.png)
_edited_edited.png)
"Go Bears!"
Who has dominion over this exclamation? Is it the Cal Golden Bears or the Chicago Bears? The answer is settled, at least in cyberspace: It's Cal.
In a brief social media skirmish, the Golden Bears prevailed over Chicago.
Silicon Valley, Social Media
In 2017, the CBS Sports affiliate in Sacramento, Calif. reported: "If you're a Cal Golden Bears fan in and around the San Francisco Bay Area, the one thing you'll say to a fellow fan is 'go Bears!'" It has been a tradition for fans of the Golden Bears since the latter half of the 19th century.
However, to the dismay of Cal fans, the Chicago Bears of the NFL claimed the #GoBears hashtag on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Cal's athletic department promptly protested, noting that the #GoBears hashtag had long since been claimed by the Bears team that plays its home games in California Memorial Stadium, located on the fringe of the Silicon Valley.
Go Bears!
Many may be surprised to learn that Cal began playing football many decades before the Chicago Bears. The team from the Windy City did not commence play until 1920, after its founding in Decatur, Ill. in 1919.
The University of California, Berkeley (also known as UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal or California) is a public land-grant research university, founded in 1868. The Golden Bears football team began playing in 1886 and has won 5 national championships recognized by the NCAA, the first in 1920—coincidentally, the same year the Chicago Bears began playing.
As reported by SB Nation, Cal trademarked the #GoBears hashtag in 2004. Thus, one need only type the hashtag or click on #GoBears to be taken to the official X (Twitter) account of the Cal Bears.
The Chicago Bears' attempt to commandeer the hashtag was short-lived. For a couple of days during the 2017 NFL preseason, typing in the hashtag took users to the X (Twitter) account of the Chicago Bears. However, Cal responded quickly, deploying trademark law to reclaim dominion over the hashtag.
This was not the Chicago Bears' only unsuccessful tangle with a collegiate team in cyberspace. Chicago also tried to claim the #BearDown hashtag, but that was first trademarked by the Arizona Wildcats.
In the words of The Sporting News, NCAA teams are "2-0 against the [Chicago] Bears."
Stay tuned to College Football Dawgs for continued reporting on the Cal Golden Bears and other exciting college football news.
.png)
.png)
Go Cal! Beat Stanford!