2007-2008 Cardinalmaniacs™
Hailing from the Class of 08, we were all in Branner freshman year. It was sophomore year when we were in different dorms that the 3 of us started camping out for basketball with a group of Brannerites (Albert and Alex had camped out with some of them freshman year). Junior year we joined forces with a group of former Larkin freshmen and Melissa, the RA who inspired our generation of camp outs.
Sophomore and Junior years, Alex was mainly into basketball, as was Zhihao who also enjoyed volleyball, tennis and started to get into football. Albert is, was and forever will be an all-sports fanatic. And that's the goal for senior year. Our schedules will revolve around Cardinal sports.
Zhihao (#32, will be the one in the white Stanford cap)
I'm originally from Singapore and came to the US for college. I'm doing my BA in Economics and co-terming (MS) in Management Science & Engineering. I almost made the mistake of graduating last year. Thankfully I saw the light and am back for 1 more year. I'm also writing an Economics honors thesis on the betting behaviour of blackjack players and plan on working in casino management or as a casino analyst after I graduate. I enjoy gambling but only when I have an edge. I probably know the Strip better than Stanford.
Growing up in Singapore, I was a huge NBA and NFL fan. Not many other people were. That's when I knew that I belonged in the US. We never received much college sports coverage except for the NCAA Championship game and the College World Series. I can't quite pinpoint the moment that I fell in love with college sports, but it was some time midway through freshman year. Ever since Albert recruited me to camp out sophomore year, I have never looked back.
The main reason I came to Stanford was that I fell in love with the campus when I visited at age 16 as part of a college tour. I guess that's one thing I have in common with many of our recruits. You have no idea how glad I am that I chose Stanford.
Favourite Stanford Sports Moment: Sophomore Year Men's Bball vs Washington at Maples (Chris Hernandez fouled with 0.2 seconds left). We had camped out for a week and down 3, inbounding from under our basket with 2.1 sec left, it looked like the writing was on the wall, but neither we nor the team was giving up.
Albert (aka The One in that Silly Hat)
I am proof that Director's Cups are good for something. I grew up all around the Southeast(stops in Georgia 3x, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and currently in Texas, but prepping for another move back to Georgia), and would not have heard of Stanford if not for those Director's Cups. Unlike Alex, the local, or Zhihao, who probably would have ended up at Stanford regardless, I chose to come to Stanford based on it perpetually having the top overall sports program in the nation. Where else could I go to get top notch football(still waiting, give Harbaugh 2 years), basketball, baseball, track and cross country, and everything else? It also didn't hurt when I realized that Stanford was in sunny California where there is no humidity, and it wasn't half bad academically either.
I'm currently a senior double majoring in International Relations and Portuguese, even if my colleagues don't think I actually attend class. I've tried to watch at least one event for every varsity sport at Stanford, and I think I'm only lacking Crew, Sailing, Synchronized Swimming, Golf, and Squash. On top of that I'm also a manager for the Softball team and get to travel around with them during the spring.
Favorite Stanford Sports Moment: 1) Taking a final in the morning last fall quarter, then hopping on a plane to Omaha immediately afterwards and arriving there just in time to catch the Volleyball team start their national semifinal game against UW. 2) Being the only group of students to camp out consistently for the last 3 years for every home basketball game, including sophomore year where our group had 5 people and a certain unnamed freshman dorm(cough Larkin cough) seemed to have their entire house on rotating one hour shifts, but couldn't quite touch us.
Alex (the redhead)
I'm from the far-away town of Palo Alto... but I had never seen a Stanford basketball game before freshman year. Before that I was a swimmer and only enjoyed watching individual sports (swimming, diving, gymnastics, ice skating... you get the picture). However, sick over Spring Break senior year, I happened to catch the beginning of a Duke-UNC game... and have been sold on NCAA basketball ever since. I am a senior drama major, and looking forward to not having a particularly rigorous academic schedule, although the million shows I'm working on perpetually get in the way of basketball.
On January 6th, 2005, Stanford lost to ASU 81-69- I watched that horrible loss squished into an upper corner of the 6th man section, filled to the brim with fans at our first conference game still high off of the previous year's 30-2 record. Following that game, not only did we lose Evan Moore and Mark Bradford to be exclusively football players (although it's easier to appreciate them there at the moment), but the next day we all heard about Tim Morris's failed biology class. Bang Bang Bang. On the evening of the 7th, one of my RAs sent an e-mail to the Branner chat list asking if anyone wanted to camp out for the Arizona game. Four of us trekked out to Maples in the pouring rain, set up a tent that was missing a pole and had to borrow Larkin's tiny extra tent, and slept squished together in a puddle of water until the next morning. And there, from the front row of a depressingly small crowd, I watched us smack #13 Arizona 87-76. And that's why I'm here today.
Favorite Stanford sports moment: Well that's one of 'em, Zhihao stole another, and there's always Kenny Brown's three to bring us back from our 20 point deficit to beat UCLA last year.
GO CARDINAL!
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