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John Madden on Cal Poly

My son graduated from Cal Poly this past June. It was pretty cool that John Madden was the commencement speaker. Madden made an already great day a little better. He's a hall of famer in so many things and in so many ways.

May he rest in peace.
 
My son graduated from Cal Poly this past June. It was pretty cool that John Madden was the commencement speaker. Madden made an already great day a little better. He's a hall of famer in so many things and in so many ways.

May he rest in peace.
I'm happy for your son and your family that he was allowed to walk. My son graduated a year before yours and the ceremony was cancelled. The only good thing was it saved me several hundred by cancelling my room at the Madonna Inn. ; > )

As much as I loved the experience my son had at Cal Poly, there are a couple of negatives. If you don't already know the cost of living in SLO is high. Even with a full scholarship, I told my son if he wanted to have any spending money he would have to get a part time job. He did just that to the tune of around 16 hours a week as a fry cook at the Splash Cafe. Another thing is on any important school weekend, like parents/family weekend, graduation and home football games, hotels in the area gouge bigtime on their lodging prices.
 
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Ah, the Madonna Inn. Best musical loo in Central California.
I never actually stayed at the Madonna Inn, that's where I had a reservation for his graduation ceremony that never happened. The reason I chose there was because even dumpy hotels were charging a lot for that particular weekend.
 
I'm happy for your son and your family that he was allowed to walk. My son graduated a year before yours and the ceremony was cancelled. The only good thing was it saved me several hundred by cancelling my room at the Madonna Inn. ; > )

As much as I loved the experience my son had at Cal Poly, there are a couple of negatives. If you don't already know the cost of living in SLO is high. Even with a full scholarship, I told my son if he wanted to have any spending money he would have to get a part time job. He did just that to the tune of around 16 hours a week as a fry cook at the Splash Cafe. Another thing is on any important school weekend, like parents/family weekend, graduation and home football games, hotels in the area gouge bigtime on their lodging prices.
Oh I know what you are talking about, for sure. My son spent four years there and my daughter is a sophomore in SLO right now. Expensive place with dumpy hotels at outrageous prices is pretty accurate.

I'm sorry your son didn't get to walk on time. My daughter lost her high school graduation in 2020 and that bothered her tremendously. Even with the in-person graduation at Cal Poly in 2021, she had to WORK the event in order to see her brother walk due to crowd size limitations.

Did your son take advantage of the 2020 commencement they held last term at Cal Poly?
 
I'm happy for your son and your family that he was allowed to walk. My son graduated a year before yours and the ceremony was cancelled. The only good thing was it saved me several hundred by cancelling my room at the Madonna Inn. ; > )

As much as I loved the experience my son had at Cal Poly, there are a couple of negatives. If you don't already know the cost of living in SLO is high. Even with a full scholarship, I told my son if he wanted to have any spending money he would have to get a part time job. He did just that to the tune of around 16 hours a week as a fry cook at the Splash Cafe. Another thing is on any important school weekend, like parents/family weekend, graduation and home football games, hotels in the area gouge bigtime on their lodging prices.
Gouging of hotel prices on big weekends is not just reserved for SLO 😂. It is common at other college towns as well.
 
Oh I know what you are talking about, for sure. My son spent four years there and my daughter is a sophomore in SLO right now. Expensive place with dumpy hotels at outrageous prices is pretty accurate.

I'm sorry your son didn't get to walk on time. My daughter lost her high school graduation in 2020 and that bothered her tremendously. Even with the in-person graduation at Cal Poly in 2021, she had to WORK the event in order to see her brother walk due to crowd size limitations.

Did your son take advantage of the 2020 commencement they held last term at Cal Poly?
No, to my knowledge he didn't take advantage of that. To be honest I didn't know about it myself.
 
I had the fortune of having a good buddy to go to the home games with me. He's been married for years but never had children of his own. He loved going to the games with me. By the end of my son's eligibility we had the whole day dialed in, making for a regular road trip. Because we didn't see each other every day there was plenty to talk about and the 3 1/2 hour drive down there and back flew right by aided by some good blues music, especially on the way home. For a 4:00PM kickoff we would leave San Ramon around 11:00AM. We would always stop at a place near King City called the Wild Horse Cafe right off 101 and eat like pigs. Once we got to SLO parking was cheap, only $10 but there was no way to avoid being out in BF Egypt. REALLY long walk to the stadium. Before my son's junior year I had hip replacement surgery and we were able to take advantage of my handicapped parking permit and park really close to the stadium that entire season. When I asked my doctor to extend my parking permit another six months, he basically said "no way Jose". Finally his senior season Tyler's teammate and roommate Trey Nahhas dad clued me in about premium parking at a frat house right next to the stadium for $20. That was the best $10 extra bucks ever spent, I only wish I had known about it the first two years. By getting to the game early we were usually able to talk to my boy before the game and we always talked to him after the game. During the games we would often keep our eyes on the concession stands and when the lines were short, we were rarely allergic to a bratwurst. We would roll back into San Ramon somewhere around midnight, feeling a "good tired". Even though it would have been nice to see them win more games, these are great memories etched in my mind. I can only imagine how cool it must be to watch someone you love play in the NFL, because from my experience watching my son play in college was way cooler than watching high school ball, even at a low hype program like CP.
 
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Great Story Bubba, that Fraternity you are talking is the CHI chapter of Alpha Gama Rho (AGR), I am proud alumni of both Cal Poly and of AGR!

When I attended Cal Poly in the early 90's there was a falling out between Madden and the university over his golf tournament and how he felt he was being exploited. The athletic department and school lost its largest annual fundraiser. I am glad that they eventually mended fences and Madden was able to make that speech to this years class.
 
One time we pulled in there and the guy said $30. We declined and he said ok $20, I guess we called his bluff 😝
 
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