There are truly days
of Camelot in college football for their players and fans, and as corny as this
sounds, sometimes they have fairy tale happy endings as well, especially if it
is for your favorite team.
On 11/23/1991, the Stanford vs. California “Big Game” was the first time
in history that both #21 Stanford and #6 California were ranked in the same
season and was also the first time the Big Game would be nationally televised
in the prime time slot on ABC. It
was a day I will never forget, and as the brother of one of the heroes of this
fairy tale story, I would like to tell you my tale through my eyes, from start
to finish: So sit back, grab a beer or glass of chocolate milk, and relax and enjoy
my story. Before I begin, I need to give a little background as to why this
game was so epic.
ONCE UPON A TIME, in a land far, far away in the West, the Pac-10 was
absolutely stacked with tough teams all throughout that 1991 season. The Washington
Huskies went on to be the undefeated
#1 1991 National Champions that year, and Stanford, UCLA, and California
all ended their seasons ranked in the top 25.
Stanford began their 1991 season unranked and with one of the toughest
schedules in the nation, having to play defending national champion Colorado
and highly ranked Notre Dame for their non-conference opponents, in addition to
their own cannibalizing conference. Their season started on a horrific note,
getting pummeled at home by Washington, 42-7, followed by a loss to unranked
Arizona, (on a Dick Tomey last minute fake field goal in Tucson.) Their next opponent was the defending national champion and
highly ranked Colorado, where Stanford showed true grit and what a great team
they had, by upsetting the highly favored Buffaloes 28-21 on the Farm. This
huge upset win was short lived, as Stanford once again fell to highly ranked
Notre Dame the next week. Sitting at 1-3, the Cardinal’s season looked bleak
with road trips to USC, Oregon, Drew Bledsoe and Washington State, and with
ranked UCLA and eventually arch
rival Cal visiting Stanford to close out the season. But Stanford had an
incredible mid-season gut check and won 6
straight games and earned a # 21 ranking before the Cal game and were one of
the hottest teams in the country. The showdown was set between 8-3 Stanford and
9-1 California.
The Cal Bears started their season red hot, and bullied and spanked
every team they played all season, their only blemish a loss to #1 Washington,
a game they darn near won in Berkeley. The Bears were crass, confident and
cocky.
I had no idea how heated and how much hatred there was between these two
teams and their fans. On the field, Brian Treggs boastfully stated that he
would “live in Palo Alto” if the Bears lost to Stanford and Mike Pawlawski said “I hate Stanford and every thing
it stands for. All they do is spend their daddy’s money." Bob Whitfield,
Stanford’s anchor on the offensive line, when asked about Tregg’s statement
candidly retorted, “He sucks! They may be 9-1, but we are going to bust them
up.” Prior to pre-game warm ups, the two teams met at midfield, pointing,
strutting and yelling at each other similar the same hatred I saw in that movie
Colors, when all the Crips and Bloods converged at the bars in the LA county
jail while showing their "colors."
This hatred
the players had for each other spilled over into their fans as well. I saw countless T-shirts Cal fans wore
that exclaimed such lovely things as “STANFUCK” and “FUCK STANFORD.” There were
even more brazen displays, as Cal fans defaced a Stanford statue on campus by
painting it blue and yellow, and even put a Cal baseball cap on it. They also
stenciled yellow painted bear claws all over the stucco walls on the Stanford
campus, which both of these acts of vandalism were covertly done in the wee
hours of the night before. But when I REALLY saw the true hatred, was prior to
the game: Stanford was doing their traditional walk from the Stanford locker
room to the stadium called “The Walk,” when these drunken and cowardly Cal fans
came to the chain link fence and screamed insulting expletives and threw beer
on the Stanford players. The hype and bad blood leading up to this game was a
buzz you could feel all throughout the stadium.
