A Holiday Poem

Twas the night before Christmas
And in Cardinal Town
Everyone was feeling
A little bit down

“We lost to the Dukies
And those darned Lady Vols
We certainly don’t feel much
Like Decking the Halls!”

But Santa was ready
For such loss of spirit
“Don’t be so whiny!
I don’t want to hear it!”

“You’ve Ros, Jeanette, Jayne,
Lindy, Hannah and Mel
And you shouldn’t forget
Kayla, Jillian and Michelle!”

“Add Sarah, Ashley, Morgan,
Nneka, JJ and Grace.
Now that is a group
To bring a smile to your face!’

“You’ve got the best Coaches
In all of the land
And then not to mention
The Tree and the Band!”

“So do not despair
As all will be fine!
It’s not 2008 that counts
But April 2009!”

With that the skies opened
And all did rejoice
We can’t help but love them!
We just have no choice!

So get ready for wins galore
They’ll soon be in sight
Merry Christmas to All
And to All a good night!

Greetings from Charleston, SC

Have been spending a couple of days here in Charleston between games. It is 78 degrees here and 90% humidity--a fact I am all too aware of having packed a suitcase full of turtlenecks and sweaters. This is such a lovely city. What a difference from Durham, NC!

Durham was dark, foggy and depressing--and that was before the game! While I am sure it is lovely at times of the year, right now is not one of those times. Some of the buildings on campus are magnificent, including Cameron Indoor Arena. There is one major flaw for spectators, however, as there are no aisles in the lower stands so you are being crawled over continuously. This was no so bad when we were ahead, but my crabby quotient kept going up exponentially as the game moved on.

We had a hearty group of parents and FBCers on hand--we sat with Grace's dad and loved his upbeat attitude and major lung power. Cameron gets REALLY loud--think Mac Court loud, tin roof and all. The game was really ugly as you saw, though I suspect you didn't get to see some of the "finer" moments. Right in front of us, Jill shot a three and got clobbered--Dee Kantner was withing 3 feet of her, but was watching the shot and didn't see it. Jill hobbled down court and had to go out for a significant period of time--scary, scary stuff considering her back issues.

But the story was free throws, as we all know. So onward and upward. Off to Columbia to take on the other USC, a day in Asheville and then to Knoxville.

How'd We Do???

I have been remiss in reporting our Cardinal Nation Auction results--just that busy life getting in the way. I wanted to do a grand report with pictures and kudos and such, but am hopping on a plane in a couple of hours to head back east for a GREAT ROAD TRIP! So this short and sweet version will have to do for now!

Thanks to great donors, ambitious bidders and tireless volunteers, we raised

$35,515!!!!

Now this is a little less than the average of $40K that we have pocketed in the past, but with the current economic situation, who could feel bad about this FAB amount?

So off to the Southeast and will work real hard to bring home 3 wins and a bunch of stories!

In a Daze

Auction Day is always one big blur--and yesterday was no different. Want to thank everyone for buying and volunteering and just being there. As soon as we get some info and brain cells, I will post more info.

My thoughts today, however, are with JJ and her family. While we wait for the MRI results, here's hoping that we see JJ back on the floor as soon as possible. A speedy recovery is my wish for her today, whatever the injury turns out to be.

All of our positive thoughts should be with JJ today--send them her way!

Is there a BIG TICKET in your Future?

We're in the final countdown to the CARDINAL NATION Auction--Sunday, November 23. We have over 200 ITEMS up for your bidding pleasure--all sorts of Stanford gear, restaurant certificates and on and on.

But there are always a few EXTRA special items that might suit your fancy. We call them BIG TICKET items. You can see the complete list here but here are a few for your special attention--

Sit on the Bench for the Tennessee Game in 2009--Remember the thrilling win against Tennessee at Maples in 2007? You can have the best seat in the house for the Encore next season. Game date is still TBD, but plan now for this terrific opportunity to see the Cardinal and Lady Vols, up-close and personal! You'll be right there to catch all of the emotion as you are part of the action as you join the team in pre-game introductions, game huddles, halftime and post-game too! Per NCAA rules, 9th through 12th graders not allowed to participate.

