| Date | |
|---|---|
| Sunday, Nov. 17 | Women's Volleyball vs. UCLA, Noon p.m., Maples Pavilion: Stanford women's volleyball will host a Neurodiversity Match on Sunday, Nov. 17 at Noon when it welcomes UCLA to Maples Pavilion. The match will aim to raise awareness in addition to providing a sensory-friendly atmosphere for individuals within the Neurodiversity spectrum. To learn more, please click here. |
| Monday, Nov. 18 | Big Game Countdown, 11 a.m., White Plaza: Join the Axe Committee all week in White Plaza to count down the 122 hours leading up to Big Game. Beginning at TBD and lasting throughout the week, the train whistle will blast every hour on the hour to celebrate this storied rivalry. |
| Tuesday, Nov. 19 | Men's Basketball vs. Maryland Eastern Shore, 7 p.m., Maples Pavilion: Cheer on the Cardinal with the raucous 6th Man as the team hosts the Hawks. Click here to secure tickets in advance. |
| Wednesday, Nov. 20 | Rivals for Life Blood Drive, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., ACSR: In honor of the Big Game, give blood at the annual Rivals for Life blood drive to beat Cal’s collections and help us keep the winning streak alive! All donors receive a free Rivals for Life t-shirt. For more information, click here. Nerd Nation T-Shirt Giveaway (sponsored by Stanford Alumni Association), 12:30 p.m., White Plaza: For current Stanford students only. Availability is limited. For more information, click here. Gaieties, 8 p.m., Memorial Auditorium: Gaieties, an annual student-written musical extravaganza dating back to 1911. Fun, fierce, and fantastic, it’s the ultimate celebration of how proud, ridiculous, and clever Stanford students are. Tickets are $10 for students, $15 for faculty and staff, and $20 for general public. Wednesday is frosh night! For tickets and more information, visit gaieties.stanford.edu. Big Game Rally, 9:30 p.m., Memorial Auditorium: Get in the Big Game spirit with the traditional rally sponsored by the Stanford Axe Committee. The rally will feature a retelling of the history of the Axe and a Freshmen Dorm Banner Contest, in addition to recognizing Stanford senior football players before their last Big Game. This event is open to the public. |
| Thursday, Nov. 21 | Men’s Basketball vs. William and Mary, 7 p.m., Maples Pavilion: Cheer on the men's basketball team as it takes on the Griffins. Click here to purchase tickets. Gaieties, 8 p.m., Memorial Auditorium: Gaieties, an annual student-written musical extravaganza dating back to 1911. Fun, fierce, and fantastic, it’s the ultimate celebration of how proud, ridiculous, and clever Stanford students are. Tickets are $10 for students, $15 for faculty and staff, and $20 for general public. Thursday is Arts night and Row night! For tickets and more information, visit gaieties.stanford.edu. |
| Friday, Nov. 22 | Gaieties, 8 p.m., Memorial Auditorium: Gaieties, an annual student-written musical extravaganza dating back to 1911. Fun, fierce, and fantastic, it’s the ultimate celebration of how proud, ridiculous, and clever Stanford students are. Tickets are $10 for students, $15 for faculty and staff, and $20 for general public. For tickets and more information, visit gaieties.stanford.edu. |
| Saturday, Nov. 23 | Wrestling vs. Columbia, 11 a.m., Fan Fest at Cobb Track: Cheer on the Cardinal wrestling team as it takes on Columbia in its annual Fan Fest bout. Swing by Fan Fest, a free pre-game tailgate, two and a half hours prior to the football kickoff to watch the matchup for free! 122nd Big Game, 1 p.m., Stanford Stadium: Don't miss the 122nd anniversary of the Big Game between Stanford and Cal. Click here to purchase tickets. |
For Stanford and Cal, intercollegiate athletics can be traced to one contest -- the first of the football rivalry has become known as the Big Game. Stanford and Cal teams were created in the early days for the purpose of beating each other, and so it was at San Francisco’s Haight Street Grounds on March 19, 1892.
Except for the war years, Stanford and Cal have met every year since, building a rivalry that few outside of the Bay Area truly know or understand. How to explain the Stanford Axe, the trophy given annually to the Big Game winner? The Axe has a history beyond the game, having endured years of theft, conspiracy, and the constant threat thereof. Ask Stanford old-timers about The Immortal 21 -- heroes all on The Farm -- but don’t dare mention them to Old Blues.
The games themselves have featured some of the great coaches in football history -- Pop Warner, Andy Smith, Pappy Waldorf, Bill Walsh. The programs have combined to place 36 players in the College Football Hall of Fame and featured greats such as Stanford’s Ernie Nevers, Jim Plunkett, John Elway, Toby Gerhart, and Andrew Luck, while Cal has countered with the likes of Jackie Jensen, Joe Kapp, Chuck Muncie, Tony Gonzalez, and Aaron Rodgers.
Though Stanford prefers to have little to do with Cal’s 25-20 victory after the controversial multi-lateral finish to the 1982 Big Game, Joe Starkey’s radio call may never be forgotten: “They’re down to the 20 ... Oh, the band is out on the field! … He's gonna go into the end zone!”
Still, it is only one in more than a century of dramatic finishes. Among them, the 20-20 tie in 1924 that inspired this San Francisco Examiner headline: “Crowd Held Spellbound by Contest Tense With Fighting and Emotions.” Closer to the modern age, Stanford scored twice in the final 12 seconds to pull off a 27-25 upset in 1990.
Drama, emotions, and bragging rights continue to keep fans spellbound by the Big Game -- where chants of "Give 'em the Axe, the Axe, the Axe!" -- make up the soundtrack of one of the greatest rivalries in college football.
Stanford Athletics