Stanford vs Colorado

It was an early start to game day as I got up at 6am and took the first flight out of Vegas to SFO. When I arrived at my friend’s place, I was welcomed by the fresh smell of scrambled eggs, bacon and waffles, and the sight of Oklahoma’s 12-0 chances receiving a large boost as they destroyed Texas in the Red River Rivalry. Before we hit campus, it was off to his daughter’s soccer game in Cupertino where she dominated with 2 assists and a plus-minus of 4 as she dug her team out of a 0-1 hole in their 4-1 victory. We may also have gotten on the referee’s and an opposing parent’s nerves after some questionable calls but I’ll call a hand-ball when I see one and you shouldn’t be penalized for shielding the opponent from the ball just because you’re a head taller than them!

It was yet another beautiful day in Palo Alto as we pulled up to the stadium. After parking in Lot 2, we headed over to Chuck Taylor’s Grove for some food and alcohol. For the walk, we rocked our Shayne Skov tribute shirts which have his mohawk and face-painted visage on the front and “11 for 11” on the back - the latter referring to 11 more wins for #11 who was injured during our third game against Arizona. You do the math. The Martins whom I had seen at almost all the games this season stropped by after the walk armed with several copies of the program which had Moose on the cover (http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700183580/The-Moose-has-Lucks-back-blindside-at-Stanford.html). They were extremely friendly but understandably coy when the topic of Moose declaring jokingly came up.

After some delicious Indian food and watching ASU take care of business against Utah, I left for Albert’s tailgate where I met up with some other friends. We then entered the stadium which was definitely not sold out no matter what the official numbers may say. I blame Fleet week and guess that a 7:30pm kickoff gets people in their seats since there isn’t too much else to do. Nevertheless, it was nice to see the student section filled to capacity and revved up for the game.

I was somewhat skeptical that we’d be able to cover the 30 point spread but our defense really stepped up despite some missed tackles (and aided by some drops and poor throws) and Luck looked effortless out there as Colorado’s defense really sold out to stop the run early on. Obviously Colorado was missing key contributors and isn’t that good a team even when at full strength, but it was nice to see the offense click and get contributions from multiple players. There was less questionable play calling by my accounts but I would have liked to see us go for it on 4^th and 4 instead of attempting a 47 yard field goal, especially with Williamson’s struggles early on.

All in all, I was pleased by the win and even happier that the players weren’t satisfied by it. As I’ve been saying all season, we just need to keep on getting better so that we’ll be ready for the stretch run. While the performance of the other unbeaten teams isn’t something that Stanford can control, I would be lying if I claimed that I wasn’t scoreboard watching. Using projected spreads, I estimate that Stanford has a 15% of going 13-0. Probabilities for the other contenders are Alabama (37%), Oklahoma (33%), Wisconsin (24%), LSU (17%) and Oklahoma State (9%). I think an undefeated Stanford would get the nod ahead of Wisconsin thanks to Andrew Luck and overall strength of schedule, but finish behind an unbeaten SEC team and Big 12 team. The current likelihood of the SEC and Big 12 producing undefeated teams is about 23%. That number is growing by the week and hopefully carnage will happen soon. It will undoubtedly happen for some of the other unbeatens but the SEC and Big 12 are the only that really concern me. But ultimately, all that matters and I all can ask is for Stanford to take care of business as the schedule toughens up starting with Wazzu in Pullman.

Stanford vs UCLA

With some time off from work and a well-timed bye week for Stanford, I surveyed the various Week 4 match ups and decided to make a trip to Tuscaloosa for Arkansas vs Alabama and my first ever SEC game. To summarize, the atmosphere was absolutely electric, the fans couldn’t have been friendlier and the barbeque was to die for. I’ve definitely developed a soft spot for the South. Alabama rolled to a convincing victory but in evaluating their overall play and this could well be hubris speaking, I feel that Stanford matches up extremely well with them. Elite SEC defenses equipped with blazing speed are built to defend Oregon’s spread. Together with special teams, they put up a lot of points on the board but I’d be interested to see how they’d match up against Stanford or Wisconsin’s power offense in games where their defense isn’t generating points. I didn’t come away too impressed with Alabama’s offense (QB and play calling since Richardson is pretty damn good) and while one might give credit to Arkansas, the same defense gave up 35 points in the first half to Texas A&M’s strong running game. If anything, Oregon worries me much more and we actually have to play them.

