Oregon Trip Photos

FBC members who travelled to the Oregon games in January enjoyed a pizza party before the Oregon game, hosted by a local Stanford Alumni club, and a group dinner in Corvallis before the OSU game, as well as the games themselves.  Ann Hollyfield, a Cardinal fan who lives in Oregon, took photos of these four events. You can view them here.

Who's Going to the PAC-10 Tournament?

Who is going to the PAC-10 tourney? We'd like to know so we can perhaps set up some group activities. Write to travel@stanfordfbc.org with your plans! (Or, leave a comment below!) If you haven't planned your trip to the tournament yet, here is the complete schedule with a link for ticket purchase. See our Travel Page for more ticket info and hotel links. In summary:

• Thursday 3/12: the 7-8-9-10-seed play-in games are at 6 and 8:15pm.
• Friday 3/13 (yikes!) is "iron-butt day" with four games in two sessions. The Cardinal will play at 1:15pm (#2 seed) or at 5pm (#1 seed).
• Saturday 3/14 the semi-final games are at 6 and 8:30pm.
• Sunday 3/15 is the championship at 6pm.

With a Sunday game at 6pm, it's probably not feasible to fly home that night. The last flight out of LAX to SJC leaves at 8:40, so forget that. (You could catch a 10:55 flight to SFO, yawn.) The schedule gives you most of Saturday and Sunday at liberty in Los Angeles. What kind of fun things will you do to pass this time? When, and in what kind of venue, would you like to get together with other FBC members? For example, Saturday or Sunday Brunch? (If so, does anyone know a good brunch spot in L.A.?) Or, where would be a good place to gather post-game Sunday to (we hope) celebrate? Remember, you can leave comments on this posting for everyone to read.

Tickets for the LaLa Trip

The Cardinal plays at Pauley Pavilion at 7pm Friday, 2/27. There will be no problem buying general admission seats at the door. However, if you would like a reserved seat in the lower sections (and remember, the Pauley ushers are real sticklers about not letting you into the lower section without a lower-section ticket, even after half-time) you can order tickets in advance from the UCLA website. Here is a direct link to the Ticketmaster page with seating chart. As of this post you could sit pretty close to center court for $12 (plus annoying fees). The Cardinal plays at the Galen Center at noon Sunday, 3/1. Again there will be no problem getting general admission at the door. However you can buy lower-section reserved seats in advance starting at this page. That purchase site does not show you a Galen center seating chart, so use this one. As of this post, you could sit opposite a free-throw line for $10 (plus annoying fees).

On the Road: Phoenix

On the off-day between games, we went to the Desert Botanical Garden where there was an installation of Chihuly glass in the garden: glass in semi-organic forms set among the already-exotic plants like an invasion from the planet Silica.

On the road: Columbia

David & Marian Cortesi

The State House

Wally Mersereau opines Columbia is a charming town. It's a smallish University town, the university being the U of SC. When we arrived we had time to check out the South Carolina statehouse (another missing from our collection).A helpful and knowledgeable docent showed us around, explaining how the interior had recently been restored from years of neglect and ill-planned remodelling to fully reflect the architect's Victorian vision.Which included some chandeliers right out of a "steampunk" fantasy.Outside, we noted the stars set in the masonry to show where Union cannonballs damaged the walls of the still-unfinished building.This helpful local decided to show us around.He pointed out where the Union cannoneers had also knocked the foot off George Washington's walking-stick.

Zoo and Gardens

We spent Friday morning at the local zoo and botanical garden, on a woodland walk.The animals were not impressed with us. But we liked best a free-range lizard on a christmas bow.

Gamecock Arena

Later we walked to the arena. This is a new and very nice facility, and it exceeds requirements for basketball games and such trivia, but the important things are not up to snuff, by which I mean, the food. Although they do have that sine qua non of good arena noshing, Dippin' Dots, the "chicken tenders" were not, the Philly Cheesesteak was grossly oversalted, and Wally would like it known that they didn't have either pickles or relish at the condiment bar. And, they have pretty near the cheesiest mascot costume around. Actually the mascot had a lot of good moves, but that floppy beak! And that skirt! OK, one more thing for Dawn Staley to fix.

On the road: Charlotte, NC

David & Marian Cortesi

En route from Durham to Columbia we stopped for lunch in Charlotte, NC, said to be the 2nd-largest financial center after NYC, where the tops of the many skyscrapers were disappearing in the afternoon fog.

Downtown was decorated for the season with cheerful reindeer on every lamppost.The center of downtown Charlotte is The Square, which is defined by four heroic statues. One is a prospector who appears to be dumping his paydirt onto a dude whose bow-tie is too tight,One is a stalwart worker sitting on an eagle with a bow-tie,One is a mother & child,And we forget the fourth because we were busy reflecting on modern art.Tomorrow: Columbia, SC.

