* While you were out drunk at 12:30 p.m. yesterday, fashionistas were totally judging your look. [BARE]

* If you weren’t among the thousands at Memorial Stadium or in the rabble of Tightwad Hill, you can catch up on Cal Band’s halftime show. Oh, nostalgia. [YouTube]

* Help the little bear out. This looks like a future Clog photo. [Photo Blog]

* Scared for finals? Maybe you should’ve just gone elsewhere and paid for your A’s. [Paper Trail]

Image Source: Daily Cal
Earlier: The Same Old, Same Old

Many members of the band, in their usual busy and haphazard attire, were dressed as rather terrifying Geishas. How do you say creepy in Japanese?

We’re not sure how good the drummer sounded while being spun upside-down and pushed across the field, but props to Stanford for making fools of themselves, again.

Bodysurfing through Cal fans turned out not to be such a good idea after many surfers were dropped head-first into the crowd.

Death threats by the band? Since when did half time get so personal, or so malicious?

The Cal band revived the 90’s hits we love to hate with music by The Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Britney Spears and yes, even the Spice Girls.

After Cal’s triumph, fans swarmed the field to try to get their hands on some of that Stanford Axe.

Image Source: enlewof under Creative Commons, others Ruby Lee

Hurrah for a night of legitimized barbarism and college fun! Berkeley’s finest clappers will be hosting the traditional Big Game Bonfire Rally, and we hear it’s supposed to be hot stuff (hah). We love fires. A lot.

This night is so huge that one online encyclopedia felt the need to define it. It’s also not so huge that Wikipedia felt no need to define it. Jerks.

What: Big Game Bonfire Rally
Where: Greek Theatre
When: Friday, Nov. 21 at 7:00 p.m., doors open at 6:00 p.m.
Cost: Free, no ticket required

What else: Big Game, Cal vs. Stanfurd
Where: Memorial Stadium
When: Saturday, Nov. 22 at 12:30 p.m.

Image Source: Genista under Creative Commons
Earlier: Hot Axe on Tree Action: Comm Takes Chainsaw to Quailing Stanford Tree

And before you start, yes, bob jenkins, we know you don’t care.

We would also like to add that we failed to give credit to Joshua Linville, who scored the first touchdown of the game for the Daily Cal.

Head coach, Gerald Nicdao, gives pointers to the team as they get ready to take the field. Along with his advice, Coach Nicdao passed out cups of “Michael’s Secret Stuff” that he saved for this special occasion.

Image Source: Skyler Reid, Daily Cal
Ink Bowl [Facebook Album]
Earlier: ‘WE’VE GOT THE KNIFE, WE’VE GOT THE KNIFE’

Other worthwhile terminology to remember: Stanford is on offense when we have the ball and are trying to score, defense when Cal has the ball and we are trying to get it back. A first down is a good thing, going “3-and-out” is a bad thing. It’s bad if your quarterback gets sacked, but good if Cal’s does. If all of this is too hard, just use common sense — if a Stanford student runs a long way or catches the ball, that’s impressive, right? And it’s also a good thing in football.

We appreciate the sarcastic tone of the first portion of the article, before it got all Jonathan Poullard on everyone. The blunt admission of the Stanfurd population’s football stupidity is awesome, and the additional snarky-lite jabs at its own hyper-academic brethren kind of remind us … of us! But let’s not get into mushy comparisons. This is a rivalry.From browsing through the Stanfurd Daily’s detailed explication of the history of bears to bear pun appearances in their headlines, it’s obvious that the Stanfurd Daily is, like, so fascinated by us. The strange, Big Game-themed sex column by Roxy Sass is no exception. “Do Stanford Students Outscore Cal?” Sass asks. No, but Christine Borden out-columns Roxy Sass, giving the Daily Cal a winning point on the arbitrary scoreboard–which we did not reveal until now. Hooray!Daily Cal: 4Stanford Daily: 0In related Big Game news, this time on the Cal front–the Clog recently spotted dear Chancellor Birgeneau on Berkeley’s YouTube channel, trying very adorably to get alumni to care about the imminent axe-battle. He’s already fired up a solid 43 spirited viewers, which is perhaps much more people than the current UC Rally Committee can energize, well, all season (not counting the bonfire, of course).On that note: It is about 2:30 a.m. and the Big Game begins in approximately 13.5 hours in the Stanford Stadium.If you are reading this later in the day, that means 4 p.m.Go Bears!Image Source: Ben Miller, Daily CalBig Game Guidelines [Stanford Daily]Bears That Can’t Be Beaten, Unlike Cal [Stanford Daily]Make Finals Week Bear-able [Stanford Daily]Do Stanford Students Outscore Cal? [Stanford Daily]

In case you’ve been in a shell your entire time at Berkeley (basically every engineering student), the biggest bonfire west of the Mississippi River is here again. The Greek Theatre will be on fire on Friday with the annual Cal Bonfire Rally set to get underway at 7 p.m.

