Big Game Week: Stanford Bleeds To Drown Bears

Stanford students and staff flocked Tuesday to the Arrillaga Center for Sports and Recreation with one common goal: to donate more blood than the Golden Bears.

The "Rivals For Life" blood drive is an annual event that's held as part of Big Game Week to amp up the competitive spirit between Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley, in preparation for the football game Saturday at Cal.

"We have to beat them in everything," Myrna Irigon, a Stanford staff member of 30 years, said of Cal. "So this is what I'll do, give blood. I hate needles, but they need to fill up the [blood] banks. And who knows if I'll ever need blood."

The blood drive, hosted by BeWell @ Stanford and Stanford Blood Center, collected about 266 units of blood—as of Tuesday night.

"Last year, Stanford collected 260 units or blood, and Cal collected 251 units. It was close, but Stanford won," said
 
Stanford Blood Center's Elisa Manzanares. "To find out where the blood goes, go to bloodcenter.stanford.edu."

The Red Cross and UCSF blood bank will host Cal's part of the competition on Thursday. Once both drives are complete, the school with the most blood donated will be declared winner.

But the blood is just the beginning. "It comes clear pretty quickly here that you hate Cal for all reasons," freshman Gia Garrett learned in her first few weeks at Stanford.

The football rivalry between Cal and Stanford is so long-seated, in fact, that even Wikipedia's entry for "Big Game (football)" is dedicated to it. 

The 10th longest rivalry in NCAA Division 1 football, the first Big Game took place on March 19, 1892, and Stanford beat Cal, 14-0. Many consider the Big Game the biggest thing in college football in the Bay Area.

"The Big Game" became so popular that the NFL itself had to give up trying to trademark the phrase in the face of opposition from both Cal and Stanford.

This year's Big Game Week started Monday with the "Bearial," an annual ritual funeral for Oski the Bear, Cal's mascot, at The Claw in White Plaza. Students dressed in all-black, threw red paint on a stuffed bear and proceeded with the ritual. "They impaled the teddy bear on The Claw," recounted an amazed Amy Sentis, Stanford freshman from Sydney, Australia.

Not all Stanford students are supporting the Cardinals this week. Civil engineering graduate student Kathy Tong, who was an undergraduate at Cal, said it doesn't matter that she's a Stanford student now.

"I will always pledge my allegiance to the California Golden Bears over the Stanford tree. Yes, there is a conflict of interest here," Tong admitted. "But you can definitely expect to see me at the Big Game on the Cal side glowing with blue-and-gold glory."

Big Game Week continues tonight at 8 p.m. in Memorial Auditorium with the Gaieties, a theatrical production that mocks Cal and satirizes the rivalry.