On the road: Raleigh

By Dave & Marian Cortesi The morning after the Duke game was (appropriately) dull gray and gloomy. We drove from Durham to Raleigh to bag us another state capitol. We have pictures of 40 or so of them. In North Carolina, the only official occupants of the Old State House are the Governor and Lieutenant Gov. Inside there was a surprise. All the way up on the third floor is a charming old State Library, very nicely preserved and displayed. Also on the third floor is a similarly cozy and appealing State Geologist's office. Below these are the original legislative chambers. This was the House of Representatives. North Carolina has over 100 Reps (which seems a superfluity, but I'm sure they feel a need...) and you can see why they felt a bit cramped back in 1960: This is what they had built for them by Edward Durrel Stone, who also did the Kennedy Center in DC and many other famous buildings. Finished in 1963. It's a very nice building inside, with four interior garden courts and spacious and imposing legislative chambers. This is where the Reps sit--quite an improvement over the old one. Look at those chandeliers. Those double-cone lamps are just soooo 60s, aren't they? Admit it, you had a fixture like that in some apartment you lived in. Here's Marian, trying out the Grand Staircase (carpet for official use only): The neigborhood around the capitol has a lot of impressive 1890's houses. Here's a detail from one. We also visited the Mordecai House historic park and were given a very pleasant tour but the weather was too gloomy for pictures. Tomorrow: a stopover in Charlotte.

Sign up for Oregon Soon!

Currently about 25 people are signed up to attend the games at Oregon and Oregon State as a group. Group activities organized by Don Anderson include:

• Thursday Jan. 22nd, before the game, a pizza party with local Stanford alums;
• Later on thursday, sitting together in a block of seats in Mac Court;
• Friday Jan 23rd, a "happy hour" get-together in Eugene;
• Followed by a group dinner at a restaurant in Eugene;
• Followed by a fireside chat with Amy back at the Valley River Inn;
• Saturday Jan 24th, a group dinner in Corvallis before the OSU game;
• After which, sitting together for the OSU game.

If you want to join the group for any of these activities, you need to let us know by December 28th. You can email Travel@StanfordFBC.org or speak personally to Don at our 12/13 home game. Of course you are free & welcome to make your own arrangements for this trip; look for trip-planning info on our Travel page.

Last Chance - Going to Duke, South Carolina, or Tennessee?

Time is getting short if we are going to pre-buy tickets for the games of the East Coast swing: Duke, South Carolina, and Tennessee. If you intend to go to one of those games, and you have not already emailed Travel@StanfordFBC.org to say so, please do it now. Or if you did email and you've changed your plans or number of seats since (or just want to say "hi!"), ditto. Of course, if you'd rather handle your own arrangements, that's fine too. We have a wealth of trip info on the FBC Travel Page and you can get to each of the host schools' websites via the Schedule Page.

Woe in Waco

by Wally Mersereau

To avoid the $7 access fee to watch video coverage of the Stanford game on the Baylor website and the nuisance of having to cancel the access subscription after the game, five astute Fast Break Club members made the journey to Waco to see the game in person and to provide booster support for the team. It’s always interesting to experience the flavor of a new locale and to observe opposing team fan behavior in its native habitat. An additional advantage was the opportunity to find out where Waco is, along with the challenge of figuring out how to get there (hint: the only direct flights in or out are to Dallas or Houston). Those making the trip were Dave and Marian Cortesi, Kellee Noonan, Doug Lee and me. Baylor claims to be the oldest university in Texas and the largest Baptist university in the U.S. On its largely red-brick campus are the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and the Texas Ranger Museum. The city of Waco began in 1849, early in Texas statehood. Waco is located half-way between Dallas-Fort Worth to the north and Austin to the south—about a 1 ½-hour drive from either direction. In addition to our contingent, there was good representation from the Clyburn and Ogwumike families (including Nneka's sister Chiney!) ... ... plus Jeanette's mother. But we clearly were in “Bear Country” as the sign outside Ferrell Center proclaimed. Our guesses at actual attendance ranged from 5,500 to 6,500 which were reasonably close to the official attendance of 7,136. The official attendance for last year’s Cal game at Baylor was 5,659, so Stanford should take pride in outdrawing Cal in Waco by about 1,500. Cal plays Baylor in Berkeley on December 22 which will provide a comparison of scores. The capacity of Ferrell Center is 10,284, and it’s a nice round arena with comfortable green seats. Before the game we agreed that Stanford would have to play better than it did against Minnesota and we were hopeful that it would. Unfortunately, that was not the case. We felt lucky at half-time that Baylor only led by one point, 36-35. 

