So this was the 102nd Big Game between Cal and Stanford. And just as in years past, Stanford won. Final score: 31-13. Final score without Deltha O'Neal: 38-0. How does this one work? Well, there was the 100-yd kickoff return for a touchdown, and the 58-yd punt return for a touchdown. And the endzone interception which ended a Stanford scoring drive. In the end, the game no longer mattered. We were without Kyle Boller, and in his place, doing his best Justin Vedder impersonation was Wes Dalton, a 5th year senior who started the year as the 5th string QB. And what a fine Vedder impersonation he did, having his first attempted pass intercepted, running backwards to lose yards on sacks, and underthrowing his receivers like mad. It was like the times of old, except Stanford was actually better this year.
In the end, it didn't matter anyway. The Stanford tree became a gay-looking palm tree, their band still can't march and play at the same time, and they're going to the rose bowl. More power to them. They brought in rent-a-cops decked out in full riot gear just in case we wanted to storm the field again, it rained until the sun came out, and my throat is even a little sore from yelling so loud. Ok, no more to really say here. Lots of funny stories about driving to the game in James' van, but they will follow with the pictures.
So we get to Stanford, and one of the first adventures with the van was James' attitude toward other drivers, especially those moron drivers who try to cut in to an exit lane at the very last possible minute. If they were wearing a red shirt...watch out. Nah, then eventually, we ended up with the windows rolled all the way down (yay for cold tolerances!) and had just turned left onto El Camino. His 14-day parking permit goes flying across the dash and is on its way out the passenger side window. He freaks and swerves the van and amazingly, it took the center divide thing pretty easily (i.e. ran up that curb with relative ease). I shatched that piece of paper on its way out (it was already out the window...i just got lucky and managed to pin that thing against the side mirror) and we were on our way. Then we see this car:
James starts honking his horn like mad. What's the sign say? - HONK if you HATE $TANFURD!!!
So we finally fight our way into some parking area; James continually yells at people walking around (cheering on Cal people, heckles Stanfurd folk), and even asks some people decked out in blue to help him find a parking spot. No luck. We eventually park way out in some housing complex and walk through campus, following the hordes of people heading toward the stadium. On the way, I see this sign:
Ok, so this isn't so strange. But with an opportunity to diss Stanfurd, I had to take it. It was more amsing than anything else - Watch out for children (or at U$C, it would be Watch out for Spoiled Children)...yeah.
Eventually, we manage to get into the stadium and find some seats. There were some pretty weird sorority types who apparently didn't know football that well and couldn't understand why we were all chanting "Deltha! Deltha!" after his first touchdown. And a few drunken frat-types were around too. Oh well. The biggest awesome display was the clear division between the sea of red and the blue & gold which appeared in the crowd. Here's the initial shot before the game:
As you can see, the weather was overcast, and as I had neglected to bring my umbrellla, well, it started raining. Hard. By the end of the first half, we were soaked, Stanfurd was ahead 21-13, and the band came out to play their 80's set.
Appropriately, when they got to their rendition of Katrina & The Waves'ss Walking on Sunshine, the sun popped out and the sky was blue, producing quite a nice rainbow effect over the Cal section:
Anyway, it was toward the end of the third quarter when they started bringing in the rent-a-cops decked out in riot gear (with the big bad sticks and all) to prevent us from rushing the field after the game. It was pretty funny watching these suckers file into the stadium and then line up in front of the Stanfurd and Cal student sections.
Above was these cops filing in. Below you'll see them perched in front of the student section. We threw random things like eggs, water bottles, oranges, and anything else we could find at them. It was a pretty awesome display to see ten eggs in the air at the same time all headed toward the field level where the cops were standing.
In the end though, we lost. We filed out of the stadium, and while waiting for the whole group to reconvene, some old geezerish stanfurd dude (an alum?) wearing a ton of red walks by and says something like "You know, Stanfurd people have a certain look to them..." to which James yells really loudly, "Yeah, they're all old and fat!" People all around turned to look. Most were wearing red, but didn't know what he was talking about. Anyway... Then there was the fight with traffic to come back to Berkeley, and all that. Here are some sleeping shots of eddie and jenny:
Yeah, so in the end, nothing matters. Stanfurd wins again, they're gonna get killed in the rose bowl by Wisconsin...hehehe.