The Bulldog drumbeat is louder as Red Wavers prepare to trek 188 miles north to Candlestick Park in San Francisco for the Sept. 3 Fresno State football game against the University of California.
It’s the third meeting between the two schools’ football teams. But it won’t be in Berkeley’s tradition-laden Memorial Stadium, where the Dogs won the first match-up, 25-24, in 1995, before a 17-3 triumph in 2000 at Bulldog Stadium.
The 89-year-old structure in Strawberry Canyon is undergoing renovation this year, so Cal, coached by Fresno State alum Jeff Tedford, will play its home games across the Bay. After the Bulldogs at Candlestick, the Bears will play in AT&T Park in San Francisco.
No problem for the Red Wave, which everyone knows will go “anywhere, anytime” to play “anyone,” as football coach Pat Hill is famous for saying. More than 10,000 faithful Fresno State fans last week put an exclamation point on Hill’s legendary mantra, when it was announced that many tickets already had been sold to accommodate the red-clad Bulldog rooters. By Monday, Aug. 15, the total was nearly 11,000
Fans already are planning for the three-hour cruise down Highways 99, 152 and 101 (unless they prefer the I-5 route) to the ’Stick.
Buses were filling up, if they haven’t already; the Fresno State Marching Band was practicing at its camp with interim band director Adam Wilke; and the Fresno State Alumni Association was nailing down final details for its tailgate at Candlestick.
With kick off at 4 p.m., the Alumni Bulldog Bash Tailgate runs from noon to 3:30 p.m. inside stadium gates E and F. Tailgate tickets – for food, beverage, a chance to meet other alumni, spirit-building fun and more – cost $60 for adult members of the Alumni Association ($65 for nonmembers) and $17 for 12-and-under. For the tailgate, call 559.278.ALUM or visitwww.fresnostatealumni.com.
Game tickets, sold separately, are $95, $75, $55 and $40. Fresno State students receive $5 off any $40 ticket. Parking passes also are available for $32. Get tickets by calling 559 278-DOGS or visit www.gobulldogs.com.
At the tailgate, the Bulldog Marching Band will lead the Fresno State Cheerleaders and mascot TimeOut to fire up an already-riled-up pack of ’Dogs.
The band is taking its entire contingent of 300 strong, including the color guard and dance team, said Wilke http://www.bulldogmarchingband.com/personnel/staff/adamwilke/, who was Clovis East High School jazz band director and is a Bulldog Marching Band alum. He succeeds Tim Anderson, now band director at the University of Massachusetts.
The band will be seated in Section 7 and will perform patriotic selections in tribute to the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon, Wilke said. It wasn’t clear what role the Fresno State band will play during the game.
For fans who don’t want to drive, there are bus options, none of which include game tickets:
- The band rooter bus has seats for $38. Contact Pete van Gilluwe (559.284.2704 or pvg222@gmail.com). Leaves Visalia Holiday Inn at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 3, stops at Fresno Holiday Inn downtown, then joins the band buses for a caravan.
- Tim Schiller, who has organized buses for the Fresno State Alumni Association, has four buses available for day-trippers at $69. Two buses will accommodate fans staying overnight: $209 for the two day trip (includes a room at the Handlery Union Square Hotel, near the official fan hotel. Deadline: Thursday, Aug. 18.). Call Schiller at 559.225.3164.
- Members and friends of the Fresno State Chicano alumni chapter will leave at 9 a.m. from the Ramada Inn (Shaw Avenue and Freeway 41). For $40, Red Wavers get a breakfast burrito, movies, prizes, bottled water and discounted admission to the tailgate, said organizer Manuel Olgin, a long-time Bulldog supporter through the Chicano alumni group. The bus trip is open to anyone who contacts him (559.871.8463 or manuelolgin@gmail.com).
Related links:
Reservations at Bulldog fans official hotel (Hotel Nikko): 415.394.1111 or Fresno State Athletics – Official Fan Hotel Link.