While it was nice to have the week off and experience the South, I was definitely chomping at the bit for the UCLA game with the students finally back on campus and 40+ of my co-workers with a sizable UCLA presence making it to the game. I had a hunch we’d be wearing our black jerseys (night game, big recruiting visit, process of elimination) and expedite shipped a black Luck jersey in time for my Friday departure. For the first time since All-Star weekend in Las Vegas several years ago, my flight was delayed. Luckily I was in no particular hurry and counted my blessings that it wasn’t game day. After watching some of the most atrocious coaching by Texas A&M in the 2^nd half when they chose to punt in several 4^th and 1 situations in Arkansas territory when their running game was unstoppable (I estimate that the coaches reduced their team’s win probability by half), I headed over to campus with one of my coworkers and showed him around. It never fails to hit me how beautiful campus is and how fortunate I am to have attended Stanford.

It was a busier than usual pre-game for me as I headed dropped by various tailgates to say hi while making my way to the walk. I received confirmation through the grapevine that the team was going to be clad in black and got nicely lubricated with some MT3 black and blueberry tea. I had to tear myself away from my work tailgate to get into the stadium on time and was struck by how crowded it was. While we had been in a general admission lot which was UCLA heavy, the stadium featured a heavy dose of Cardinal and unlike previous sell outs such as USC last year and Cal and Notre Dame the year before, the visitors were not a huge driving force behind the sell out. The students were also out in full force. It was a joy to see.

I thought our offense was a significant improvement over previous games and it was good to see the line starting to jell and get their timing down. The highlight of course was Luck’s one-handed sideline catch which sparked off several Heisman poses from our section. We got a little too cute up 14-0 and I am not a fan of those empty back field 4 wide out sets that telegraph to defenses we are going to pass. Our strength is the 1WR, 2TE, 1FB, 1RB set where we have ultimate run-pass flexibility. Hopefully the coaches were just messing around and trying out new wrinkles because that’s what it felt like from the stands. A simple analysis of average yards per attempt on those empty background sets while controlling for down and yardage should tell them that it’s suboptimal. On defense, I think we did a decent job. There is obviously room for improvement and I would hope for a more aggressive defense in the Oregon and USC games where we try and increase variance (make a big play on defense or give up a big play on defense) since they have better offenses. Against UCLA, a low variance approach that keeps everything in front of you makes sense to me. The big early stop was extremely nice to see and I had to refrain from commenting when there was some chatter that those 3 points that UCLA gave up by going for it instead of kicking a field goal could be key. As a friend astutely pointed out, the fact that they were 21.4 point underdogs and we were able to march 99 yards down the field is all the more reason why you absolutely have to go for it on 4^th and goal at the 2. Kudos to Slick Rick for going for it although the fact that he deserves credit for making the painfully obvious optimal play reflects the sad state of conventional wisdom that is pervasive in football.

All in all, I was extremely heartened by the team’s performance and if they can continue to improve, stay healthy and get some of the new guys playing experience (especially on defense), we will be prime for the stretch run against USC, Oregon, and Notre Dame.

Stanford @ Arizona

After two non-conference games against overmatched opponents, Tucson was the first real test for our team. Were we for real or was the over/under of 8.5 wins a more accurate representation of our team’s chances? While I had an air of confidence about the San Jose State and Duke games, I didn’t know what to expect at the Zona Zoo. While Arizona wasn’t an elite team, they still had a lot of talent and played well at home. It was the also the first time I was flying out of McCarran after finding a place here and I needed to get my airport routine down. I ended up finding a free park and ride area at the South Strip Transfer Terminal and was able to get to the airport for a $2 bus fare – much cheaper than taking a cab to the airport and given how many of these flights I have, a good money saver.

The weekend got off to a good start when I finished 2^nd in a poker tournament on Friday. It was a run-of-the-mill daily tournament but Ray Romano and Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm) were playing in it with some of their friends. I busted Cheryl and had the pleasure of sitting right next to Ray for a couple of hours. He ended up finishing 4^th and was a nice guy and decent player. After he busted, it was off to dinner and then a performance at the Mirage.

