By
Chris Martin
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Can you hear the tree crashing to the ground? Yes, the hideous Cardinal tree that grew in Palo Alto, Calif. has been felled.
The Stanford teams and their ridiculous tree mascot were cut down to size this weekend by ax-wielding Wilbur the Wildcat. Arizona was the better school, if only for a weekend.
Stanford had high expectations going into this weekend's critical football and volleyball matches against UA.
Too bad, Cardinal fan, the Stanford volleyball team is way overrated at No. 15 and the football team, well, I don't know what to think.
After disposing of then-No. 6 Texas last weekend behind the arm of backup QB Chris Lewis, Stanford appeared to be a team ready to make a serious Pac-10 run.
Enter a stingy Arizona defense and the continual emergence of freshman running back Clarence Farmer and Ortege Jenkins, and the UA - not Stanford - appears to be the team that could shake up the Pac-10.
How happy is Dick Tomey that Farmer chose Arizona over Tennessee?
This scrappy freshman moved the pile with his strength, out-ran cornerbacks with his speed and was clearly the best player on the field.
Maybe UA offensive lineman Marques McFadden was right when he said that the highly-touted Stanford d-line was overrated?
Maybe - just maybe - they aren't overrated. Maybe Farmer is just that good.
It was also nice to see O.J. connecting on deep routes to WR's Brad Brennan and Bobby Wade. If 'the Juice' keeps throwing bombs like he did Saturday, Andrae Thurman will have plenty of opportunities to make up for the touchdown drop he had of Jenkins' 50-yard laser in the third quarter.
By the way, defensive end Idris Haroon got ripped off by the Russian judges on his fourth quarter somersault into the end zone. How could they give him an 8.9?
His form was excellent and he stuck his landing, plus the man weights 265 pounds. In my book, that equates to at least a 9.6.
Speaking of high scores, give the UA volleyball team an "A+" for its weekend dominance against the Cardinal and California.
I don't want to hear it, Stanford fan, I don't care if All-American Logan Tom is playing in Sydney.
Arizona deserved that victory, Tom or no Tom. Too bad more fans weren't at McKale Center to appreciate the victory.
Head coach David Rubio has one hell of a team this year, and it will contend for both the Pac-10 title and the national championship.
Stanford had no chance on Friday night as Arizona go out of the gate early and the Cardinal got hammered by the likes of Jill Talbot, Allison Napier and Marisa DaLee (congrats on your 1000th kill, quite an accomplishment).
That is one imposing front-line. With junior setter Dana Burkholder running the show for the Wildcats, victory is becoming almost a foregone conclusion for the volleyball team.
So Stanford didn't stand a chance this week and just to inform you, the reader, this column was printed on 100 percent recycled Stanford 'tree' paper.
