This sculpture is Douglas Tilden’s he-man-sized celebration of the adoration, intimacy, and affection between an athlete boy-child and his adoring teammate. Kneeling before his hero, an attentive student footballer (more rugby than NFL) ministers tenderly to the wounds of his fellow, while staring down in gap-mouthed, thick-lipped, and heavy-lidded Pre-Raphaelite splendor is the lascivious leering face of the injured hero. This sculpture, honoring Cal’s 1898 and 1899 football victories over Stanford, is tucked in the woods behind Life Sciences and is, straight up, the most vivid depiction of man-on-man lust mounted for public consumption anywhere in the Bay Area.
