How football players and athletes interact with the UC Berkeley campus

Calstuff Reader(s?) H+M mentioned an article in the East Bay Express in the comments. As mentioned it features a comparison of the Stanford and Cal bands, as well as comparisions of the fans and the style of play by both teams. However, the article doesn't "go downhill from there." It deals with (at least what I found to be) an interesting (if not long) account of the football players lives as students.

The main points of the article:
1. With the ban on affirmative action, athletics is one way for the university to bring up its diversity numbers.

2. However, many of these athletes who come are not academically sound in many areas and are not interested in classes.

3. In many ways, they are seperated from the student body, as they live way from most other students and come from a very different background.

4. Some classes like Education 75 are catered to these athletes, who either pay very little attention and those like Marshawn Lynch who try to pay close attention to the lectures.

5. Tedford had introduced a new "Academic Gameplan" to help the players with their studies. While it was good for some, "Ryan Jones, a 2003 graduate and former starting center for Cal, recalls'I felt that the Gameplan dampened aspiring student athletes' ambitions by showing them a model for mere academic survival -- not outstanding success.'"

6. Update: Calstuff has made an error in asserting that Wale Forrester was a participant in the Blackout protest. He was helping with the planning of the protest but may not have been there during the protest. In fact, he is quoted in the article as saying "I'm not gonna be walking on Wednesday, because I got things to do." However, he may have had a change last second change of heart. If anyone knows for certain as to his attendence, let us know. The corrected text appears below.

Finally, the last page profiles Wale Forrester, who came to Cal on a football scholarship and later became an activist for the black community. He was one of the people who participated in the planning of Blackout protest last month, though he may have choose not to participate, feeling that the previous one in 2001 was not effective.

Yes quite long, but an interesting read if you have the time.Email This Post!