My story is a lot different, but with all the same love for those 4 letters.

As a kid growing up in Brooklyn New York, my Dad would come home from work and have the NYT (What can I say). As he would go through the different sections, I would look through the paper when he was done. Those 4 letters caught my eye one day (fate???) and I would then look for articles about them each day and follow the best I could.
When I was 12 we moved to CA and obviously it became much easier to follow the Bruins. I did not get the opportunity to go to UCLA (Community College with my buddies) but it didn't affect how big a fan I was.
In 1980 I became a season ticket holder for football (still am) and in 1982 became a season ticket holder for BB, but I had to give them up 3 years ago being I live about 250 miles form Pauley.
I hve been a loyal fan through thick & thin for a lot of years. Never missed a football or basketball home game for the first 20 years of having tickets. Job & travel affected a few games after that
Absolutely loved walking through the campus on a Saturday afternoon prior to the game. Checking out the student store for the latest in Bruin wear. I would take my Nephew to games with me so he would start out being a fan at an early age.
Even my wife who would rather take a beating than go to a football game did in fact enjoy going to the BB games and would at least not schedule anything for us to do when a road game was on TV.
Took road trips to Cal, Stanford, Arizona & Arizona St. Was at the Fiesta bowl when we beat Miami (with Bernie Kosar) at the end of the game by sacking Kosar and running out the clock. I was also at the Nebraska game you mention and by that Sunday I had no voice left to speak with. Driving to Pauley (in a VW) with it raining so hard you could only go about 30 on the freeway.
Lot's of great memories (too many to list them all here) and hoping for a lot more in the future.

GO BRUINS

Did I mention previously how much I hate ND??

There was something about you that I liked (LOL).

Anyone that despises the Red Sox is OK with me.

This is my first post but I've been following this blog almost every day (sometimes, several time a day) for the past year.  Great stories!  

I've been following the posts on this website for a few months now.  Today after reading your (Nestor's) wonderful account of his love affair with UCLA and all of its trappings, I was finally moved to register and respond.

From some of the highlights you cited during your years in Westwood, I suspect we attended at about the same time ('93-'97), and so many of those memories I have as well.  

My love affair with the Bruins started in childhood as my father is an Alum as well.  To say that I was progressively brainwashed to love the Bruins and utterly despise the Trojans is probably not an overstatement, although my abhorrence of the Evil Swine of South Central far exceeds and anything my Dad would subscribe to at this point.  

I grew up in the OC and remember watching Bruin football games and not understanding why my Dad got so upset and tense when something went amiss on the field.  I went to a couple of games at the Rose Bowl and at Pauley and was generally amused.  

But what solidified my destiny as a Bruin was watching a Freshman Tracy Murray sink two clutch free throws with seconds remaining on the clock as the Bruins knocked off Kansas in a 2nd round NCAA game.  

I remember watching from my dorm room in Rieber Hall that interception in the end zone against $C in '93 to clinch the Rose Bowl berth.  Of course, I also remember Wayne Cook falling apart on that last minute drive in the '94 Rose Bowl.  

I also remember the absolutely hollow, numbing sensation as I watched the first round loss to Tulsa in '94 ("Where's Tulsa?").  But that pain was wiped from my psyche several months later watching Tyus pull off a miracle in Boise.  However, nothing will ever come close to the post-game mayhem in Westwood after we won #11...running through the streets, slapping high-fives to everyone in sight.  It was without a doubt one of the most amazing, exhilarating experiences of my life.  And yes, I watched as the  KIIS-FM van got its due.  It was an experience that only a bleeding-blue-and-gold fan would appreciate.  And I was in the rafters in Pauley on a catwalk the night Banner #11 was unveiled.

So much has happened in the last 10 years, from the rock bottom, kill-me-know, my-mind-cannot-process-just-how-horrific-this-is depths discovered by Lavin, to the glorious resurrection by Coach Howland.  

My office remains a shrine to the Bruins, from the framed diploma to the autographed photo of Coach Wooden, Toby Bailey and Danny Farmer to the Bruin Bear that plays the fight song.  

I am so pleased to have found this forum with so many other die-hard Bruin fans.  I am constantly impressed wtih the volume of knowledge and insight of the participants.  Here's to #12 in '07.

