OSU football: Fiesta Bowl splits Piedmont household

When Karl Gigstad arrived at StanfordUniversity 31/2 years ago as a Piedmont High School graduate, Stanford had reached one major bowl in 38 years.

When his little sister, Elise, got to OSU earlier this year, the Cowboys hadn’t been in a major bowl since the 1945 season.

So naturally, in the Fiesta Bowl next week is Karl’s Cardinal and Elise’s Cowboys.

Which made for an interesting Christmas in the Gigstad household.

“It’s a lot of trash talk for sure,” Karl said. “I made sure to give her a nice Stanford shirt for Christmas so she could wear it on Jan. 2.”

Fat chance of that. Elise distributed Cowboy gear to her family, and she’s got the bonus of her parents being OSU season ticket holders. “It’s been really fun,” Elise said.

Karl said he also is recruiting family members to root for the Stanford side of this game. “I think I’ve got my brother sold on it,” he said. “That’s me and him rooting against the little sister.  Unfortunately, I think she’s got both my parents on her side. They got season tickets this year. She gets all the special treatment since she stayed in state. I’ll just have to console ‘em afterwards, I guess.”

Neither Gigstad will be at the game, though Karl did make it toMiamifor the Stanford-Virginia Tech Orange Bowl last season. “That was really cool,” he said. “Traveling two years in a row didn’t work out.