Bear Territory

I had been pumped all last week for Saturday's highly anticipated showdown between Cal & Oregon. Excitement and nervousness rolled into one feeling. Win, Cal redeems respectability amongst the elite. Lose, Cal's forced to shelve their hopes for 'something big' yet another season. College football is a story of 'win or go home' every single Saturday. But on this Saturday, stakes felt so high that it was more like 'win or die.'

You could feel it in the stadium as you walked in. The arena tarps removed, an unusually large cohort of yellow and green to the left, fans with painted faces... the electricity in the air.

"Huh? Why's the Oregon team on our side?"

"That's Cal, fool. They're wearing new uniforms."

Yes, the team had new uni's too.

And, after the game's first snap... interception. A play that set the tone for things to come, because Cal would go on to dominate. Proving not only to the ducks, not only to memorial stadium, not only to all viewers tuned in during primetime abc, but to the entire football nation... Bear Territory is here to stay.

Haha. Nah but foreal though, there's something special about this year's team. You can feel the swagger. Better than the team from '04. This team's gona make some noise. And I'll be there, cheerin' em on the whole way. Go Bears.

Days after, my throat and calves were still sore.