I'm 15 but have been a Bruin my whole life. Actually, even before that. I was born a few days after the Maddox vs. Marijuanavich shootout. I was AT that game. I suppose the Rose Bowl atmosphere got to me.
I remember my folks had season tickets and I had my own seat. I remember being so small that I could sit on the box that had our stuff in it. (As an older guy, I know realize why people complain about the Rose Bowl's seats.) I remember everytime we beat 'SC in football my Dad would put the front page of the sports on the wall of the office room in our house. As a matter of fact, he had a banner type thing made with the score of our '92 game with the Trojans with the picture of a Bruin on it.
I really really remember going to the UCLA v. USC game in '95 at the coliseaum. Upon arriving in that hell hole I asked "Where is the golf course? Where do we park?" We couldn't play cath because you have to avoid trash and bums on the floor. The rambunctious trojan thugs were everywhere as opposed to just the endzones. I also saw alot of 'SC fans are "sweater crowd" types. Despite having seats in row 1,567 I had a great time because UCLA won. Cade Mcnown was an amazing QB and he is my hero.
The '96 UCLA game was incredible. Never say die. Why I AM A BRUIN. Trojans get too cocky and choke. Their first touchdown their fans throw toilet paper on to the field.
After a 17 point comeback, Skip Hicks scores the game winner. St. Cade lead us to victory.
Seeing how classless trOJans are greatly contributes to my love of UCLA.
Sitting in the allumni section is great. I still love seeing Geoff's passion for UCLA. I hope to match that one day.

I love UCLA. When I go there I want to be a yell leader. I'll be the mascot if they need me to e one.

I have a whole bunch of Rose Bowl and UCLA stories but I can see that I've rambled on enough.

Go Bruins!

My first experience with UCLA came as a Hawaii fan watching volleyball (which is huge there).  In Hawaii, UCLA is the bad guy.  People dont like us.  My mom has been afraid to put a "UCLA Mom" sticker on her car because she works at the University of Hawaii (she's had it for 4 years now, and it's still sitting on a desk in her room).  So naturally, my memories of UCLA were not fond ones as I was growing up.  My first time on campus was in 1996, I was 12, and my family (and 4000 other Hawaii fans) made the trip up to California to watch Hawaii vs UCLA in the NCAA Volleyball Championship in Pauley.  UCLA beat Hawaii in a tough 5 game match, and I was miserable.  

Zoom to my junior year of high school, and I end up making a college trip to various California colleges, including UCLA and usc.  The place seemed huge to me, and the average GPA of accepted applicants being over 4.0 seemed daunting.  I thought the campus was way nicer than usc, but because of how difficult UCLA is to get into, I set my sights onto usc, and pushed UCLA to the backburner as a dream school.  Around March I found out I got accepted to usc, and I was psyched and ready to be a trojan (usc is pretty popular in Hawaii for some reason).  Then a few weeks later I found out I got into UCLA.  It didnt take me more than a second to look at the large envelope in front of me and decide that I was going to be a Bruin.  It was really a no brainer.  

At this time I wasn't much of a Bruin fan yet; I still had loyalties to Hawaii, and that championship loss left a bitter taste in my mouth.  So I went through orientation, and my counselor asked me if there was anything else I wanted to know about at the end.  I said I would like to do some kind of music/band thing since I'm a drummer, and she suggested the marching band; so I joined basically at the last minute, even though I had never been in a marching band, or even seen one before.  

So after nearly a whole season of marching band, I was getting into sports a lot more (Bruin sports specifically) but I wasn't quite a Bruin yet.  sc week was coming up, and I didn't know what the big fuss was.  I had a lot of friends who ended up going to usc, how bad could they all really be?  

Then it was sc week, and upon walking to school I saw red trojan heads spray painted (via stencil design) into the ground all along bruin walk, including right outside Pauley.  I was pissed.  I was more than pissed, I was furious.  

Then on Saturday I came face to face with the most vile, disrespectful, idiotic group of people I've ever known: The trojan prancing band, aka the trojan standing band, aka assholes.  I think it was then that I really became a Bruin, when I finally understood what kind of people trojans are, and why everyone hates them so much.  

Since then I have attended nearly every sporting event that the band plays at, and I stand the entire time, and cheer the entire time.  In football, the band has a little joke where the drum major asks, "what down is it?" and the band responds, "sit down" and all procede to take a seat.  Not me, and not Drumline.  We stand and show support for our Bruins at all times.  Sometimes I have to remind a freshman of that, but they usually get the jist of it after a couple games :P  

"Then on Saturday I came face to face with the most vile, disrespectful, idiotic group of people I've ever known: The trojan prancing band, aka the trojan standing band, aka assholes.  I think it was then that I really became a Bruin, when I finally understood what kind of people trojans are, and why everyone hates them so much."
Can't agree more. At the band bowl a few years ago, they stole UCLA equipment and spray painted racial slurs everywhere.

