The Big Game Approaches
Missed circuits class for the 2nd time this week due to waking up late. Going to bed at 3 or 4am isn’t a good idea. I really like the circuits class too. Sigh. I need to watch the taped lecture.
The Big Game of Stanford vs Cal (Berkeley) approaches! It is on Wednesday at around 4pm. In the small circle at the center of the Intersection of Death, a GO STANFORD banner was erected. This paled into comparison to the BEAT CAL banner that went up on the back of Meyer Library, facing Escondido Road. This banner stood 3 to 4 stories tall and about 25-30 feet wide.
Posters were up everywhere advertising the annual Gaieties, a theater performance put on each year that pokes fun at and honors the Stanford-Cal rivalry. This year the theme is “Herbert Hoover and the Order of the Bearclaw”, a reference to the quarter-long controversy regarding the Hoover Institution, a conservative think-tank, separate from the university, but located in the heart of campus, invited Donald Rumsfeld to be a “Distinguished Visiting Fellow.” The faculty senate, along with nearly 4,000 students signed a petition against this move. Most of the faculty involved object to the title ‘Distinguished’, which implies a higher standing or honor. They see none of this in Donald Rumsfeld. In an interview, even the director of the Hoover Institution agreed that most foreign policy analysts, even the conservative ones, would agree that Rumsfeld’s tenure was not ‘distinguished’ at all.
The posters feature wonderful graphic design, right in the mood of Harry Potter. I would take a picture, but….well, you know. I’ll try to bring my webcam out with me tomorrow. You can see some videos related to the Gaieties at this year’s website: http://www.orderofthebearclaw.com. Cal has a bonfire and pep rally in front of their Greek Theater.
Sapana sent me a link about The Play , and I started to read a bit about the longstanding rivalry between Stanford and Cal. It really occurred to me then about how much NC State lacks in traditions. The rivalry between Stanford-Cal goes all the way back to 1899. Some Stanford students got a lumberman’s Axe and chanted “Give’em the Axe!” and during an 1899 baseball game would cut blue and yellow ribbons at the game. Stanford lost this first ‘Big Game’, and two Cal students stole this Axe. Then in 1930, twenty one Stanford students performed a daring raid to take back the Axe. To do it justice, I’ll quote from the Wikipedia entry:
After the rally, four Stanford students posing as photographers temporarily blinded Norm Horner, the Grand Custodian of the Axe, with camera flashes. In the subsequent scuffle, the Stanford students grabbed the Axe while several others disguised as Cal students tossed a tear gas (or smoke, depending on account) bomb at the Cal students who guarded it. The Axe was taken to one of three cars which sped off in different directions. Several other Stanford students (disguised as Cal students) further delayed attempts to recover the Axe by organizing a search party away from the direction of the getaway cars. Although several of the raiders were caught, the Axe made it back to Stanford where it was paraded around the campus.
How amazing is that? These students came to be known as the Immortal 21 at Stanford.
The Axe lay in bank vaults while the schools figured out what to do with it. Somewhere along the way it got its handle sawed off. Ultimately, it was decided that it would go each year to winner of the Big Game. So it is mounted on a plaque with all the scores from the Big Games throughout history. Though, for the famous 1982 game, whenever Stanford has the Axe the score is changed to 20-19, because that touchdown should never have counted. Cal changes it back.
I believe I’ve mentioned this before too, but in honor of the famous role the Stanford band played in the 1982 game, the ceremonial transfer of power from the band director to next year’s band director takes place with 4 seconds left in the Big Game, the time that the Band stormed the field.
Need I remind you that this year is the 25th anniversary of The Play? A lot of excitement here.
So I ask: how does NC State not have these kinds of rich traditions? UNC was founded in 1789. NC State came along in 1887. The two are closer in distance than Stanford and Berkeley. Both have large fan bases in town, with generations of families attending these two schools. Seems strange.
