Boston celebrated its 350th birthday Saturday night at the biggest ball in town while Boston College staged a jubilee of its own. The Eagles soared past Stanford, 30-13, in the visitors' first journey to Beantown since 1931. No one will remember the Pac Ten gridders forgettable performance for another 50 years, but another Stanford show on the turf--that of the Stanford Band--might linger for a long time.

The bleachers blazed with fall colors: maroon, gold and red. Both sides answered every play with a standing roar, and Stanford drew nearly as many supporters as Boston.

The band, now famous for putting the Harvard musicians to shame, turned up in mirror sunglasses and white hats, ranging from tennis hats to berets and chef's caps. Crimson band member Meg Ziegler said about last Friday's battle of the bands in the Yard, "When they started playing Santana we knew we were out of our league." Stanford's halftime show, "Brief History of American Violence," featured an ax formation in honor of Lizzie Borden, and S&M formation, and one of Sid V., a tribute to the Sex Pistols. Music such as "Satisfaction" and "It Don't Come Easy" accompanied the notorious "She's Not There" by Santana. Joe Doucette, Stanford alumni back for a guest appearance with the band, said that "sleeping on the floor of the B.C. hockey rink where the Band lodged during its stay in Boston-really wasn't that bad except for the noise. There was a large amount of snoring and thrusting and things." Joe's band instrument? The canon.

The losing Cardinals did not seem to affect the band's performance--and vice versa--but the band successfully won the attention of the bleacher crowds. Doucette said that the 3000-mile journey was worth it "to show the people in Boston how to have a good time." Band leader Steve Pappas--a ringer for Roger Daltry--seemed to be doing just that. His long bleached curls flopped up and down for two hours, as much a part of the show as the human redwood trees that danced around the musicians.

Actually, only one tree usually accompanies the band, but some graduated bark came back for the occasion. The real tree, Stanford sophomore Judy Mischel, says being a tree isn't easy. "I'm supposed to skip around and just act crazy but I get molested." Fifty people wanted the job of being tree for a year, but Judy got it because she was the first to show up.

The Stanford Dollies, at least, may have shown some disappointment at Stanford's inability to score. These five girls dance to the band's music when the Cardinals reach the end zone. Since they love to dance (especially when the tune is "Jumpin' Jack Flash") their frowns were understandable. The Dollies don't like to be thought of as cheerleaders because "we don't lead cheers. We don't even use our pom--poms in half our routines," says Lenita Williamson, the Dolly leader. The Dollies wanted to be associated with the band, not with the Cardinals.

The girls weren't alone on Saturday night. The crowd seemed more interested in the music than the plays as the evening wore on. While BC fans poured onto the turf after the final countdown, the Stanford bleachers remained full of dancing students listening to and watching the band, which was playing "White Punks on Dope."

Perhaps this highflying group in red was trying to compensate for the apparent lack of energy on the field.

Stanford star quarterback John Elway completed a respectable 59 per cent of his passes, but generally seemed to have left his arm in San Francisco.

The B.C. defense stole four interceptions. Last season Elway gave up a total of three. This was the player that Stanford coach Paul Wiggin called a "flame thrower...like a Terry Bradshaw." Saturday night, however, the flame had never been lit for Elway, who failed to employ All-American senior flanker Ken Margerum.

Margerum grabbed five passes for 82 yards Saturday, but at last year's Eagles-Cardinals brawl Margerum collected three of his record 24-career touchdown passes that led Stanford to victory. But this year was different. "We thought we were up for the game, but we were just flat," Margerum, said after the game.

No wonder the westerners weren't watching the field. Instead their attention focused on the reunion among undergrads after a long summer (classes don't start until October 1) and among graduates after years. Several thousand miles and 49 years later, was the Cardinal's journey in vain? The band would say no; they showed Boston that no matter who wins the game, a jubilee is anybody's ball.