Thanks Avi...seeing you in such a good mood makes my day/week! But of all the things you mentioned, my head exploded when I read this..."Memorial Stadium might currently have one of the worst audio setups in college football. It is impossible to hear what anyone is saying on the videoboards on the east side. Maybe it’s better elsewhere …
Thanks Avi...seeing you in such a good mood makes my day/week! But of all the things you mentioned, my head exploded when I read this..."Memorial Stadium might currently have one of the worst audio setups in college football. It is impossible to hear what anyone is saying on the videoboards on the east side. Maybe it’s better elsewhere but lord if I can tell you what’s happening.
Cal installed new videoboards that seem to only broadcast in standard definition, and on video replays the screen quality degenerates to 144p." WTF!!!! Who loses their job for this...no excuse!
We were near the NW corner of Notre Dame Stadium (kitty-corner from our fellow Cal fans) and their video board was like watching 4k in my living room. I know they have all the money in the world, but I was heartened to hear that Memorial was getting a new board. Have not made it out yet this year, but how disappointing to hear the replacement is crap. Hopefully, the screen itself is good & they just need to build the signal delivery infrastructure (already funded I hope) to deliver a high quality picture. Anyone know what the story is?
On the west side, audio is the exact opposite. Ear bleeding volume so every annoying ad is heard, every case of mistaken identity by stadium PA announcer is clear as a bell, and when the band plays, you better believe something meaningless is drowning them out.
Yup, everything is extremely loud on the alumni side.
Other gameday stuff:
-Still no cheerleaders? It's not that I care about ogling the pom-pom girls, but it seems important for a major football program to, y'know, have them? Kind of embarrassing at this point that we don't.
-Whoever is running the "entertainment" during time outs needs to be better at recognizing when the game is going to start again. They started one of those "shell game" video board things with only about 20 seconds left on the "media timeout" clock. I knew it was going to run long and indeed it did . . . once again they had to cut the announcer's mic in mid-sentence.
The person in charge of hiring coaches for both teams did not do so. Consequently, they had to finally hire someone at the beginning of the season, and at this point, tryouts will not happen until nearly the of the season for the teams. Since the retirement of the last advisor to Cal Spirit groups, this person is also the person who is responsible for telling the Mic Men, the Rally Committee, and the Band when they are allowed to do anything in the insipid Gameday Experience script written by the Athletic Department.
Name: Craig Peden
Title: Director of Marketing and Game Presentation
Of course, one could also complain to his boss (who is newly hired, because they did not exist until less than a month ago), because Peden has been doing this job for most of the past decade and is the reason the experience at games for fans only gets worse.
Holy cow how ridiculous. I wrote Knowlton a long email in 2019 about the fan experience particularly the lack of organized cheers and the drowning out of the fans on defense with canned hip hop or worse back in black by ac DC. He said that this was what younger audiences wanted. Since I am over 50 at this point who wants to hear that crap from when we were 11 years old? What a load of S---!
I’m sure they would never have me because of my period of regrettable political antagonism with the university. That being said, running the game day experience would be an absolute dream job.
Whoever does this should bring back the best of alumni mic men with some sort of stipend to train the new crew. Retool the sound system to mic the band. Incorporate commercials and sales opportunities into what would basically be run as a live production. Embrace the unique aspects of college sports, rather than hoping to fill a nonexistent professional void.
Honestly it would be fun to write out a detailed plan just as a passion project. There is so much potential for great Cal gameday experiences, but it all involves risk.
Anyway, definitely not saying it is easy. But it can be sooooooo much better.
Some old timers here will remember a long post I did a few years ago on game day experience. It even led to my having lunch with Sandy to hear me out...I won't repeat it here other than to violently agree that yes, it needs to be someone's focus and accountability. No excuse for anything other than an excellent experience top to bottom. The good news is my rant started with the need to retire Starkey...took a while but we got there. Always hopeful, Go Bears!
