There is no joy at Stanford.
Mighty Casey has struck out.
Mighty Casey Jacobsen, Stanford’s junior All-American, is considered to be the best player in the Pacific-10 Conference, is a candidate for his second-straight All-American honor and is the star of a Cardinal team that has won back-to-back-to-back Pac-10 titles.
Mighty Casey had never lost at McArthur Court, nor to Oregon at all for that matter. He had always shone in this venue because, he said, of the crowd that despises him so.
“This crowd hates me more than any — them and Cal — Cal fans and Oregon fans really, really get after me,” Jacobsen said. “It only makes me play harder and tougher. I appreciate the fans for motivating me tonight.
“They’re a great crowd. I would love to have them on my side, I’ll tell you that. No hard feelings towards them at all.”
Mighty Casey had the best offensive game of his career against Oregon on Saturday night. He scored 32 points, a career-high, and hit all four of his three-point attempts. He had 22 points in the first half alone. Like a baseball slugger trying desperately to carry his team, he hit home run after home run, shots that were answered with singles and doubles from the other team.

Mighty Casey could have, should have, would have extended his Oregon dominance if only he hadn’t, well, struck out.
Mighty Casey had a chance to be a hero, a chance he has converted many times before, on Saturday night. With the Cardinal threatening to come back from a 10-point deficit at the 8:31 mark, Mighty Casey hit two important free throws with less than two minutes left to make the score 81-79 Oregon. On Stanford’s next possession, with the Cardinal down by four points, freshman guard Chris Hernandez threw a pass to the three-point line on the left side, and …
Mighty Casey booted the ball. He mishandled Hernandez’s pass and the ball went off his hands and out of bounds to Oregon with 45 seconds left. Duck guard Luke Ridnour hit two free throws on the next possession to all but seal the Oregon win.
Mighty Casey said the loss was the most telling statistic.
“I played well offensively, but it would be really hard to say that my best game came in a loss,” Jacobsen said. “I don’t think I would ever say that, I’m not that kind of person.”
Mighty Casey was, surely, not responsible for his team’s demise. His 32 points and Curtis Borchardt’s 29 accounted for 77 percent of the Stanford scoring. No, the reasons Stanford lost on Saturday night were numbered 22, 24, 25, 00, 01, 05, 11, 33 and 42. Those were the jersey numbers of the nine players who saw court time but combined for only 18 points.
“We’re starting five guys this year, it’s a new rule,” Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said sarcastically after the game. “We can’t stand and watch Casey play.”
Mighty Casey couldn’t beat the Oregon team Saturday. He scored points from everywhere on the floor, but the Ducks always found an answer. The auditory result was often comical; the fans would fill Mac Court with cheering, go deathly silent after a Mighty Casey jump shot, then explode once more with a Luke Jackson jumper or a Ridnour trey.
Mighty Casey couldn’t overcome Jackson’s 27 points, Chris Christoffersen’s 16, Freddie Jones’s 12, Luke Ridnour’s 11, Brian Helquist’s 10.
Mighty Casey, in the end, couldn’t single-handedly win the game for the Cardinal, as hard as he tried. To paraphrase the fabled poem “Casey at the Bat”:
Oh, somewhere in California-land the sun is shining bright.
And somewhere the Stanford band is playing, and somewhere hearts are light.
And somewhere professors are laughing, and somewhere students shout.
But there is no joy at Stanford — Mighty Casey has struck out.