No that's not the motto of some thug football team from Oakland which used to share football stadium with the thugs in South Central. That's a term UCLA's Athletic Director used today in a LA Times article, profiling the Bruins' pursuit of NCAA Title No. 100. A great article in the paper on Bruins zeroing in on a Hundred:
The women's water polo team notched UCLA's 99th NCAA team title on May 14 -- toppling USC in the championship game, no less. Stanford is second with 92 titles, and USC is third with 84, with a huge margin over fourth-place Oklahoma State, which has 47.
"We'll get to 100; the question is when," UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero said.
The most likely answer: soon. As many as six more UCLA teams -- including its top-ranked softball squad -- could be in position to win titles by the end of spring.
Around campus, there is a palpable buzz about reaching triple digits, but no rooting for one team to hit the milestone before another.
"If the softball team wins the 102nd national championship as opposed to the 100th," said Caitlin Benyi, a senior second baseman, "we're going to be just as excited and just as happy."
Since Guerrero replaced the retired Peter Dalis as athletic director before the 2002-03 school year, the Bruins have won 13 titles, one shy of what would be an unprecedented four-year span of success at the school. UCLA also won 13 titles from 1981 to '85.
This school year is a prime example. Along with winning titles in women's water polo and men's volleyball, the football team posted the seventh 10-win season in school history and the men's basketball team finished second overall, losing in the championship game to Florida. Also, only men's water polo and women's rowing failed to qualify for postseason competition. (Only four teams make the playoffs in water polo; UCLA had a record of 21-8 and was ranked No. 5.)
Guerrero attributed UCLA's success to "a perfect storm" of factors, including an ideal campus location, a top-notch academic reputation and coaches who "are as good a collective group as you'll find anywhere on any campus in the country."
Again we should make it clear. This year we had national champions in volleyball, water polo et al., and Pac-10 championships (both conference and tourneys) in hoops. But we have had no championships in football.
The 10 win season in football was not a championship season of any kind. We are still waiting for Dorrell to measure up the standards of other program. I mean I am still waiting for the Dorrell football program to match DG's lofty standards as he referred to all other championships as "a testament to our commitment to broad-based excellence." I wouldn't call this or this as examples of our "commitment to broad-based excellence":
Anyways just wanted to make sure no one loses the perspective on what is going in UCLA football in comparison to the incredible achievements in all other athletic programs in Westwood.
When the moment comes as the Bruins bring home championship number 100, it will be yet another surreal moment in the history of the greatest university in the country.
GO BRUINS.