Stanford 25, USC 24

Work has been much of the same and I continue to feel more distant from Stanford. That is, until this Saturday, when I checked NCAA scores and found that Stanford had beaten USC 25-24! I couldn't believe it! Jenny and I were on campus that evening, and were fortunate enough to catch a large crowd gathering around Maples. Over 1000 students, alumni (as old as upper 50s) came out to cheer on the newly revitalized Stanford football team as they rolled in at midnight. As far as sports moments at Stanford, this ranks right up there with Nick Robinson's trey at the buzzer to beat Arizona in 2004. For once, an entire campus was united and behind the football team, which just last year had only won one game. And now that I'm an alumni, I can really see how the players, they're just kids too, were so happy to get off that bus to fans. Many of them, for the past four years, got off the bus at midnight to an empty campus, rejected from yet another lost. But that night, they were heroes and they deserved it. Guess all of the good things happen once I leave. But, as they say, once a Cardinal, always a Cardinal.

What the heck Cardinal's

The St. Louis Cardinal's, once 1 game out of first place, have now gone on an 0-7 losing streak. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. I really really hope they make the playoffs, but after this past week, I'm not sure they deserve it.

Bball Update

Funny thing is - I did have a change of heart over my picks. My final four is:

UCLA v Florida
UNC v Texas A&M

Finals:
UNC over Florida.

Thank goodness I didn't pick Texas like I did before. They didn't even make the Sweet 16. There have been some great games thus far, but no Cinderella's like I imagined. Thus I lost crucial points with Oral Roberts and Davidson going out on the first day. Stanford got mauled against Louisville too.

Luckily, Brook is returning for another season for the Cardinal! The team is going to be so good next year!

March Madness

It's a shame I haven't been updating my blog, since so much has been going on in the world. Most recently, Jenny and I roadtripped down to Los Angeles to see the Pac-10 Men's Basketball tournament. We made it just in time for the tip-off of Stanford v. USC on Thursday. Unfortunately, we lost the game in overtime, putting Stanford's NCAA tournament hopes in jeopardy. Since we had tickets for the rest of the games, we went to Friday's semifinal games, watching Oregon dominate Kal and USC stifle Washington State. Luckily, we sold our tickets for the Championship match, which turned out to be an excellent choice, since USC got completely dominated by Bryce Taylor's amazing 11-11 shooting (32 pts) and Oregon. Instead, we went over to Pasedena and met up with some friends to go to Ding Tai Fung, one of the best dumpling houses ever! For the 6 of us, we ordered about 80 dumplings. :D

Anyway, I was elated to hear that Stanford was an 11th seed for the tournament and spent a majority of Sunday and Monday reading all of the commentary about the seeding, potential upsets, and cinderella stories. Having filled out a bracket, I feel pretty confident about a few upsets:

VCU over Duke - Duke, dealing with its lowest seed in 11 years, just does not have enough maturity or a go-to shooter. Much of this game will depend on if Paulus will show-up, but VCU (having beaten George Mason to win the Colonial Athletic championship and could thus be this year's George Mason), has more upperclassmen and quality wins against Albany and Old Dominion, two other potential sleepers in the tournament. I don't see them going past the second round because Pittsburgh always finds a way to score, but a probably upset against Duke.

Oral Roberts over Washington State - Having seen Washington State play in the semifinals at the Pac-10 tournament, I'm hesitant if Kyle Weaver and Derrick Low adequately penetrate to the hoop, especially against a defensive Oral Roberts team. It's a stretch, since this is a 14th seed knocking off a 3 seed, but if there was one game in the tournament where it could happen, this would be it. Tony Bennett showed he couldn't provide an answer for USC last Friday, and I'm not sure he will be able to in the Big Dance either.

Arkansas over USC - I just want this to happen so bad, since USC beat Stanford in the Pac-1o tournament.

Stanford over Louisville - This would make my week. Stanford certainly has a size advantage and great perimeter shooting with Goods and Hill, but when Brook and Robin get in foul trouble, and Stanford gets in turnover trouble (they had the highest turnover to assist ratio in the Pac-10), one starts to wonder. Plus, Louisville will be playing in their back yard in Lexington, so the home court advantage might help, especially since Stanford does not have quality wins on the road, with the exception of Virginia and Texas Tech (on neutral territory). Regardless, I don't see either team beating Texas A&M, but getting to the second round for Stanford would prove that they deserved to play in the Big Dance.