I got up bright and early on Saturday and was in Tucson before I even knew it. Since it was a late game and I was in no particular hurry, I took the bus and walked 1.5 miles to my hotel. It was a beautiful day and not as hot as I’d expected it to be. After checking in and catching a bit of the Notre Dame – Michigan State game where Notre Dame for the third week in a row was the superior team but plagued by turnovers early on, I headed over to Dirtbags which was the pre-game gathering point of choice among some of the Cardinal faithful who had made the trip. The alumni tailgate didn’t strike me as particularly appealing when the only mode of payment was mailing a check. We had several hours to kill and managed to do so with drinks, football and coeds. We ran into former Stanford football player Luke Powell who had driven over from Tempe and was waiting for former team mate QB Chris Lewis.

By the time kick off came around, it was a beautiful evening in Tucson and all the talk about dehydration and the heat seemed pretty unwarranted. As we headed over to the stadium, there was some mild heckling but nothing out of the ordinary. I ran into an old acquaintance from my senior year travels as we found our seats and another friend from junior year. Albert and I ended up moving down right next to the band which allowed us to stand for the whole game. We were joined by the Bernard family who stood for the whole game as well and got to see their kid play in the nickel package. I also spotted Ty Montgomery’s mum who probably is going to make it to every single game this season!

The overall atmosphere was great as the Arizona fans were pumped up for their first conference game. The first half was excruciatingly painful with the offensive struggles, defensive shakiness without Skov and injuries that had piled up. There was no doubt in my mind after watching the replay on Arizona’s ridiculously large scoreboard (my bus driver told me that it had cost $7 million) that Skov was done for the season. The one bright spark was our kicker Williamson’s play – something that one comes to appreciate after playing Duke and Arizona. I would bet good money that we lead the nation in field goal percentage allowed (with a minimum number of kicks).

I was not in the best of moods at half time as it felt that everything was unraveling. An overreaction for sure but such is the pressure of high expectations. That sinking feeling was reinforced at the start of Arizona’s second half opening drive but we managed to get our act together and make the necessary adjustments. I would have taken a 1 point victory at half time so I couldn’t complain about the 2^nd half dominance. Just like how we discovered power midway through the season in 2009, hopefully we’ve found our offensive identity this year which in my mind is the no WR set that used to open our last TD drive. It allows us a lot of run-pass flexibility and while we should probably run a fair amount out of it, play-action possibilities should keep defenses honest. By the end of the game, it was yet another blow out with lots of room for improvement although the Skov injury puts a real damper on things. Hopefully he will come back even stronger from it either at Stanford or in the NFL.

With the late kick off, it was a quick stop at Dirtbags which had a Stanford contingent reveling in the victory before returning to my hotel. The next morning brought yet another early morning flight and I bumped into a player’s father (Jeff Trojan) over breakfast and we had a nice chat. I saw a fellow Cardinal diehard at the airport and almost missed my flight as we chatted about Stanford sports. He was less fortunate and by the time we realized it, his plane was already leaving the gate. I got back to Las Vegas just in time for another poker tournament which I ended up winning. Not a bad weekend!

Stanford @ Duke

While it’s nice to be in the friendly confines of Stanford’s campus, there’s something appealing about walking into the lion’s den with a group of dedicated fans with an us against the world mentality. As a friend astutely pointed out, road games are when you truly bond with your team. Granted this was a Duke football game and slightly different than walking into the Coliseum or Autzen, but you get the point. My favorite part about East Coast / Midwest road trips is meeting up with friends living on the other side of the country. The Duke trip was no different as I received a text message on Friday that there was going to be a young alumni tailgate attended by a bunch of people I knew. More importantly, Alex was going to be there for a Cardinalmaniacs reunion! The last three times I’ve seen her were at the Orange Bowl, at Notre Dame and the Sun Bowl. Detecting a pattern?

I took a redeye out of Las Vegas to Atlanta and then hopped on a quick flight to Raleigh-Durham. Layovers always make me anxious, especially when it’s on the same day as game day but everything went smoothly although I had to board my flight right before the ASU-Missouri overtime started. Luckily ASU pulled it out to preserve some Pac-12 respectability. Hopefully UCLA can do the same against Texas. The thing that struck me the most as we landed in Durham was the abundance of lush greenery. The weather was pretty pleasant and reminded me of Singapore with less humidity. I took a shuttle from the airport to the University Inn and chatted with a friendly lady from UNC who was visiting her parents and going to the UNC-Rutgers football game. After checking in, I proceeded to get absolutely lost as I tried to cut through the Duke hospital to get to the tailgate. After much wandering around, I finally was headed towards the sport complexes but realized that perhaps I should stop by the center of campus. Upon further consideration, I decided that Cameron Indoor Stadium was pretty much all that I cared for and Duke’s Gothic architecture wasn’t something that appealed much to me.

