Big Game is at a "higher level"

A Midwesterner writing in the Christian Science Monitor "gets it" about Big Game:

My first clue that a unique experience was at hand came when my hostess, a dyed-in-the-wool Cal supporter (UC Berkeley class of '62), informed me that those in the know never use the word "the" before "Big Game" to refer to the upcoming contest. This game, she explained, exists at a higher level than all other important football contests being played around the country, and therefore it was not just the big game, it was "Big Game" – a game without equal!

Tailgate parties were not "in" back in my college days. As a matter of fact, we generally regarded alumni and their ilk as creatures from another world, to be avoided at all costs. At Big Game parties on the Berkeley campus, however, students, alums, and fans of all ages mingled together in Faculty Glade and along the tree-lined esplanade before Campanile, the campus bell tower.

Pregame festivities are the place where everyone gets in the proper frame of mind for the coming event – even fans need to get "up" for a game of this magnitude. Hordes of those faithful to Cal (the public university) reclined on blankets and feasted on hot dogs and sandwiches. We felt sure that those in the opposition camp (the private university for the scions of shameless wealth) were dining on caviar, crab, and other exotic seafood in an adjoining area – a fact that was never fully confirmed, though some crab legs were spotted during a brief reconnaissance.

The opponents and their supporters were often referred to as "Brie heads" (another scurrilous reference to their perceived economic status), while the home team and university were referred to only with greatest pride and respect.

Small groups of strolling student singers entertained the appreciative crowds by performing uncomplimentary poems, ditties, and songs about their rival school and its student body. High above the stadium an airplane trailed a printed panel questioning the courage of the bad guys' rugby team, which had recently forfeited a game to Cal – a clear indication of lack of virility and inferior breeding.