Final Four:
Florida (1) over UCLA (2) - A rematch of last year's Final game, where Noah and co. prove that coming back for another year was worth it.

Texas (4) over Texas A&M (3) - Texas A&M, still reeling from their 2OT loss to Texas in the regular season, still has no answer for Durant. Law IV is clutch, but not enough to stop Texas.

Final:
Texas (4) over Florida (1) - Similar to Syracuse's champsionship with Carmelo Anthony, Durant takes over and scores 30+ points and grabs 10+ boards in a game for the ages. Texas goes crazy while Florida misses a chance to win the NCAA Football and Basketball Championship in the same year.

My predictions, however, seem to change every 4 hours, so I'll post any final changes on Thursday. The only difference I see is if I become more confident about Ohio State over Texas A&M (which I'm currently not), or see Purdue (9) over Arizona (8) or similarly, BYU (8) losing to Xavier (9). UNC also has a chance to go really deep and they could even take out Texas in the Sweet Sixteen, and I'll have to think long and hard about that one too. Texas vs. UNC in the Sweet Sixteen? The matches this year are going to be AMAZING.

Suck it Cal

I've never been much for school rivalries, but Jenny and I decided to trek up to Berkeley this Saturday to support our basketball team in one of their biggest games of the season against Cal. It basically was a must win game for both teams - both were on the bubble, Cal much more so since they had lost most recently to UCLA, while Stanford was coming off a heartbreaking 2OT loss to Gonzaga, after having built an impressive resume with wins against Washington, Washington State, USC, and UCLA.

About 150 Stanford students were there for the game and we were loud! Stanford was definitely hot tonight, demolishing the Bears 90 to 71. The best part was being the loudest group in Haas Pavilion, as Cal fans could only watch in silence as their team got manhandled up and down the court. The win definitely made up for getting our ass beat in football and definitely cemented my loyalty for Stanford men's basketball.



Here's a view of the game from our nosebleed seats. As you can see, the fans tried to distract the Stanford players on every possession. Didn't work. Fools. Safety School.

Priorities

I had mistakenly scheduled my hall dinner during the UCLA vs. Stanford basketball game. It was too late to reschedule the dinner so I had to miss the game. I watched the first half on television, and it didn't look that good at all. Stanford was down by almost 20 points and at that point, I was okay going to California Pizza Kitchen. The dinner itself was good so when I got back, I thought I had made the right choice. But, when I came back, I found that Stanford had rallied to beat UCLA 75 to 68. Lawrence Hill is now the Espn.com player of the week. And Stanford is ranked #23 by the AP Press. What a horrible game to miss! But, I guess it made me realize that when it comes down to play and my job as an RA, I have to defer to my job.

Japanese Basketball???

Who would have ever thought a Japanese guy could play college basketball? Well, look no further than Columbia's K.J. Matsui. He's 6 foot 2 inches, and is a great perimeter shooter. There's a great Yahoo! Sports article on Matsui here.

I don't mean to brag, but...

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2007/snapshots/1.html

And Stanford's nail-biting, scrappy 78-77 win over #24 ranked Washington:


If you didn't know, the Lopez twins, Robin and Brook, are two 7-foot beasts that provide much entertainment as they block numerous shots. The picture above is Robin making Justin Dentmon wish he ate more Wheaties as a child since he's so short. And by that I mean 5 feet 11 inches.

Card's Apologize for Winning the World Series

Cardinals Apologize For Winning World Series

ST. LOUIS—Calling Friday night's victory on baseball's grandest stage "a terrible mistake," members of the St. Louis Cardinals issued a formal apology for making the playoffs, winning the World Series, and depriving baseball fans everywhere...

I can't believe I missed reading this article. It's hilarious! Read it NOW!