Thanks Avi...seeing you in such a good mood makes my day/week! But of all the things you mentioned, my head exploded when I read this..."Memorial Stadium might currently have one of the worst audio setups in college football. It is impossible to hear what anyone is saying on the videoboards on the east side. Maybe it’s better elsewhere but lord if I can tell you what’s happening.
Cal installed new videoboards that seem to only broadcast in standard definition, and on video replays the screen quality degenerates to 144p." WTF!!!! Who loses their job for this...no excuse!
We were near the NW corner of Notre Dame Stadium (kitty-corner from our fellow Cal fans) and their video board was like watching 4k in my living room. I know they have all the money in the world, but I was heartened to hear that Memorial was getting a new board. Have not made it out yet this year, but how disappointing to hear the replacement is crap. Hopefully, the screen itself is good & they just need to build the signal delivery infrastructure (already funded I hope) to deliver a high quality picture. Anyone know what the story is?
On the west side, audio is the exact opposite. Ear bleeding volume so every annoying ad is heard, every case of mistaken identity by stadium PA announcer is clear as a bell, and when the band plays, you better believe something meaningless is drowning them out.
Yup, everything is extremely loud on the alumni side.
Other gameday stuff:
-Still no cheerleaders? It's not that I care about ogling the pom-pom girls, but it seems important for a major football program to, y'know, have them? Kind of embarrassing at this point that we don't.
-Whoever is running the "entertainment" during time outs needs to be better at recognizing when the game is going to start again. They started one of those "shell game" video board things with only about 20 seconds left on the "media timeout" clock. I knew it was going to run long and indeed it did . . . once again they had to cut the announcer's mic in mid-sentence.
Is there any official word as to what is going on with the cheer and dance teams' absence?
The person in charge of hiring coaches for both teams did not do so. Consequently, they had to finally hire someone at the beginning of the season, and at this point, tryouts will not happen until nearly the of the season for the teams. Since the retirement of the last advisor to Cal Spirit groups, this person is also the person who is responsible for telling the Mic Men, the Rally Committee, and the Band when they are allowed to do anything in the insipid Gameday Experience script written by the Athletic Department.
Name: Craig Peden
Title: Director of Marketing and Game Presentation
Email: cpeden@berkeley.edu
Of course, one could also complain to his boss (who is newly hired, because they did not exist until less than a month ago), because Peden has been doing this job for most of the past decade and is the reason the experience at games for fans only gets worse.
Name: George Brisbon
Title: Assistant Athletic Director, Marketing
Email: gbrisbon@berkeley.edu
Holy cow how ridiculous. I wrote Knowlton a long email in 2019 about the fan experience particularly the lack of organized cheers and the drowning out of the fans on defense with canned hip hop or worse back in black by ac DC. He said that this was what younger audiences wanted. Since I am over 50 at this point who wants to hear that crap from when we were 11 years old? What a load of S---!
I’m sure they would never have me because of my period of regrettable political antagonism with the university. That being said, running the game day experience would be an absolute dream job.
Whoever does this should bring back the best of alumni mic men with some sort of stipend to train the new crew. Retool the sound system to mic the band. Incorporate commercials and sales opportunities into what would basically be run as a live production. Embrace the unique aspects of college sports, rather than hoping to fill a nonexistent professional void.
Honestly it would be fun to write out a detailed plan just as a passion project. There is so much potential for great Cal gameday experiences, but it all involves risk.
Anyway, definitely not saying it is easy. But it can be sooooooo much better.
Some old timers here will remember a long post I did a few years ago on game day experience. It even led to my having lunch with Sandy to hear me out...I won't repeat it here other than to violently agree that yes, it needs to be someone's focus and accountability. No excuse for anything other than an excellent experience top to bottom. The good news is my rant started with the need to retire Starkey...took a while but we got there. Always hopeful, Go Bears!
Hey hey, there's no need to besmirch Back in Black.
Also being on the west side, I can vouch for this.