Everyone should be encouraged to come on down to the rally whether they are planning to attend the Big Game or not. For a couple of hours, Berkeley students will be able to forget the miseries they’ve accumulated over this past semester and share a few laughs, cheers and possibly a wave.

The Clog is getting psyched about what has become a traditional Haka—we’re going to be bringing our A-game after watching loads of All Blacks videos. If our football team put as much heart into their play as these former mic men put into their Haka, we wouldn’t be losing to the likes of Pac-10 cellar-dweller Washington.

Placing a close second to the Haka is the “freshmen more wood” ritual. After scouting this year’s wood tossers, we’re officially placing the line at five for number of times a crate doesn’t reach the fire.

The Clog would also like to applaud the UC Rally Committee for putting together the gathering, which also happens to be its only successful event all year (trust us on this). Be aware at all times while strolling on Sproul Plaza, and don’t get sucked in to attending another one of their happenings.

For those of you who will be attending your first bonfire, the Clog encourages you to sit as close to the pit as possible for the most intense experience. You can thank us later.

Image Source: Fir0002 under Creative Commons

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News recently pulled a Debbie Downer on the Cal-Stanfurd rivalry, saying, “My premise was that on the 25th anniversary of The Play, the Cal-Stanford rivalry is a fading blip on the rivalry radar.” His reasons?

The stakes are rarely high, the games usually aren’t close, and there hasn’t been a major upset in decades.

Without those three elements (stakes, competitiveness, upsets) you have a second-rate rivalry.

Well, while Wilner continues to see scholastic rivalry in purely athletic terms, we Cloggers are busy uniting our people against a good, old-fashioned common enemy. So put on your blue and gold best, in the name of Cal pride! Besides, let’s be honest–at this point in the lovely season, is Big Game spirit really about the football?

Not really. Four-fifths of the Clog staff doesn’t even care for the game. However, our sentiments are mostly in line with one passionate Cal fan’s romantic defense for our beloved rivalry.

Nothing matches Big Game Week on the Cal campus. Blue and gold lights everywhere. Band performances. Night rallies. And of course, the Bonfire Rally at the Greek.

Also, we can’t forget Oski’s showdowns with the Stanfurd tree. Lovable mascots and hardcore school spirit tug at our gentle heartstrings sometimes.

Other times, they just makes us barf–at least when it’s coming from the other side. A recent foray into the long-winded boringness that is The Unofficial Stanfurd Blog turned up a disturbing “Beat Cal” photo contest, whose past participants take their photos in exotic locales like Paris, China and outer space.

Obviously, the tree has a bit of difficulty finding support ’round these parts.

It’s on, Stanfurd. It’s on!

Image Source: Blaire Bailey, Daily Cal
Cal and Stanford football: Is Big Game becoming irrelevant? San Jose Mercury News

As for this week, expect to catch:

* a mid-week hike up to the Big C
* Looks into The Stanford Daily
* Explorations of Stanfurd blogs
* Oski beating up their drunk bizarre tree

Seriously, we’re going to post any related videos we can find.

Now, for some more viewing pleasure, The Play reinterpreted for a digital world:

Cal announced that the 110th Big Game (yes, the annual rival match against Stanfurd) will not air on ESPN or ABC or even the really shitty Fox Sports Net, but on a network where the NHL went to rot in hell for all eternity.

Yes, this year’s Big Game will air nationally, which is nice, but on the network that used to be called the Outdoor Life Network, now known as Versus.

The only positive? Most cable providers already have Versus on their basic cable packages. The huge negative? It’s on Versus.

So, next year, on Versus: more NHL that no one watches, the Tour de France, some show about hunting, fat guys fishing, grown men fighting in a cage and the Big Game.

This has to be a slap in the face to Cal football, but it’s probably more of a reflection of how bad the Card has been the last half decade.

Oh well, at least for all those Cal fans who can’t go to the Big Game, they can watch it on TV. Our question: can you get Versus in high-def?

Earlier: Tiny Stanfurd Stadium Means Less Cal Fans for This Year’s Big Game
Big Game on Versus beats no TV at all [SF Gate]
Three More Cal Football Games Selected for Television [Cal Bears]