Update 30 Aug 2007: I got a rather rude comment from Josh, apparently a Cal undergraduate, who didn’t think I was portraying the full glory of the Cal-Stanford rivalry and claiming that my personal anecdotes were lies. I originally took down this post, but have since decided to return it since I think it’s still relevant to this blog. I’ve also posted my e-mail reply to Josh’s comment below. If you’re looking for a more background, try these links: 1999 letter to Daily Californian from a Stanford student, Big Game on Wikipedia, The Axe
As I was walked back from another Berkeley Society of Physics Student BBQ event I bumped into a frightening little lynch mob of Berkeley freshmen. As I approached with Marat, a fellow first year from Cambridge, I could hear the unmistakable militaristic call and response of what seemed like a fraternity initiation. What we found were a bunch of Berkeley freshmen crowded around three people in black robes and black hoods (you couldn’t see their faces). The hooded figures would ask “what color do we love?” and the crowd responded with “BLUE!” Then they asked “what color do we hate?” and the crowd responded with “RED!” It wasn’t until they started a frenzy of “Go Cal! [expletive] Stanford!” that I understood what was going on.
It’s freshman orientation at U.C. Berkeley and upperclassmen are making sure to indoctrinate the new faces nice and early. It’s a really, really good thing I didn’t wear my Stanford Physics t-shirt! (Though I wish I had brought my camera.) I may have been the only person ever from Stanford who has been privy to witness such a ceremony first hand (and survived).
The conventional frosh wisdom at Stanford, by the way, is that Berkeley is a far-off land where millions of undergrads have congregated to hate Stanford for no good reason. Most Stanford freshman will be quick to talk about their friends from high school who went to Berkeley (statistically likely) and what a nice town it is. Meanwhile, I’ve been told that the only thing more dangerous than eating Berkeley dorm food is being a Stanford student in a Berkeley dining hall.
This doesn’t stop Stanford from making their favorite “safety school” cheer during the annual Big Game. For those of you not in the know, ‘Big Game’ is the annual football match between Berkeley and Stanford. For those of you really not in the known, that’s American football, not what the rest of the world calls ‘football.’ Of course, during my first year at Stanford the school lost Big Game for the first time in seven years. The team thought this was so novel that it decided to lose the next three Big Games as well. Further, Berkeley will always have ‘The Play‘ to hold over Stanford’s head.
Since I’ve shed a little light on Berkeley’s side of the rivalry, I should also reveal something about the Stanford side. For one, the Stanford orientation focuses much less on the Berkeley rivalry and instead emphasizes dorm rivalries. During the week before Big Game, there is a build up of school spirit against Berkeley. This past year the ‘Axe Committee’ handed out plush ‘beat-a-bears’ for students to abuse to show their anti-Berkeley sentiments. Now, I’m a plush sympathizer and this deeply disturbed me. So, in my senior year at Stanford, I decided to do something about it. I enclose an e-mail that I sent out to a couple of dorm lists dated 15 November 2005:
SAVE A BEAR.
On Wednesday from 10:30am to 1:15pm Big Game promoters will be giving away “Beat-a-Bears,” orphaned plush bears for overzealous students to mutilate during Big Game week. SAVE A BEAR and rescue one of these bears! While there is deep seeded animosity towards Berkeley, these plushes are innocent victims of Big Game week. Who knows, some of you might end up at Berkeley… for … say… grad school.
I know plush bears are somewhat of an encumbrance during the academic year when one doesn’t have time for proper care, so I am offering to foster parent any rescued plush bears. (They will be given a warm home and plenty of attention on my bookshelf along with other friendly plush animals.) Any rescued bears may be brought to Eucalipto room 240, you may leave it outside if nobody is in. (If I’m not in, please be sure to leave it on my desk with the other plush animals, where Adam is less likely “accidentally” try to eat them.)
Make a difference, save a bear.
Best,
Flip
(Regular readers of this blog will recognize Scooter, my loyal plush puppy.) Unfortunately, I was unable to rescue any plushies with my underground bear-road because ravenous Stanford students had taken them all the previous day. I was particularly amused last year because I recognized the same thing happening down south in the other big public school vs. private school rivalry in California. To top it off, I heard about this nowhere else than on a cute post on Cosmic Variance where string theorist Clifford Johnson mistakes the noose around a plush bruin for a leash and things a student is taking her teddy bear for a walk (she was actually dragging it behind her).
