Go Mighty Card

Gaffney to Return for Stanford Degree

Oh, and he'll be playing football, too. According to GoStanford.com, running back Tyler Gaffney, who left after the 2012 Fiesta Bowl to pursue a professional baseball career, will return to school on April 1st for the spring quarter. "This is the ideal time for me to return to the Farm and complete the work toward my degree from Stanford University," said Gaffney. "As a freshman at Stanford in 2009, I had three goals: play football and baseball at Stanford and receive my degree. Two of the three have been accomplished; I eagerly look forward to completing the third."

You should definitely listen to David Lombardi's exclusive (and free) interview with Gaffney over at The Bootleg, in which Gaffney explains that he's eager to strap on the shoulder pads again this coming fall. But what will this mean for the team when he does?

Senior Anthony Wilkerson tops all current Stanford backs with 914 yards and seven touchdowns in his three-year career, and after that there's a huge drop-off to sophomores Kelsey Young, Remound Wright, and Ricky Seale. Beyond those four, of course, lurks a redshirt freshman named Barry J. Sanders, a player that David Shaw described as the best running back recruit in America on signing day in 2012.

Last week it looked like the 2013 Stanford backfield would resemble the Jackson 5 -- four talented backs destined to be outshone sooner or later by a dynamic youngster -- but now the narrative has changed.

Let's assume that there are 500 carries to go around in 2013. Stepfan Taylor had 322 carries in 2012, but no one will approach that number this fall. No one on the roster has ever carried the ball more than 89 times in a single season (that was Wilkerson's freshman year), and I bet we don't see anyone with more than 200 carries this season. Maybe we end up with something like this:

Wilkerson: 150 carries
Gaffney: 125 carries
Wright: 75 carries
Young:  50 carries
Sanders: 50 carries
Seale: 50 carries

Gaffney will likely end up with somewhere around 125 carries, but even more important than that could be the veteran leadership he'll provide.We can't be sure whether or not Gaffney will simply be able to pick up where he left off after a year of riding busses from one minor league city to the next, but he'll certainly contribute.

GMC Book Club

No, it's not really a book club. It's much better. Let me explain.

I started this blog during the 2010 season, mainly because my friends were tiring of reading thousand-word emails after every Stanford game. In the two years that have followed I've written more than 200,000 words here about Stanford football, and I've enjoyed every minute. Some of you out there have possibly read all of those 200,000+ words, and I can't thank you enough. Writing for you has been an absolute joy.

There have been times, though, when it's been work. There have been times when I've thought about monetizing this site in some way, either through ads or by placing a simple PayPal donate button in the corner of the page. I've resisted all that, but recently another idea popped into my head.

I write this blog during the wee hours of the night, but by day I am a mild-mannered middle school English teacher -- ironically enough, at a place called Stanford Middle School. I teach all types of students, some of whom might end up at Stanford University one day, but today I want to talk to you about a group of 8th grade students that is close to my heart.

My seventh period class is made up of the 23 lowest readers in the school. Many of them had not read a book on their own before coming into my class, but in their second year in my room -- third year for a handful of them -- many of them are seeing the light and discovering the joy of reading.

It's difficult to find high-interest reading material that's still accessible to my students, all of whom are reading two or more years below their grade level. Once titles are identified, school budgets make it difficult to put books in the hands of these suddenly eager readers.

This is where you come in. If you've ever read something here and thought, "This is a good as something I might find behind another site's paywall," or if GMC is a daily stop for you, please consider clicking on the link below. It will take you to GoMightyCard's Amazon Wishlist, and you'll be able to buy a copy (or more) of The Hunger Games to donate to my class.

No, it won't pay for my webhosting fees, but it will do something much more important. It will keep a student's love for reading alive. Thanks for reading.

Here's the link: GMC's Amazon Wish List

UPDATE: I could not be more grateful. In less than 48 hours, my readers have come together and provided my students with an ENTIRE class set of The Hunger Games! I thank you, and my students thank you! If you'd still like to contribute books to my classroom, I've updated the Wish List with some other titles. Thank you from the bottom of my Cardinal heart!

Get Your Stanford SpiritHood Now!

Are you looking to make a serious fashion statement at the Rose Bowl? Need a last-minute gift for that Cardinal fan on your list? I might have just the thing for you. The good folks at Team SpiritHoods have a special offer for fans of GoMightyCard. If you jump over to their site you can use this TOP SECRET promo code to get a 10% discount on a Stanford SpiritHood of your very own. Just enter CARDROSE at checkout!

And here's even better news -- we've got a Stanford SpiritHood to give away to one lucky GMC fan. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite player on this year's Stanford team, and I'll enter your name in the drawing. If you like Go Mighty Card on Facebook (or if you already have), I'll give you a second entry. If you follow me on Twitter (or already do), you get a third entry. Sound good? Good luck!

EDIT: Forgot to mention something important -- the drawing will be held at 10:00 PM Stanford time on Thursday, December 20th! 

