Stanford Women's Basketball Soundtrack

Hello again Cardinal fans!

I’d like to talk to you about something that greatly affects each and every one of us…music. For us though, music is not just a form of entertainment but a way of life, a superstition.

I know some of you (probably all of you let’s be honest) have a lucky shirt or pair of pants or even socks you wear proudly on game day, and some of our success must be attributed to the good juju this brings. We have the same routine with our music. Almost every player has a go-to song or genre they must listen to before every game. So without further ado, I would like to introduce you to… (drum roll please)

The Soundtrack of the 2012-2013 Stanford Women’s Basketball Team!

1)Ruef: Billy Joel
If anyone is looking for a belated Christmas gift for Ruef, consider a harmonica. It would be the perfect addition to her post practice serenades.

2)Jos: country music
Apparently in Montana, you don’t need to be specific. Any country song will do. Yee-haw!

3)Chiney: “Forever” by Chris Brown
I’m confident that if Chris Brown himself ever walked into our locker room, Chiney would steal his heart instantly with her famous booty shake.

4)Sej: “Lip Gloss” by Lil Mama
While some of you might know her as the second coming of Mariah Carey, Sej is multi-talented. Watch out Lil Mama.

5)Toni: “Sweet Nothing” by Calvin Harris featuring Florence Welch
I found this song first. Just kidding, I’m not really a hipster.

6)Bonnie: “Danza Kaduro” by Don Omar
Although Bonnie looks like she might be a professional Irish step dancer, she likes to mueve su cintura like nobody’s business. That’s “move her hips” according to Don Omar.

7)Taylor: “Cinderella Man” by Eminem
With her hype man Ruef (minus the harmonica) to back her up, Taylor can drop this entire track on par with the real slim shady himself.

8)Erica: “All the Above” by Maino featuring T-pain
No matter what Erica sings along to, there are only two words to describe it…crushed it!

9)Amber: “Stronger” by Kanye West
One can only wish to be harder, better, faster, stronger than Amber. Thank goodness we’re on the same team!

10)Jaz: “Out of my Mind” by B.O.B. featuring Nicki Minaj
When looking at Jaz’ innocent face, no one would ever guess this is how she secretly feels. We’re all just lucky she unleashes this energy on the other team. You’ve been warned Pac-12.

11)Alex: “Not Afraid” by Eminem
Do not let Alex’s quiet demeanor fool you, Dr. Dre is probably hiding in there somewhere.

12)Tess: “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” by The Charlie Daniels Band
Although this is not the song I would typically associate with Tess’ mad disco skills, who’s to say disco-ing isn’t part of line dancing in Oregon? It’s a whole different world up there after all.

13)Kiran: “Ambition” by Wale
With this as her pre-game song, I’m just waiting for Kiran to whip out an MJ Space Jam dunk. Pac-12 ain’t got nothin’ on her.

14)Denia: “’Till I Collapse” by Eminem
From breaking it down with her famous “Cat Daddy” to the casual head bobbing to Eminem, you might not guess it, but Denia has a hip hop soul.

15)Aly: “Forrest Gump” by Frank Ocean
“Life [is] like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get”…especially when Aly spontaneously jumps and lands in the splits.

Bonus Tracks

16)Tara: “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Diana Ross
With this song playing, you might just be lucky enough to witness Tara break it down…or should I say boogey?

17)Amy: “Edge of Glory” by Lady Gaga
While Amy’s outfits appear to be very business-like on the sidelines, she is just waiting for her shining moment—to bust out her suit of bubbles.

18)Kate: “There Goes a Fighter” by Gym Class Heroes
If this song comes on Kate’s iPod, be afraid, AirDyne. Be very, very afraid. The death bike’s got nothing on her.

19)Trina: “All I Do is Win” by DJ Khalid
If we had a rap battle, my money (hypothetically speaking since betting is a violation!) would be on Trina or should I say Trina ICE, as she is often known.

