Winning Weekend

Before I head back to the East Coast for Thanksgiving week, I had the chance to attend two great Bay Area sporting events this weekend.  First, I saw the Knicks grab an impressive road win at Golden State on Friday night, and earlier today I headed up to Berkeley to see Stanford football dismantle Cal in the 2010 edition of the Big Game.  Not only did both matchups result in favorable outcomes for my teams, but I was really impressed with the crowds at both.

First, I've already mentioned that Oracle Arena is a fun place to watch a basketball game.  On Friday night, it was a particularly exciting atmosphere.  The game was high scoring, and the crowd fed off of the energy that the Knicks and Warriors provided via an array of dunks, fast breaks and three pointers.  Though the Knicks jumped out to a big lead, Golden State made a feverish push late in the fourth quarter (blowing fourth quarter leads have become a New York specialty under Mike D'Antoni, after all).  As the Warriors began to climb back into the game, the home crowd got passionate and loud.  On top of it all, the fans were all super-nice and positive; though I was wearing my Knicks t-shirt and some fans playfully trash-talked at me, the home crowd was really courteous.  It really is a great environment for families and kids, since it's loud and fun but not at all threatening.  A very different place from Madison Square Garden for sure.

Basketballs were flying everywhere at Friday's Warriors game, including on top of the shot clock.

I didn't know what to expect from the Big Game today, but I certainly wasn't disappointed.  The Stanford fans travelled well and were out in full force at Berkeley.  From the opening kickoff to the storming of the field after the game (pictures below), the Cardinal faithful were fantastic.  While security guards and cops lined up on the field near the Stanford section to prevent a storming, the men in red were not to be denied.  After the final whistle, students started pouring onto the field and I, of course, joined in.  The players seemed to really appreciate and enjoy the fan reaction, and the band played "All Right Now" as the players and fans danced in the South endzone.  It was definitely an amazing moment, and was sort of an unofficial welcoming as a true Stanford sports fan for me.

At the same time, the Bears fans impressed me, too.  Despite being down 31-0 at the half, the Cal students stayed until the end of the game and rooted for their team until the end.  Though a shutout would have been great for Stanford, I was almost happy that Cal scored two touchdowns once the game was well out of reach.  The blue-and-gold-clad Berkeley kids deserved at least a little something the cheer about.

Stanford fans (including yours truly) rushed the field after defeating Cal 48-14.

 Cardinal fans came out in droves to Berkeley's Memorial Stadium.



Overall, this weekend was a fantastic start to Thanksgiving break.  Next up: a trip to Durham, North Carolina until Friday.  Stay tuned for a Durham-area sports post or two later this week.  Until then, Happy Thanksgiving!