Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame

Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - Printable Version

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Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - yvonne - 11-16-2017

This week, I noticed almost no conversation about Big Game over at BI. In his column today, Carl Steward noted that several factors have contributed to the diminishment of Big Game's status around the Bay.Â It used to be that no matter who was favored, the Bay Area chatter was about Big Game. Some of the Big Game's luster has disappeared because it's no longer the last game of the season, and therefore no longer the culmination of the season. Steward suggests other reasons, among them the teams' opposite seasons though as another article this week noted that in the game's history, Stanford and Cal have finished 1-2 only twice in their history and the fact that the week is no longer filled with surrounding events.

Re: Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - cardcrimson - 11-16-2017

He makes some great, very valid points.

For me, Big Game lost a lot of it's glory due to Cal fans. There was a period where they stormed the field when they won and pulled the down goal posts. They stormed the field when they lost and pulled down goal the posts. It got so bad, mounted riot police showed up one year to prevent it. And that was at Stanford.

Walk to a game wearing red at Cal? Food thrown at you. Drunken idiots jumping in front of you screaming F-bombs, even if you had kids with you. Just an awful experience.

Hate the SEC all you want, but at least their rivalries are quite friendly. Ours, sadly, no longer.

Re: Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - czaja - 11-16-2017

(11-16-2017, 07:48 PM)cardcrimson link Wrote:Hate the SEC all you want, but at least their rivalries are quite friendly. Ours, sadly, no longer.

Are you sure about that?Â :P

http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/21436815/fan-shot-alabama-crimson-tide-auburn-tigers-better-spat

Re: Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - cardcrimson - 11-16-2017

(11-16-2017, 07:57 PM)el mono link Wrote:[quote author=cardcrimson link=topic=18053.msg213154#msg213154 date=1510886897]
Hate the SEC all you want, but at least their rivalries are quite friendly. Ours, sadly, no longer.

Re: Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - martyup - 11-16-2017

Do the students and the band still do the march in the city down to the wharf?

Re: Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - UltimateCard - 11-16-2017

(11-16-2017, 09:44 PM)martyup link Wrote:Do the students and the band still do the march in the city down to the wharf?

I have fond memories of chasing the band up and down the hills of the City. Unfortunately, the tradition ended in the late 80s or early 90s after a driver lost his composure and rammed his car into the crowd. Anyone have a more precise handle on the timing?

Re: Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - BostonCard - 11-16-2017

(11-16-2017, 09:39 PM)cardcrimson link Wrote:[quote author=el mono link=topic=18053.msg213155#msg213155 date=1510887435]
[quote author=cardcrimson link=topic=18053.msg213154#msg213154 date=1510886897]
Hate the SEC all you want, but at least their rivalries are quite friendly. Ours, sadly, no longer.

Are you sure about that?Â :P

http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/21436815/fan-shot-alabama-crimson-tide-auburn-tigers-better-spat
[/quote]

Last time I checked, they don't play the Iron Bowl in Mobile.
[/quote]

This didn't seem like a friendly act:

https://www.foxsports.com/college-football/story/alabama-crimson-tide-auburn-tigers-iron-bowl-toomer-s-corner-harvey-updyke-112615

BC

Re: Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - needle - 11-16-2017

I was a student in the stormtrooper era and remember quite vividly some guy rearing back and punching someone else in the stands at Stanford Stadium. Honestly, my best guess is that some of that late '90s violence was related more to Bay Area hooliganism than collegiate rivalry. But much of it was also clearly introduced by Kal fans, and my contempt and wariness of them as a group remains to this day.

That sort of violence is shameful on its own, and if that era of open and pervasive hostility never returns, well, so be it.

Re: Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - ChicagoCard - 11-17-2017

(11-16-2017, 11:49 PM)needle link Wrote:I was a student in the stormtrooper era

I'm curious about this reference, is that a local term or an alternative form to another term?

Re: Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - winflop - 11-17-2017

(11-17-2017, 06:37 AM)ChicagoTree link Wrote:[quote author=needle link=topic=18053.msg213165#msg213165 date=1510901369]
I was a student in the stormtrooper era

I'm curious about this reference, is that a local term or an alternative form to another term?
[/quote]

The team's all-white road uniforms are sometimes referred to as "stormtrooper whites" - and typically when Big Game is in Berkeley they come out of the middle of the Stanford student section while the band plays the Star Wars Imperial March. At least that's how I remember it

Re: Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - winflop - 11-17-2017

(11-16-2017, 06:53 PM)Yvonne link Wrote:This week, I noticed almost no conversation about Big Game over at BI. In his column today, Carl Steward noted that several factors have contributed to the diminishment of Big Game's status around the Bay.Â It used to be that no matter who was favored, the Bay Area chatter was about Big Game. Some of the Big Game's luster has disappeared because it's no longer the last game of the season, and therefore no longer the culmination of the season. Steward suggests other reasons, among them the teams' opposite seasons though as another article this week noted that in the game's history, Stanford and ×ÉÉ have finished 1-2 only twice in their history and the fact that the week is no longer filled with surrounding events.

Well if we'd lost seven years in a row - twice in the last 25 years - I probably wouldn't be as excited about it either.

Re: Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - ChicagoCard - 11-17-2017

(11-17-2017, 06:47 AM)winflop link Wrote:The team's all-white road uniforms are sometimes referred to as "stormtrooper whites" - and typically when Big Game is in Berkeley they come out of the middle of the Stanford student section while the band plays the Star Wars Imperial March. At least that's how I remember it

Ah, gotcha, thanks.