Thanks to the combination of Tara’s dance moves, Taylor’s rapping, and Ruef’s singing, our basketball team stands poised to be the next big hit at all the local coffee shops. The off-season is the perfect time to sharpen up our dance moves and perfect our angelic voices…as well as our shooting of course.

Until we meet again!

Toni

A History Lesson

Hey Stanford fans.

This past weekend my grandmother came all the way from New Jersey just to visit me. It was her first time ever being on Stanford’s campus, so I showed her around.

We made our way to the Main Quad to go see the chapel, and as we approached it we passed a group of six statues, each of a distinct individual. Intrigued, my grandmother asked what they meant, and I answered that I didn’t really know.

So we decided to look it up together. The six statues are referred to as the Burghers of Calais and are the work of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. Their creation was Rodin’s way of honoring and remembering an important, historical event in French history.

The story begins in 1347, during the Hundred Years War. The English, led by Edward III, were invading the coastal town of Calais. Philip VI of France initially ordered the city to attempt to hold out as long as possible, but eventually the city ran out of supplies and had to surrender.

Edward III offered to spare the city if six of its leaders would give themselves up, assumingly to be executed. He demanded that they come out with nooses around their necks and the keys to the city in their hands. These sculptures depict the six individuals, led by Eustache de Saint-Pierre, as they are walking out to their imminent doom, giving themselves up to save the rest of the city.

Who knows what kinds of thoughts could be racing through their minds at this time. Rodin leaves that for his audience to reflect on based on the varying poses of each statue (In the end, the six people were spared by the queen of England at the time). But whatever the interpretation, no one can deny the self-sacrifice that they gave.

What can we take from this?

History is all around us, and we are all a part of it in some way. I’m lucky to be a part of Stanford, a university filled with one of the richest histories that there will ever be. I’m grateful to be involved in a basketball program that has seen the likes of Jennifer Azzi, Kate Starbird, Susan King (Borchardt), Candice Wiggins, Jayne Appel, and, of course, Nneka Ogwumike.

Now it is our turn to leave our mark, our turn to determine how we want to be remembered. It is in our hands.

Amber

Taylor's TV Insight

Hello, FBC!

So things are totally in full swing for our team right now, as we have just begun PAC-12 play. It's been quite the year for our rather young team. Everything is moving so fast, and there's always something that needs to be done; it’s nice when we get the chance to relax from school work and just watch some TV!

If there’s one thing that is sure to spark up some locker room convo after a day off, it’s about our favorite TV shows that we were finally able to catch up on. With that, the remainder of my blog gives you all an insight to which shows your favorite women’s basketball team can’t stop watching!

The most popular show on the team is Modern Family, with 5 people saying it's their favorite show. Toni, SEJ, Jos, Erica, and I all nominated M.F. as one of favorites, clearly because of the humor. I can honestly say it's the funniest show I have ever seen. I haven't heard of a collectively favorite character, but SEJ, Erica, and I love Phil; I've heard of Cam being a favorite, as well. I would highly recommend this show for everyone!

The next group favorite is Pretty Little Liars, with the avid watchers being Jos, Bonnie, Jas, and me. The show is an ongoing mystery about the murder of a teenage girl whose four best friends are determined to figure out who killed her. Every episode tends to leave us with a cliffhanger, so we obviously have to continue watching to find out who the killer(s) is/are!

Another show with some popularity is Nashville. Bonnie, Jos, and Chiney have been following this new show about an old country star and the new, rising brat who thinks she’s even better. I think the reason this show has such a rave is because of the catchy country music. So if you’re a big fan of country music, Jos encourages you to catch up or start watchin’!