I finally found Krzyzewskiville and Cameron. I was somewhat surprised that the innocent looking exterior housed one of the most feared college home courts in the nation. There were a couple of campus tours going on and I tried to work my way into them – clad in my Luck jersey no less – to enter Cameron but was informed that they were shooting a 20 year anniversary documentary for the 1992 National Championship team. Grant Hill, Christian Laettner et al were in attendance and Hill walked past Albert and his family at one point. Albert’s main takeaway was that Hill walked like an 80-year old man. On the way to Cameron, I strolled past the Blue Devil Alley which felt like a poor man’s Chuck Taylor Grove. It was somewhat early so it wasn’t too surprising that it was empty. After more wandering, I finally found the tailgate and also bumped into my Duke friends who had spotted me in my jersey. It was great catching up with a bunch of people. The turn-out was pretty impressive as we probably had around 80-100 young alumni gathered in the parking lot. There were people who had driven from DC, New York and Atlanta. Not sure whether it was the venue or our highly ranked football team but it felt like an improved showing compared to the Notre Dame game and I’m sure it beat the Wake Forest turn out 2 years ago hands down.

After mingling with old acquaintances, we headed over to the official tailgate where we met up with Albert and his folks who had driven down from Atlanta. It was yet another impressive showing with a bunch of players’ parents to boot. It was great to see so many of the fabulous freshmen’s parents in attendance and of course Chase Thomas had a huge rooting section as well. While Bowlsby didn’t address the crowd, honorary captain Brevin Knight did. I bumped into Brevin who had his whole family in tow a little bit later and reminded him of the last time we’d met which was at Pauley Pavilion in 2008 when our Sweet 16 bound basketball team fell to UCLA in overtime. He echoed my sentiments of how we had been robbed. The lack of sleep and stifling heat of the closely confined alumni tailgate quarters did not help my appetite for the Southern cuisine but it was decent and the beers washed it down. We finally made it over to the Duke stadium which immediately reminded me of the Sun Bowl without Juarez looming in the distance. Unlike most stadiums which have one dedicated visitor’s section, Duke’s stadium split it up into two at opposite ends from each other. Albert and I lucked out and ended up on the shady side.

The first half was a little bit too close for comfort and the lack of pass protection combined with Luck having an off half was somewhat concerning. If not for Duke’s kicker being absolutely terrible, it could have been a 1 pt game. Luckily our defense bailed us out and the offense got into the swing of thing at the end of the half. The half time show featured Coach K (among others) being inducted into Duke’s Hall of Fame. I guess that’s a pretty momentous occasion but to be honest, I was surprised that it hadn’t happened sooner. Bobby Hurley was the only other person I recognized. We had our way in the second half and it was good to see the defensive depth on tap even if the 3^rd string defense gave up the first touchdown of the season. Hopefully the game was a lesson for the team that they can’t take anyone for granted. Duke was after all a team that lost to Richmond the week before although I try not to take too much stock into those things. Wasn’t Virginia Tech a team that lost to James Madison last year? Special teams also need to be better prepared. All in all, the whole road trip was good preparation for the Arizona roadie which may prove more difficult than people expect and will be a good test of where we stand against better competition. At the end of the day, it was a decent showing and it’s always great when you can take away numerous lessons from a 30 point victory.

Stanford vs San Jose State

Greetings from Las Vegas! It’s been a hectic week as I packed up and bade the Bay Area goodbye right after the college football season kicked off. Opening weekend is always special because of the anticipation and optimism. Everyone is undefeated and the sky is the limit. Heck, I know someone who dreamt of an oracle who told him with probability 1 that UCLA was going to beat Houston. Luckily the online sportsbook limited the amount that he could deposit. He has since sworn off betting on the Bruins for the season but I was able to lock in a friendly Stanford -10 vs UCLA wager when his hopes were still sky high.

For me, the best part of opening weekend is soaking in the game day experience after the 9 month hiatus. Unlike other sports where one just shows up and goes to the game, football’s game day experience is so much more. For starters, it’s almost always on a Saturday and provides the perfect excuse to get back on campus and meet up with old friends who you invariably have seen less of but share a bond that only experiencing the Walt Harris days or seeing Cal celebrate on your field can bring. Next, there’s the day long tailgating fraught with pre-game analysis, discussion of recruiting, unsubstantiated gossip and bold predictions. And finally, there’s the backdrop of arguably the best campus and weather combination which might just make Stanford the perfect place to tailgate and watch a football game. It doesn’t get any better than that.

