Cheer well and prosper

Cal Spirit is ALWAYS better than what they have on the Farm. From today's Daily Cal...

But the one thing that keeps me going, and the one thing that should keep all Bears sports fans going, is something President Benjamin Ide Wheeler once said: “To the University of California, then, cheer for her, it will do your lungs good. Love her, it will do your hearts and lives good.”

We all chose to come here, to walk these halls and to stand on those blue and gold benches. We chose to wear ‘California’ across our chests.

And every time I see Cal uniforms, be they the striped rugby polos, the skull caps of swimmers or the Joe Roth memorial throwbacks, I stand a little taller because they remind me of what it means to be a Golden Bear, and that’s what Wheeler meant.

Cheering and loving Cal makes you feel like a part of something far grander, far greater than any one individual. It makes you want to better yourself, so that you can do those colors proud.

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We can learn from these past generations, who stood right where we stand every Saturday, who learned in the same classrooms that we do now and who have screamed and yelled for the Bears longer than we’ve been alive.

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When that crowd, that student section, gets on its feet and blasts its lungs to the heavens, claps until every single hand is red, yells until every throat is raw and jumps up and down enough to make 70,000 other people think the Hayward Fault is just about to go, it’s magic.

But it’s not just the sound that does it, or the seismic activity. Anyone can scream, but it takes the kind of love that Wheeler talked about to make those screams matter. It’s that bursting forth of the heart that gives those screams texture, gives those screams substance and power.

So cheer for California, because it is a part of you just as much as you are a part of it. Love California, because unlike a lot of things in life, it will always be there, ready to welcome you home with open arms. And above all, believe in California, with all your heart and all your soul and all your body. Roar as loud as you can and shake those trees to the ground.

Believe in the Gold and the Blue.