The rest of the shows are all “to each their own”. Denia prefers to watch 24 when she has the time, but Tess thinks Dr. Who is where it’s at. Kiran is really into Person of Interest, and Aly prefers Private Practice. To my surprise, Amber is a big fan of Duck Dynasty, and I don’t blame her; this show is hilarious! Alex has a recent favorite, Walking Dead, so she was able to watch episode after episode on Netflix. And during that time, there was no getting Alex’s attention away from the screen. Chiney is really feeling Scandal as the must-see show, and I would have to say I agree with this choice, too; the name of the show clearly speaks for itself, so I’d check it out. Even though Jas loves her Pretty Little Liars fix, she would choose to watch Law & Order: SVU over eating a big piece of chocolate cake. Last but not least, we have Mik. Mik tries to convince everyone that How I Met Your Mother is the best show ever, and it’s so funny, and the mystery of how the mother was met is still unsolved, etc, etc, etc. However, nobody else watches the show on the team... sorry Mik.

Hands down, no questions asked, my favorite TV show is Grey’s Anatomy. Ask any of my teammates: I actually believe I will be in that show someday. Once I am finished with homework and practice is over, there is nothing stopping me from watching my Grey’s.

I hope you enjoyed the little insight! Which shows would you recommend?!

Taylor

The Cardinal dance circle tradition

Hi Cardinal fans! Some of you may know about our team’s dance circle tradition before each game. Some of you may even have been lucky enough to catch a peek through the curtain at Maples before we run out to warm up. Or—probably most likely— some of you may have witnessed our crazy dance moves in an exposed tunnel at one of our away games.

As a freshman, I was introduced to this tradition just minutes before I was thrown into the middle of it! Before our first exhibition game against Corban in November, we walked out of the locker room and waited for the last couple of girls to join us before we all ran out on the court. What I didn’t know was that I would have to get over my fear of dancing before I could even start to think about getting nervous for my first college basketball game.

All of a sudden, the team was circled up, clapping, and chanting “Go, go, go Stanford”. I was confused, but I went with it. One after another, each girl was cheered on to enter the circle and perform a dance. I watched as one of our sophomores led the way. Bonnie started us off with a strange bird-like move that was apparently inspired by some physical therapy exercises she had been given to do last year. As my time neared, I could feel the blood rushing to my face. Me? Dancing? What would I possibly do? I’m not sure what got into me as the team cheered my name as an invitation –or more of a command—to enter the circle. I realize now that I must have lost my senses. I forgot about my initial embarrassment and I launched myself into an attempt to do the “Cat Daddy” dance, recently made famous by contemporary hip-hop artists. I think it probably goes without saying that my execution wasn’t great. I looked especially uncoordinated compared to some of the team’s better dancers, like Jasmine (“Jas”), who has a lot more rhythm than I do. In fact, had we played the way I had danced, we probably would have lost that exhibition game. But as the season goes on, I continue to work on my “Cat Daddy” dance in our dance circles before every game.

My most memorable performance was before the Tennessee game when a cameraman appeared right as we began our pre-game tradition. I panicked. “I can’t do the “Cat Daddy” on national television!” But sure enough, I had to do it. After all, it’s a tradition! I was convinced for hours following that the whole world had seen me humiliate myself on television. But I was happy to learn soon after that it hadn’t been aired. At least, not on any program that I knew of…

I learned early on that Chiney, Erica and Jos always bring a lot of energy to the circle, while Mikaela and Taylor bring their usual humor and goofiness. Toni always graces us with a few wild moves, most likely inspired by her involvement in the Stanford Band. However, occasionally, she teams up with Sara (“Sej”) to perform the famous “worm”, which was actually captured on national television before our game in Tennessee. Some of my other teammates are more timid. Kiran, Amber and Alex, for example, have perfected a simple wave, but I have faith that someday they will venture into the circle and show us what they’re made of. Tess started off shy and at a loss of what to do, but she has progressively come out of her shell and is now one of the team’s favorites.

The dance circle—although it may sometimes inspire fear and embarrassment—is an important team ritual. It gives us a chance to regroup before the game, let out any anxiety we might be feeling, and just be ourselves.

Denia

Time to dust off and make today count

Chiney thanks Stanford's coaches and fans for sticking with the team during Saturday's rough loss.