It seemed that if Tara made some of her usual half-time adjustments that Stanford could improve and pull the game out. Kellee told me not to worry, and I passed on her confidence to Marian and Dave. About halfway through the ever-worsening second half, Marian asked if Kellee had said when we could stop worrying. With about 4 minutes remaining, Baylor started to use the full shot clock which resulted in Tara telling Lindy to foul intentionally which Lindy diligently did four times. Baylor made all 8 of the resulting free throws while Stanford remained relatively ineffective in scoring, leading to a depressing conclusion. When Nneka fouled out of the game, she left the court by heading over to give a pat on the back and a brief comment to Kim Mulkey who had tried hard to recruit her for Baylor. Kim needs no recruiting sympathy. A Baylor fan pointed out to us 2009 Baylor recruit Brittney Griner who was in attendance. Brittney is 6-7 and is the #1 rated 2009 prospect by ESPN, part of a highly rated 2009 class at Baylor. On Monday I attended the last two games of a 3-day women’s basketball tournament at the University of Texas in Austin. In the first game Dayton beat our St. Mary’s Gaels 68-62 after St. Mary’s led in each half by up to 12 points. In the second game #13 Texas defeated #25 Old Dominion 78-44. Brittainey Raven of Texas is an athletic player who scored the first 12 Texas points and had 20 total points. Attendance was about 4,000. The Texas-ODU score was reported on Austin radio and TV on Tuesday morning. Texas has a Fast Break Club whose members were wearing Texas-brown tee-shirts with each player’s number and name on the back in an artistic pattern. Life-size color group photos of this season’s Texas men’s and women’s teams are displayed in the arena. Before the game most of the Texas fans stood and gave the raised right arm Horn salute as the band played “The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You”. Some gave the salute whenever a Texas player was at the free throw line. Gail Goestenkors, in her second season at Texas, gave the salute to the fans when she was introduced. Except for the outcome of the Stanford game, this was an interesting, educational and enjoyable trip.

Who's going to Oregon?

Don Anderson writes as follows

I am once again this year charged with organizing some FBC group activities for the trip to Oregon. I have not yet ordered game tickets or begun to organize group dinners, happy hours, etc., but I need to gather information now. I haven't decided for sure whether to do up front purchase of blocs of tickets this year; the results last year were problematic. But I'd like to assess interest and then decide how to proceed.

As noted on the Travel page, the games in Oregon this coming year will be:

• Oregon Thursday 1/22, 7 pm in Eugene
• Oregon State Saturday 1/24, 7 pm in Corvallis

I need to know:

• Will you be making the Oregon trip this year? If so: how many tickets (seats) would you want to order for the Oregon game, Thursday 1/22 (If I decide to buy them in advance)?
• How many tickets (seats) would you want to order for the Oregon State game, Saturday 1/24?
• Are you interested in attending a happy hour in Eugene on Friday 1/23? (how many of you)
• Are you interested in attending a group dinner in Eugene on Friday 1/23? (how many of you)
• Are you interested in attending a fireside chat with one of the coaches on Friday 1/23? (how many of you)
• Are you interested in attending a group dinner in Corvallis on Saturday 1/24? (how many of you)

Once I get a preliminary idea via your responses, I may order a bloc of tickets for each game, and begin organizing dinners, fireside chat, etc.

If we do a group dinner in Coravallis, I will try to find an alternative to last year's choice (suggestions welcome). I would likely use the same restaurant in Eugene as last year, unless there are strong objections and someone has an alternative that they know is wonderful.

To reply to Don's questions, just email Travel@StanfordFBC.org.

Who's going to Hawaii? Duke? Tennessee?

Going to Hawaii?

The FBC Travel Committee would like to get a count of the fans who are going to the tournament in Hawaii, and especially a count of those who are interested in joining the Thanksgiving dinner with the teams at the team hotel on Thanksgiving day.

If you are going to Hawaii please email Travel@StanfordFBC.org and mention whether you are interested in the dinner. We will use your return address to notify you of times, costs, and any group plans.

Going to Duke? Tennessee?

We need a count of those who are definitely planning to make the East Coast swing through Duke, South Carolina and Tennessee. The reason is tickets: for both Duke and Tennessee it is best to order seats in advance. If there is enough interest we can organize a block buy.

If you are going to one or more of the games at Duke, South Carolina or Tennessee, please email Travel@StanfordFBC.org and let us know your plans. We will use your return address to notify you of times, costs, and any group plans.