Rivalry Week

Restarting the sports job search process has been simultaneously thrilling and frustrating.  As excited as I am to learn about new potential opportunities working in and around sports, the difficulties involved in finding available positions and contacts are a constant reminder of the fact that, for most people, sports are just a tiny aspect of life.  Though I have made sports the focal point of my professional, academic and social life, most people see things differently.  Did you know there are people out there who don't consider Kiroki Kuroda's one-year extension with the Los Angeles Dodgers to be critical news?  Sad, but true.

Just when a lack of sports-love was starting to get me down, rivalry week blew into town (rhyme unintentional).  This Saturday, Stanford will travel to Berkeley to battle Cal in the 2010 edition of "The Big Game," and I'll be there in person (and will, of course, blog about it afterward).  Almost as exciting as the game itself, though, is the fact that a sports-related buzz is blanketing the entire Stanford campus right now.  The Stanford-Cal game is always a big deal, but with a potential BCS Bowl berth on the line for the Cardinal the stakes and energy are particularly high.  Our Palo Alto campus is filled with fun reminders of Saturday's significance, from the red-water (well, sort of pink-water . . .) fountain that I pass by every day on my walk to the Business School, which signifies the week of The Big Game (see right), to the giant "Beat Cal" banner than hangs on the front of the Stanford library (see below).

Despite the frustrations associated with a sports job search, I refuse to give up on my goals.  It's things like the fountain and the banner that remind me how powerful sports can be in encouraging healthy competition, connecting people, and making an otherwise-slow, pre-Thanksgiving week much more exciting.  I feel lucky to be living on a campus where people are excited about a football game a week in advance, and I can't wait for the game at Cal on Saturday afternoon.

Beat Cal.  Fear the Tree.  Go Stanford.