STANFORD SPORTS

First, very good news.  Pfizer-BioNTech submitted a request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to authorize its Omicron-specific vaccine:

• The shot targets B.1, BA.4 and BA.5 variants that are responsible for nearly 100% of all current cases in the U.S.

• 
  What about that BA.2.75 subvariant, which replaced BA.5 in India as the dominant strain?  No word yet, but my analysis of the evolution of both is that they came from the same variant, BA.2, so there has to be something good to this link.
• Intended for anyone 12 years or older.
• 
  Dr. Ashish Jha, who coordinates COVID for the White House, and will effectively replace Dr. Anthony Fauci as the face of the administration on this subject, said that this booster could be available by early to mid September.
• Moderna's version, very similar to Pfizer's, will soon also come before the FDA.

I feel happy today, so for my nostalgic Tueday posting today, I selected:

STANFORD SWEEPS PENN STATE FOR NCAA VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP.

This was from my 8May2010 blog.  I was in California for what was then an annual golf outing to Reno or Las Vegas.  Had lunch in Walnut Creek with Carl Weinberg, former R&D director for PG&E and Terry Surles, who spent time at more national laboratories than I can remember, and is returning next month with a group of Stanford University sophomores for a tour of energy sites in Hawaii.  I'm addressing them on September 10.

The next day our golf group showed up in San Francisco, and we had to place chains on the tires to traverse what was a snow blizzard the day before, where we had to get through Donner pass, which is at an elevation of 7000 miles, to reach Reno.  It was reported that winds topped 131 MPH in the Sierra Nevadas.  

Our Green Safari golfed seven times.  Our best meal was lunch at Hisui 2.

So back to 8May2010 a day after I left the group, for they went home to Honolulu and Florida.  I had a meal at St. Michael's Alley:

Half a century ago St. Michael's Alley was a favorite restaurant. Egg salad sandwich with a lettuce salad that featured a dressing I've been imagining all these years. Never liked that taste then, but I thought I would today. While that restaurant still exists a short walk from the Caltrain Palo Alto station, the owners have changed a few times and the menu is totally different. No memorable salad dressing.

Saturday brunch is very popular, with a swarm of people waiting outside the door. However, I managed to sneak into a bar seat and ordered a Salmon Benedict and Caesar Salad with a Kir Royale and Page Mill (name of the street a block away) Chardonnay.

I saw a wall of violet flowers on my way to Maples Pavilion to pick up my will call ticket for the Stanford-Penn State NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship. There is something about a campus like Stanford the day of a big game. The atmosphere was electric and students were everywhere. 

During my eating club days, I lived in Toyon Hall, a block away. A block further was my freshman dormitory Wilbur. I went to say hi to both. Never before noticed this, but there is now a wing called Okada, an Asian-American theme house named after John Okada, author of No-No Boy. His bio shows no connection to Stanford. I'll need to look into this later. The University has become super ethnically sensitive since my days there. I also noticed a Chicano/Latino theme house in Stern Hall, and there is a prominent Black Community Services Center.

The reserved seats were sold out, but, it turned out that if you enter the auditorium when the door opens, your general admission seat can be at mid-court with a perfect view.  Stanford, led by mostly Hawaii players, swept Penn State. Ironically, Stanford had to beat Hawaii last week to get to this championship game.

In July of 2020 Stanford announced the discontinuation of 11 sports, including men's volleyball.  How could they do that to this to such a successful team?  

This is heartbreaking news to share. These 11 programs consist of more than 240 incredible student-athletes and 22 dedicated coaches. They were built by more than 4,000 alumni whose contributions led to 20 national championships, 27 Olympic medals, and an untold number of academic and professional achievements. Each of the individuals associated with these programs will forever have a place in Stanford’s history.

Then just as shockingly, in May of 2021, Stanford reinstated all 11 sport programs.  However, the damage was done.  From 1994 to 2019 Stanford won the Director's Cup every year for NCAA sports programs.  There was no award in 2020 because of the pandemic.  In 2021 and 2022 the winning school was the University of Texas.  Stanford did place #2 both times.

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