A Quiet Day in Berkeley

In November of 1983, Big Game was held at Stanford. As a result, my BFF from college, Becky, and I decided to journey from San Francisco over to Berkeley. And we had a perfect day. It was quiet and peaceful on Telegraph (well, as quiet and peaceful as Telegraph ever is) and we moseyed up the Avenue, browsing languorously in the bookstores. Neither of us made a lot of money at the time, but we were voracious readers who haunted the used section of Browser Books on upper Fillmore. I remember the wealth of temptations on the mezzanine of Moe's, with its discounted art books and extensive used fiction section. I could see where every English graduate student had sold their texts and volumes of literary criticism once a course was completed. We lingered in Cody's, where Becky found translations and treasures in the East Asian studies section; and I lusted after all the imported British editions of fiction, with their yellow, Virago green and Penguin orange spines, marked up to $7 or $8 when they only cost 95p or 1-2 pounds in England. We must have eaten somewhere and most likely poked through the bins at Tower Records. We were back in the City by late afternoon, before the hordes of Cal supporters returned, pleased with ourselves and our simple, yet lovely, day.

Today is another Big Game Saturday, again to be played at Stanford, and as I run my errands around town I can't tell if it's more or less crowded than any other away game Saturday. Probably because I am not near campus, and live here rather than visit; possibly because I'm older and less attuned to the presence of students. Still I remember that Saturday as one of my best days ever. The sense of freedom and adventure, the pleasure of paging through more books than I could ever discover or possess, being with someone who knew me better, perhaps, than anyone else.

I don't remember who won Big Game that year, but this year's result was a notable and welcome surprise. Stanford 20, Cal 13, and the Axe returns to the Farm after a lengthy absence. A team with a lackluster win-loss record, but with wins over USC and Cal -- that's a redeeming season without a doubt. I may even wander about town in my Stanford sweatshirt...