From: aelman@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Adam Elman)
Subject: Re: Football Rivalry
Organization: CS Department, Stanford University, California, USA
Date: 23 Nov 92 05:36:33 GMT

sme3@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (SCOTT MATTHEW ESTRIN) writes:


>    Well, tomorrow's the day for the longest-running football rivalry in the
>country: the famous Lehigh-Lafayette game.

How long has it been going?

>    Typically, after the game, fans would rush the field, hoping to break off
>and take home a piece of the wooden goalpost.  Then they decided to stop this
>dangerous trend by using metal goalposts.  For the past few years, The Lehigh
>Engineers and Lafayette Leopards simply rushed the field and destroyed each
>other.
>    This year, both Lehigh University and Lafayette College have told us that
>any inappropriate behavior would result in immediate suspension.  Also, the
>game was moved from its 1:00pm time to 10:45am in an attempt to put a stop to
>people guzzling beer before the game (obvious to anyone at Lehigh, it's not
>working).
>    It's always nice to know that the administration is trying to put an end
>to tradition.
>    Is Lehigh-Lafayette the only rivalry which the administration is trying to
>stop, or do other schools have the same threats?  We won't know how serious
>they are until tomorrow.  I just wish the best of luck to those who try to
>keep the tradition going.  If anyone gets suspended, I know there'll be BIG
>protests on campus.

Well, after yesterday's near-riot after the Big Game up in Berkeley, I
for one would love to see that "tradition" stop.  Not the rivalry -- I
_love_ the hype and the talk and the rallies and the bonfire and all
the stuff that adds up to a real rivalry.  What I would love to see
end is the violence that seems to accompany every Stanford-Cal game,
particularly those up in Berkeley.

The problem -- Cal and Stanford fans seem to have this thing about
throwing things at the two Bands.  Frozen fruit, water balloons, etc.
We took a catapult on the field and had two members with lacrosse
equipment collecting said fruit and putting it in the catapult for
visual effect (we weren't going to actually fire the thing).  Then,
while we were playing our halftime show, a Cal fan rushed the field
and tackled the tree.  He was summarily punished by several Band
members until security dragged him off the field and the police
arrested him.

Later in the game, some Cal fan tried to steal our big "S" flag.  Of
course, Flagboy is a really huge man, so he ended up pretty unhappy
too.

And of course Stanford wasn't completely innocent -- while the Cal
Band was on the field, it looked like a target-shooting contest out
there.

After the game, the Stanford fans rushed the field to celebrate, and
the Cal fans ran over and started harassing them -- if the cops hadn't
formed a line VERY quickly, a riot would have resulted.

It's getting to be really unsafe.  Why can't people just sit up in the
stands and confine themselves to verbally abusing the other team?  It
works a lot better that way.  I can understand why Cal people would be
frustrated that they haven't seen the Axe in SIX YEARS (:-).  But
seriously -- it's just a game.  Nobody should take it seriously enough
to get hurt and arrested.

Note -- I heard a story today about a guy who ran by a Stanford fan
walking to his car after the game, stole his hat, dodged between two
buses at a full sprint, and then got hit by a car at 25 MPH.  (I heard
this from the guy whose hat was stolen.)  That's pretty sad.

The moral from my perspective?  If there are any Cal or other Stanford
fans out there, LIGHTEN UP.  Yell and scream for your team and against
the other team.  Woof all you want.  But attacking the other team's
fans or their band is not going to help anyone -- it just makes you
look like a fool when the cops drag you off bleeding.
For those of you at Dartmouth -- I stick to my opinion of what
happened there -- the freshmen shouldn't have been on the field in the
first place.  But I don't understand why the administration doesn't
take the easy solution and just create a good time for you to follow
the tradition.
Anyone else:  don't mess with the Stanford Band. :-)  Seriously --
remember that the rivalry is just for fun.  For 51 weeks a year, I
know that UC Berkeley is a great institution of higher learning.  But
for one week, it's fun to bash them.  I'm sure it's the same up there.
:-)  And the same for other schools.  If it's not, then you're taking
the rivalry far too seriously.

Oh well.  Just getting out some post-Big Game anger...

Adam Elman
aelman@cs.stanford.edu