Once inside, all 88,000 fans were sporting their colors as well: Half
the stadium was in navy blue and gold, and the other half was in cardinal-red
and white. It was a picture perfect, azure skied afternoon at Stanford Stadium
and the atmosphere was absolutely electric. Finally, when it was time for kick
off, there was a tide of deafening crowd noise that crescendoed when the
kicker's foot finally kicked off the 94th meeting between these two schools. The
Big Game had officially begun.
I am going to spare you the play-by play-here and let you see the
fantastic highlight video on the link below for yourself which tells what the
88,000 Cal and Stanford fans saw that day. (Simply copy the link below and
paste into your browser address window.) What I WILL share with you,
however, are some things I saw
personally and within our inner circle.
Our family, as per tradition before every home game, would go see my
brother Tommy at his hotel room prior to his getting on the bus. When I saw
him, he had the look of the
“thousand yard stare”. He was almost in a robotic and trance-like state,
with this expression of intensity. I have never seen him so focused on what
would transpire in the next 5 hours or so. My dad, who played football at
Colorado and knows a little about pre-game jitters and intensity himself, was
also a trifle bit concerned. He perfectly described Tommy's state as he said,
"He looks and feels like a wooden Indian." There was no doubt that
this Indian and Cardinal named Tommy Vardell was ready to play: When I saw him
later lead his team on “The Walk” into the stadium prior to the game, I
extended my fist out to give him a
little non-verbal "fist bump" for good luck as I always do; when his
fist hit mine, it felt like an anvil. (This must have been like what Apollo
Creed felt when Ivan Drago from Rocky 4 bumped gloves with him prior to his
last and fatal fight.)
All the Stanford player's families had a very tight knit group who
tailgated together, traveled together, watched the games together, and either
celebrated victories together or consoled each other in defeat. That day I had
my mom and dad, but what made it extra special was I had my two uncles Steve
and Don and my cousin Blake who flew in from Texas, my aunt Patty from
Colorado, and the great folks like the Baurs, the Lynches and the Whitfields
just to name a few at the tailgate and to watch the game with. John Lynch's dad
who owned the Mighty 690 in San Diego always through these incredible
tailgates, which is where I got the nickname "Tailgatin' Teddy" after
"Touchdown Tommy" was coined.
OK, back to the game. I have NEVER been that nervous as a spectator,
especially after all those Saturdays watching that "other" team
across the bay all season long and knowing how great they were. But my
worry soon turned to delight, as the #21 Stanford Cardinal spanked the #6 Cal
Bears 38-21 at the Farm and and beat the Bears with old school smash mouth
football. As a fan and spectator at the 50 yard line, to this day, it is the
most spectacular football game I have ever seen. I have never been more proud
of #44 RB Tommy Vardell, and all his great team mates like TE #83 Turner Baur,
G #65 Brian Cassidy, T #70 Bob
Whitfield, RB #5 Glyn Milburn, RB
#26 JJ Lasley, TE #88 Paul Nickel, #18 QB Steve Stenstrom and all those other
great players that played stellar on that magical afternoon. ALL of them played
the game like a team of pissed off Ents, just like in the movie The Two Towers,
as they stomped and smashed the Bears into whimpering bear cubs. Trees indeed.
Tommy played like a locomotive at full steam and was like the Energizer
Bunny on methamphetamine the entire game, as #44 was unstoppable. I have never
been so proud of my brother and his 183 yards and 3 touchdowns. Touchdown Tommy
closed out his Stanford season in a happy ending fairy tale. After the game, with a torn up jersey and blood
running down his arm, he was truly the hero riding off into the sunset on the
shoulder pads of his fellow Stanford warriors. The axe stayed in Palo Alto yet
again.
To end this story, after gleefully hugging all of my family and Stanford
friends after the game, to my parents horror, I, in the spirit of my fellow Cal
fans, purchased and wore a "FUCK CAL" T-shirt the rest of the evening
and to the celebration at Pudley's that night. Tommy got a standing ovation
when we walked in to Pudley's but to this day, I tell everybody it was
Tailgatin' Teddy and my "FUCK CAL" T-shirt that got the standing
ovation. GO TREES!!!!!! BEAT CAL!!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liO4n7rortg
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