A Day in the Life--Prepare for the day when your youngster goes to Stanford! This item will give them the chance to spend a day on campus with several Stanford players and see what it takes to make the grade! Attend classes, workouts and whatever else is going on that day. This is truly a once on the lifetime opportunity for any child. Per NCAA rules, 9th through 12th graders not allowed to participate.

Kid's Clinic--Plan a special day for up to 12 kids as they go through drills to learn basketball skills from selected Stanford coaches and players in Maples Pavilion! This would be a very special gift for the youngster in your life that loves the game. And what would make a better birthday party than this? Per NCAA rules, 9th through 12th graders not allowed to participate.

Lunch with the Coaching Staff--Join the whole staff for lunch at Jimmy V's Sports Cafe in the Arrillaga Family Center. Get the inside scoop on all things Cardinal. Group size can be up to 20 people and everyone buys their own meal.

Sit at Tara's Table at the Awards Banquet--Join Coach Tara at the annual Team Awards Banquet! This package includes cost of dinner and two prime seats for all of the action.

Canon EOS 40D Digital Camera--The EOS 40D combines Canons tremendous know-how in both the digital and photographic worlds, creating a camera that not only does everything one would expect of a traditional digital SLR, but one that incorporates staggering leaps forward in technological innovation. With new features like Canons EOS Integrated Cleaning System, Live View Function, a more powerful DIGIC III Image Processor, plus a 10.1-megapixel CMOS sensor, a 3.0-inch LCD monitor and more, the EOS 40D elevates digital photography to new heights, enhancing the shooting experience, and delivering images one could only expect from a Canon.

Music by Hookslide--Just having performed at the San Francisco Black and White Ball and the National Anthem at Candlestick Park, Hookslide is sure to make any event you have extra, extra special. This vocal band performs a high energy mix of mind blowing vocal percussion, booming bass and screaming four-part harmony that is guaranteed to knock you out! In addition to corporate events for customers such as Anheuser Busch, Palm, and Macy's, Hookslide has performed for both the Oakland A's and San Francisco Giants and will soon sing the Anthem at Maples. Let their extraordinary vocalizations add that special touch to your corporate event, wedding or any occasion. Make sure to check their website for some terrific YouTube samples of their talents. PS--you might recognize our own videographer, Bud Anderson, as a member of the group.

Pajaro Dunes Oceanfront Condo--Is there a better getaway than a quick drive to the Coast? Treat yourself to a long weekend or midweek trip at this oceanfront condo at Pajaro Dunes, just 62 miles south of Maples Pavilion. This one bedroom, one bath comes with a fully equipped kitchen and wireless internet access. In addition, you will be greeted with your choice of a bottle of Chardonnay, Champagne, Merlot, Cabernet or Sparkling Cider. Venture out to local wineries, shop in nearby Carmel, hit world famous golf courses or just pick up a good book and relax by the fireplace. It can all be yours for your high bid.

Commemorative 2008-09 Team Quilt--How special is this item? Your own quilt commemorating the 2008-2009 Cardinal! Each team member is featured with their name and number. This quilt would be great on any bed or as a terrific wall hanging. Donated by Lindy's parents, Beverly and Alan!


Weekend Stay at West Shore Lake Tahoe Home--Enjoy spectacular lake views from the deck of this Rubicon Bay (West Lake Tahoe) family cabin. This cozy, classic cabin is nestled in the trees on the lakeside of Highway 89 and just a 5 minute walk from the beach. This may be an old school Tahoe cabin, but has been upgraded with modern conveniiences such as a downstairs rec room with a 42" HD plasma tv and surround sound. Four bedrooms and 3.5 baths, plenty of room for everyone! See pictures here.

