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Not the shoulders of 70,000 screaming fans, not in a sea of blue and gold, not on a bed of roses.
No, Saturday night the Bears faithful saw electric junior tailback Jahvid Best exit Memorial Stadium, likely for the final time, on a cart.
The preseason Heisman hopeful sustained a frightening concussion midway through the second quarter of Cal's 31-14 loss to Oregon State on Saturday after being hurled into the air during a touchdown dive, before landing on the back of his head in the end zone.
Best briefly lost consciousness following a fall of more than five feet, Cal head coach Jeff Tedford told the Associated Press, and was carted off the field 13 minutes later wearing an oxygen mask to the nervous applause of 56,496 onlookers. Best was brought to nearby Highland Hospital in Oakland and preliminary reports showed the Vallejo native had movement in all of his extremities.
With concussions in straight weeks, my guess is Best won't be back in a Bears uniform this season.
And with freak injuries in consecutive years, the Pac-10's best pro prospect at tailback will in all likelihood test the NFL's waters before a third costs him millions of dollars and a career at the next level.
Assuming Best has in fact played his final down as a Bear, he should go down as Cal's best ever.
In just under two seasons as a starting tailback, Best has set all-time Cal records for yards in a game (311), yards per carry for a career (7.4), rushing touchdowns in a season (15) and a game (5).
His 29 career rushing touchdowns put him third all-time behind Cal legends Russell White (35) and Chuck Muncie (32), a pair he would've likely passed assuming he avoided a dislocated elbow that cost him a game in 2008, and Saturday's potential college career-ending concussion—which could cost him the final four of 2009, including a likely bowl game. Best has averaged 1.22 touchdowns per game over the past two seasons, his only two as a starter.
In less than two full seasons Best has re-written the Bears' record books, despite an offense poorly balanced by quarterbacks Kevin Riley and Nate Longshore. One can only imagine what Best could've done with Aaron Rodgers behind center, keeping defenses honest and the Bears with a complementary passing attack.
Still, the Cal back has continued his assault on Cal's most hallowed records despite it all, picking off the Bears' best of this decade (Marshawn Lynch, Justin Forsett and J.J. Arrington) and of those past (Muncie, White and Paul Jones).
Saturday's somber scene shouldn't sour Best's brilliant career.

One Republican lawmaker out of 177 crossed party lines to support the health care reform legislation offered by Democrats.
Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao, the Louisiana Republican who hails from a decidedly Democratic New Orleans district, voted yea on the final passage of legislation. He joined 219 Democrats to make the final margin 220 to 215 in favor of reform's passage.
Cao was a major (and possibly the lone) target for Democrats hoping to get even a semblance of bipartisan support for the bill. He said after the vote that he had obtained a "commitment from President Obama that he and I will work together to address the critical health care issues of Louisiana."
In the past, Cao has been touted by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) as "the future" of the GOP. Republicans clearly went the distance to keep him in the fold for the health care vote. House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.), who promised protesters at a Tea Party rally this week that "not one Republican will vote for this bill," was standing beside Cao as the historic vote unfolded.

Joseph Cao made a big statement by voting in support of HR 3962. Joseph Cao became the only Republican to vote in support of the House health care bill, and it could place him in hot water with his party very soon. Joseph Cao is Louisiana Representative in the House, and one of 177 Republicans that are part of the House of Representatives. On Saturday night, 176 Republicans voted against the House health care bill, but Joseph Cao decided to vote in favor of it. By crossing party lines, Representative Anh "Joseph" Cao may have shown his hand, but he may also be doing exactly what his district wants of him.
Rep. Joseph Cao may be a Republican member of the House, but he is also from a very Democratic district of New Orleans. Keeping that in mind, he could have been voting for what they wanted, or he may have seen this as an opportunity to really curry some favor with President Obama. It was reported by the Huffington Post that President Obama had already contacted Cao, and that the two of them would be working to address the critical state of health care in Louisiana. From that stand point, it makes perfect sense for Cao to support a House Resolution that would bring direct benefits to his home state.
It had seemed that Rep. Joseph Cao would have a strong career in the GOP after comments made by House Minority Leader John Boehner shined a very nice light on him, but recent events could be showing that Rep. Cao may have thoughts of working with the Democratic Party more in the future. No matter how you look at the final vote of 220-215 on H.R. 3962, Representative Cao has made a move that would help out his constituency, and undoubtedly push him towards receiving even more support for re-election in the near future. It's a calculated risk by Cao, who may find he lost some favor in the Republican Party, but gained a new partnership with President Obama.
The vote from Cao wasn’t enough to sway the House in either direction, so people need not look at this as the reason that H.R. 3962 was approved by the House of Representatives. What it does do though, is give Democrats the hope that there can still be some headway made on the bill that has to go through Senate for any real changes to the health care system to be made.