Idiots Write About Sports

I am a lifelong, born and raised, Cal Football fan. So you can imagine that I was pretty happy this Saturday, as I sat in the same place I sat during the Joe Kapp years, the J Torchio years, the dark days of Keith Gilbertson, and the darker days of Tom Holmoe, and watched Cal beat the third-ranked team in the country. Better yet, that team was the despised USC Trojans, who have edged Notre Dame on my hate list largely thanks to Notre Dame’s hiring of the smart and decent Tyrone Willingham (former football coach at Hate List School Three).

But Cal’s victory was most impressive because it wasn’t a fluke. Cal came out better than USC, and their first-half effort was dominant. In fact, Cal had two stupid turnovers that prevented from the first half from ending in a rout. This fact caused for many nervous moments at halftime, magnified when in the third quarter USC quickly pulled even, showing why the pollsters of America consider them the bee’s knees.

And then the most shocking thing happened during this game of shocks and surprises — Cal didn’t collapse as most overmatched teams will do in such circumstances. (Trust me — as a Cal fan I am an expert on watching overmatched teams hang with an opponent for a half before folding in a second-half onslaught.) Instead, they fought back, went back ahead, and then held USC’s last-minute drive to a field goal to force overtime.

Even more impressive was the three overtimes, because in all of them, Cal had the upper hand. Not once did USC force Cal to the bring of elimination — Cal could’ve won OT #1 by not having their field goal blocked (major clutch play by USC, no doubt); they could have won OT #2 by stopping the USC offense from scoring a TD; and then they won OT #3 in the bottom of the 12th by scoring after holding USC scoreless in the top of the inning.

There have been crazier games at Memorial Stadium. I’ve seen some of them. The 30-point comeback against Oregon was insane. The five-overtime thriller against Arizona had more dramatic swings in fortune than any other game I’ve seen. But this victory was different. It was not only spit in the eyes of an arrogant and overrated opponent, but a declaration that Jeff Tedford and the Cal Bears are a force to be feared, even if they’re only 3-3 and probably not headed to any sort of bowl game. Why, it’s enough to make a Cal fan gingerly storm the field and stand upon the Momentum Turf.

Then again, who’s to say there’s no bowl in Cal’s future? If they win the rest of their conference games, the Rose Bowl beckons.

Come on. Let me have my fantasy for one week. It’s not often that Cal beats a Rose Bowl favorite to stay undefeated in the conference. For a fan base whose watchwords are “keep it close” and “maintain dignity,” let us have our small victories.