Thanks for reading week seven of the Rivalry Name Rankings, brought to you this week by… the Golden State.
 Our No. 9 ranking is a rivalry played between the University of California, Berkeley Golden Bears and the Stanford Cardinal. Yes, that’s singular, for whatever reason. Yes, their mascot is a tree, for whatever reason.
Stanford fans, skip the next paragraph. California fans, click the link that is the next sentence.
You know “The Play”. You can recite, in the exact voice of that astonished announcer (Cal’s announcer Joe Starkey), the most memorable line of the game: “The band is out on the field!” Watch the video, you know you want to…unless, like my editor, you are a Stanford fan.
*Editor’s note: I have killed myself. Thank you Eric.
That was a big game in the history of college football. Want to hear something funny? The rivalry game that takes place every year between the two teams is called...the Big Game. Ha. Ha.
This game falls under the “Classic Name” category, because it just is a classic name. Big Game. It’s simple, but it’s powerful. I mean, think about it. It’s a BIG GAME!
This game falls under the “Classic Name” category, because it just is a classic name. Big Game. It’s simple, but it’s powerful. I mean, think about it. It’s a BIG GAME! 
The game also is played for a trophy, called the Stanford Axe. I guess that’s how Stanford gets back at Cal, after blowing the 1982 game. (Actually, the Stanford Axe was created in 1899.)
A note on the axe, from Stanford’s athletics website: “To the winner of the Big Game goes "The Axe"... The Axe made its first appearance at a Stanford-Cal baseball game on April 13, 1899, but it wasn't until 1933 that the two universities decided that The Axe would be a trophy given to the winner of The Big Game.”
Now, for some details on the rivalry. Stanford leads the all time series, 49-41-10. Two games were played in 1892, the first year these two schools faced off. The game was played every year until 1905, but wasn’t played again until 1919; except for 1943-1945 (World War II), the Big Game has been held every year since then.
The longest winning streak in the series was a seven game stretch by Stanford from 1995-2001. They haven’t won since, however, as Cal has reeled off five in a row, including last year’s 26-17 win in Berkeley.
As far as the history of the name:
It started as “The Great Football Game,” and evolved over time into the Big Game. As per a Stanford Daily article, “According to the Handbook of Stanford University, produced by Axe Comm, the first Big Game occurred on Dec.17, 1892. UC Berkeley’s seven-years-in-training football team challenged Stanford’s infant club to a match in San Francisco. The Oakland Tribune called it ‘The Great Football Game.’”
Then, according to a San Francisco Chronicle article, “It has been known as the Big Game since 1902, according to San Francisco author Ron Fimrite, who is writing a history of Cal football.”
A final note: This is the only game name I know of that is involved in controversy. The NFL wants to trademark “The Big Game” for the Super Bowl, but Cal and Stanford don’t want this to happen. Read about it here.
That’s it for this week – if you have any comments for me, please post them on the message boards, using the link at the top. Thanks for reading, and check back next week. Go Wahoos.
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