Big Game 2006
In what can only be described as an ugly win, Cal very ungracefully beat Stanfurd in the hundred and something annual Big Game. We didn’t really care how they won, we just cared that the axe remained in Berkelely, where it belongs. Plus, by the time we hit the game, we had been fueled by Kanaka’s golden bears and jello shots and beer and food. Our Big Game Traditions are solid – pre-game party with the standard Cal drinks and food, catching up on life and happenings, the game, the post game, the amazing Cal band, always made better by the general suckiness of the Stanfurd band, who by the way, couldn’t perform because they were suspended by their own school for vandalizing their OWN band house. Think about that.
We had the party catered this year, a good move considering that some of us traveled from out of the area and life is busy. Plus, we’re now really adults, and cost is no longer an issue. Rick and Ann’s provided us with excellent food: a platter of bagels, mini-biscuits with bacon, lettuce and tomato, a Spanish frittata platter, a ham and cheddar frittata platter and balsamic garlic grilled portabella mushrooms on skewers. We decided that in two years, we’ll punt on the bagels and do another biscuit platter – they were pop in your mouth tasty. I also brought blondies, for the traditional dessert. Cynthia volunteered her Grandparents house for the party (located near Clark Kerr Campus, easy stumbling distance to the game), the start of what will hopefully be a new tradition.
I’ve written about Big Game at least 2 years for this blog (I’d link back, but alas, the old images are trapped on a server now collecting dust in London). I suspect that the entries are fairly identical: the game, friends, food and drink. Big Game is really one of my favorite traditions. Michelle, Kanaka, Suzette and I have been attending the games together since 1994 or 1995. Beyond the food and the drink, it’s the one time of year that we, plus the others that have become core to our Big Game group, gather, discuss our lives and what we’re doing and where we’re going. In fact, Big Game serves as a perfect reflection of how are lives do change, reflected in our group: husbands Justin and Drew (both of whom proudly wear blue and gold); old Cal friends Cynthia and Emil who became an integral part of the group in the years after graduation; and new friends that cheer for Cal like Carrie and Tricia and James (who is actually a Cal alum, but we didn’t know each other until he and Tricia began dating). It’s a good tradition to have.