The Big Game

The Big Game--that's what they call the 122-year-old football rivalry between CAL and Stanford. They alternate venues, and today's game was held at the Stanford Stadium, where CAL had an exciting last minute victory, 24-20 (look up at the scoreboard). It was the first time CAL took home the trophy in ten years, and all the CAL fans poured onto the field, cheering and jumping and carrying on. For those who care to get out a magnifying glass, my son is about a third of the way in from the left, in a gold #27 shirt. He's trying to find his son, one of the football players, who unfortunately had to sit the game out because of a foot injury. You could see him twitching on the sidelines all through the game, his whole body just wanted so badly to be out there.

It was my first real tailgating experience--that pre-game parking lot phenomenon where excess is the trademark. Huge RVs the size of city busses staked out territory for their groups; if you didn't have an RV you could use caution tape to save spaces, or chairs. There were setups more elaborate than we have for thanksgiving dinner--long tables set with flowers and linen, carpets, full (I mean FULL) bars to rival a good restaurant, chandeliers and party lights hanging from the stately old trees, and monstrous television sets tuned to pre-game chatter. I just walked around agape. Industrial size grills and the seductive smell of barbequed meat, a slight haze from the smoke and dust. Our group had three regular size cars, a bag of bagels and some soda, although one guy did bring an inverter and a toaster so he could fix 'em up right. They say there were 48,000 people there, which I think is just slightly less than the population of our whole town. Hours later my ears are still ringing from the constant music, commentary and cheering. I still don't really get football, but this game was big fun, even if my grandson didn't play. CAL now gets to go to a bowl game in December or January, and they brought The Axe* back to Berkeley.

*An actual axe head mounted on a wooden plaque, which is the coveted trophy that goes back and forth between the two schools.