‘RunningWolf’ Ruining Cal Football
The intersection of politics and sports only happen like this in California.
A judge’s preliminary injunction stopping the construction of a training center adjacent to California’s Memorial Stadium was considered a victory to a group of environmentalists who have been camping for weeks in old oak trees that would have to be cut down for the project. But the ruling could be a blow to the long-term success of Cal football and to keeping coach Jeff Tedford happy. The facilities situation is so important to Tedford that the buyout in his current contract is tied to the project. Currently, his buyout is $150,000. Once the project is started, his buyout goes to $300,000.
This whole thing is fascinating and it will be interesting to see what kind of ‘market impact’ this has on Cal’s place within college athletics.
This link has even more on the topic.
citizens opposed to the University of California-Berkeley’s proposed $125 million construction of a new training center and renovation of Memorial Stadium won a temporary injunction from an Alameda County judge today after nearly two months of literal tree-hugging by at least one person bearing the surname “RunningWolf”
22 Responses to “‘RunningWolf’ Ruining Cal Football”
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Only in California?
hardly.
You know UNC was prevented for expanding Kenan for years because of a provision that said the top of the stadium couldn’t block out the tops of the pines around it. So they had to wait for the trees to grow to add on a second deck.
Serves ‘em right for a history of institutional catering to loons.
We drained a friggin’ pond for our stadium; can you imagine how that’d fly?
The community in Berzerkeley HATES the athletic department. They don’t mind the university, but they despise the athletic department. Football weekends are not happy times for most residents.
They view it as public property and as seriously, big-time taxpayers ($1 million will get you a 2,000 square foot house with $12K owed in county taxes every year), they feel like they have a stake and a say in things. Just like the folks in Cameron Park and Meredith Woods and Brent Road felt like they had a stake in what NCSU did and how it impacted their property.
I’ve heard of similar disputes involving colleges and the surrounding communities all over the country. You have a big school (enrollment past 15 or 20,000) and a community that is small in comparison. The school wants to expand and the community pushes back.
Hardly rare.
Which is what’s nice about having NCSU’s stuff where it is and why I think on-campus facilities are stupid for things that attract more than a couple of thousand people. The state of NC owned a huge hunk of land out by major thoroughfares, there’s plenty of room to expand, tons of parking, easy to find, easy to get in and out of and when the students inevitably start urinating in public, it’s not a big deal.
Noah they are expanding within the footprint of the university. Its not like the facility will increase traffic or something.
If there was a big pile of dog**** where they wanted to put the football building, most of the residents of Berkeley would happily embrace the dog****.
They HATE the athletic department.
“Serves ‘em right for a history of institutional catering to loons.”
Nice work.
I’m all good with keeping hundred year old trees in place….hell, I’ve given my support against road construction down here in Wilmington that would have ripped a couple down…….
…but don’t even start to compare it to a couple of skinny pines. Dog * maybe…but skinny pines never.
I don’t think there is a consulting company today that can’t do an environmentally sound project…. You tear it down you replant it.
Good observation Noah.
As a native bay area-ean, transplanted by the military to NC years ago, I have to come to the aid of Bezerkley. This is a place that celebrates Nobels, not Heismanns. It is a unique and wonderful place that operates by its own weird and infuriating rules. The organic anti-everything crowd is in charge, and that is just the way it is. There is little support for athletics, and few crying about it. No one cares. I am surprised they even have team sports. It is one of the best universities in the world – I wonder what that says about the ultimate value of college sports in the bigger scheme of things?
The Berkeley campus is very unique – it’s in a urban setting like NCSU but it looks more like a small town campus like UNC. The campus looks great and it’s right next to the hills that ring the bay area. The FB stadium is on the edge of campus near the hills so it’s a great setting. There is a park called the People’s Park which was the site of many of the 60s protests and every 10 years or so they propose building something there and it creates a big uproar and the plans are dropped. Another interesting fact about Berkeley is they have lots of people in wheelchairs because they were one of the 1st places to make everything accessible.
“the People’s Park” as in the People’s Republic of Berkeley.
“It is one of the best universities in the world -” ???
Maybe the second best university in the Bay Area. If you are looking for a job do you want your sheepskin to say Cal-Berkeley or Standford?
Oops… “Stanford.”
Granted college sports pale in comparison with higher learning. Nevertheless, the life lessons one can learn from watching and playing football are more valuable than the lessons in kneejerk socialist stoogism and acquired white liberal guilt that is the culture at Berkeley.
When the chips are down, I’d rather have a college FB fan next to me than a humanities Ph.D. from Berkeley.
“Maybe the second best university in the Bay Area. ”
Well, I guess that works if you consider MIT the second best university in Cambridge…
^^Bingo!
It’s my understanding that Berkeley offers a full 3 hour credit class in “The Works of Keanu Reeves.” Seriously.
The thing that kills me about Berkeley are the omnipresent speed bumps. They’re EVERYWHERE. As someone who considers the ideal speed to be five mph faster than the guy in front of me, they’re a problem.
But, yes…the University of California is absolutely one of the best schools in the country. Not only is it the host of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, not only was the laser invented there, not only was it the place where photosynthesis was broken down and understood for the first time….they also have one of the premier law schools in the nation.
They have 7 Nobel winners on their faculty right now. They had 13 others in the past. Do any ACC schools have a Nobel prize winner on their faculty?
Lawrence Livermore Lab is not on their main campus, it’s 40 miles east , but they do run the lab.
They run Los Alamos too…or they did at one time.
My bad guys… looks like they replaced the class on Keanu “WHAT DO YOU DO?” Reeves with a class on Tupac… yes… that Tupac.
http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/1171/09101997/2pac.jhtml
It’s pass/fail… imagine that.
They stopped running Los Alamos in June 2006.
Berkeley is a great school and a fun town with more than its share of wackos. They have very strong tree-protection ordinances in California, but football is big-time at Cal and the U will get its way eventually.
BTW, the San Andreas fault runs almost directly underneath the stadium – exciting football to say the least. When the stadium is rocking, you hope its the fans and not the ground.