Stanford axe stare down

Colleges & Universities University of California - Berkeley
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<p>“The Stanford Axe is transferred at the Big Game during what is known as “The Stare Down.” With two minutes remaining in the Big Game, the Stanford Axe is brought to the 50 yard line, where the UC Rally Committee and the Stanford Axe Committee wait until the end of the game to determine who will take the Axe. Once the game ends, the winner of Big Game takes possession of the Axe until the next Big Game is played.”</p>

<p>This thing looks so corny or seems like showing some inferiority complex (we all got rejected by S).
What if those Cal students (i bet they’re humanity majors) say “Stanford can keep the axe forever” and simply walk away?</p>

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<p>Well…it is their axe after all.</p>

<p>and it’s better than playing for the Washington Apple Cup.</p>

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<p>3000 posts!</p>

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<h1>sixseasonsandamovie!</h1>

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<h1>12seasonsandathemepark!</h1>

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<p>full mix of majors in RC including chem eng, engineering, bio, and of course humanities</p>

<p>The axe was Stanfurd’s originally, but they used it in 1899 to chop up a dummy dressed as a Cal student during a game, after which we liberated it and fled a manhunt in SF to get it to our campus. It was stolen back and forth several times until a mere 78 years ago when it was agreed that the winner of each year’s big game would receive the axe for one year. </p>

<p>Stanfurd is staring just as intently on their side and have stolen it four times by various slimy and diabolical means.</p>

<p>In the beginning, there was the one university - the university of California - founded in 1868. In 1891 a second university arose when Leland Stanford turned his farm into a school named after his deceased child. In 1899 when the axe was first used and then captured by Cal, they were only 8 years old and facing the 31 year old UC. </p>

<p>Universities multiplied in our state since then - with our ag farm spun off to become Davis, our southern annex spun off to become UCLA, our med school spun off to become UCSF, eventually the full UC system arose to supplement the one University of California - Cal - at the beginning. Plus some unrelated schools like USC, Pomona etc</p>

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<ol>
<li>@rider730: Ooh, very interesting little post there :slight_smile: </li>
<li>Why don’t we just steal it back? LOL</li>
<li>Why the heck did Stanfurd use an axe in the first place, when THEIR mascot is a TREE? Maybe back then it wasn’t a tree? Still, it looks strange. </li>
<li>Whooo, Go Bears :smiley: We’re awesome</li>
</ol>

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<p>Not for lack of trying.</p>

<p>you wouldn’t believe the security each side maintains - bank vaults most of the time, top secret identities of those holding it for the days preceding big games, vigils kept while it is out, even patrols around the clock watching the campus and stadiums in case the tree people make a try for mischief in our area. </p>

<p>Stanford’s original mascot was an “Indian” - a representation of a native american, hunter of the golden bear. In 1972 they agreed to stop using the stereotypical image and change the name of the team. The best they could come up with for a replacement was a tree.</p>

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<p>What a classic backfire of irony,
now the red Stanford axe is a perfect weapon
to cut down its own tree LOL…</p>

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<p>"(we all got rejected by S)."</p>

<p>What kind of crap generalization is this? Speak for yourself…</p>

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<p>how polemic of you</p>

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<p>

The Tree is not an official mascot. Yet, I don’t know why some logos have the tree in front of the “S”. It’s the mascot of LSJUMB. The best they could come up with for a replacement is “cardinal”…not the bird, the color. Hard to rally around a color, IMO.</p>

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<p>Well, cardinal was the name given to their football team by press coverage of the first football game in the 1890s and has been in use from that time forward (as has “the farm” used to refer to their campus).</p>