Back in Berkeley

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Could this be my final Pac 12 football game? Could the famous Bill Walton phrase, "Conference of Champions" cease to exist? Will the epic battles against USC and UCLA come to an end? Saturday, I am in Berkeley for our Pac 12 game against the Oregon State Beavers, one of the last two schools left in the old Pac 12. I don't think it will be the same when we play North Carolina State, or Wake Forest in the future. I fondly remember attending several Big Games. And the Greatest Play in the history of college football (the 5 lateral, trombone player TD run). And I loved watching the UCLA Bruins basketball teams with Coach Wooden, and his many star players, like Walton, Jabbar, Marques, Lucius, Goodrich, and Wilkes. Yes, the big University money grab is in high gear. It defies logic, to play other universities on the other side of the country. What happens to the non-revenue sports and women's sports? What happens to the parents who want to see their sons or daughters compete at the intercollegiate level? What happens when these student athletes miss classes from Thursday to Monday? Traditions are important, whether in sports, family, social circles, and academics. Why are we even having this discussion? From the time I was 12, I dreamed of my Cal Golden Bears playing in the Rose Bowl on January 1. I was actually in Pasadena that day, and from our Shogatsu (January 1st) celebration, I could hear the noise of the game from the front yard. Little did I know... We have not made a return visit since January 1, 1959. Now, my dream does not depend on having a good football team. It depends heavily on which universities become "football" schools, and which ones still retain some academic pride. Yes, we win Nobels, not Rose Bowls. For over 150 years, UC Berkeley has been the academic standard, generating unparalleled intellectual achievement. There have been 26 faculty Nobel Prize winners, and 35 alumni winners. The photo above is Dr. Melvin Calvin, the "Father of Photosynthesis" who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1961. And Nobel Laureates get their own parking space on campus!!! I went to see the recent movie, "Oppenheimer" about the famous professor and building the atomic bomb that ended WW2. I saw several familiar campus scenes, the track field, the physics building where I took classes, and the faculty glade and walkway and bridge across Strawberry Creek. I have fond memories of the campus, its history, and going forward, a bright and innovative future. Intercollegiate sports should not define a university. Yet we all succumb to the excitement and romance of sports. I would rather applaud my Nobel winning professors, instead of a young man or woman who attends my university, strictly to get a professional contract. And they are probably, most likely, taking up a space that our children or grandchildren might otherwise fill.

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