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Big Game Recap
Lester's BG Photos

Lester, Patrick, Pilan, Alburt, Sunaree, and myself prior to the start of the game.

On November 23rd, 2002, I woke up with a great sense of nervousness.  It was Big Game Day, and if you go to Cal, you recognize Big Game Day is probably the biggest day of the year for the campus.  This was to be my fourth Big Game, but the past three had been marred by loss and defeat.  

I remember freshman year, Deltha O'neal carried the bears on his own shoulders, returning punts and kickoffs for touchdowns and picking off balls until they finally opted to stay away from him at all costs.  I remember the full Sprite bottle that hit me in the back of the head as the riotous student section, surrounded and pushed out by every cop in the Palo Alto area, started to become violent.  I remember junior year, as a desperation pass that would have won the game fell harmlessly to the ground as time expired, and I remember John fittingly wearing his Samurai headband as we headed out to the farm backing the then 0-10 Cal Bears to certain defeat.  The worse, sophomore year, had us on the verge of victory in overtime when a perfectly tossed pass to a Stanford receiver dashed our hopes for glory.  (Personal peeve, that Stanford QB, Randy Fasiani, happened to be the quarterback of my HIGHSCHOOL rivals, the Del Oro Eagles.  And like at Cal, he beat us all four years then also.)  

Down on the field for the last play of the game.

The game started ominously, with Stanford stopping us three and out, and then scoring on the ensuing drive.  But after that, it was pure dominance by a clearly superior Cal squad.  Joe Igber was huge, rushing for something like 200 yards.  Boller was less than steller, but he got the job done, and the Cal defense kept the pressure on.  Every time something good happened, Pilan took a swig out of his flask.  He had three years of celebration to make up for!

Crazy pole dancer celebrates.

And the posts come down!!

By the time the 4th quarter rolled around, it was clear that we would win.  With about two minutes left in the game, the crowds started gathering at the bottom of the stadium.  Since we were some of the first down there, we could feel the press of the stands, and we really didn't have a choice but to go onto the field.  That was amazing, standing on the sideline with thousands of others while the game was still going!  Finally, with 15 seconds left, we rushed the field and the game was called.  We wondered through the field, and got up right under the goalposts as they were torn down.  I got a hand on it as it was passed over and used to push security away from the other post.  (That was the one scary part, the crowd pushed people underfoot, myself nearly included.  I helped pull up a guy and girl who had been under a pile in the crowd, and I think they were in shock.  Crowds can be scary.)

Everyone had a post-game story.  Pilan helped lead the south goalpost down Bancroft, knocking over street signs and scratching up cars that got in the way.  The post's final resting place was upright against Sproul Hall (see picture on the right).  John snuck up behind the Stanford drum major after the game and made an attempt at stealing his hat off his head!  But the Stanford band swarmed him as he tried to make a getaway, and sadly, it became a lost cause.  As for myself, I went down to Sproul for the celebrations and played football for the rest of the night.

My sister Heather, Sunaree, and Alburt  enjoy the moment.

After three years of suffering through defeat after defeat, the California Golden Bears finally had their moment of triumph on that glorious morning, November 23rd, 2002, as they routed the Cardinal.  For many of us, this was the pinnacle of our time at Cal.  For my friend Pilan, he said it was the greatest moment of his life (hardcore, dude).  Its hard to explain the intensity involved in a rivalry marked by loss, so when the floodgates opened up onto the field with 15 seconds left, I can only describe the feeling as vindicated.  Nobody could stop us that day, we were Golden Bears.