What I saw and learned in Cali

[LPTiger 5,167]

1.  We need to find our identity on O, and the 2 QB system prevents us from getting in a rhythm.   Thorne looks "afraid to make a mistake" so he held the ball too long too many times.

2. I don't appreciate JHS near enough.   Cal's stadium sits at the top of a pretty tall hill.   Once you are there, the views outside the stadium are really incredible.   Once inside the stadium it is an egged shaped bowl without any character.  Their PA system was awful.   We literally could not hear a single thing said over the PA.   The reviews and fumbles....  well we knew what happened based only on the "roar" of the 35,000 Cal fans there.   They had porta potty's as bathrooms -- inside the stadium.    The concession stands were food trucks.   While we have a Jumbotron- they have 2 microtrons that are worthless.

3. I don't appreciate the beauty of our campus enough-   The best thing about Cal's campus were the trees (which were awesome) and a12 story clock tower.    After that, the campus is not nice AT ALL.   Many of the buildings are poured concrete with no color on the concrete.   They are large grey concrete buildings like you would expect to see in a war zone.  There is no consistency in the architecture.   It would have driven our architecture and building science grads mad.    They have very little grass -- the kind you mow with a lawn mower.   The roads and sidewalks were cracked and uncomfortable.   Because of the skateboarders, every bench, flower bed, what ever had items attached to it that prevented the boarders from boarding on them.

4. I don't appreciate southern culture enough -- one fraternity house had a large sign outfront that read "Cousins FUC___s vs. Golden Bears.   No one made an effort to take it down.   The entire student section chanted immediately before the game "F--ck you Auburn."   The chant seemed very commonplace.  

5. I don't appreciate our tailgate culture enough -- we saw 1 tailgate and it didn't have chicken wings, ribs or hamburgers.

6. I don't appreciate our home crowd advantage enough -- There were at least 5,000 empty seats around the 50.   I'd say the stadium was 66% full and if not for us it would have been only 40% full.

7. CBP is a great Auburn ambassador.   He was at the TUF tailgate 3 hours before kick.   When he came into the stadium, he received a huge ovation.

8. Cal hates Stanford almost as much as we hate Bama.  I think the stadium crew did it intentionally -- they posted the USC Stanford score on the microton and immediately thereafter posted the UT Bama score.   Our crowd reacted to the second one....

9.  Auburn travels -- Holy sweet Jesus.    WE WERE EVERYWHERE.   When coach Freeze came by us at Tiger Walk all he could say was "thank-you, thank-you, thank-you".   He and the players were clearly moved by how many folks traveled 2,000 miles for our Tigers.

10.   Luke Deal loves his momma -- me and my crew crossed over the Tiger Walk road from one side to the other about 5 minutes before it started.   As soon as I got to the other side, a sweet lady politely asked me if I could take a half of a step back because "her son was coming."   I assumed, not sure why, that she meant her 5-10 year old son.   What she actually meant was her son Luke Deal was coming.   I wish all of you could have seen them embrace and the words they exchanged.   I'm literally tearing rn.

11.  I Believe in Auburn.

12. And love it. 

[LPTiger 5,167]

Can't believe I forgot 13.   I don't appreciate our band enough.  Their drum major dropped the stick he was trying to twirl not once but twice.   When they lined up, they didn't line up.   Their lines were crooked.   When they played you couldn't hear them.   Three of their hats fell off during their 6 minute halftime show.    With some things, you don't know what you have until you see what others don't have. 

[Jgarrett7 957]

@LPTiger number 1 can not be stated enough. I hate 2 qb systems. And this one has been especially bad it seems so far. Everytime ashford enters the game it breaks the rythym. Even happened a time or 2 against umass but we got away with it then. If we’re determined to play both of them at least give them the entire series and the entire playbook. 

