San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Big Party returns outside stadium before Big Game
This year, the Big Game was the Big Draw as the Cal Bears and Stanford Cardinal played their annual grudge match before actual fans — a stark departure from last year’s empty stadium at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
Last year, UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium was empty, the stands devoid of fans for the biggest game of the year in the ancient rivalry. This year, fans of both teams descended onto the grassy parking lots outside Stanford Stadium.
For Ted Zayner, 65, of Woodside, the 124th Big Game was the first time in two years that he’d parked his red, 1996 Ford F150 in his favorite spot under towering eucalyptus trees — the same place he’s tailgated for nearly 40 years. A red foam finger, a red foam ax, a “Beat Cal” sign, and a cartoon rendering of the Stanford tree and a fence, known as “Tree-Fence” — a play on “defense” — decorated the front windshield.
“It’s been two years since we had the chance to do something like this for the Big Game, let alone regular tailgates, so it’s been great to be back on campus,” Zayner said. “It’s the biggest day of the year for football, regardless of the teams’ records. It doesn’t really matter how the seasons have gone for each respective team, and I think that’s especially true this year.”
Nearby, Randall Williams, 41, of Newark and Lonell Chattmon, 54, of Hollister (San Benito County) gathered with more than a dozen friends to barbecue, play dominoes on a red plastic table, smoke cigars and listen to music ahead of the game. The group was eating freshly caught blue fin tuna and puffing on My Father Cigars, laughing and munching to the sounds of ’90s hip-hop. Chattmon was the only man outfitted in Cal gear in a sea of red Stanford gear and told The Chronicle it felt like reuniting with family — even though the relatives were rooting for opposing teams. The group has attended college football games, including many Big Games, together for the past six or seven years, he said.
“It’s like we just picked up where we left off,” Chattmon said, referring to the 2020 season when fans weren’t allowed to attend the Big Game. “It’s good to be back out here with everything that we’ve gone through in the past year and a half with the pandemic and things like that. It’s good to have an opportunity to just be out here among friends.”
Williams — a Stanford fan who has had season tickets since 2000 — said the historic rivalry between the Bay Area teams is rooted not in rancor, but respect. He pointed to the friendly tradition of Big Game tailgates, saying that anyone can wander from tailgate to tailgate ask for a beer, a bite or just friendly conversation, and “it’s always good times” among fans.
Children fooled around with long sticks they found in the grass, played baseball in the dirt and tossed corn hole with their families. Fans placed flags sporting the Stanford tree, and hatchbacks were open and bursting with stacks of burgers, hot dogs, deli sandwiches, cookies and alcohol.
In Lot 10, clouds of barbecue smoke drifted through leafy trees, and blue- and red-colored tents peppered the grassy fields, music from different genres blaring from car radios, phones and boom boxes affixed to trunks: ’70s soul,’80s rock, ’90s hip-hop.
Travis Parsons, 47, told The Chronicle that he was a child during “The Play” in 1982, when Cal won the Big Game against Stanford in a wild, last-minute touchdown. He remembers going down on to the field and running around with the players “well after everyone had come onto the field.” The Stanford Band also that spread onto the field, mistakenly thinking the game was over.
“It was a great introduction to the Cal-Stanford rivalry,” Parsons said with a wide smile.
Parsons said he and his family were hoping for a Cal win, but said that barbecuing with friends and family and watching kids throw a football around “is a little bit of the magic” of the tailgate.
“The fact that we were not able to do this last year, it makes it that much more wonderful to all be together,” he said.
With his nearly 2-month-old daughter, Casey, strapped to his chest and 2-year-old son, Lucas, in tow, Bryan Navarro, 33, of Pittsburg joined family members at their tailgate table, which was decorated with a miniature Christmas tree adorned with googly eyes, a red bow on the tip, and red Converse-style shoes.
He said he’s been attending Stanford games “since before I can remember,” saying that his parents have been taking the family to games since the 1980s, when he was a child.
“I’m so glad and proud to be continuing the traditions my parents made with me as a kid, with my own kids,” Navarro said.