Five Nights in Poipu Beach, Kauai, Condo--A dream vacation awaits with this five night stay in a beautiful 2 bedroom, 2-1/2 bath recently remodeled condo at Poipu Kai Resort in Poipu Beach, Kauai. This condo offers a deluxe ocean view and is just steps from the beach. Guests may play tennis, relax in a Jacuzzi, and swim in the two pools that are on site. Two beautiful golf courses are adjacent to the property. Poipu Beach was recently named America's Best Beach by The Travel Channel, ranking top among 10 "best" beaches selected nationwide. This beach is a series of golden sand crescents, strung together where beach-goers will find snorkeling, swimming, wading, boogie-boarding and surfing. Good March 1 through November 20, 2009.

Personalized Tour of Berlin--Off to Germany soon? Karen Kramer, who played at Stanford (64-65), has been the Director of Stanford in Berlin for 27 years. She is offering a unique chance to see Berlin through her eyes with a one of a kind, three hour tour. Having lived in Berlin since 1970, Karen has seen, first hand, the changes and growth of Berlin. In fact, she is offering a piece of the Berlin Wall, which she can verify is real, because she sledge-hammered it out herself! Tour will include walking and car travel. You get there and Karen will do the rest! Don’t let this extraordinary chance slip away!

Week at Northstar--Enjoy this Northern California resort in this pristine 2 bedroom, 1 bath condo. With a queen bed in the master, two twins in the second bedroom and a fold out couch, this condo can easily sleep 6. Centrally located close to the village and rec center, everything is here for you -- fully equipped kitchen, cable TV, washer and dryer and a wood burning fireplace. Golf, mountain biking, tennis, hiking and fly fishing could all be in your future! A Jacuzzi is in the unit and the property includes a lap pool, hot tub and sauna. This is a pet friendly place, so Fido can be included!

Seat from the 2008 Final Four Bench--Own a piece of Stanford and Women's Basketball history. This chair was part of Stanford's bench at the 2008 Final Four in Tampa!


Hopefully one of these terrific items has your interest--and there is plenty more in all of our categories--check here for details--

Stanford Stuff

Activities

Home and Garden

Sports and Memorabilia

Travel

Wine and Dine

Make sure to check back on the links as we are going to be adding items right up to the day of the Auction. Can't be there, but see something you just MUST have? Check out online bid info here.

Also, be on the lookout for your chance to win a Wii or buy one of our Cardinal Nation T-Shirts.

Hoping to see you all there--remember, great place for Christmas shopping!

Check Auction Page for Updates

We have just added a whole bunch of stuff to the auction items listed here for your reviewing pleasure. Check back often as we are adding items regularly. We will soon be adding Stanford items that Amy is getting together--team gear and the like. And yes, it's true, we will have some of last year's fabulous BLACK jerseys!

Check out the Travel page for info on stays at Poipu Beach in Kauai, West Lake Tahoe and PAC-10 destinations.

Wine and Dine will tickle your taste buds with many local restaurants on board again this year. Also--great wines!

Sports features items from legends Martina Navratilova, Steve Young, Sue Bird and more.

Activities features Giants Opening Day tickets (Lincecum!), golf lessons, Giants Club tickets with parking and many more Bay Area attractions.

We ALWAYS have some great Live Auction items and this year will be no different. Already planned is a 2008-09 Season Commemorative Handmade quilt donated by new Stanford parentals Beverly & Alan LaRocque. How special is that?

We hope you are planning to join us and maybe get in a little early Christmas shopping for your favorite Cardinal fan. But if you can't be there, we make it easy for you to place bids anyway--check it out here!

SEE YOU THERE--SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23!


Have something to donate--here's how. Want to volunteer to help out? Contact me at dana.stewart@kaleidescape.com.

Auction is Early This Year!

Just wanted to let everyone know that we have chosen Sunday, November 23, as our Auction date. This will be in conjunction with what should be a terrific game against Rutgers! It is just a little earlier than usual--so mark your calendars now. This will give you a chance to do a little early Holiday shopping for your favorite Cardinal fan.

This year's theme is CARDINAL NATION, celebrating the far reach of SWB.

We are ALWAYS looking for donations to make this event successful. Do you have a vacation home or extra wine in your cellar? Got any gift cards hanging around that you aren't going to use? Sports memorabilia? 49er, Sharks, Raiders, Warriors, Giants or A's tickets? We'd love to hear from you! Contact Eileen Roche at
eroche@stanford.edu.