This year, we took the game day experience one step further and had a pre-game party on Friday night that involved pizza, drinks, catching the end of the Baylor-TCU shoot out and an Orange Bowl viewing. I arrived on campus around 10am, realizing that it would be the last time I would enjoy the convenience of a 20 minute drive to catch a Stanford football game. The new Lot 2 tailgating area was pretty empty when we got there but it filled up decently by kick off. While it might have been a non-conference game against San Jose State, we were in mid-season form from the Air-Luck sirens to the Skov-inspired face paint and Moose inspired antlers to the MT3 Black and Blueberry Iced Tea which I found particularly tasty. While making it out to The Walk, we bumped into several family members of the outstanding freshmen class. Introductions and well wishes were in order for the Vaughters and Montgomery families. I recall Ty mentioning in an interview that his mother was going to make it to all the games (not sure whether he meant home and away but I guess we’ll see). The Lyons and Richards families were represented as well. I guess you can’t say no to witnessing your sons showing incredible promise in their college debuts!

Upon entering the stadium and finding my new seats on the sunny side (I decided that it was time to retire from the student section given that even that grad students I knew were gone), I marveled at my new and improved vantage point and took it all in. Football was back! Because of the sparser but still respectable turn-out, I moved one section over to my friend’s section in the much vaunted 235 and was struck by the camaraderie as neighbors reconnected for the first time since last season. It was a great moment when David Shaw took the field with the team and while some might question the hire from within, I'm a supporter of not only his capabilities but how he represents the university and if it turns out that the continuity increases the probability of the team playing in a BCS bowl by a few percentage points, it’s well worth it in my mind.

I won’t comment too much about the game since like the scrimmages (I must sound like a broken record right now) it’s hard to draw too many conclusions in a game like that, but there were definitely promising signs from the defense (didn’t surprise me) and some hiccups in the run game (also didn’t surprise me) but it’s early and we struggled in that area early last year too. The freshman who had their shirts burned came to play and I could definitely see Lyons starting this year. Most importantly, there weren’t any notable injuries. Looking at the rest of the conference, the Pac-12 struggled mightily which is unfortunate, but at the same time if we can keep on improving and take it one game at a time, it’s ours for the taking.

While I’m not yet fully settled in Vegas, Durham beckons and I’m extremely excited for the first road trip of the season. Duke is a place that I’ve yet to visit and I have a friend at the Duke business school who will be going to the game as well. In other news, I found myself wondering what to do with myself during Stanford’s bye week (9/24). I could play a couple of poker tournaments. I could check out the Saturday night scene in Vegas. I could go visit some friends in New York or Chicago. Instead, I found myself looking at the college football schedule and picking out the best game that weekend. The top two contenders were Missouri at Oklahoma and Arkansas at Alabama. It wasn’t too hard a decision as I’ve always wanted to go to an SEC game. Stubhub found me a ticket on the 25-30 yard line 50 rows up for $200. Southwest had a couple of direct flights and with all the money I had saved booking and re-booking flights on Southwest, it was practically “free”. Accommodation was pricy in Tuscaloosa and so I settled for somewhere closer to Birmingham. By the end of the night, I had figured out how I’ll be spending the bye week. If anyone has any tips or advice on how to maximize my game day experience, I’m all ears.

Vegas Lines

Given that I’m moving to Vegas very soon, I thought that it would be fitting to take a look at some of the Stanford lines/futures/props in anticipation of the season opener and revisit them at the end of the season.

Current and Prospective Lines
Stanford -28.5 vs SJSU, o/u 53.5
Stanford -1 @ USC
Stanford +1 vs Oregon
Stanford -11.5 vs Cal
Stanford -5 vs Notre Dame

I expect us to be more than a 1 pt favorite when the game at USC rolls around but that might just be my cardinal tinted glasses talking.

