeting him and his wife, and there was quite the Cal contingent there. We basically ruined the LHN radio broadcast with our chants/fight songs. They were giving away signed longhorn merchandise and early on in the show the host lamented "we'll probably be giving it to some Cal fans." I'm pretty sure at least one signed shirt came back to California.
People were generally welcoming, though I guess I didn't interact with Texas fans as much as I could have. People were warm and food was good. I was surprised at how 'small' Austin in general felt.. didn't feel like you had to go far in any direction to basically be out of the city, and almost like you could walk across it in a couple hours (Brett and I basically did, lol).
Game Atmosphere: Being that I was in essentially the same spot as I was in the 2006 Tennessee game... I have to agree with the shaggy fans.. DKR didn't seem particularly loud to me. I was in the upper deck for both games. Against Tennessee, the upper deck literally shook before the game and during big TDs. Not so here. Obviously for some spurts they could get into it, but the exhortations from the video screen seemed like they went un-heeded, at least until real late and the comeback started. Cal fans were into it from the beginning though, great show. Lots of enthusiastic Roll On You Bears chants.
Brought my cousin to the game (hadn't seen him in 3-4 years), and I think we converted a Cal fan (he went to Washington university of St Louis, so no football team).
Had a semi-long pre-re-watch summary up, but since i think some of my initial stadium observations were wrong (after I watched the broadcast, sober and paying attention), might as well just post that.
General themes... despite giving up tons of points and yards, even in the 4th quarter i saw some good defense in the face of a herculean effort by Heard. Also think the slowdown in offense has more to do with Goff getting hurt than any change in playcalling... to be continued...
Pre-game festivities/ funny story
Highlight of my weekend, having... ahem... a few drinks with Brett Johnson, Cal S 2005-2009 on Friday at Haymaker's in East Austin (found a place with A/C and $2 margaritas... done deal). Had a blast, met up with him again Saturday at Scholz Garten. Suffice to say... learned A LOT about the inner workings of the mid-to-late Tedford teams.
Speaking of which, thanks to Txwharfrat for inviting me to that. Pleasure meeting him and his wife, and there was quite the Cal contingent there. We basically ruined the LHN radio broadcast with our chants/fight songs. They were giving away signed longhorn merchandise and early on in the show the host lamented "we'll probably be giving it to some Cal fans." I'm pretty sure at least one signed shirt came back to California.
People were generally welcoming, though I guess I didn't interact with Texas fans as much as I could have. People were warm and food was good. I was surprised at how 'small' Austin in general felt.. didn't feel like you had to go far in any direction to basically be out of the city, and almost like you could walk across it in a couple hours (Brett and I basically did, lol).
Game Atmosphere: Being that I was in essentially the same spot as I was in the 2006 Tennessee game... I have to agree with the shaggy fans.. DKR didn't seem particularly loud to me. I was in the upper deck for both games. Against Tennessee, the upper deck literally shook before the game and during big TDs. Not so here. Obviously for some spurts they could get into it, but the exhortations from the video screen seemed like they went un-heeded, at least until real late and the comeback started. Cal fans were into it from the beginning though, great show. Lots of enthusiastic Roll On You Bears chants.
Brought my cousin to the game (hadn't seen him in 3-4 years), and I think we converted a Cal fan (he went to Washington university of St Louis, so no football team).
Had a semi-long pre-re-watch summary up, but since i think some of my initial stadium observations were wrong (after I watched the broadcast, sober and paying attention), might as well just post that.
General themes... despite giving up tons of points and yards, even in the 4th quarter i saw some good defense in the face of a herculean effort by Heard. Also think the slowdown in offense has more to do with Goff getting hurt than any change in playcalling... to be continued...