Check back to my blog soon for more info and to the FBC website for a list of available items--we hope to see you there.

It's Wine Time!

Can't believe that it is almost time to start another season! Weren't we just in Tampa?

There's no better way to get in the spirit for a new season than to attend our annual Wine Tasting Social to be held at Vino Locale in downtown Palo Alto on Sunday, September 14, from 2-5 pm. Here is more info and a signup form.

There will be tons of fun with lots of your Stanford friends on hand along with Coach Tara and her staff to share stories about last year and get some scoop about what is up for the upcoming season. The staff at Vino Locale, located at 431 Kipling Street, goes out of their way to put out a terrific spread along with great local wines.

We will also have a small silent auction, with seats on the Stanford bench up for bid for the Minnesota and Rutgers game. I'm sure we'll have a few other things for you to spend your $$ on, all in support of the Women's Basketball Improvement Fund.

Just to whet your appetite, here are a few pix from previous events--we've always had glorious weather and so much fun it should be illegal! HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Fundraising Had a Good Year too!

When it comes to teams, we know we have The Best on the Court, but sometimes it is good to give a shout out to one of the Teams Behind the Team--the Fundraising Committee! By any measure, this was our most successful year ever--here is a recap of our results for this season.

WINE TASTING
$ 2,847

TVLAND AUCTION
$41,246

SHOOTaTHON
$21,823

GRAND TOTAL
$65,916

We couldn't do it without the great support of all of the boosters who participate in our Fundraising events. Thank you for opening your hearts and your wallets in support of this wonderful basketball program. We hope that you enjoy attending them as much as we enjoy putting them together!

Oh, yeah, we DO have a ton of fun when we work on our Events. It has been my great pleasure to head up this group for several years now, and you could not find a better bunch to work with. So here's to the Gang!

Anne Alexander
Katrina Bennett
Harriet Benson
Katy Carrell
Joyce Dean
Jennie Greer
Deb Gumbley
Lisa Hocevar
Lynne Klaeveman
Denice Merlo
Donna Ranacatore
Nancy Sabbag
Su Schaffer
Laura Sprague
Jo Sturdivan
Judy Sweeney
Lily Wong

Each member of the committee brings their own special talents to the table and, when put all together, it creates a special brew.

We have the great support of everyone in the Basketball office, which makes our job so much easier. We couldn't do it without the guidance of Coach Amy Tucker, who puts up with so much of our mayhem and foolishness. Then we have the super Eileen Roche to keep us on track and the equally wonderful Dee Dee Zawaydeh to help clean up after us.

Every year brings new challenges and ideas and we are looking forward to another great year next year!

What a Great Ride!

I am back from Tampa for a couple of weeks now and it has taken all of this time to have the wonderful experience soak in all the way. What a great ride this team took us all on! As I noted in an earlier blog, my plans meant that we were flying during the Maryland game. My frantic fingers on the iPhone got us all excited upon landing and we had the whole United crew whooping it up with us as we disembarked. Tampa was already in a Final Four mood--even at 1 am on a Tuesday morning.




We spent the week in Orlando, doing the Disney thing. Don't let anyone fool you--the most thrilling ride anywhere is the Parking Lot tram during a lightning storm!



We also made sure to eat the new official team sandwich.


Arriving in Tampa, we headed straight to the Arena to get a peek at what was going on. Along the way we encountered what we considered to be a great omen--Whiting Street!



The Arena looked lovely--especially the Big S!



We did some shopping at a merchandise tent across the street from the Arena. We were surrounded by Orange people and UConn fans. We also noticed the Stanford stuff was scarce. As I was checking out, the lady doing the selling whispered, "You Stanford people are the nicest. We hope you win!"

At the same time, all of the Orange people were on our side, hoping that we would beat UConn. The UConn folks looked at us sideways. The LSU gang commiserated with us and hoped we would meet in the final game.

