It is crazy to think about the fact that I am a senior at UC Berkeley and that this is my final year as an undergraduate at this amazing university. As a student, my mindset has always been to become heavily involved in school spirit and events. I mean, I hoped for years I would attend such an excellent university, I might as well be proud of my school, right? With that has come a large investment in campus traditions and spirit throughout my time as a Berkeley student, but nothing is more exciting than the annual Big Game against Stanford.
For those who do not know what the Big Game is, it is our annual football game against our rival Stanford. There is no other event on campus that generates as much excitement and energy as the Big Game because it is our time to show ourselves as the true superior school in the Bay Area (these are all friendly rivalries, however, and simply a means to generate school pride). To provide some history of the Big Game, it has been happening every year, with a few exceptions for wars, since 1892 and initially was held in San Francisco, but has since moved to an alternating system between Cal and Stanford hosting each year. This year’s Big Game marks the 126th meeting and a current three-year winning streak for California over Stanford, making the game even more exciting. Additionally, the game will be held at home this year, making the event even bigger and further elevating school spirit. Besides the game itself comes the Stanford Axe, the trophy of the game. The Axe was initially unveiled in 1899 at a Cal vs. Stanford baseball game in which a Stanford yell leader brought it out to rally Stanford students. However, Stanford lost this baseball game and the Cal students decided to steal it, leading to a massive chase around San Francisco with the Cal students successfully bringing the Axe back to Berkeley. Stanford was able to steal the Axe back decades later, but following this the universities decided to make the Axe the official trophy of the Big Game moving forward. Overall, Stanford has more wins in the Big Game but Cal has held the Axe for longer due to the initial theft of the trophy.
Now that it’s my final Big Game as a student, I’m eager to truly take in the experience and enjoy it for the last time in this manner. My previous three Big Games have been taken up by doing work for the UC Rally Committee which took up lots of my time during Big Game Week, somewhat dampening the experience. This year, however, I chose to forego this work in order to have a better, more true experience of Big Game Week and the Big Game itself. Additionally, coming into the game with a three-year winning streak and being favored is truly exhilarating as I have the potential to be one of the few class years to have attended Berkeley without a Big Game loss. Also, a win on Saturday would mark the first Big Game since joining the ACC which would be an amazing honor for the school to hold over Stanford. In the end, I have my fingers crossed for Saturday and am going to be knocking on wood all week to hope we pull out another win. Go Bears