The Stanford Cardinal is the moniker of the athletic teams that belong to the Palo Alto, California-based Stanford University. The Cardinal teams compete in the NCAA's Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the school's athletic department has established itself as one of the more formidable organizations in its region. Stanford's chief rival is the University of California, Berkeley and the annual football game between the two teams, called The Big Game, is typically a very heated sign of the two universities' centuries-old rivalry.