Re: Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - cctop - 11-17-2017

(11-16-2017, 11:11 PM)UltimateCard link Wrote:I have fond memories of chasing the band up and down the hills of the City. Unfortunately, the tradition ended in the late 80s or early 90s after a driver lost his composure and rammed his car into the crowd. Anyone have a more precise handle on the timing?

In 1986 Stanford reduced the SF rally to busing everyone up to Aquatic Park, listening to the Band and a couple of speeches, the busing everyone back.

It was lame and mercifully not repeated the next year.

Re: Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - czaja - 11-17-2017

(11-16-2017, 09:39 PM)cardcrimson link Wrote:[quote author=el mono link=topic=18053.msg213155#msg213155 date=1510887435]
[quote author=cardcrimson link=topic=18053.msg213154#msg213154 date=1510886897]
Hate the SEC all you want, but at least their rivalries are quite friendly. Ours, sadly, no longer.

Are you sure about that?Â :P

http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/21436815/fan-shot-alabama-crimson-tide-auburn-tigers-better-spat
[/quote]

Last time I checked, they don't play the Iron Bowl in Mobile.
[/quote]

So that makes it better or nullifies my point somehow?Â If a ×ÉÉ fan attacked a Stanford fan in L.A., during Big Game week, I would consider that just as bad, if not worse, than if there was violence on frat row in Berkeley on game day as it would put a damper on enthusiasm for the rivalry in areas where there was little perceived danger.

For what it's worth, I don't disagree with your general point that boorish behavior from ×ÉÉ fans lessens healthy enthusiasm for the rivalry, but let's not have crimson-colored glasses on about other areas of the country.

Re: Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - terry - 11-17-2017

Carl Steward spends almost all his time all year long writing about pro sports, then he takes some drive-by shots at the Big Game because people don't pay attention to it. Yeah, whatever.

Re: Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - 82lsju - 11-17-2017

(11-16-2017, 11:11 PM)UltimateCard link Wrote:I have fond memories of chasing the band up and down the hills of the City. Unfortunately, the tradition ended in the late 80s or early 90s after a driver lost his composure and rammed his car into the crowd. Anyone have a more precise handle on the timing?

it was in 1982

https://stanforddailyarchive.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19821122-01.2.4&srpos=6&e=-------en-20--1-byDA.rev-txt-txIN-big+game+rally+car+accident------

https://stanforddailyarchive.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19821129-01.2.7&srpos=4&e=-------en-20--1-byDA.rev-txt-txIN-big+game+rally+car+accident------

and in 1983 new restrictions were put in place

https://stanforddailyarchive.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19831111-01.2.7&srpos=3&e=-------en-20--1-byDA.rev-txt-txIN-big+game+rally+car+accident------

Re: Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - deepred - 11-17-2017

(11-17-2017, 07:09 AM)ChicagoTree link Wrote:[quote author=winflop link=topic=18053.msg213174#msg213174 date=1510926456]
The team's all-white road uniforms are sometimes referred to as "stormtrooper whites" - and typically when Big Game is in Berkeley they come out of the middle of the Stanford student section while the band plays the Star Wars Imperial March. At least that's how I remember it

Ah, gotcha, thanks.
[/quote]

I thought the stormtroopers referred to large numbers of Santa Clara County deputies in riot gear deployed along the track at old Stanford Stadium in the 4th quarter, ensuring students didn't rush the field.

Re: Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - Nan3cy - 11-17-2017

(11-17-2017, 11:04 AM)deepred link Wrote:[quote author=ChicagoTree link=topic=18053.msg213176#msg213176 date=1510927746]
[quote author=winflop link=topic=18053.msg213174#msg213174 date=1510926456]
The team's all-white road uniforms are sometimes referred to as "stormtrooper whites" - and typically when Big Game is in Berkeley they come out of the middle of the Stanford student section while the band plays the Star Wars Imperial March. At least that's how I remember it

Re: Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - UltimateCard - 11-17-2017

(11-17-2017, 10:49 AM)eric link Wrote:[quote author=UltimateCard link=topic=18053.msg213163#msg213163 date=1510899107]

I have fond memories of chasing the band up and down the hills of the City. Unfortunately, the tradition ended in the late 80s or early 90s after a driver lost his composure and rammed his car into the crowd. Anyone have a more precise handle on the timing?

Re: Carl Steward: Trademark glory of Big Game has turned into big shame - GoodGrief - 11-17-2017

(11-17-2017, 11:04 AM)deepred link Wrote:I thought the stormtroopers referred to large numbers of Santa Clara County deputies in riot gear deployed along the track at old Stanford Stadium in the 4th quarter, ensuring students didn't rush the field.

Yeah, that's my recollection too. I recall that two years prior, Cal won and rushed our field anyway and completely destroyed our field. I remember seeing Cal fans on their hands and knees just digging up clumps of grass. Because that's super-cool. So two years later, with a few minutes left in the game, police came out in full riot gear (helmets, shields, and batons) and lined up methodically and precisely (exactly one arm + baton length apart). Nobody rushed the field.

The weird thing is that I seem to remember them lining up in front of the Stanford student section rather than the Cal section. I could be wrong though--maybe that was a different year with the ineffectual in-house, baton/shield/helmet-less security people.Â So maybe they deliberately faced the Stanford section out of self-preservation.