Big Game lost its luster?

Collegefootball.rivals.com summarized a survey of CFL fans on which rivalrys lost their original luster. Over 32% of the 3,600 voters chose the Oklahoma - Nebraska game as the rivalry that "fell the furthest". As you can see on the graph compiled by rivals.com, the Big Game clocked an 18.3% rating.

Bay Area college football fans don't have higher priorities than "The Big Game" match-up between Stanford and California.

But some readers suggested that rivalry has steadily declined since Cal's final-play, five-lateral kickoff return through the Stanford band for a 25-20 victory in 1982.

Cal-Stanford hasn't been the same since, "The Band is on the Field!" said Hokie_Mo9.

Warchant.com subscriber Jgking 83 was even blunter, asking: "Stanford still plays football?

The stanfurd band is back to annoy everyone

Breaking news:

The notorious Stanford University Marching Band's suspension has ended following an announcement today by university administrators that the band will once again be able to play at university events.

The next excerpt - with my added highlights - show that they must be smoking something on the farm...

With the suspension ended, [Vice Provost of Student Affairs Greg] Boardman looks forward "to enjoying the creativity and witty humor that have characterized the Band and many of its performances in the past."

Stanford Band Manager Adam Cohen said that band members are relieved that the suspension is over and are looking forward to the renewed halftime shows at Stanford Stadium during the 2007 football season.

"We're obviously pretty excited about finishing off this whole ordeal. Now that we're back on solid footing, we're free to refocus our efforts on music and comedy, which hopefully means we'll put on some hilarious and also pleasant-sounding halftime shows next year," Cohen said.

"Hilarious"!?! "Pleasant Sounding"!?! Maybe it's a good thing Cal fans can't get tickets for the Big Game.

Theory - Stanfurd Stadium downsized to punish Cal Fans?

From the American Thinker blog:

I have to hand it to Stanford. This is quite a coup, a devilishly clever one. Forcing Berkeley fans to buy Stanford season tickets while downgrading the football program is the ultimate revenge. Except, of course, that the football team will be doormats as long as they stay in the Pac Ten. In the end, it is a loser's vengeance.

Big Game to be Televised on Versus

Six months before Big Game, and the Big Game news seems to be pouring in.

It was just announced that the Big Game will be televised live on Versus. Versus was formerly known as OLN, which a collegue of mine noted that OLN meant the "Oll (all) Lance Network" as they were/are the network covering the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong. But I digress. In today's SF Chron:

Cal announced additions to its TV football schedule in a news release that brags, "The Stanford game will be Cal's debut on Versus."

To which many Cal fans are saying, "Pinch me."

And many Stanford fans are saying, "Geez, we scheduled Cal again?"

The good news for Bear backers is that the Big Game will be televised. As reported in Tuesday's Chronicle, about 30,000 Cal fans will be SOL (sorrily out of luck) when it comes to Big Game tickets this year because the game is at Stanford's greatly downsized House of Pain.

[snip]

But is Versus really TV? Yes and no.

Cal fans who have grown quickly into their Tedford-era sense of entitlement might feel disrespected by their team's relegation to Versus, which ain't ABC or ESPN, although it is sound and light emerging from the same plastic box.

Cal backers might be comforted to know that World Extreme Cagefighting recently made its national television debut on Versus. (Personally, I prefer World Moderate Cagefighting, where you can bite off an opponent's ears or fingers but must give them back.)

Versus was known as the Outdoor Life Network. It televises the Tour de France, the world's most prestigious urine-testing competition. It televises the Louis Vuitton Cup, which is either a yacht race or a competition among airport baggage handlers. Versus has the American rights to America's Cup coverage.

Versus also televises NHL hockey, bullriding, lacrosse, fishing and hunting. The Versus series "Holy @#%*!" is not a religious program but rather a roundup of "snowmobile crashes, rodeo wrecks, bungee-jumping disasters and skydiving mishaps." Stanford football highlights could be added to that mix, depending.

Versus is also the TV home of the Premier Darts League.

Pinch Me!

Ticket angst 6 months before Big Game

From today's SF Chron:

Perhaps never in the history of the game have Old Blues suffered so much anguish half a year before kickoff.

The 115-year-old Cal-Stanford football contest transcends mere athletics. It's a gathering of the tribes, a bacchanalian ritual akin to Mardi Gras and Christmas combined. For fans of both schools, the Big Game is seared into their internal clock like the turning of the seasons.

In the past, any Cal season ticket holder automatically got a ticket to the Big Game. But that has changed -- tickets for November's showdown are expected to be rarer than Stanford victories last year. The only way for Cal fans to get Big Game tickets at this point is to have donated at least $6,800 to the athletic booster fund or to buy Stanford season tickets.

[snip]

Stanford is reserving 35,000 Big Game seats for Stanford season ticket holders, students, faculty and fans, and it gave 15,011 to Cal, the same number Stanford gives to all visiting teams.

The problem is that, typically, 40,000 to 45,000 Cal fans attend the Big Game every year, whether it's at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley or at Stanford.

And in the Two Cents column - What's the most you'd pay to see the Big Game?

• I would pay about $10, though I think I will be able to get two tickets for that price from a Stanford booster. Honestly, who would bother to go see a 12-0 Cal team beat up a 0-12 Stanford team?

  Zero -- because I'm saving everything I can to pay for Cal's Rose Bowl tix. Cal hasn't played Pasadena in January since I was born, but this is the season it happens, and a ticket will cost more than Google shares.

  I'm a die-hard Bears fan. My wife and I both went to Cal, as did our two children. Even a Cal football game won't get me to set foot on the Stanford campus.