"Watching "They're Back"

By Ted Friedman/Berkeley ReporterSept. 1, 2013

EMBEDDED SOUTH SIDE

In my last (just out) Berkeley Times series, South Side Tales, I expressed my love for returning students.

I'd talked the talk…now the walk.
 On the Ave., Saturday night, Cal season-opener on Pappy's 102 inch screen.

But who was grabbing about my shoulders and hugging them? Some totally drunk undergrad. He staggered out with his enabling girlfriend.

I fell in with two totally cool students who weren't drunk. Far from it. They, cooly sat there and discussed Cal's loss as if it were a term paper. "Fun to watch, even if we lost," they concluded. The drunk was probably ralphing on his girlfriend.
 
Last night I went down to the first floor to quiet a party and who should open the door but the new editor-in-chief of the Daily Cal. After I kissed her ring (I'm a big Daily Cal fan) and pitched my latest piece for them, I thanked whatever gods are watching over me--the Daily Cal editor in my building.

I photographed a cop car on the sidewalk outside Pappy's and posted the shots at Berkboy flickr photo stream. While I was at it, I shot the cop watching the game.
 
Let me explain. The cop was on break. He pulled onto the sidewalk to not impede traffic on Telegraph.

Cop Watch eat your hearts out, but keep cop-watching if that does it for you.
  -30-
Follow Ted Friedman at Berkeley Reporter (.com)