They make the LSJUMB look like gentlemen.

How great the Tailgating is at the Rose Bowl.

When you could still get beer at the Rose Bowl and the tent that was set up with kegs of beer and you just needed to give a donation.

The Alumni band entertaining everyone that was Tailgating.

Giving those Pompous Assholes a ration of crap every year during the 7 game win streak. They would talk smack before the game, couldn't be found after the game.

Buy a new T-shirt each year with the latest victory added to it.

Still get goose bumps when seeing all the banners hanging in Pauley.

Of course the magical year of '95 & Tyus's length of the court basket against Missouri. I knew the NC was ours at that point.

Allowed to go on the floor level before games and meet/talk with John Wooden. Still have his first book w/his autograph.

Watching past players come by Pauley and sit with Coach Wooden before games and still hang on his every word.

Thanks Dad. :)

I don't remember the exact day I became a UCLA fan. I just know I always was. My dad and cousin went to UCLA. I grew up on the West Side, and was about 8 when we won our first basketball championship.  My uncle, who has season tickets to Pauley started taking me to games.  As the championships kept rolling in, UCLA basketball and I were like one.  I used to go up to campus, sneak onto the court, and play.  I guess I grew up spoiled.  I was one of those people who expected us not just to win Championships, but to blow people out when doing so.

When it came time for college, I felt like it was time to get away from home, so I ended up at U.C. Berkeley. I didn't have any feelings about U.C. Berkeley or Stanford when I went up there. To me, there we just two other teams we beat every year.  Then I discovered the pure hatred most people have of  anything L.A., including the Bruins.  At first I thought it was funny.  Then it really started to bug me.  Whenever I told someone in casual conversation I was from L.A. all I would get was a bunch of hatred in return. Soon, rooting against all the local teams became my passion. If was fun going to the games at the U.C. Berkeley and Stanford and watching the Walton Gang kick butt on a regular basis.  

I always thought U.C. Berkeley was a good school, but looking back, I wish I had gone to UCLA. However, I did meet my lovely wife there.

Over the years, jobs have taken me away from home.  But I've never stopped rooting for the Bruins or wearing the gear wherever I go.

I managed to make it to the Final Four in Seattle. Now that rocked.

Otherwise, I've endured the desert since Coach retired, nowithstanding that one flukish year, which was highly satisfying.

It's great Ben has gotten them back on track.  I look forward to an improved team as time passes.

Classic. Does anyone know the origin of it?

I recall reading a short bio on Kareem when I was in grade school, while growing up the in the SF bay area.  With some pretty good scores on the institutional testing, I was being recruited by quite a few schools, but I only applied to UCLA.  I didn't really become a die hard fan until basketball started my freshman year.  That was the season of Larry Brown leading the team of Kiki Vandeweghe, Rod Foster, Darren Daye, Mike Holton, Cliff Pruitt, etc.  All the way to the final game, and a heartbreaking loss.  I became dedicated to the teams, worked as a manager for the track team, and slept out many times at Pauley.  I always sat in the seat at Section PP, row 7, seat 13.  I knew Larry Davis, originator of the Frisbee Cheer, and Dave Wilson, who put together  the basketball intro signs, which I eventually had custody of.
After graduation, I moved overseas for 15 years (lots of stories there, many involving beer), and it wasn't easy following US college sports.  I was up all night watching the '95 title game on German TV.  
I now live in the DC area, and my newlywed wife has started to learn about the dark stain on the planet that is usc (her interpretation of the initials - university of satanic cults [how else can you explain some of the crap that has gone on?]), and the eastern bias that is espn.
She, too, was appalled at the coaching decisions at the end of the Notre Dame game (she knows football, being a die hard New England Patriots fan).
We're looking forward to Ben Howland and the team showing skill and class, and representing UCLA with pride and dignity.

When I was ten, we (mom, my sister and I)moved to Los Angeles from Kingston, Jamaica in 1968. It was a big eye opener, all these lights and tall buildings. My mom's brother was enrolled at UCLA as a double major in Physics and Psychology. All he could talk about was UCLA this and UCLA that. He eventually took me on campus since he had to run an errand. It was the first university/college I had ever visited and was the only one I would visit prior to attending. It made a big impression on me.

I eventually became interested in college football. I believe the Trojans were dominating in those days with great running backs. Even as a young child, I sensed the arrogance eminating from SUC's fans and student body. It wasn't very difficult to root for UCLA over USC.

