What do you get when you put a bunch of wooden pallets in an amphitheater full of Stanford haters? You get UC Berkley’s annual Bonfire Rally to kickoff Big Game Weekend.

Thousands of students packed in to Berkeley’s Greek Amphitheater tonight to call out chants, listen to alumni trash Stanford, enjoy the Cal Marching Band and Cheerleaders, and of course watch a Stanford banner burn in flames. When the fire started to die down throughout the rally, students shouted, “Freshman, more wood!” As is tradition, a group of freshman students came out bearing wood and keep the bonfire raging.  

Billed as the biggest bonfire west of the Mississippi, once the pallets were lit it was not hard to see why. From my seat, way up in the nosebleed section, the heat was so intense on my face that I could not look in the direction of the fire for more than a few seconds. One can only imagine how it felt to be in the front row. The fire was a great way to get all of Cal pumped for The Big Game tomorrow.