Reading about these things also makes me really admire the things that universities can stand for and represent in society. Perhaps its the bias talking…after all I’ve been in university for the past five years, but what an influence these places have! It’s a chance where young people can have an amazing time, a place to really start learning about the world, to have fun, to remember for a long time. And look at all the amazing universities across this country. So much history and tradition and reputations. And places that are public too! UNC, Virginia, Michigan, Texas, UC system, etc. Despite being a proud and dedicated member of the Wolfpack community, it’s very easy for me to admire the pride and reverence my friends and sisters have for UNC, or the people I’ve met from Berkeley. Such excellent schools! I feel America is unique in the role that public universities have in this country and the far-reaching influence they have. We cannot lose this.
It’s late, I better get to bed.
Win Said,
November 29, 2007 @ 5:08 am
I found this interesting, and what most NC State students do NOT know is that UNC fans could not care less about NC State (in ANY sport). I had no clue about this until I got here. In fact, a great deal of UNC fans pull for NC State as their second team.
On the other hand, I don’t know a single NC State fan who would EVER pull for UNC. Most follow the old adage “ABC”–anybody BUT Carolina. It is very much a one-sided rivalry.
Donny Katz Said,
November 29, 2007 @ 10:39 am
I’d like to counter your claim that “America is unique in the role that public universities have in this country and the far-reaching influence they have.”
Bangladesh, and I’m sure other countries, have public universities which not only are cultural centers, but are the center of history too. Well, since I only now about Bangladesh, I’ll tell you more…
Dhaka University is the centerpoint of Bangladesh’s history. You knew about the riots which happened in August which kept me in the US longer than expected, but this history of rioting goes back a long way.
One of the most important events in Bangladesh’s history was February 21, 1952. On that day, DU students protested on the streets against West Pakistan’s decree that only “Urdu and Urdu” will be the national language of West and East Pakistan, despite the majority of the split country speaking Bengali as their native language. On that day, called National Language Day, students protested and were honored to be martyrs for their language as many were brutally shot by police. The students’ names who led the protest are well known to all here. The university’s canteen is just as famous of a historical spot as any in the country, as it was over table’s in this canteen that all important decisions during Bangladesh’s history were made!
Over the next twenty years DU was the centerpoint of all protests and events. Many non-cooperation movements were spearheaded here. In 1971, when the Liberation War against Pakistan began, many students and teachers were at the forefront of the battle lines.
The university also has some of the country’s most famous landmarks. Kazi Nazrul Islam, the national poet of the country, is buried in a tomb on the campus. His image can be seen in many places over the country, a very famous figure. And, I can’t forget to mention the Central Shahid Minar, the most important monument in all of Bangladesh, right on DU’s campus. This monument celebrates the Bengali language, and all the people have fought for to speak it. Every year, on the 21st of February, at midnight and continuing through the day, people come to Shahid Minar barefooted, women wearing only black and white sharees, to adorn it with flowers. The day, due to the fight Bangladeshis have gone through to have their language, is now known as International Mother Language Day worldwide.
Still today, as evidenced by my delayed flight, and months earlier in January when students rioted for postponement of elections because of unfair process, DU plays a crucial role in what direction the nation will progress.
Oh, and DU is PUBLIC!
Sapana Said,
November 30, 2007 @ 6:48 am
About UNC students cheering for State as their second team, to some extent it’s true. I do (for obvious reasons) but many of my Carolina friends wouldn’t. They’d love to see State lose (almost) as much as they’d love to see Dook lose. It’s likely that most people are “Anyone-else-in-the-whole-damn-world-except-Dook”, and that State should lose against everyone except Dook.
I have to admit though, it’s hard for people to deny State means anything in basketball when, after we lost to ya’ll last year, much of campus was in a dismal malaise the next day. “How was your weekend?” “Terrible! I had so much work, my computer broke down, we lost to State…”
In summary: Go Heels!