My sister, who went to Catholic school from elementary to High School, was accepted by UCLA and graduated right on time. Me, I was a little wild due to not having a male figure in the family. Although my uncle, who I mentioned above, was around a little at first, he was not around during my teenage years. In any case, I was accepted at UCLA out of high school but did not have the descipline or study skills. I withdrew in the first quarter of my attendance.

The next ten years was essentilly a waste of time, but I guess I needed time to figure out a direction in my life. All during this time, I believe that withdrawing from UCLA was eating me up. It was something left unfinished. I don't think I could ever have been happy if it was left undone.

After ten years of screwing around, I decided that I should go back to college. Pondering on how to do this since during this long break I had not done anything academically, I decided to go to junior college. Lucky for me, the JC I chosed was just starting an honors program and I was invited. Sensing my lack of confidence, the lady who ran the program and the professors who taught the classes gave me more attention. I did pretty well and transferred after two years. Boy was I happy that I officially withdrew and did not walk off campus. If I had, it would have created some problems.

In my first quarter and in my first mid-term, I scored an A- in my micro-economics class. I am not ashamed to admit it, I cried when I got that grade because I knew that I would be able to complete my degree at UCLA.

Today, when I go on campus for a basketball game or some other reason, I know that coming back to UCLA and not going to some other school (jsut to get a degree) was the best decision I have ever made in my life. I owe that school the life I have now, which is pretty good.

I grew up in the SF Bay Area and like most high schoolers in the Bay Area who were choosing to go to a UC, Cal was my first choice. As fate would have it, I wasn't accepted at Cal and decided to go to UCLA.  This turned out to be one of the top decisions in my life (maybe even the top, since by going to Westwood, it has led to all of the other great things that have happened to me.)

When my parents dropped me off at Sproul Hall in the Fall of 1989, I was initially scared.  Sure, I went to Freshman Orientation, but this was it, I was on my own!  Luckily, there were some great people on my floor (some would remain my friends throughout my time at UCLA) and a couple of my best friends from high school were also starting their Bruin life.  Now, I wasn't a big college sports fan before going to UCLA and it didn't help our football team wasn't very good my first year here.  (Like BruinBabe, I'm a Dallas Cowboys fan since the days of Tony Dorsett and of course, Aikman was starting for the Cowboys who also weren't doing well at the time).  But everything would change during my first SC game.  We were just 3-7 at the time but we were hanging with this supposedly superior team.  It ended up a 10-10 tie but we missed a last-second field goal (if my memory serves me correct) and their only touchdown was actually out of bounds according to replays.  It was at this moment that my veins starting flowing blue and gold.  And the rest is history...I became a Bruin for life!!!

Too many memories of UCLA but here are some:

•  The first SC game I attended was at the Coliseum in 1991.  It was awesome just being there...yelling "John Hancock Bowl, F*** SC!"...the final seconds, everyone is cheering...seniors finally enjoying a victory over SC...and of course, the first win of the streak.
  
•  The 1994 Rose Bowl...deciding NOT to sell my ticket for $300...being surrounded by a sea of red in the stands...furiously watching the clock tick away.
  
•  1995 Championship (my girlfriend and now wife was still a student)...not much of Harrick fan but it was great being a Bruin on that night...being in Westwood after the game...being at the Pauley celebration.
  
•  1998 game vs. Miami...watched it in a Pasadena bar with a friend...having a deja vu moment as Cade tries throwing into the end zone as the clock closes in on zero...(for the record, I think we were probably the top team at the end of 1997)

Some non-sports related:

•  I worked at the Coop a couple of quarters.  I recently went back and the Coop Pizza was replaced by a Taco Bell!!!  I felt a little letdown by the "corporatization" of the food places in Ackerman.
  
•  I have to agree with bluestreet:  spring quarter = sitting at Bruin Walk and enjoying sundresses.

Last:  I'm married to a Bruin, class of 1995.  She was part of a great graduating class:  never lost to SC, ended it with a basketball championship.

GO BRUINS!!!
Class of 1994

I grew up in So Cal and became a Bruin fan the game when Bill Kilmer, who was hurt, wore tennis shoes vs. SC and UCLA beat SC. That was in the 50's and that did it. When I was graduating from high schoo, I had offers to play professional baseball, or go to college. The ML scout who advised me said he could get me a scholarship to SC. I told him I hated SC, and was always a UCLA fan. He replied he could help me there, so that is where I went. I got into Art Reichle's program (a weak one), hurt my pitching shoulder, and gave up baseball at the end of my sophomore year. However, having been part of the AD during those first two years was a terrific experience, and really sealed the lifelong passion for UCLA.