Click here for her blog.

What else we are

Hey Cardinal fans!

What a wonderful time of the year — Christmas is approaching, finals have ended, and our schedule is starting to get pretty exciting. We are on our way to South Carolina now, after a fun (and long) two weeks of practice, and then an awesome home game against Pacific on Saturday.

But traveling to all different parts of the country is one of the many exciting parts of spending our Christmas break together. We travel as a pack, whether it’s to the grocery store, or flying to the east coast, so you can imagine that a group of 6 feet and up women might draw some attention. As we are all sitting in the San Francisco airport wearing our fancy matching travel sweats, I can’t help but look at all the funny stares we get, and wonder what all these airport travelers must be thinking/ muttering to their family members as they walk by.

“Must be some kind of team,” we often hear, but probably the most regular is, “Wow, look how tall they all are!” And if we are in the Bay Area and they do know who we are, it’s usually just, “Hey, it’s Stanford Women’s Basketball!”

Don’t get me wrong, we all take tons of pride in the fact that we are on this team, and we are the players of Stanford Women’s Basketball, but I guess the point of this blog is to touch on each of the fifteen players individually — and give some insight on what else we are, outside of basketball players.

Let’s start out with the freshies: Denia, Kiran, Aly and Tess.

Denia is a Bay Area native who carries several nicknames such as Simba, Den, and my personal favorite: Denice. Denia has no idea what she wants to major in, but has thought of doing something in business or law for possible career choices. In her free time, she really likes to cook and to go running.

Kiran, on the other hand, is from Plano, Texas. Kiran enjoys practicing yoga, painting her nails, and indulging in chocolate. She is considering studying biology or human biology and maybe becoming an orthopaedic surgeon.

My dearest Aly would be pursuing her dream of speaking six languages: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Afrikaans, and Latin. When she is older and has kids, she plans to have a nanny that speaks all of these languages, so her kids can practice speaking a different language each day of the week.

Tess Picknell is from Medford Oregon, where there are beautiful red rocks, and would find herself practicing violin and reading Science Fiction books if she wasn’t playing basketball.

Next up we have the six-pack sophomores.

If Amber Orrange wasn’t actively playing basketball, she would be locked in to her video games. On our trips during breaks in school, she often brings her video games for breaks in the hotel room.

If Alex wasn’t playing basketball, she would be fulfilling her childhood dream of skateboarding. Nobody really knows where this dream of hers came from, but you should have seen the team’s response when she informed us of it. She’d also probably be studying and eating Snickers, because she studies A LOT and could survive off only eating candy.

Without Bonnie’s killer 3-point shot, she would be reading, and re-reading, all of the Harry Potter books. She considers herself a Hufflepuff, and I suspect she may actually be enrolled in Hogwarts. She also walks around campus randomly saying, “I’m a Hufflepuff!” (See this video:)



Bonnie also likes to watch movies and TV shows, some of which I consider to be a little odd — like Dance Moms and Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition, but to each her own.

Erica (E-Payne, P.G., E-Anna, Urrica) would be practicing to become a dancer, singer, and writer. She also is equally obsessed with Harry Potter, so would probably be reading with Bonnie in her down time, too.

Jasmine, (Jazzy or Jas), enjoys drawing in her spare time. So if she was not a basketball player, Jazzy would pursue her love of art.

Taylor, my roommate, would also be working to perfect her yoga practice. She likes to watch marathons of Grey’s Anatomy, and is an adamant shopper. Being her roommate, I will 100% confirm all of Taylor’s outside-of-basketball activities, but I sometimes worry that she actually believes she is a character in Grey’s Anatomy, and remind her that she is not yet a practicing doctor.

Next, the most important class: the Juniors.

