Cardinal and blue Saturdays - Stanford University, University of California football

Sunset, Oct, 1991

FOR NEARLY A century of Saturdays in Berkeley and Palo Alto, it's been northern California's great rite of autumn: thousands of students, alumni, and fans pack up their lunches and loyalties and prepare to celebrate a day of football and fun.

Coming up on their third home game, the Cal Bears host Oregon October 12, Washington October 19, San Jose State Octobr 26, USC November 2 (Berkeley's homecoming), and Arizona State November 16. Games are tentatively set for 1 P.M. but are subject to change for television scheduling.

The final days of Stanford's year-long centennial celebration include a match-up with the national champion Colorado Buffaloes on September 28, the Cardinal's third game of the 1991 season. October 5 is against Notre Dame, October 12 Cornell, October 26 Oregon State, and November 9 UCLA. November 23 is the Big Game, when archrivals Stanford and California do battle. Games are tentatively scheduled for 12:30 P.M. (except Notre Dame, which is scheduled for 8 P.M.).

Tickets are available for every game; both schools charge $17 to $25, depending on the opponent. Even if a game is sold out, scalpers are plentiful. To order tickets or to verify starting times, telephone (800) GO BEARS or (800) BEAT CAL.

GETTING TO BERKELEY

Many Bears fans without season-ticket parking passes come by BART or bus because of the lack of nearby spaces. BART's Berkeley stop is one block from the west end of campus; from there you can walk (about a mile) or catch the continually circling free motorized cable car shuttle to Memorial Stadium. From BART's Rockridge stop, 1 1/2 miles away, walk or take a bus down College Avenue past shops and residences to campus. AC Transit runs several buses to UC Berkeley; call (510) 839-2882.

Contra Costa County Cal Express picks up fans at Concord BART (10:45 A.M.) and at Lafayette BART (11 A.M.), and drops them off at the stadium; round-trip price is $5 adults, $2 ages 18 and under when paid in advance, $6 and $3 on day of game. Call 676-7500 for details.

If you do drive, look for students holding signs for parking at houses along Piedmont Avenue (south of the stadium); you'll pay around $10. Otherwise, your best bet is in residential areas several blocks from campus (many streets closest to the stadium are tow-away zones).

BEFORE THE GAME

On game days, Telegraph, Bancroft, and Durant streets are a wacky mixture of urban masses--college students, faculty, residents, high-school day-trippers, street vendors, panhandlers, alums, and football fanatics. To people-watch, try for a window seat at one of the many cafes south of campus.

The campus offers a more peaceful environment for pre-game festivities, with few automobiles, lots of shaded and sunny lawn areas, and beautiful bay views. Popular picnic sites include the Hearst gymnasium area, the base of the Campanile, faculty glade, the Miners Circle area, and the Greek Theatre. Check the maps just inside each main entrance to campus.

At noon the California Marching Band strikes up in Sproul Plaza, then marches up Bancroft and through various picnic sites playing traditional Cal songs.

AT THE STADIUM

Among the stock scenarious you'll see in the throngs looking for the correct gate to enter are ticketless kids searching for families that don't fulfill their five-person allowance on prepaid family passes and who are willing to temporarily adopt someone. Another sure sight is people surrounding the infamous giant garbage dumpster on the south side of the stadium--the last possible stop to finish canned or bottled drinks.

Inside the 75,662-seat stadium, the sunny student side faces the alumni section, which gets shaded by the overhead press box. The students are bare-chested or tank-topped, the alumni bundled up and cold. Students wear sunglasses, the alumni binoculars. Students yell "GO" and the Old Blues answer "BEARS" in the traditional and oft-repeated cheer.

Above the student sit some other dedicated game-goers. Welcome to Tightwad Hill, a penny-pincher's dream. The view from this perch among the trees outside the stadium is almost perfect; only the north end zone is partially obscured.

The field is artificial turf, because it gets extensive use and because Strawberry Creek's waters run directly underneath. There's always talk that grass will be back, but so far . . .

Memorial's seating is bleachers, steep and compact; fans are close to the players and the game, enough so that when students deem victory is sure, they scramble over the low divider and storm the field. Sometimes they've been wrong or too early: Big Games in 1982 and 1990 were decided in part by the fans and band taking the field before the final gun sounded.

A warning to first-timers at Cal games: don't wear Stanford red and walk by the students! They'll chant "Take off that RED shirt" until you do, or until you walk away. More rambunctious students have been known to "roll" the red-wearer over the crowd and up the student section.