Football at Cal Expo? Cops vs. firefighters charity game gets new Sacramento home
For more than a month, grizzled, proud men — some in their 40s and many with gray dotted on their heads and splashed across beards — have marched out onto a practice field to prepare for a game with deep meaning. They have done so in wind and rain, the fog and, before the sun sets, bright sunshine.
Players slip on shoulder pads, helmets and cleats and go through a series of drills and game-like situations to recapture a glimmer of their football past. Mostly, they do so to give back — to compete for charity, to honor those lost in the front lines of civic duty.
The 52nd Pig Bowl on Saturday afternoon at Cal Expo is the longest such event in the country, pitting the Sacramento-area law enforcement Hogs against Northern California firefighting Fire Dogs. This used to be the top sporting event in Sacramento in the 1970s with crowds of more than 25,000 overflowing inside Sacramento City College’s Hughes Stadium, deemed this region’s Super Bowl.
The crowds have lightened over the decades, but the game endures.
“This is a community event, and the game means a lot to so many of us,” said Cary Trzcinski, the Pig Bowl director and a retired deputy with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. “We do this game to honor those close to us, brave people who we lost. It might have been a shooting, or a burning building, but those in law and in fire are never forgotten.”
Among those who will be recognized during the Pig Bowl will be Susan “Suzie” Smith, a flight nurse who died in October after the Reach Air Medical Services helicopter on which she worked crashed onto Highway 50 in Sacramento. She was 67.
Trzcinski has worked tirelessly with a crew of dedicated volunteers to keep this game going and to keep it relevant. He can speak from the experience of profound personal loss, of embracing co-workers coping with such anguish. He played in 13 Pig Bowls as a thick-bodied fullback and linebacker, and he thinks of Vu Nguyen every day, and even more during Pig Bowl season.
Nguyen was a member of the Sheriff Office’s gang unit, a work partner and friend of Trzcinski, who was shot and killed by a gang member in Sacramento in 2007. Trzcinski played in the 2008 Pig Bowl in Nguyen’s honor.
“It’s so sad and tragic to lose good people like this,” Trzcinski said. “They’ll never be forgotten. I’ll never forget Vu Nguyen.”
Trzcinski said there will be a safety fair at Cal Expo before the 1 p.m. kickoff. There will be a VIP tent, places for children to run and play, and an opportunity for law enforcement and firefighters to mingle with the public.
“They’ll see that we’re normal people, and it’s a chance to talk to us,” Trzcinski said. “Normally, the only time people talk to anyone in law or in fire, it’s because of something really bad, like a shooting or a burning building.”
Sacramento deputy: ‘Football saved me’
Terrence McDonald is a receiver for the law enforcement Hogs. He has been with the Sheriff’s Office for 10 years, and this game will mark his 10th appearance in the Pig Bowl.
McDonald grew up in Oakland, the sounds of gunfire and chaos just a block away. He moved to Stockton as a young teenager, a another city where gun violence also has too often shattered lives.
McDonald found his outlet: football.
He played at Chavez High School in Stockton and competed in the 2009 and 2010 seasons at Sacramento State. Football is in him, all these years later, and he embraces his recent teams in law enforcement. McDonald said he wanted to work the streets of Sacramento in the sheriff’s gang unit in an effort to help troubled young men find a better path.
He uses himself as an example. Some listen. Some don’t.
“Football saved me,” McDonald said during a recent Hogs practice at Hughes Stadium. “Football gave me hope. I needed it. Who knows where I’d be otherwise.”
He added with a laugh that everyone in this game has lost a step, reminding, “that’s OK, because this game is bigger than us.”
“I feel my age,” he said. “Every day. I have aches. But it’s worth it.”
Cal Expo’s first football game
Trzcinski wanted the 50th Pig Bowl to be held at Hughes Stadium, and the event crew pulled it off. Last season’s game was also at Hughes Stadium, but rental costs did not make for sustainable, long-term success. Trzcinski looked into Cal Expo’s Hearth Health Park, and some six months ago, and a deal was struck.
Goal posts were recently installed into the ground of a venue used by Sacramento Republic FC, the pro soccer club. The natural grass field sparkles with lush green and football lines painted onto the surface. The Pig Bowl will remain there, Trzcinski said.
The Pig Bowl will be the first football game played at the 57-year-old site.
“It’s a beautiful field,” Trzcinski said. “Can’t wait.”
52nd Pig Bowl
Who: Law enforcement vs. Firefighters
When: 1 p.m. Saturday
Where: Cal Expo
Why: For charity and to honor those lost on the front lines.
Tickets: $15 (can be purchased online at pigbowl.org)