Outside of basketball, Toni would still be extremely busy. She loves to draw, paint, and make anything. Toni and I share the same major, Human Biology, and she hopes to someday combine acupressure, muscle activation, and chiropractics all into one. She also loves to drink coffee and go to Fenton’s Creamery for their ice cream. Toni also insisted that I include her future plan of owning a super small home so she can spend all her money on going to concerts.

Chiney, another teammate who is from Texas, would be working towards becoming the President of the United States. She is always active in the community, but loves to spend quality time on all of social media sites, too. We have determined that Chiney has perfected the self-portrait, or what is otherwise known as, the “selfie.” She plans to be married to Blake Griffin or Chris Brown in a few years.

And finally, my beloved seniors.

If Mikaela, (Ruef or Mik), wasn’t playing basketball, she would be farming. Ruef dreams of someday owning her own farm, owning her own zoo, owning a great dane, and living on lots of land in the middle of Africa with all of the animals. These dreams may just be this month’s though, as she often thinks of another new and awesome thing to add to her future plans. I need to start keeping a list because I feel like I am the only one who hears about all of these off-the-wall dreams of hers.

If Jos wasn’t playing basketball, she would be “the modern day Meryl Streep.” This is a direct quote from Joslyn Tinkle, herself. Honestly, though, she really would be acting, dancing, singing, or something of that nature. She took Intro to Drama this past autumn quarter, and let’s just say the team also knew the lines of whatever play her class was working on. In a few years she hopes to be practicing her domestic skills, and eventually have five kids. Here’s a little preview of Jos’ Meryl Streep-like acting:



As for me, I don’t really know what I’d be doing. I like to draw, like Jazzy and Toni; I like to run, like Denia; and I also like to do anything out-doorsy, like hiking, mountain biking, and thinks like that. I wish I could practice yoga like Kiran and Tay, but I think I may be one of the most inflexible people around. So when we practice yoga as a team, I like to stick to the corpse pose. I am studying Human Biology like Toni, to hopefully become either a Nurse Practitioner or Physicians Assistant some day, and eventually live in the mountains with my husband, three kids, and a dog (that probably won’t be as awesome as my dog now, Sadie).

So basically what I’m trying to say is, there is a whole lot more to this team than people know. My fourteen teammates are some of the coolest, funniest, smartest, most fun people around, which makes playing basketball at Stanford with them even better. Thanks for reading! See you at the games!

Sara James
“Sej”

We live for the moments we share

Chiney blogs in espnW about her "twin sister" Joslyn.

Click here to read it.

Just a little bit suits Jasmine

The saying goes that, "The best part of waking up is Folger's in your cup." For our team, it's not Folger's that gets everyone going, but Starbucks instead.

More than half of our team enjoys a wonderful cup of Starbucks coffee at least twice a week. On our trips through various airports, most of the team, coaches included, makes a nearly ritualistic stop at Starbucks. We probably single handedly fund any airport Starbucks.

Our drinks range from straight black coffee to caramel lattes. You can ALWAYS find Amy with a Starbucks cup, usually straight black coffee. I think she Google searches for the nearest Starbucks no matter what city we're in.

Now personally, I'm not a coffee drinker at all, but I've recently found peppermint mochas. For a while, I was totally against trying it because it contained coffee. I didn't know that it contained chocolate (mmmmmm) until Denia enlightened me on the contents. The chocolate was the real deal closer for me. After that first sip, I was sold on this stuff.

So I have recently joined that ever growing group of us that makes a Starbucks run. I still refuse to touch any hard core coffee, but a little coffee in a peppermint mocha is just enough for me.

Cool Beans, Brew: The History of Coffee Club

By Mikaela Ruef

Of all the great experiences I’ve had in my 4 years on the Stanford Women’s Basketball team, I’d have to say 87% of the things I remember from road trips are Coffee Club trips. Like our first trip to Utah when we walked 30 minutes to a Starbucks in a grocery store because we didn’t know there was a coffee shop right across the street in the opposite direction. But I’m getting ahead of myself, so I’ll start where all good histories start, at the beginning.