Edited September 11, 2023 by Jgarrett7

[aublaise 199]

19 minutes ago, LPTiger said:

Can't believe I forgot 13.   I don't appreciate our band enough.  Their drum major dropped the stick he was trying to twirl not once but twice.   When they lined up, they didn't line up.   Their lines were crooked.   When they played you couldn't hear them.   Three of their hats fell off during their 6 minute halftime show.    With some things, you don't know what you have until you see what others don't have. 

LP, I do not disagree with anything you stated.  I do want to state for the record that I am really glad that AU scheduled this home and home series and hope AU does more of these in the future.  This was an awesome trip for me (just like Penn State and Kansas State) as it was an opportunity to visit a different part of the country, experience different cultures, and appreciate AU even more.

[LPTiger 5,167]

8 minutes ago, aublaise said:

LP, I do not disagree with anything you stated.  I do want to state for the record that I am really glad that AU scheduled this home and home series and hope AU does more of these in the future.  This was an awesome trip for me (just like Penn State and Kansas State) as it was an opportunity to visit a different part of the country, experience different cultures, and appreciate AU even more.

100%.   We went out with 9 other couples and spent 3 days in the valley.  It was so awesome running into other Auburn people at various vineyards.   We visited 7 vineyards and every one knew why we were there and said AU was their new 2nd favorite team.  The restaurant scene in B'ham, in particular, has these vineyards very familiar with Alabama.   Funny story, every meal we all ate together -- 20 strong.   We had dinner at Bottega in Yountsville and the hostess came out at the end of our meal and said the staff said we were the nicest people they had ever served....   AU nice!!!!

 

[1716AU 730]

1 hour ago, LPTiger said:

1.  We need to find our identity on O, and the 2 QB system prevents us from getting in a rhythm.   Thorne looks "afraid to make a mistake" so he held the ball too long too many times.

2. I don't appreciate JHS near enough.   Cal's stadium sits at the top of a pretty tall hill.   Once you are there, the views outside the stadium are really incredible.   Once inside the stadium it is an egged shaped bowl without any character.  Their PA system was awful.   We literally could not hear a single thing said over the PA.   The reviews and fumbles....  well we knew what happened based only on the "roar" of the 35,000 Cal fans there.   They had porta potty's as bathrooms -- inside the stadium.    The concession stands were food trucks.   While we have a Jumbotron- they have 2 microtrons that are worthless.

3. I don't appreciate the beauty of our campus enough-   The best thing about Cal's campus were the trees (which were awesome) and a12 story clock tower.    After that, the campus is not nice AT ALL.   Many of the buildings are poured concrete with no color on the concrete.   They are large grey concrete buildings like you would expect to see in a war zone.  There is no consistency in the architecture.   It would have driven our architecture and building science grads mad.    They have very little grass -- the kind you mow with a lawn mower.   The roads and sidewalks were cracked and uncomfortable.   Because of the skateboarders, every bench, flower bed, what ever had items attached to it that prevented the boarders from boarding on them.

4. I don't appreciate southern culture enough -- one fraternity house had a large sign outfront that read "Cousins FUC___s vs. Golden Bears.   No one made an effort to take it down.   The entire student section chanted immediately before the game "F--ck you Auburn."   The chant seemed very commonplace.  

5. I don't appreciate our tailgate culture enough -- we saw 1 tailgate and it didn't have chicken wings, ribs or hamburgers.

6. I don't appreciate our home crowd advantage enough -- There were at least 5,000 empty seats around the 50.   I'd say the stadium was 66% full and if not for us it would have been only 40% full.

7. CBP is a great Auburn ambassador.   He was at the TUF tailgate 3 hours before kick.   When he came into the stadium, he received a huge ovation.

8. Cal hates Stanford almost as much as we hate Bama.  I think the stadium crew did it intentionally -- they posted the USC Stanford score on the microton and immediately thereafter posted the UT Bama score.   Our crowd reacted to the second one....