Stanford Props/Futures
Stanford Total Wins 8.5: Over -195, Under +160
Stanford Total Wins 9: Over +100, Under -130
Stanford Total Points For Per Game 36.5: Over -130, Under -110
Stanford to win Pac-12 North +175
Stanford to win Pac-12 +300
Stanford Top 5 in USA Today Final Poll +500
Stanford to reach BCS Championship +1000
Stanford to win BCS National Championship +3000
Team higher in USA Today Final Poll:
Stanford +100 vs Virginia Tech -140
Stanford +145 vs Florida State -190

The over 8.5 wins opened at -155. Even though I don’t like to wager on Stanford for fear of bias, that was a price I couldn’t refuse.

Luck Props/Futures (Regular Season + Post Season)
Luck to win Heisman +250
Luck Total Passing Yards 3049.5: Over -110, Under -130
Luck Total Passing Touchdowns 24.5: Over -150, Under +110

3049.5 yards over 13 or 14 games seems low. Of course there is the injury factor but it’s still somewhat worrying that they are so low on Luck. Absolutely no value in Heisman bet at +250.

Pac-12 Player Props (Regular Season Only)
Who will have the most passing yards per game:
Luck -140, Barkley +175, Foles +300
Who will have the most passing TDs:
Luck -150, Barkley +150, Foles +325
Who will have the most rushing yards per game:
James +100, Taylor +250, Polk +350, Stewart +575, Franklin +800, Baxter +875
Who will have the most rushing TDs:
James +100, Taylor +250, Polk +375, Stewart +400, Franklin +1200, Baxter +1500
Who will have the most receiving yards per game:
Kearse +250, Owusu +275, Criner +350, Woods +355, Wilson +550, Allen +700
Who will have the most receiving TDs:
Kearse +250, Criner +275, Owusu +350, Woods +355, Wilson +500, Allen +625

Foles at +300 to have more passing yards per game than Luck and Barkley seems like great value given that Arizona is likely to be throwing the ball late in games. Even if he gets injured because of his inexperienced O-line and is out for a couple of games, if the injury comes at the end of the game, his average will still be high. There might even be value in shorting Luck and loading up on Barkley and Foles. Don’t know enough about the other teams/players to make an informed decision for the other bets except NOT to bet on Taylor. Probably would shy away from Owusu too.

Less than 24 hours to kickoff!

Kick Off Dinner

The Stanford Football Kickoff Dinner is an event that I had always wanted to attend but never had the chance to because of work. This year I was determined to make it and managed to convince a friend to join me. We got there at around 3pm to watch the open practice and as someone who was never a railbird, it was interesting to see the various kickoff, hands team and 7 on 7 drills. Polian’s exuberance during special teams practice definitely stood out. Just like the scrimmage, I found it difficult to draw any real conclusions although one thing that stood out to me was that Owusu looked great (no surprise there based on what we’ve been hearing).

After practice ended, we dropped by the Hall of Fame room which was unfortunately closed and then ambled over to the stadium where just like the open house, there already was a line waiting to get in before doors opened. If that becomes a reoccurring theme this season, there are going to be no complaints from me!

Upon entering, we picked up our nametags and being somewhat unfamiliar with the setup, tried to figure out where to sit. It turned out that there were 3 main considerations – proximity to the front where a microphone was set up, amount of shade (some tables had umbrellas, others were in the sun) and the player/coach that would be seated at your table as denoted by the nametags on the table. The first and third factors were obviously the most important and so we ended up at one of the front most tables directly in the sun with Johnson Bademosi (a true senior and third year starter). I thought it would be interesting to talk to someone who had gone through different defensive schemes and coaches and being a senior, experienced at handling himself at these alumni events.

Bademosi didn’t disappoint and talked very glowingly about the current defensive staff and the tools/techniques/schemes that they had brought over from their respective backgrounds. He had very high expectations for the defense this year as they had a year under their belt. We got to talking about the top WRs in the conference like Robert Woods and Juron Criner and how Bademosi relished the opportunity to go against them. He made a great point that he gets to go against one of the top WRs in the conference ever day in Chris Owusu. At one point, we got to the topic of how Baldwin was beating out Golden Tate in Seattle and my friend innocently asked if Bademosi had ever covered Tate. With flashbacks to the Stanford-Notre Dame game, I thought “Not really”, but Bademosi handled it well and admitted that it was a rough game when he was still an inexperienced rookie thrown into the fire. He mentioned that all week during practice they had been coached to slide outside and ended up being beaten inside repeatedly. There were also a lot of jump balls where I would have opted for intentional pass interference, but I kept that to myself. Through our conversations, I also picked up the tidbit that Bademosi’s first start was his sophomore year (2010) against Arizona State which was coincidentally also the start of Albert and my consecutive games streak.