Ignoring Hawaii and St. Louis Sports

On Christmas Eve, while the Eastern half of the United States was sleeping and many in the Midwest were attending midnight mass, the Hawaii Warriors were beating the Arizona State Wildcats senseless in the Hawaii Bowl. Colt Brennan, the Warriors QB, demolished the previous NCAA single-season touchdown record of 54 by tossing five of them, finishing the season with 58 TDs. Along the way, he threw a school-record 559 yards, and finishing the season as the nation's leader in TD passes, passing yards, total offense, passing efficiency, points responsible for and completion percentage. Of course, few people even knew who Brennan was. In fact, Hawaii has been a very dominant football team that is continually ignored. Just look at:

1) Timmy Chang

One of the few Chinese Americans to play football, Chang was part of the continually underranked Hawaii squad and holds the NCAA record for total passing with an astonishing 17,072 yards. He blew past Ty Detmer's record 14,665. But, while Detmer would go on to win the Heisman during his time at BYU and be considered one of the best college QB to ever play the game, Chang would be relatively unnoticed.

2) The 2006 Hawaii Warriors

They finish the season unranked, even though they run over San Jose State 54-17 and win against Purdue 42-35. Both of those teams are playing in a bowl game. For a team with the nation's most dangerous offense, you would think they would be in the the AP Top 25. Nope.

3) Colt Brennan

I already explained my reasoning for this in the beginning, but this guy announced he will be most likely return to Hawaii for his senior season. What a class act.

But, since I haven't had a chance to express my opinion about this year's World Series, let me sound off about the St. Louis Cardinals. And their 2006 World Champsionship:

When the Cardinal's made the playoffs, they were 83-78 and had finished the season with a loss. Every media critic wrote them off. They would lose to the red-hot Padres. When they won that series, critics were certain they would be beaten by a talented Met's squad. And when the Cardinal's won that series in a thrilling 7-game set, critics bet on Detriot to sweep or win in 5 games. Nobody but St. Louis fans believed that the Cardinal's could do it. Yet, the story of the World Series was that it had record low-ratings. Of course, if the World Series featured teams like the Yankees or the Red Sox, ratings would have been much higher. How come nobody realizes that the Cardinal's are one of the most dominant teams in baseball? They now have 10 World Champsionships, second only to the Yankees (with 26). Tony LaRussa is only the second manager to win World Series champsionships in the American League and the National League.

The problem is an East Coast sports bias. Nobody watches games without huge sports markets. There's no love for the Hawaii Warriors or even the World Champion Cardinal's. Talented teams are ignored. And it's a shame.

Off to College

I've always been a fan of Page 2 on ESPN.com for its humorous take on sports commentary. So when front page news was Michelle Wie getting into Stanford it was only appropriate for Jemele Hill to provide some much needed advice for Wie as she prepared for life on the Farm. You can read the full article here, but here are my favorite excerpts:

Now, obviously you won't be the typical freshman because you're already a millionaire, you've got an entourage that's as big as most of your lab classes, and you'll be one of the few girls on campus who haven't shown off some silicone in the latest installment of "Girls Gone Wild."

To set the record straight, I have yet to meet a female at Stanford with fake breasts and Girls Gone Wild will never come to Stanford. Lies!

Join a student organization that matches none of your interests whatsoever. In college, you're supposed to get to know different kinds of people and learn useless skills. Student organizations help you with both. I did some preliminary checking on Stanford's Web site and I found an organization that would be perfect for you -- the Mariachi Cardenal de Stanford. It's an organization for student mariachis, and the best part is you have to take Music 157: Introduction to Mariachi Ensemble. That's the kind of class that, when your parents see it on your transcript, they will bludgeon you with a heavy object.

And I'm sure Michelle could use it to hone her violin skills, seeing as how every Asian baby learns to play a musical instrument. I dunno, but I see Michelle fitting right into the Ping Pong club.

I bet she'd also be a great RA. Everyone would come to her hall meetings. She's actually quite attractive, although her game face on the putting green leaves something to be desired.












And with pigtails and a sleepy yawn, she could fit right in with every other tired Freshman for 9AM chemistry.
I know you've got a ton of money, but no college experience is complete unless you sell some element of your body for a completely frivolous pursuit. The going rate for plasma on most college campuses is $20 to $30 per session. I once funded a spring break trip to Florida and sponsored a child in Uruguay with plasma money, but that's a story for another day. But can you imagine how much someone would pay for Michelle Wie's plasma? You could charge 60 or 70 bucks, easy.

