Open letter to TJ and Curry -

Dear TJ and Curry -

Thank you for your recent articles on the plight of the UCLA Bruins under their current "leader", Coach Dorrell. After having been overlooked by the media at large and disrespected by same after an "impressive" 10-2 season last year, I guess we should be happy to have your attention at last.

However, after having read your articles, it became painfully clear to me (and other loyal Bruins) that the media still has no clue why we Bruins are so upset. True, we are upset at the loss at Notre Dame, a game that by all accounts, we had won. However, our pain and anger goes deeper than that one game. For you to focus on our complaints after that one game and paint us with the broad stroke as being unrealistic or overzealous is incorrect, to say the least.

The loss to Notre Dame, while maybe not a tragedy on the scale of an airplane crash, was still devastating, considering that the game was won. What you seem to miss is that the loss to Notre Dame is not the ailment we are complaining about; instead, what you should have noted in your articles is that the loss to Notre Dame is a symptom of the ailment afflicting UCLA football right now.

As Adande and other "experts" have noted, Coach Dorrell has not won a single game against a ranked team on the road during his 4 years. Yes, he pulled off an "impressive" 10-2 season last year, yet that "impressive" record still failed to garner the Bruins any respect in the pre-season polls, as evidenced by the fact that the Bruins were not ranked in the top 25. Why is that? How can you now cite to last years 10-2 record as evidence of Dorrell's success, but at the same time, disrespect him and the team by ignoring that "impressive" record?

Our anger stemming from the loss to Notre Dame cannot be viewed in a vacuum and if you think that is the sole basis for our anger, than you are the ones who are unrealistic.