We had an alum at our table who had gone to the Graduate School of Business back in the day (the days of Plunkett his friend who had been a punter at Illinois ribbed him repeatedly) and had been a season ticket holder for 25 years. He was a fun guy to talk to and Bademosi definitely tried to pick him brain about his experiences and indicated that he wanted to go to Business School some day. It was a great table to be at and we were also up close for the speeches that Bowlsby and Shaw gave and the interviews that Husak conducted with Skov, Thomas, Taylor and Luck.

There wasn’t really too much that I hadn’t heard before but my friend who was hearing Shaw talk for the first time came away deeply impressed by his thoughtfulness and general demeanor. David Shaw is definitely someone who represents the university well. It was also great to see 3 generations of the Shaw family in attendance (everyone should read the great article about David Shaw and his dad Willie Shaw if they haven’t already: http://espn.go.com/college-football/preview11/story/_/id/6897811/college-football-preview-david-shaw-fulfills-father-willie-shaw-dream-stanford). I thought that it was a nice touch to have Luck sit with them and not have to schmooze with alums although that obviously didn’t stop many well-wishers from stopping by for a picture or autograph. Taylor who I probably have heard the least from was very self effacing in talking about how with the O-line and TE blocking at the line of scrimmage, WRs blocking downfield and Luck preventing defenses from stacking the box, all he needed to do was run through holes. He didn’t mention his superb blocking skills but Husak brought it up and Taylor credited it to having to go against big guys like Shayne Skov in practice.

All in all, it was a great event from the food (Bademosi’s plate was stacked sky high with the special defensive back diet of 6 cookies) to the company to the interviews/speeches. My favorite moment thought had to do with our nametags. Upon entering, we were all given 2 nametags, one to wear on our shirts and the other to claim a seat at our tables. Most players didn’t bother with one given that they were wearing jerseys with their name on the back. Andrew Luck, however, only the most recognizable face in college football, had his nametag on!

Open House

The Open House last year was an extremely memorable event as I managed to get the whole team to sign a Stanford football poster and Luck to autograph a #12 jersey and my Sun Bowl cap. I had both the poster and jersey framed (for way too much money) and wore the cap to every single game. Somewhat superstitious, I wanted to do the same this year and was delighted that the program included an open scrimmage as well. As I pulled off the 101 to the Embarcadero exit, a car with an Oregon Ducks license plate was in front of me. I ended up following the car to the parking lot anxious to see who this not-so-clandestine advance scout was. It turned out to be a father and young son – both clad in red. As we walked towards the rugby field where the scrimmage was being held, I couldn’t help but drop the “doing some early scouting for the Ducks” line and he was somewhat taken aback by how I had figured it out. I almost told him I could spot a Duck a mile away but fessed up that his license plate revealed his true allegiances. It turned out that he was a UW undergraduate who went to graduate school at Oregon and had moved to the Bay Area where he was a Stanford/Andrew Luck fan whenever they weren’t playing the Ducks or Huskies. Or so he claimed.

The scrimmage was a spirited affair but it’s hard to draw any real conclusions other than who is getting first team reps when offenses and defenses are so vanilla. I recall the Spring game before the Orange Bowl season when the game ended in a 6-6 tie and the Whitaker brothers had to settle it in a sudden death kickoff duel that Nate won. If anything, Eric seems to have lost some of his mojo because he pushed his brother pretty hard during that battle. Ty Montgomery’s mother was sitting near me and it is always amusing to hear well intentioned but less informed fans ask questions like “Is he on a scholarship?” The question of what other offers he had been considering also came up and I always feel like asking “If Team X had offered, would he have gone there?” where in Ty’s case, Team X would be Texas given that he is from Dallas.

There was some time between the end of scrimmage and the open house in the stadium and so I made my way over to the Track House to purchase a #12 jersey. A line outside the Gate 1 entrance a good 30 minutes before doors opened had already begun to form. It was much longer when I got back from the Track House. What a difference a year makes! Upon entering the stadium, I noticed another line on the East concourse an hour before the autograph session commenced. Of course, it was for Andrew Luck (and Shayne Skov) and I promptly got in line, With only 1 autographed item allowed per player, my plan was to get Andrew to sign my poster, get through the rest of the team and get back in line for him to sign my jersey. It would have been a breeze last year but with the long lines this year, I missed out on a station and was sadly unable to get any of the first string running backs’ signatures.