I disagree. I donated blood Freshman year and all I got was an Xmas card in the mail at the end of the year. If Michelle really wants to rake in some money, she should consider being an egg donor. Every classified section of the Stanford Daily has listings for rich Palo Alto couples looking for an egg donor. For example: "$8000-$15000 for qualified, committed applicants. All Ethnic backgrounds welcome. Special need for Jewish, Asian, East Indian donors." And if you're tall, better! I bet Michelle could pay for her entire Stanford education with one egg. But then again, she has $20 million in the bank...

Anyway, I hope Michelle really tries to blend into Stanford. Hill is right - she should take classes, fail classes, stay up late eating Ramen, and enjoy all that Stanford has to offer.

This article further reminded me to take stock of the Unofficial 101 Things to Do At Stanford before you graduate. While the list, coming from the Alumni sponsored Stanford Magazine, is a bit more tame than the funnier Stanford Daily's version (Raise your hand in the middle of a lecture and ask a Nobel Laureate professor: “Why are you so arrogant? It’s not like you invented the wheel.”), I still think I should find out how much I've accomplished after 10 quarters on the Farm.

1. Throw paper wads from the balcony at Flicks. Definitely.
2. Hike to the Dish. Yes
3. Carve your initials into a table at the Oasis.
4. Learn the Axe cheer. I learned it Freshman year but I think it's the dumbest cheer and will refuse to re-learn it.
5. Fountain-hop. Freshman and Senior year!
6. Play Frisbee golf. Sadly no. I need to work on that.
7. Get to know a Nobel laureate. Nope, but Andrew Fire will be coming to speak in my dorm next quarter.
8. Go to an a capella concert. I saw all of Anna's Counterpoint concerts Freshman year.
9. Go on a Tahoe ski trip. Oh the horror of sleeping in a cabin with 50 other people.
10. Volunteer through the Haas Center. Of course.
11. Pull an all-nighter. Too many to count.
12. Learn a new language. A quarter of Chinese!
13. Go on your frosh dorm's San Francisco scavenger hunt. Completely debaucherous.
14. Attend a fraternity party. Sweaty and smelly.
15. Host a ProFro. Even better, I was a HoHo! And Max ended up coming to Stanford!
16. Hash. Worked at the Dining Hall for a quarter Freshman year.
17. Join in the midnight Dead Week Primal Scream. Yes.
18. Get kissed at Full Moon on the Quad. Too drunk to remember, but people say I did =p
19. Dance at the Mausoleum party. I can finally say yes to this, since they brought it back Senior year. Although it was pretty lame.
20. Do the Wacky Walk at Commencement. In June I will!
21. Storm the field after Big Game. Haha yeah right. We suck.
22. Visit the Cantor Center for Visual Arts. For class and for fun.
23. Take a freshman or sophomore seminar. History 48Q - South Africa: Contested Transitions. I got an A+ too :)
24. Study outdoors. The Oval is too distracting.
25. Attend a basketball game at Maples Pavilion. 6th man club this year!
26. Throw someone into the pool at MuFuUnSun. I dunked someone Freshman year.
27. View an item in Special Collections. As a history major...too many to count.
28.Hear the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Wow I haven't done this yet...
29. Vow to stop procrastinating. Every quarter.
30. Go to Senior Pub Night. A wee bit overrated, but still fun.
31. Rollerblade to class. I borrowed Harry's Freshman year and did this. I don't recommend it since the ground is really bumpy (although better rollerblades might have helped).
32. Attend a concert in MemChu. Saw Stanford's Symphony perform here.
33. Have brunch at Hobee's. When are you going to take me, Jenny?
34. Study abroad. Three weeks in Tokyo
35. Run Campus Drive. Yup!
36. Dance at Viennese Ball. Going this year!
37. Mentor a younger student. I'm an RA. Of course.
38. Go to Gaieties. Yup.
39. Go to the beach. Yup.
40. Learn to say CoPo, FroYo, CoHo, FloMo, ProFro and MemChu without embarrassment. Yeah, except CoPo must be a typo...
41. Fall asleep in Green Library. All too often.