9.  Auburn travels -- Holy sweet Jesus.    WE WERE EVERYWHERE.   When coach Freeze came by us at Tiger Walk all he could say was "thank-you, thank-you, thank-you".   He and the players were clearly moved by how many folks traveled 2,000 miles for our Tigers.

10.   Luke Deal loves his momma -- me and my crew crossed over the Tiger Walk road from one side to the other about 5 minutes before it started.   As soon as I got to the other side, a sweet lady politely asked me if I could take a half of a step back because "her son was coming."   I assumed, not sure why, that she meant her 5-10 year old son.   What she actually meant was her son Luke Deal was coming.   I wish all of you could have seen them embrace and the words they exchanged.   I'm literally tearing rn.

11.  I Believe in Auburn.

12. And love it. 

I really appreciate your post.  Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Different regions look at college football very differently.  Here in the Mid Atlantic, it's not as big as basketball, and we have pro teams that change the dynamic.  That goes all the way up to Boston, and it definitely has an effect on California.  I can guarantee, after two years in San Francisco, Cal, Stanford, San Jose St... their college football isn't that big a deal to them as it is to Alabamians. They have the 49ers, the Rams, and the Chargers. Unlike these areas, Alabama didn't have a Pro presence.   Trust me, here in Virginia, more people care about the Cowboys, Ravens, and yes, the Commanders. I know, Cowboys...

I've got to tell you, after experiencing tailgates at both Auburn and uat, it pales in comparison to the tailgate for The Game, Yale vs Hahvahd.  Not in the same universe.  I always got to meet amazing people, eat some amazing food, and drink some amazing liquor.  And that the students left to party more at the half, and barely get back for the fourth quarter was something to behold.

Just a couple of observations Alabama boy moved north.

 

 

[aucat 69]

obviopusly, Cal students love books more than pigskin

[AU-24 3,107]

7 hours ago, LPTiger said:

1.  We need to find our identity on O, and the 2 QB system prevents us from getting in a rhythm.   Thorne looks "afraid to make a mistake" so he held the ball too long too many times.

2. I don't appreciate JHS near enough.   Cal's stadium sits at the top of a pretty tall hill.   Once you are there, the views outside the stadium are really incredible.   Once inside the stadium it is an egged shaped bowl without any character.  Their PA system was awful.   We literally could not hear a single thing said over the PA.   The reviews and fumbles....  well we knew what happened based only on the "roar" of the 35,000 Cal fans there.   They had porta potty's as bathrooms -- inside the stadium.    The concession stands were food trucks.   While we have a Jumbotron- they have 2 microtrons that are worthless.

3. I don't appreciate the beauty of our campus enough-   The best thing about Cal's campus were the trees (which were awesome) and a12 story clock tower.    After that, the campus is not nice AT ALL.   Many of the buildings are poured concrete with no color on the concrete.   They are large grey concrete buildings like you would expect to see in a war zone.  There is no consistency in the architecture.   It would have driven our architecture and building science grads mad.    They have very little grass -- the kind you mow with a lawn mower.   The roads and sidewalks were cracked and uncomfortable.   Because of the skateboarders, every bench, flower bed, what ever had items attached to it that prevented the boarders from boarding on them.

4. I don't appreciate southern culture enough -- one fraternity house had a large sign outfront that read "Cousins FUC___s vs. Golden Bears.   No one made an effort to take it down.   The entire student section chanted immediately before the game "F--ck you Auburn."   The chant seemed very commonplace.  

5. I don't appreciate our tailgate culture enough -- we saw 1 tailgate and it didn't have chicken wings, ribs or hamburgers.

6. I don't appreciate our home crowd advantage enough -- There were at least 5,000 empty seats around the 50.   I'd say the stadium was 66% full and if not for us it would have been only 40% full.

7. CBP is a great Auburn ambassador.   He was at the TUF tailgate 3 hours before kick.   When he came into the stadium, he received a huge ovation.

