Fans approved of Bears’ game Down Under
SYDNEY — Cal began its 14-hour journey back to the Bay Area from Sydney on Sunday afternoon, and in its wake left behind some satisfied fans in Australia.
The beer ran out in some sections of ANZ Olympic Stadium, but most of the 61,247 spectators at Saturday’s college football opener, in which Cal beat Hawaii 51-31, appeared to be enjoying their American gridiron experience.
The game started at midday local time, and tailgate parties weren’t a big part of the day — there aren’t a lot of groundlevel parking lots close to the 83,500-seat stadium. However, fans feasted on two-foot-long hot dogs and copious amounts of French fries and nachos. Asian and middle Eastern food from nearby catering kiosks also was featured, reflecting the multicultural makeup of the neighborhoods around the former Olympic precinct of Homebush in western Sydney.
The concession stands, however, appeared to be unpreHawaii pared for the crowds. Stadium officials said 70,000 cups of beer were sold, but one spectator tweeted he waited in line for an hour, while another said the reason there were so many empty seats is that most of the fans were in a line somewhere.
And don’t hold it against the Aussie fans who were “barracking” more for underdog than for Cal.
There were some traditional stadium features like the Kiss Cam, supplemented often by Karaoke Cam and Dance Cam — the highlight of the last feature was a young boy with a Cal Bears T-shirt busting some Michael Jackson-like moves on the giant stadium scoreboard.
A local marching band provided halftime entertainment, supplemented by 30 members of Hawaii’s marching band. Among the glitches was the person who sang the “Star Spangled Banner,” mistakenly replacing one word for another during the American anthem. And one of the referees made a not-so-flattering remark about someone on the sidelines, but forgot his stadium microphone was on.
The star of the show on the field was Cal quarterback Davis Webb, who made quite an impression in his first game as a graduate transfer from Texas Tech. He completed 38 of 54 passes for 441 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions.
Cal coach Sonny Dykes said it was a good starting point for his team.
“There is still plenty of work to be done, but overall we played a very good game and never let them get back into it,” Dykes said.
Cal has a bye week before taking on another Mountain West Conference opponent, San Diego State, on Sept. 10 in San Diego.