42. See a play in the Nitery. Nope...
43. Play pick-up volleyball in the Oval. With sketchy grad students? I think not!
44. Bike Alpine Road. Yes, but only when I was trying to get to Arastredero.
45. Go to the top of Hoover Tower. Yes.
46. Eat dessert at Max's Opera Café. For my birthday!
47. Buy a Stanford sweatshirt. Every Stanford students has one.
48. Get into a bike accident. It was her fault!
49. Visit San Jose -- once. Okay, I've done it twice.
50. Catch yourself paying heed to the Honor Code. I think so.
51. Contemplate a Rodin sculpture. Only because it was a part of a clue during the Game.
52. Read a book for fun. Probably.
53. Plan a dorm program. Too many.
54. Complain about Wilbur food. Too often.
55. Buy clothes at the Gap. Socks and boxers.
56. Yell "Branner sucks!" All the time during Orientation Week.
57. Get to know your resident fellow. Yes.
58. Live on the Row. Well, not really, but I'm going to count it as yes, because when I went to debate camp in high school, I lived in SAE.
59. Ride a cable car. From the Wharf to Union Square!
60. Determine permanently and irrevocably the precise meaning of life. Hell no.
61. Go to Rinc-a-Delt. I don't know what they're talking about, sadly.
62. Study in a café off campus. I suppose Starbucks counts, but I've gone to Coupa Cafe a few times.
63. Volunteer to be a subject in a research study. All the time.
64. Invite a professor to dinner. Yes.
65. Attend a Women's Herstory Week event. I should really be a better person.
66. Vote. Yes.
67. Design a web page. Check it out!
68. Get a parking ticket. In downtown Palo Alto, yes.
69. Be an Orientation Volunteer. Sophomore year.
70. Write a letter to the Daily. I've done it twice. Once to protest a new housing policy and another to take out the hypen in Asian American.
71. Picnic in the Foothills. Sounds romantic.
72. Play the Game. Played and got my ass kicked. Planned one too.
73. Attend a reception at Hoover House. Nobody invites Undergrads :-(
74. Get to know an alum. Yes? My future boss graduated from Stanford Business School.
75. Attend a day game at the Sunken Diamond. I'm ashamed that I haven't.
76. Pose a question to a campus speaker. Maybe?
77. Go to the Dutch Goose on a Wednesday night. This is on the to-do list.
78. Ride the Marguerite. All too often.
79. Play sports with an Olympic athlete. Sadly this does not happen everyday.
80. Take an incomplete. I'm going to say yes, since I've done much worse with a Withdrawal.
81. See a Band halftime show. Ridiculous.
82. Go to Senior Dinner on the Quad. I will soon enough.
83. Eat peanuts at Antonio's Nut House (and throw the shells on the floor). Sounds stupid, but I'll give it a try.
84. Go to a career fair. Free Nalgene's and pens!
85. Play intramural inner-tube water polo. It was cancelled as an IM! Not fair!
86. Take a Spring Break trip with friends. Yup.
87. Lose a drinking game. All too often.
88. Raft on Lake Lag. Nope.
89. Go to Big Game at Cal. I skipped out this year, because, yes, we suck.
90. Play dorm vs. dorm paintball in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I should plan this for our dorm.
91. Donate blood. Freshman year!
92. Go steamtunneling. I did it last summer. If you don't know what steamtunneling is, check this Wiki article out.
93. Hike in Big Basin. Did some photography there.
94. Go on a date. Holla!
95. Take a class just because you hear the professor is great. I guess.
96. Attend a double feature at the Stanford Theater. Nope, just one movie.
97. Dance with the Band. On the band run!
98. Stay up all night talking in your dorm hallway. Oh the memories.
99. See the Stanford Improvisers. Yeah.
100. Attend a protest,demonstration, rally or sit-in. Supporting Stanford Workers!
101.Wear your cap and gown to The Graduate. I can't wait!

So I've done 75/101. 5 more and I "Bleed Cardinal red." I should have no problem knocking off about 10 more of these things before I graduate. All of those thoughts make me cherish the memories I have had at Stanford, and the memories I will have in 2007!

Peace!