8. Cal hates Stanford almost as much as we hate Bama.  I think the stadium crew did it intentionally -- they posted the USC Stanford score on the microton and immediately thereafter posted the UT Bama score.   Our crowd reacted to the second one....

9.  Auburn travels -- Holy sweet Jesus.    WE WERE EVERYWHERE.   When coach Freeze came by us at Tiger Walk all he could say was "thank-you, thank-you, thank-you".   He and the players were clearly moved by how many folks traveled 2,000 miles for our Tigers.

10.   Luke Deal loves his momma -- me and my crew crossed over the Tiger Walk road from one side to the other about 5 minutes before it started.   As soon as I got to the other side, a sweet lady politely asked me if I could take a half of a step back because "her son was coming."   I assumed, not sure why, that she meant her 5-10 year old son.   What she actually meant was her son Luke Deal was coming.   I wish all of you could have seen them embrace and the words they exchanged.   I'm literally tearing rn.

11.  I Believe in Auburn.

12. And love it. 

I agree 100%

[gr82be 14,443]

14 hours ago, LPTiger said:

With some things, you don't know what you have until you see what others don't have. 

Well said, and it goes for many things in life. 

[BornAU76 398]

Great post @LPTiger, perspective does make you appreciate what you have.

[W.E.D 11,070]

16 hours ago, LPTiger said:

I don't appreciate southern culture enough -- one fraternity house had a large sign outfront that read "Cousins FUC___s vs. Golden Bears.   No one made an effort to take it down.   The entire student section chanted immediately before the game "F--ck you Auburn."   The chant seemed very commonplace

This is just kinda silly old man yelling at clouds. Auburns fraternities have come under heat for inappropriate banners many times.

Students use bad words everywhere 

[aucom96 1,626]

2 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

This is just kinda silly old man yelling at clouds.

Actually, it's just pointing out bad behavior, but I guess that's now "yelling at clouds".

 

Count me in. 

[TitanTiger 20,499]

11 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

This is just kinda silly old man yelling at clouds. Auburns fraternities have come under heat for inappropriate banners many times.

Students use bad words everywhere 

Every school has inappropriate stuff done by frats.  Some places are worse than others and Auburn's are tame compared to a lot of them.  It's ok to acknowledge that.

[gr82b4au 5,568]

I have been ragging on Rivals for a while now, but there is a wonderful article on the bunker about the AU fans that showed up in California. Pay site so I can’t post it but needless to say, the team was overwhelmed in a good way by the support. 
Auburn is special  

[W.E.D 11,070]

38 minutes ago, aucom96 said:

Actually, it's just pointing out bad behavior, but I guess that's now "yelling at clouds".

Count me in. 

It's pointing out bad behavior but trying to claim non-southern culture being the reason is a but silly

[W.E.D 11,070]

31 minutes ago, TitanTiger said:

Every school has inappropriate stuff done by frats.  Some places are worse than others and Auburn's are tame compared to a lot of them.  It's ok to acknowledge that.

I mean, the Beta Hallowren party wasn't that long ago.  That's our southern culture. Hopefully that just hidden away from cameras bs this incident at BDS....

I agree every school had bad fans...the whole "southern culture" is what I'm laughing at.

 

 

[TigerHorn 1,353]

57 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

This is just kinda silly old man yelling at clouds. Auburns fraternities have come under heat for inappropriate banners many times.

Students use bad words everywhere 

LOL, you're right, but in today's world, that behavior often causes a firestorm. Just look at the X meltdown that has brewed up over some drunken UAT boys yelling at Texas players. Even Tigerdroppings is referring to the video as "problematic" for UAT, and most of it is some guy with a not-from-Alabama accent questioning the sexual orientation of the UT players. I couldn't make out everything being said, but in the new link above I can hear the racist comments better. I think everybody needs to chill out over equating words with "violence". 

