The Axe - It's Ours Again!

Not a real pretty game. But we won. Cal now the victor of five Big Games in a row. Fans stormed the field after the end of the game.

An incredibly windy day in Strawberry Canyon, so much so that the California Banner needed to be brought down from its flag posts - it appeared that the Banner may have damaged the one of the flag posts and security did not let anyone sit in a vulnerable section of the student seating. Not a great shot (cell phone camera), but you can tell from the photo that the Banner is missing, as well as a few flags.


Rally Committee, for some reason, took the Banner from the Cannon Platform and placed it just below the UCRC section; I'm assuming the Main Banner was damaged as well. Trivia: the replacement Banner was originally flown at the 1982 Big Game as the main Banner (see the photo of this Banner in an earlier posting), and when it retired, was presented as a gift to Chancellor Tien in the 1990's. Later, it was seen in the lodge of Camp Gold at the Lair of the Bear. Somehow it got back into UCRC's good hands.

Go Bears!

The Axe

The Stanford Axe. We have it. They want it. Originally stolen in 1899.

Archie J. Cloud, Class of 1900, and one of the original Cal men who liberated the blade:

It should be abundantly clear that this fantastic feat could not have been pre-planned. Look at the extraordinary breaks - or coincidences - only through which did the coup succeed:

1. The exit from the baseball park of three Stanford men only, leaving the Axe unguarded, and these men unsuspicious;
2. The non-interference of the police at the start;
3. The sudden and perfectly timed arrival of the great sprinter, [Billy] Drum;
4. The unexpected appearance of the "girl" or "young lady" near the Ferry Building at the exact moment when the "jig" seemed to be up.

Moreover, in view of the razor-like edge of the blade, it seems almost miraculous that no one of the several participants incurred serious injury.

Without loss of time, the dramatic saga of the original seizure of the Stanford Axe hit the first editions of dailies in San Francisco. It splashed over from the sports columns to the front pages as a stirring feature story, setting the stage for the birth of a great, and then greater, college tradition. - Archie J. Cloud, The Stanford Axe

Go Bears! Let's keep it!

Controversial History

From the stanfraud review - the farm now claims it invented the card stunt:

The Card stunt started as a way for Stanford to make-up for the smaller size of their cheering section in the Big Game. Ralph Fitting sets the scene for the 1904 Big Game: “What Stanford lacked in numbers, it made up in campus-wide Stanford spirit. The memory of the stolen Axe clung vividly in the minds of everyone; kept alive by the colorful Axe Yell. Revenge was the pass-word.”

As Stanford fans entered the stadium, each received a small packet of confetti. Those in certain seats also received a white tarp and instructions on how to hold it over their hats. As the Stanford team walked onto the field, the Yell leaders gave the command, and the Stanford section threw up their confetti, creating a cloud of red. Fitting comments: “When the great sea of red subsided over the rooting section a great white S emerged on the background of the red rooters’ hats. The Berkeley side was completely stunned...Newspaper cameras clicked from every side. The Stanford stunt became history, again to add to the list of Stanford traditions.”

The card stunt also became history at the farm when they discontinued its use in the 1970's.

Now white tarps do not equal cards. However, this undercuts the long-time claim that the UC Rally Committee believes:

Card stunts originated in the 1910 Big Game against Stanford University. Their appearance at this game marks the first appearance of card stunts and the Rally Committee is attributed with their invention. At the time, it was an activity known as "bleacher stunts."

It's almost like the question of who invented the Wave?

farm apathy

From the sinfurd daily:

Two nights before the biggest football game of the year, about 200 generally ambivalent students stood in the frigid air at the base of a lit-up, red Hoover Tower for a pep rally that wasn’t very peppy.

Only two years ago, when the football team entered Big Game with a 4-6 record, the whole fountain area in between the Tower and Memorial Auditorium overflowed with spirited fans. But, this year, it was quiet enough to hear cell phones ringing.

Someone want to explain to me what this next quote means?

“After Gaieties, I got excited about the game again,” said sophomore James Barton. “They have chicken strips and red lights. How could it be more Stanford?”

stanfurd banned, Part IV

Hmmm...stanfurd band alums may be the problem...from the Palo Alto Daily News.

Following their season of probation, the Stanford Band will not be permitted to play a field show.

Band spokesman and trumpet player Chris Holt said he believed this was the first time the band had been relegated to the bleachers for the Big Game.

[snip]

Restrictions placed on the band this fall also include barring any alumni or local residents from playing with them.

Band manager Adam Cohen said traditionally 20 to 30 non-students join the band's ranks at the Big Game.

"It's a big loss," he said.

[snip]

Although he had not received an official explanation for the alumni ban, he had heard that some of the band's "disorderliness might be due to the fact that the alumni were around.

"Some people found that alumni were a bad influence by perpetuating stories about the old days," he said.

In an editorial in the stanfurd rag:

At the same time, the Band needs to ensure that its sense of humor is not destructive. Somewhere along the line, its shenanigans just stopped being funny. [rallybear - that line was crossed in 1892] Banned from several major airlines and multiple public places, the Band has long had a reputation for being irreverent almost to the point of disrespect. Over the years, it managed to walk the fine line between legal trouble and creative humor, and is still well-loved on campus as one of the few remaining bastions of gleeful audacity. However, the recent vandalism of its own Shak speaks volumes about the extent to which the Band has spiraled out of control.