<p>whatever. tommy (the tree) is still my boy. he an awesome guy. but i'm bias. i'm sure if the duke blue devil or someother mascot had done this...i would be like "haha...got what they deserved". eh. stanford's rich anyway...b/c of us.</p>
<p>The NCAA hates the tree. =(</p>
<p>Not that that incident even COMPARES to the antics of the past. You can barely even call it an incident.</p>
<p>Old news, old hat.</p>
<p>At least our football players aren't drunkenly assaulting their girlfriends! The captain, no less!</p>
<p>Not old but <em>new</em> news; the NCAA reprimand was just handed down.</p>
<p>yeah, read the date people. and word on the football players thing. dear god please don't let them suck this year.</p>
<p>Cal is rated highly this year; the "big game" might be another blowout. What was it last year ... 27-3?</p>
<p>surprise surprise...and its AT Cal...so we can't make fun of the massive crowds of lost Cal people on campus. </p>
<p>haha...anybody who asked us for direction were in trouble. i would send them in the exact opposite direction, with specific instructions and everything. was it mature, no. was it fun, yes. was i a little tipsy, maybe.</p>
<p>Frankly, I don't care if we win or lose. </p>
<p>If we have a really good football teams, that probably means we recruited too many dumb athletes. </p>
<p>But I'll still wear my "Cal Sucks/Safety School" shirt with pride.</p>
<p>the NCAA's actions on this entire issue have been entirely out of proportion. I encourage you to read this S.F. Chronicle article, which summarizes the disproportionate response of the NCAA far better than I could: <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/26/STANFORDTREE.TMP%5B/url%5D">http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/26/STANFORDTREE.TMP</a></p>
<p>The take-home message is that the tree was punished for continuing to show chutzpah and spunk even after being ejected from the game, and the NCAA is now punishing us for this spiritedness.</p>
<p>To BYERLY (though I hate to descend to such depths, your puerile comments only encourage me): at least we have enough spirit, youth and energy to get iinto trouble every once in a while. the last time a harvard student showed such energy was in 1968. that as when the administration gassed its own students. if you're searching for a pejorative, you might call us pugilistic. I'd call us virile.</p>
<p>To lki:</p>
<p>I am casting no "pejoratives" at this time. </p>
<p>If Cal whips you again in the "big game" however, I may call you "losers". </p>
<p>I expect to be there to view the carnage.</p>
<hr>
<p>To zepher: </p>
<p>How fortunate for you that the Yale thing didn't work out, or those cruel "safety school" taunts would be coming from the other side of the field!</p>
<p><a href="http://www.safetyschool.org%5B/url%5D">www.safetyschool.org</a></p>
<p>zephyr,</p>
<p>because good athletes = stupidity?</p>
<p>Actually, lki, allow me to again state a valid comparison:
Stanford's mascot gets drunk and does funny antics on the court.
Harvard's football captain gets drunk and beats up his girlfriend. </p>
<p>I'd take the former any day. </p>
<p>Byerly, will you be decked in cardinal red or reject blue & gold? And why will you be at the game?</p>
<p>And as for current_student's question, it is clear that Harvard's athletes are of a lower quality than University of Tennessee's, and of are a higher academic caliber. </p>
<p>That's all I'm saying.</p>
<p>zephyr, since when is football the only collegiate sport. stanford has won the directors cup 13 (or is it twelve...eh, a lot) times in a row. </p>
<p>Stanford, Dartmouth, and Georgetown rank in the top 10 in men’s X country, not Tennessee. Duke and stanford are 1 and 2 for women’s, columbia is 11. Stanford’s 4 in volleyball. Stanford and duke are in the top 15 for w bball. Stanford kicks ass in tennis. Women have been 1 for ages, and duke, Berkeley, Harvard, and UCLA are in the top 20. Men are 15, with duke, UCLA and Wash in the top 20 as well. Stanford and Cal are great at swimming and water polo as well as other top schools.</p>
<p>Tennessee mostly sucks at everything (generization...yes) except womens bball and volleyball. </p>
<p>It’s a lot easier to name a dominant sports program that is also one of the top schools than to name one that isn’t a top school with an overall great sports program. I mean, sure there are a few, but Tennessee isn‘t it by any means. Ok, so Harvard isn‘t it. But you can’t deny Duke and stanford…mainly stanford,…are one of the best academic schools in the nation, as well as the most dominant sports programs. UCLA and Berekely are also great schools with awesome sports, AND they’re public.</p>
<p>Actually, as measured by NCAA Team Championships, Duke is well off the list of top schools. Duke has won 8 titles. By comparison, Tennessee has won 13 titles.</p>
<p>Here's the top 10 (through early spring '06 - I think both UCLA and Stanford won additional titles in the spring):</p>
<p>UCLA: 99
Stanford: 92
Southern California: 84
Oklahoma State: 48
Arkansas: 43
LSU: 40
Texas: 39
Michigan: 32
North Carolina: 31
Penn State: 30 </p>
<p>I'll let others decide the relative academic strengths of each school.</p>
<p>but duke still has a better prorgam than tennesee. true they haven't won many championships, but they are up there in many sports. </p>
<p>my point was that many top notch schools have great sports programs. i'm not saying they win everything, but that there are still tons of athletes that smart and great at there sport. and it's ridiculous, especially for stanford, to say that just /bc we do well in a sport, that we recruited too many dumb athletes.</p>
<p>Byerly,
To invoke Marcus Aurelius "Ultima ratio ulciscendi, non malis similis fieri" - the best revenge is to avoid becoming like them. Since you'll be in town, I would like to invite you to some tea and a FRIENDLY conversation, about things completely unrelated to this board. It's always good to get to know one's sparring partners as human biengs, beyond their monikers on a board.</p>
<p>(I realize that the game will be in Berkeley, so we might have to convene there)</p>
<p>best,
LKI</p>
<p>Tea ?</p>