EDIT: Actual video posted while I was typing. I don't hear a Southern accent in that taunting, I do hear a "You guys" in place of Y'all. A lot worse gets said in the stands and on the field. 

Edited September 11, 2023 by TigerHorn

[W.E.D 11,070]

1 minute ago, TigerHorn said:

LOL, you're right, but in today's world, that behavior often causes a firestorm. Just look at the X meltdown that has brewed up over some drunken UAT boys yelling at Texas players. Even Tigerdroppings is referring to the video as "problematic" for UAT, and most of it is some guy with a not-from-Alabama accent questioning the sexual orientation of the UT players. I can't make out everything being said, but some say that the video has racist comments as well. I think everybody needs to chill out over equating words with "violence". 

I just linked that video above.  It's racist and homophobic.  It's pretty problematic, without quotes.

Presumed white guy is yelling at a group of black players to "go back to the projects"....that's racists as hell.  Then also proceeded to call him a homosexual***, which is pure bigotry and derogatory.  It's hate speech.  Bama is lucky he didn't drop an N bomb on camera 

[TigerHorn 1,353]

2 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

I just linked that video above.  It's racist and homophobic.  It's pretty problematic, without quotes.

Presumed white guy is yelling at a group of black players to "go back to the projects"....that's racists as hell.  Then also proceeded to call him a homosexual***, which is pure bigotry and derogatory.  It's hate speech.  Bama is lucky he didn't drop an N bomb on camera 

Texas players took it as they should have, proud of them for that. Scoreboard baby. As for the sexuality reference, of course its derogatory, that's the point of taunting. 

If you're going to take an extreme position on this, then you have to take the exact same position on the banner at Cal. To do anything else is definitively hypocrisy. 

[W.E.D 11,070]

Just now, TigerHorn said:

As for the sexuality reference, of course its derogatory, that's the point of taunting. 

I didn't have "It's racism, bigotry, and hate speech are OKAY because it's taunting" on my bingo card this early on a Monday. 

But here we are

[TigerHorn 1,353]

3 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

I didn't have "It's racism, bigotry, and hate speech are OKAY because it's taunting" on my bingo card this early on a Monday. 

But here we are

Nice job saying things I didn't say, but that seems to be where you are.

I also note that you studiously avoided your own position on the banner at Cal. 

 

[W.E.D 11,070]

Just now, TigerHorn said:

Nice job saying things I didn't say, but that seems to be where you are.

I also note that you studiously avoided your own position on the banner at Cal. 

You said "that's the point of taunting".  You can taunt players without racism and bigotry.

Making fun of southerners isn't the same, but I see it's upsetting your white fragility.

[TigerHorn 1,353]

11 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

You said "that's the point of taunting".  You can taunt players without racism and bigotry.

Making fun of southerners isn't the same, but I see it's upsetting your white fragility.

I did not approve of the racist aspect of the taunting. So long as boys have hormones, they will question each others sexuality. I'd wager your paycheck that those Longhorn players had equally derisive things to say about the taunters. If I run into them in the next few weeks, I'll ask them what they were singing about. I'm sure virgin ears such as yours will be appalled. 

Your second sentence requires belief in a fictional term to address, so I won't, and you still avoided addressing your own hypocrisy. 

 

[W.E.D 11,070]

1 minute ago, TigerHorn said:

So long as boys have hormones, they will question each others sexuality.

"Boys will be boys, it's their nature to be bigots"

No. False. Not one bit acceptable in any fashion.  Go use those same words in your workplace today.  Publicly and loudly.

[TigerHorn 1,353]

9 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

"Boys will be boys, it's their nature to be bigots"

No. False. Not one bit acceptable in any fashion.  Go use those same words in your workplace today.  Publicly and loudly.

It wasn't a workplace. It was a stadium with an average BAC of, oh, maybe 0.15, in an intense game. False analogy.

I bet you've never said anything at all hurtful or derogatory in your entire sainted life, especially while drinking too much, have you?