It all began on my very first trip to Seattle, Washington. Our strength and conditioning coach at the time, Devan, was an avid coffee drinker and so was my adopted sister, Sarah Boothe. I was only a wee little freshman just discovering the countless joys coffee can bring to an otherwise uninspired day. Since we were staying right down the street from Pike’s Market, Devan suggested we visit the first ever Starbucks, and check out the shops in the morning before breakfast. It was the coolest thing walking through the market at 8 in the morning. We walked past a beautiful Roger Federer banner that was hanging from the roof of Nike Town, rubbed the pig statue for good luck at the entrance of the market, smelled the glorious scent of fresh donut holes, passed about 12 Starbucks, then finally arrived at the original Starbucks. We got our morning cup-a-joe then explored. After that trip it was decided, we would get up early every morning to walk to a coffee shop outside of the hotel so we could explore which ever city we were visiting and enjoy a cup of heaven on our adventure.

The Coffee Club didn’t actually get the name “Coffee Club” until my sophomore year. I know you’re thinking that Coffee Club isn’t even that clever of a name, but before my sophomore year the 3 of us were just a nameless group wandering the streets, we were offish, but we had no name. My memory may be a little fuzzy, but I’m pretty sure our group got the name after Tara called us the Coffee Club. I think it was after the Utah fiasco, when we showed up 20 minutes late to breakfast because we hiked 3 miles to find a coffee shop outside of the hotel, and misjudged how long it would take us to get back. The only rule in coffee club is that you have to go to a place outside the hotel because the point of coffee club is to wander through the streets of the town we’re visiting. Anyway, Tara wasn’t super thrilled that we were so late to breakfast and afterward she was talking to me about it. All I remember from that talk was, “… and no more of this Coffee Club….” and I remember thinking, what a BRILLIANT name for our group! Luckily both Boothe and I played good in the Utah game, so Tara took back her earlier decree of “no more Coffee Club”, and the name stuck.

Devan, Boothe, and I desperately wanted to expand our group so more teammates could relish in the wonderful experiences we were having on the daily. Boothe and I were also concerned about getting freshies to join so they could carry on the tradish after we left, but everyone was reluctant to get up early in the morning, sleep trumped freshly brewed goodness in their minds. We thought we had a new member when Toni joined the team, cuz she appreciates a good cup of coffee when she tastes it, but sadly the one thing Toni appreciates more than a good cup of coffee is an extra hour of sleep, and so she was a no-go. Our search continued until about halfway through my sophomore year when Sara James (aka Sejjie Wedgie) bravely elected to forgo the extra hour of sleep and take a dip in the pond. Sej got up early one morning and joined us on one of our fun filled trip. It only took one trip and she was hooked, ever since she’s been an integral part of the Club.

Then next year, Devan, one of the founders of Coffee Club and token chaperone/ bodyguard was no longer with the team, and we weren’t really quite sure how Coffee Club could go on with out him. That is when Aaron Juarez, SID extraordinaire stepped up in a big way. Aaron doesn’t even drink coffee but he knew how important Coffee Club was to Boothe, Sej, and me so he promised he would take Devan’s spot as bodyguard even though it meant getting up early every morning. Aaron has gone above and beyond his duties, he not only scares off shady peeps walking down the streets, he even scouts out coffee shops the night before so he knows where we’re going the next morning.

Boothe, too, has now moved on to bigger and better things, and I am the sole founder of the Coffee Club remaining at Stanford. One day I will also move on, but my hope is that as people move on, the Coffee Club endures. Currently, the Coffee Club is flourishing, having added a new member, Kurtis Rayfield, caffeine enthusiast. We are constantly trying to recruit new underclassmen to join, and if ever they opt to make the sacrifice and join us for a trip or two, I’m sure they will fall in love with the Coffee Club and never leave, just as every past and current member did on their first trip.

Our season is in our hands this year

Chiney begins this season's team blog with a post to espnW.

Click here to read it.