Anyway, there’s your insider’s look at the Stanford-Berkeley rivalry.
Filed under: Berkeley and Stanford | 2 Comments
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Flip Tomato
I'm a postgraduate, expatriate physics student. RSS Feed.
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Way to fabricate a story out of some imaginary experience you had. I could make a number of arguments to disprove your story, but I will settle for one…
no Cal fan…and i mean NO Cal fan will ever say “Go Cal” if you had even paid relative attention to the tradition-filled rivalry you would know that.
Maybe your ‘insider’s look’ should have done a little more research into the rich rivalry. I am sure you would have found the history of riots, thefts, battles, bonfires, and fun to be interesting and you wouldn’t hate it so much. So instead of snickering at this rivalry, perhaps you should take some time away form classes to experience college and to learn a little…i mean your parent’s already bought a new library so you’ll get your unearned 4.0.
go to a football game
Go Bears
Update 30 Aug 2007: The following is a copy of an e-mail I sent to the author of the previous comment. I’ve decided to repost the original comment and my response since the issue of I think they present an important issue among some university students.
Dear Josh,
Greetings — I just wanted to drop an e-mail to thank you for your comment.
I wrote the story to the best of my knowledge, and if I mistook “go Cal” for “go Bears” then I apologize. I did my best, however, to represent real events — I believe these occured in the late afternoon of August 23, 2006 (based on my post date) near McCone hall (across from where the construction on the new Asian Studies Library was taking place).
Pedantic Note: For what it’s worth, “Go Cal” makes more sense if used as a counterpoint to “Boo Stanford.” “Go Bears” is more appropriate for comparing mascots, in which case the proper chant would be, “Boo Cardinal, Go Bears.”
I further apologize if I highlighted only a very specific part of the Cal-Stanford rivalry, which you are correct in saying has a very rich history.
My intent, however, was only to playfully describe one aspect of the rivalry that isn’t commonly documented or seen by “the other side.” Freshman orientation is a very inclusive experience for any university, and I thought it was a fun experience for me to witness a small part of that. The rest of the rivalry: bonfires, The Play, the original Axe thieves, etc. etc. are all a fantastic heritage for both universities, but since they are readily accessible, I didn’t want to dwell on them.
This all that I meant by an “insider’s” point of view, not that my statements are any more representative of the rivalry than anyone else’s. I apologize if I was misleading in this respect.
I really hope that you are not mistaking my comments as belligerence against Berkeley. I’m a California native and Berkeley has always had a special place in my heart. I think very highly of the university and its students; otherwise I would not have turned down generous PhD offers from [Edit: big name Ivy League universities...] in favor of Berkeley.
Similarly, please don’t make harsh assumptions about me based on where I graduated. My parents did not donate a library, and I didn’t buy my GPA. My parents are immigrants and I have student loans, like many other Californian college students. Grade inflation, I understand, is an issue at most big-name universities, with the notable exceptions of Berkeley and Princeton. But this doesn’t mean that I haven’t earned the opportunities I’ve gotten, including the opportunity to do a PhD at Cal.
It’s very clear that you love your university. That’s great. I also hope to embrace Berkeley culture when I return to California. I was sad when Cody’s Books shut down last year. I miss shopping at Berkeley Bowl and the cheese board. I miss having three farmers markets every week.
But don’t use your love for Berkeley as invective against others who didn’t have the same experience as you. I went to a rich private school for my undergraduate. I consider myself lucky to have had that opportunity and I will not apologize for taking advantage of it. That doesn’t make me a rich snob whose parents paid for my place in life, as you have implied.
You were right that I never was keen on attending football matches, but that was my own choice. There are plenty of Cal and Stanford students who love their universities but don’t attend Big Game. These same students embrace their campus culture in other ways; the rich array of student groups, the community around their university, being part of frosh orientation, etc. It would not be fair to criticize these students for experiencing their own college experience that is different from yours.
Because this post is no longer directly relevant to the theme of my blog, and because its clear that it may generate confusion that my blood isn’t “cardinal” or “navy and gold” enough, I’ve decided to take it down from public viewing. [Edit: I've since decided to put this post back up.]
Regards,
Flip