Hoop City was a great way to pass the time before the first game. It is put on each year at the Final Four to showcase various elements of the Women's game and provide some fun activities--like pictures with the Championship trophy.





I caught up with a familiar face there, not knowing she would be there in person, too!


We ran into the Appels while we were there and it made us especially happy to hear that the team was relaxed and ready. We couldn't say the same for ourselves--we were nervous and excited! Finally it was time to get together with like-minded people for the team sendoff.

The team hotel was a beautiful spot and there was a great sand sculpture in the lobby to greet us.



Let the party begin!








We ran into an old friend, Evon Asforis. For those of you who don't know Evon, she was a great Stanford center in the late 80's. She was over the moon that Tara invited her to speak to the team before they left and was thrilled that anyone remembered her!



Then the team started to trickle towards the bus--in a driving rain storm. The crowd whipped into a frenzy!



I hung back in the lobby area so got to see the team closely as they came downstairs-and even slapped hands with Mel and Candice as they headed out. OK, now I was STOKED!

The rain continued and was monumental--7 inches was measured in parts of Tampa. We had planned a nice walk to the Arena, but managed to hitch a ride on a small bus and stayed dry. As we moved to our seats, we saw the whole team gathered in a circle on their bench--I was struck at how cool it was that they were taking in the moment all together. I later read that Vanessa had reminded them to do that.



The next couple of hours are a blur. One of the most amazing things was that the Stanford Band was selected to play the National Anthem! I didn't know it at the time, but they had won the Battle of the Bands at Hoop City--so they earned the right and did a great job. Then the team intros--



And the game was on! We all know the happy conclusion--the energy in the stands was electric and I hope anyone not there could feel it through the tube. Everytime the lead was threatened, Stanford stepped up. It was great and I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else.

Now, what to do until the final game? Well, Tampa had done a great thing of designating Channelside Bay Plaza as a meeting place for all of the fans.



Each team was assigned a restaurant and we got the very best one--Tinitapa's. They even renamed the place for the week--TARATAPA's--and put out a great T-shirt in honor of the team. This was THE HARD TO GET item of the tournament--the best I could do was get a picture of the back.



I had to settle for my own Tshirt--note the colors on the one being bitten. Yes, Stanford was once again a Big Dog!



Tinitapa's had great food and margaritas, not that I would know. They also went out of their way to be extra nice to us.






A marquee at the UConn restaurant hyped the big battle--



One thing we noticed as we enjoyed our afternoon--the Orange people were no longer our friends! And let me tell you, there are millions of them and who knew there were so many Orange clothing and accessory options? They all sort of looked at us askance. The UConners, on the other hand, were now our best friends. "Please win tonight, ok?" LSU stayed true to us, wishing us nothing but good luck.

You can imagine how we felt when we saw the Orange people talking to the band that was playing in the square and moments later, they played "Rocky Top". We left.

Another sendoff was in order--this time in glorious sunshine.





We met Vern, our favorite cheerleader--



--and the Tree!



The next few hours were a blur just like the Semi-final night. There was a bunch of stuff going on outside the Arena before the game, including a band that played *gulp* "Rocky Top". I was beginning to see a trend. I had on my Tree hat so was the official explainer of why is the Tree the Stanford mascot. It was wearing me out so we headed to our seats.

Kara and Stacy were in the house--



and Tara got her props--



But the energy was different. The team seemed sluggish and so did we. Just as we started to get going, something bad would happen. Like they played "Rocky Top" again. I swear, if I never hear that song again, it will be too soon! When I saw this fellow at the top of our section, I knew we were doomed.



We know the final outcome--a great opportunity lost, perhaps? It is easy to think that any time a team is so close to a championship. But I cannot look back without remembering all of the pure joy (sorry, Tara) that came out of this season. The great wins (Rutgers, Tennessee, Baylor, Utah, Cal, ASU), the terrific individual performances, the winning team chemistry, two disappointing losses in LA that propelled the team to running the table all the way to the championship game--it was all good. Only one team is happy at the end of the year, so we can be a little sad, but also realize we are happier than everyone else. I don't know about you but I CAN'T WAIT for next year!