[gailtate]

Big Red, Napa Red, FogCity, Teejers, YCF, CaffeinStan, Massasoit. No group-think here.

I rarely post nowadays because I seldom have any insights to add, but I appreciate how this forum allows me to read everybody else's thoughts and observations. Over the years I have become increasingly ambivalent about collegiate and professional sports and their outsized influence on our society, which one of several reasons why I now follow Stanford athletics with relative detachment. I wrote and posted some dopey stuff on TOS back in the day, but it all came from a place of passion. I tip my cap to all of you, optimists and pessimists alike, who continue to support Stanford athletics with passion. As anybody who has attended Stanford Stadium and Maples Pavilion in recent years can attest, Stanford desperately needs passionate fans.

Hear, hear YCF. The passion for Stanford football (and basketball to  lesser degree), as always, remains cultish. A small cult. But passionate.  Mine reached the top of the thermometer on January 1, 2016. Equaling the joy of those Rose Bowls in '71, '72, the Orange bowl in '11 and yet another Rose in '12. Something began to slip away, however, during the past decade. Today the joy eludes me. It still exists, I'm sure; it's just not in the same place I used to find it. It can still be felt, I'm sure, so I hope someone's enjoying it the same way I did. I brought my own passion. It was joyful and it was real.

[gailtate]

Big Red, Napa Red, FogCity, Teejers, YCF, CaffeinStan, Massasoit. No group-think here.

I rarely post nowadays because I seldom have any insights to add, but I appreciate how this forum allows me to read everybody else's thoughts and observations. Over the years I have become increasingly ambivalent about collegiate and professional sports and their outsized influence on our society, which one of several reasons why I now follow Stanford athletics with relative detachment. I wrote and posted some dopey stuff on TOS back in the day, but it all came from a place of passion. I tip my cap to all of you, optimists and pessimists alike, who continue to support Stanford athletics with passion. As anybody who has attended Stanford Stadium and Maples Pavilion in recent years can attest, Stanford desperately needs passionate fans.

Hear, hear YCF. The passion for Stanford football (and basketball to  lesser degree), as always, remains cultish. A small cult. But passionate.  Mine reached the top of the thermometer on January 1, 2016. Equaling the joy of those Rose Bowls in '71, '72, the Orange bowl in '11 and yet another Rose in '12. Something began to slip away, however, during the past decade. Today the joy eludes me. It still exists, I'm sure; it's just not in the same place I used to find it. It can still be felt, I'm sure, so I hope someone's enjoying it the same way I did. I brought my own passion. It was joyful and it was real.