The year before Nestor saw the NU game, I was in Lincoln with a work colleague and saw the Bruins tank in the fourth quarter vs. NU. The following year he and his wife came to see the return matchup at the Rose Bowl. We sat 45 rows directly up from the Darby hit, and it was impressive. My friend even acknowledged "that was a great hit".....

My to-be wife and I sat in the Coliseum when Mike Garrett ran up and down the field but couldn't get in the end zone and seal the deal in 1965. Down 16-6 with little time left, Beban found first Altenberg (I believe that was the order), then the on-side kick (as Jim Murray said the next day even his mother knew it was on-side but not SC's front four), two more plays, and then he hits Witcher for a TD. In all my life, the best scene was seeing the SC men walking outside with their s*** colors on, heads down, grumbling, and their wives with heads up and trying to look presentable.... God what a great feeling.
Bill

OK, Fox71, my first game was 1961,in the rain, UCLA beats SC and then goes to the Rose Bowl and loses to Minnesota and Sandy Stephens (I went to that game too). I remember at the end of the SC game, SC jumped off sides and kept UCLA from having to punt, I believe when SC had momentum. It was probably the highlight of Bill Barnes time at the helm.
Bill

My dad was a Bruin, graduated in 1940.  My folks had season football tix until I was in my late teens.  I walked the campus many times as a kid while growing up in the South Bay and I always planned to attend UCLA.  Stuff happened and I ended up going to school in Bay Area (experienced the same bullshit harrassment described above) before going to grad school at UCLA.  The three years I spent as a student, and two additional years as an administrator, were great.  I always felt at home on campus and enjoyed living in Westwood for almost a decade.

I've got many memories of school that don't pertain to this thread, but among my favorite athletic moments:

Gail Goodrich running out the clock against Michigan...
Gary Beban bringing the Bruins back to beat the Condoms after being down 16-6 with two minutes to play...
Shackleford rejecting Elvin Hayes in the Great Rematch of '68...
Vermeil and Wally Henry flummoxing Woody Hayes in the Rose Bowl...
The Win for Wooden in '75...
Freeman and Theotis running wild...
but mostly (and I was there), The Gutty Little Bruins stopping the Spartans cold in '66...

And tonight some kid from UCLAs School of TFT kicked ass on Jeopary, filmed at the Galen Center at $UC!

...or maybe it was on Jeopardy, which was also being filmed at $UC...

I grew up in a small town in northeast Iowa during the 60's and 70's and had gone to U of Iowa football and basketball games since I was a little kid.  I really liked the Hawkeyes, but there was just something that got to me every November watching the UCLA-USC game on TV.  Partly I suppose because I was (and still am) a huge Los Angeles Rams fan (and we'll ALWAYS be the L.A. Rams).  I was a little bit too young to remember the heartbreak in '67 but I definitely remember the 1969 game and how disappointed I was when Dickerson caught that pass to beat us 14-12.

Things really got going in the 70's; and I think it was the 1973 season that made me a huge Bruin fan forever.  I remember the build-up before the game with USC and just thought FOR SURE this was going to be our time.  Well, it wasn't as it was a bitter 23-13 disappointment. The next year in '74 I finally got to see my Bruins in person for the first time as they came to Iowa City to play the Hawkeyes for the first time.  I was so pumped and probably one brave 8th grader wearing powder keg blue and gold in a sea of gold and black.  Unfortunately, the Hawks upset us that day 21-10 and John Sciarra had a horrible day.  Then, that magical 1975 season when we finally beat USC and got revenge on Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.  Oh God, I was in heaven!

I have seen the Bruins play in person again at Iowa (1981 - we lost AGAIN and had to take a lot of Sh** from my fellow Hawk fans) and at Wisconsin in 1982 (a great win).  Probably one of the hardest things about being a Bruin while growing up in Iowa; particularly before cable TV and the internet was that I ALWAYS had to call one of the big radio/TV stations in Cedar Rapids to get the score of UCLA's game after ABC's coverage of college football was over for the day (remember that?)

I now live in the Twin Cities but my love for UCLA remains as strong as ever (and I did graduate from the U of Iowa so there's a little Hawkeye in me as well but I'm by far and away a Bruin first).  I got the biggest treat this last fall when I got to meet my H.S. idol, John Sciarra, in person at the Bruin Bash prior to the game with Notre Dame in South Bend.  Just one of the classiest guys you'll ever meet.  And he thought it was so cool that somebody from a small town in Iowa would fall in love with UCLA.