Joey Beyda has been a Stanford fan for longer than I’ve been alive. I’m actually not exaggerating right now — I’m pretty sure his first Big Game was before I was even born. He knows better than anybody else I’ve ever met at this University how to love Stanford unconditionally and hate that school across the Bay.
Me? Eh. Being from Minnesota, I didn’t even seriously consider applying to Stanford until about a week before applications were due my senior year. I was never really into college football, much less Stanford football — my first ever game was the Stanford-Arizona overtime barn-burner in 2012.
In my two years at Stanford, the Cardinal have won both Big Games by a combined score of 84-16. I almost feel bad for Cal, honestly. It’s hard to hate a team that you don’t see as a threat whatsoever. Even though I know that the history of the Big Game is marred by swings in both directions and that there have been stretches in which Cal has dominated, I just haven’t experienced that futility firsthand and can’t imagine what it would be like.
The result? Well, I feel ambivalent at best towards Cal. In fact, I even rooted for the Bears when they played other Pac-12 opponents — they hate our guts, but to me, they’re just our little brothers across the Bay. I’ve always said that I hate USC and Notre Dame more than any of Stanford’s other opponents — and that’s because they’ve had success and big wins over Stanford while I’ve been here. I can’t say the same about Cal.
Now, to the longtime Stanford fans reading this column, I probably sound like a heretic, and I know that. But I don’t think that I’m the only one that feels this way among the student body; it’s really hard to find people on this campus, especially those from far away, that hate Cal with the same fiery, all-consuming disgust that the folks across the Bay feel for us.
When I went to Cal for Big Game during freshman year, I honestly thought that I was going to die wearing my Stanford gear across campus — it was that bad (or maybe that’s just Berkeley). But when friends of friends that attend Cal come here, we welcome them, take them out to meals and parties and show them a good time.
Well, all that might change this year.
Stanford and Cal are on a 5-5 collision course, and for the first time in my life as a fan, it’s not only fathomable, but also increasingly likely, that Stanford will lose Big Game.
Cal fans can feel it. They’ve been more annoying than ever on Twitter — I see “Stanfurd” flying around my feed every day and Cal fans endlessly discussing how they’re going to celebrate when they win. (Pro tip: Cal fans, it just looks stupid when it looks like you can’t even spell your rival’s name properly.)
And you know what? I feel it too. 5-5 has been tough, sure, but now that I’m faced with the possibility of losing to Cal, I’m having some sort of minor existential crisis and re-evaluating all of the choices I’ve ever made. It’s opened my mind.
George Chen was right when he said that this game is the most important of the season. It’s also the most important Big Game in several years, and you bet that KABAM Field at Memorial Stadium (Pro tip: Cal fans, it’s even harder to take you seriously when you have “KABAM” written in big letters on your field) will be rocking on Saturday.
Stanford students: I know it’s been a tough season. I’ve suffered through 5-5 and countless shattered dreams straight through it with you. But you need to be there on Saturday to support the team, regardless of how meaningless the Big Game rivalry has been for you in your time here.
Because for the first time in five years, Big Game is relevant again. Cal is not just a pest to be drowned out and blissfully ignored anymore, because it’s about to become an infestation. This is our Bay. We need to keep it that way.
We know that we’re better than them. We just need to rub it in their faces when our football team tramples theirs on the field. We know they hate us. We need to reciprocate their hate now that we finally have a reason to do so. We know that this is supposed to be our biggest rivalry. We need to make that as true in reality as it is in theory.
If you didn’t show up for Senior Day, so be it. But this is a rivalry that transcends football. This is a rivalry that consumes our identities as honorable Stanford students. I’ve finally come to realize and accept that, and I hope you do too.
Get up for game day on Saturday. See you at Memorial Stadium.
(Pro tip: Cal fans, it’s okay that you go to a safety school. It happens to the best of us. You don’t need to get all worked up with your inferiority complex about it.)
Joey was right. It’s fun to hate Cal.
Do-Hyoung Park grew up dreaming of the North-West Western Minnesota Icing Penalties defeating the Western Western Minnesota Frozen Wastes. Let him know why Big Game means more at dpark027 ‘at’ stanford.edu.