[81alum]

Thanks for the great summary. Now I wish someone could tell me how we got pushed into scheduling a game in the evening on New Year's Eve. If it had been afternoon, maybe, but for me this is impossible. I have a decades long commitment for New Year's Eve. I guess I'll be watching the game by secret looks at my phone during the dinner I'm going to, one that is a tradition that extends back more than 30 years. I suspect that there are many others who will have similar conflicts, probably going to be really sparse attendance. I just wish I could be there! If anyone wants tickets, great seats, PM me. I have four available.

Yes its bad, but Cal plays Arizona beginning at 7pm, which is even worse.   Earlier in the day there is a full lineup coast-to-coast.

At first I thought the only reason for this timing must have been TV coverage of some sort, but that does not seem to be the case.  Our game appears to be on the Pac 12 regional networks--Bay Area and Arizona.  Cal will be on Pac 12 HD.

My guess is that the real reason was to give the players a little more time off with their families after playing a game late in the week before Christmas, on Friday.  I think I heard at a chalk talk that they got 4 days with their families, which would probably put them back in Palo Alto tomorrow, Wednesday, giving them only a couple of days of practice before the game.  If our game against Cal had been earlier, then maybe this game could have been a day or two earlier too.

Here is a worry--I wonder if any of our players got stranded at home over the holiday.  Fortunately we are California-heavy with the roster, and I don't imagine that our international players tried to go home with only 4 days.  Colorado and North Carolina could be different stories, though.  Let's hope that our our whole team can be there for the game, given that Southwest is not rescheduling any of its myriad cancelled flights before December 31, and other carriers are scrambling too.

[81alum]

Thanks for the great summary. Now I wish someone could tell me how we got pushed into scheduling a game in the evening on New Year's Eve. If it had been afternoon, maybe, but for me this is impossible. I have a decades long commitment for New Year's Eve. I guess I'll be watching the game by secret looks at my phone during the dinner I'm going to, one that is a tradition that extends back more than 30 years. I suspect that there are many others who will have similar conflicts, probably going to be really sparse attendance. I just wish I could be there! If anyone wants tickets, great seats, PM me. I have four available.

Yes its bad, but Cal plays Arizona beginning at 7pm, which is even worse.   Earlier in the day there is a full lineup coast-to-coast.

At first I thought the only reason for this timing must have been TV coverage of some sort, but that does not seem to be the case.  Our game appears to be on the Pac 12 regional networks--Bay Area and Arizona.  Cal will be on Pac 12 HD.

My guess is that the real reason was to give the players a little more time off with their families after playing a game late in the week before Christmas, on Friday.  I think I heard at a chalk talk that they got 4 days with their families, which would probably put them back in Palo Alto tomorrow, Wednesday, giving them only a couple of days of practice before the game.  If our game against Cal had been earlier, then maybe this game could have been a day or two earlier too.

Here is a worry--I wonder if any of our players got stranded at home over the holiday.  Fortunately we are California-heavy with the roster, and I don't imagine that our international players tried to go home with only 4 days.  Colorado and North Carolina could be different stories, though.  Let's hope that our our whole team can be there for the game, given that Southwest is not rescheduling any of its myriad cancelled flights before December 31, and other carriers are scrambling too.