Some of the highlights while getting my poster signed were giving Skov some shit about not being featured on this year’s poster and telling him that he’d be front and center of next year’s poster (if he comes back was the unspoken assumption), telling Ty how glad I was that he chose Stanford and hear him sincerely respond that he couldn’t be happier about his decision, Vaughters adamantly telling a young fan when asked that he would be a true freshman, and telling a somewhat bemused Fleener how much his freshman RAs who I know talk about him.

While I didn’t get a chance to obtain everyone’s signature for the team poster, I did get back in the Luck/Skov line and had Skov autograph my Orange Bowl cap and Luck sign my jersey. Last year when I had Luck sign my jersey, it felt like it was still pretty new to him and he asked me where I wanted him to sign it. This year he wanted to know my name so he could personalize it, presumably so that it wouldn’t end up on eBay for a decent chunk of change. What a difference a year makes! That suited me just fine and once this season concludes, my most prized possession is going to be a framed Andrew Luck jersey with a plaque containing his final Stanford stats signed “To Z”!

We're Back!

It’s been just over 3 years since a memorable senior year where we travelled around the county in the name of Stanford sports. After graduation, Alex headed to New York to pursue her passion for theatre while Albert and I stayed in the Bay Area. We’ve had 3 football seasons since – a painful 5-7 season where the decision to red-shirt Andrew Luck has been second-guessed ad nauseam; a respectable 8-5 season that made El Paso the place to be for New Year’s; and finally a ground-breaking 12-1 season that made Stanford football relevant once again and was perhaps best captured by a friend’s proclamation before kick off in the Orange Bowl, “Can you believe it? We’re playing in a motherfucking BCS bowl!”

Except for the San Jose State game in 2008 where Harbaugh gave credence to the Old Pro saying: “Good coaches win, great coaches cover”, I’ve been to every single home game in those 3 years. Additionally, Albert and I have an active streak of 19 consecutive games dating back to the last home game against Arizona State on 10/24/09 which was followed by the home shootout against Oregon and then the man-handling at the Coliseum. Not a bad way to start a streak! Since this is my blog, I’ll declare it as the longest active streak among Stanford fans, but would be happy to hear otherwise and of other similar streaks both active and not active.

I don’t necessarily think it was the belief that we would go 12-1 that led to our travels last year, but rather the desire to visit every single Pac-10 football stadium. We were at Pasadena for Slick Rick’s apology to Bruin fans following the first of 3 defensive goose eggs; South Bend for the rich gameday tradition and Owen’s back-to-back touchdowns; Eugene for a taste of the College Game Day set, deafening noise of Autzen stadium and painful loss that may have been averted if the ball had bounced differently; Seattle for the pouring rain and absolute dominance on both sides of the ball; Tempe for a hard-fought victory that culminated with Wilkerson’s knee (one of the better strategic calls in an end-game situation during Harbaugh’s tenure); Berkeley for the storming of the field as we reclaimed the Axe and celebrated on their field for a change; and finally South Beach where we not only played in but dominated in a motherfucking BCS bowl!

Throughout our journeys, we have been fortunate enough to become acquainted with a group of fans who are much like ourselves in their dedication to Stanford football. These are diehards who fly in from LA for home football games and speak their mind at basketball scrimmages no matter which player’s father might be sitting nearby, deck themselves out in face-paint while remaining steadfastly loyal to our student athletes, stand up and make some noise at a football game despite the consternation of their neighbors, and engage in online debates before the Chuck Taylor Grove tailgates. These are the types of fans I yearned for during my senior year and it’s been a privilege to meet them.

With the 2011 football season rapidly approaching, I’ve decided to bring back this blog as Albert and I plan to attend all the football games this year. I’ll be moving to Las Vegas right after the home opener but that’s only a minor inconvenience as all plane and game tickets have been purchased. Expectations are sky high as insiders are less concerned by the coaching transition, loss of receivers and loss of three starting O-lineman that the pundits. If anything, this could be a once in a lifetime team in terms of pre-season expectations and potential. Stay tuned because it’s going to be one hell of a ride!

The Truth by Alexis Link

This was passed out to the 6th Man Section at the UCLA game tonight. This is the story according to Alexis. Enjoy. Draw your own conclusions from this.

FYI: Full Screen in bottom right corner.