The Million Dollar Question

If you've read anything about Stanford Football over the past seven days, you know that people in all corners of Mighty Card Nation are calling for a change at the quarterback position. Since everyone else has weighed in, I figured I might as well make my statement, even if David Shaw is tired of the discussion.

Josh Nunes should be the quarterback.

Before you gather the villagers and light the torches, let me explain.

I GO TO STANFORD, BRODIE!

Kulabafi and A-Wilk (otherwise known as Stepfan Taylor and Anthony Wilkerson) drop bombs. I dare you to listen without bobbing your head.

The Fan's Dilemma

The problem with being a true sports fan, the type who lives and dies with each win or loss, is that you have no control over anything connected to your team. I remember talking with a friend a few years ago, and our conversation wandered from concerns about a bad financial investment he had made to our shared frustrations with the Lakers and their latest playoff demise. "I'm so pissed about the Lakers," he said, "and I'm not even invested in them."

He was wrong, of course. He was heavily invested in the Lakers. There's almost always a financial investment made in tickets to see your team in person; cable packages to watch them on TV; jerseys, sweatshirts, and caps to proclaim your allegiance; donations to college athletic programs; and even travel expenses for trips to glamorous places like Glendale, Arizona.

More important that all that, though, is the emotional investment. The time you spend worrying, wondering, thinking, predicting, discussing, and rationalizing could be measured in minutes and hours, but there's no way to quantify the weight of all that on the human soul. As Stanford fans, we all fall victim to this. If you're reading this right now instead of analyzing a spreadsheet, writing a brief, working on a problem set, or playing Monopoly with your kids, you're invested. (How invested am I? Including this piece, I've written 123,895 words about this team over the past two years, not including work I've done for other sites.)

As invested as we are as fans, however, we have no control. We can't decide when to take out a pitcher, which quarterback should start, or whether or not to sign the hottest free agent. Sure, we trick ourselves into thinking we can influence on field results by wearing a particular lucky shirt, sitting in the same recliner, or even -- as a friend of mine in college frequently did while watching his Chicago Bulls -- refusing to use the bathroom. It's all nonsense, and we know it. Unless you're a superfan like Phil Knight or Boone Pickens, you have no influence. Sports is the one important thing in your life that you have no control over.

A Mighty Thanks

In general, I think I do a pretty good job of expressing thanks to the important people in my life (my wife, children, family, friends, and students) and reminding myself how lucky I am that I've arrived at this exact place in life, so I've never actually sat down at the Thanksgiving table and announced the things that I'm thankful for. 

I didn't do that this Thanksgiving, either, but here's a list of the Stanford Football things that I'm thankful for today. Feel free to add your own list below.

An Open Letter to Chris Owusu

Dear Chris,

I can't imagine how you must be feeling right now. When you committed to play football at Stanford University back in June of 2007, the team was coming off the worst season in school history. You and the rest of that group arrived in Palo Alto in the summer of 2008 with the stated intention of turning the program around, but I can't imagine that even your wildest dreams included a trip to the Orange Bowl in 2010 and a run at a national championship in 2011.

But here we are, only five games away from winning the ultimate prize. With a few more wins and some help elsewhere, your Stanford Cardinal -- that same team that was 1-11 just five years ago -- could end up in New Orleans playing in the BCS championship game.

Here's the hard part, though. As important as your presence would be in that game with your physical strength and game-breaking speed, I hope you aren't playing. In fact, I hope you never play another football game.

Nike Pro Combat

After much anticipation, Nike revealed the Pro Combat uniforms that the Cardinal will be wearing in their regular season finale against Notre Dame. Traditionalists have been worrying about this for months, but here at GMC we don't think it's that big a deal. In fact, we'd rather see these uniforms than the all black outfits they wore against Wake Forest last season. There's one thing people should always remember whenever discussing anything that has to do with Stanford football, and it's especially true in this case. Five years ago Stanford football was irrelevant. There is no way that Nike would have designed a special uniform the Cardinal back then, so even if you don't like the look, relax. Embrace the love. Besides, I'm guessing that current and future players are already in love. Anyway, judge for yourself. More pictures below the jump...

Cardinal Blog Pick'Em

I know what you're thinking. This GMC character keeps running his mouth about Stanford football and the Pac-12, but he doesn't really know what he's talking about.

Well, now's your chance to put your money where your mouth is. (Okay, no actual money, but still...) You can enter the Cardinal Blog Pick'Em contest.

It's simple, really. The genious behind The Daily Axe has started a Yahoo! College Football Pick'em League just for readers of The Daily Axe, Rule of Tree, and Go Mighty Card. Each week we'll be picking the winners of all the entire Pac-12 slate plus several other national games. If you want to be part of the fun, shoot me an email and I'll send you the league name and top secret password. But if you're interested, don't sleep. The first college games are this Thursday, so you'll have to enter by then. Don't be scared.