Weekends Without Cal Football

Sep 14, 2013; Tempe, AZ, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils quarterback Taylor Kelly (10) reacts after beating the Wisconsin Badgers 32-30 at Sun Devil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

When there is no Cal football on a Saturday, I find myself wondering what I should do with myself.

I’m going to watch as much football as I can, but every game seems very one-note and devoid of emotion for me when the teams I watch are on a bye-week.

I work hard all week, scraping away at work, doing my due-diligence…all to get to Saturday. All of it is to get that feeling you get when you wake up on Saturday morning, the sky still dark, turn on the television, and watch football all day. That feeling is intensified that much more when your team is playing. Today, Cal isn’t playing, and I almost don’t know what to do with myself.

The highlight on the schedule, at least in the Pac-12, is the prime-time game on Fox between Stanford and Arizona State. This game is going to pit a defensive team against one of the best offensive teams, both needing this win to vindicate the hype both teams have had all off-season.

But, when a Cardinal/Sun Devils game is the highlight of my Saturday, I know it’s going to be a lame day.

That’s nothing against either team, they’re both very good and both could be playing each other again in December. That said, I want to watch my teams play in good games. Cal is playing no one, and while some pundits (hello Mr. Blowhard) may think no game equals a victory, to me no game equals a loss.

So, I wake up today, no games to get excited for…nothing worth getting the face paint or rally pompoms ready for. I guess I’ll sit back, watching this weekend’s slate, dreading the entire next week, so I can be excited for the Oregon clash next week.

Or maybe, I’ll just go on dreading until Washington State rolls into town on the fifth. Less then a week since the loss to Ohio State, and I miss me some Cal Football.