"We're UCLA, You're Not"

by Tydides on Nov 29, 2007 10:57 AM PST in Basketball

I actually wasn't going to post anything on this, but then I remembered the whiney piece put out by Paul Oberjejrdaiovmd after our demolition of San Bernardino earlier this season, and it proved to be a refreshing contrast.

George Washington's school paper breaks down the "Pauley Mystique" from an outsider's perspective:

The fans are so unmistakably in unison in their heckling that they might as well be one giant, booming voice. Each situation seems to have its own choreographed response, from the "Roll Call" before the opening tipoff to the free-spirited dance members of the cheer squad do in the middle of the court after victories. Whereas GW fans stick to what any first-timer can pick up on, such as chanting obscenities after every foul against the Colonials, Bruins fans' traditions are just that - long-standing chants that have been tweaked to perfection.

The whole production produces an aura of entitlement and inevitability that seems to beam, "We're UCLA, you're not. You can't win." Of course, it helps that the team on the court happens to be a collection of some of the most talented players in the country, but in a world where winning is expected, failure does not seem to be a viable option.

It's just fun and games in the crowd. An easygoing time in a University that is usually so demanding. Unless of course, we are playing local juggernaut San Bernardino, in which case it's malicious and hostile. As a reminder:

Those are D1 schools with real programs coached by ambitious men, leading prideful players, who have aspirations to win a conference title and play in the NCAA Tournament and win a game. And get just a teeny bit of the attention that disappears down the black hole in Westwood.

UCLA is tradition and talent. Except when it plays your team.

Then, they're the Big Bad Bruins. The bullies. The oppressors. The Man, keeping you down. Forever. Who won't let you up for air. Ever.

Who won't treat you as a potential equal. Who will never give you respect.
...
And all those things about the Bruins that seem so clever, so interesting, so fun when it's some Pac-10 rival in town ... suddenly seem dismissive and contemptuous.

Take, for instance, the UCLA student section's shtick for greeting opposition players.

As each of the five starters is announced, UCLA students shout, on cue. "So what!" (He's here to play, actually.) "Who cares!" (I do; he's my son.) "Big deal!" (Right, nobody but Bruins matter.) "Who's he?" (A guy with pride in himself and his team.)

The chants of "air ball, air ball" ... the band blaring ... the prep all-Americas lining the UCLA bench ... the arrogance of the UCLA crowd. All those things you don't notice when it's Stanford or Oregon in Pauley ... are like nails on a chalkboard when it's your neighborhood team the Bruins are about to destroy. Which is what they have done, since the Wooden Era began.

I recommend reading the entirety of the GW article. I do not recommend reading anything written by Paul Oberjakvma;drasdda897.

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Comments

Wow

What a killer article.

by Nestor on Nov 29, 2007 11:12 AM PST reply actions

The whole time...

...I was reading the article, I was muttering to myself, "Damn right!" Loved it!

The Pauley Mystique and All Those Banners are back better than ever.

by London on Nov 29, 2007 11:27 AM PST reply actions

Kinda gives new meaning...

... to the term "hatchet job," considering the name of the GW paper.

"Because I'm tired of it. Year after year after year after year having to choose between the lesser of 'Who cares?'"

by Meriones on Nov 29, 2007 11:41 AM PST reply actions

alert

bruin fans....espn Basketball Home Page is doing a poll of top BBall programs. Head on over and cast your vote. Remember: on the BBall Home Page of ESPN....

by champsRus100 on Nov 29, 2007 11:48 AM PST reply actions

Link

http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/ncb/index

We are in the lead right now but it's pretty close.

by Barnes2JJ on Nov 29, 2007 11:56 AM PST up reply actions

Yet another idiotic poll

Kind of along the lines of "Which is the best conference?". I hate these polls. They are so pointless, other than to drive traffic to the site. As if people in North Carolina would vote for UCLA as the top program. I mean come on! It's just a popularity contest grounded in regional affiliation. Lame. I still voted though :)

And where's the competition, really? We have 11 national championship. Next team has 7. End of story.

by tasser10 on Nov 29, 2007 1:05 PM PST up reply actions

Buddy

I voted 6,000 times for Joe Bruin in the ridiculous mascot poll and Joe still lost.

That was immediately prior to the Utah game and ever since, I have been too busy in my therapy sessions to vote any longer.

by Barnes2JJ on Nov 29, 2007 1:11 PM PST up reply actions

The mystique

can play with the opposing players' heads more than they might admit.. The GW player who fouled out last night was really zoned in to the "left-right" chant as he walked off the court.. tried to walk slowly, then started to sit, stopped half-way through, then jogged quickly up and down the bench to try to throw everyone off. I've seen that several times the last couple of years.

by Class of 86 on Nov 29, 2007 11:53 AM PST reply actions

That guy

was hilarious. What i liked even more though was that the GW bench was just laughing at the fact we were calling out his steps. As a fan you love to see players respond to your antics.

by lil eg not cs on Nov 29, 2007 12:11 PM PST up reply actions

Wesley(?) Witherspoon

He was clearly he was having a lot of fun. Not frivolous, mind you, but excited to be playing UCLA at Pauley. Like their newspaper, the Colonials acquit themselves pretty well. They were blown out in the second half but they hung in there until garbage time really took hold.

The George Washington coach is a pretty good one; if I recall correctly, they were Final Four Cinderellas a couple of years ago, were they not?

..anyway, the article was gracious and the opponents worthy. Good luck to them.

by whp68 on Nov 29, 2007 12:35 PM PST up reply actions

That was George Mason

But George Washington is a solid program as well, and has made regular appearances in the tournament in recent history.

by Tydides on Nov 29, 2007 12:38 PM PST up reply actions

As T wrote

You are thinking about Mason. But Hobbs is a very good coach. He came to GW from UConn. He was Calhoun's assistant for a while. He has turned this program into a tourney caliber one in a very short time. We beat a pretty solid team yesterday. They have no tradition but they are not cup cake city ether.

by Nestor on Nov 29, 2007 12:40 PM PST up reply actions

I was sitting a few rows behind Hobbs

He was coaching his ass off throughout the game- making quite a few in-game adjustments to try to respond to what UCLA was doing; and for most of the first half, it was working reasonably well.

My favorite part tho came with 9 minutes left in the game and the outcome decided- Coach Hobbs gathered his guards together on the bench, pointed to Darren Collison and said, "Watch #2. Watch how he manages the entire game. Watch and learn."

by insomniacslounge on Nov 29, 2007 4:59 PM PST up reply actions

Yeah

He seemed like a pretty good chess player in terms of how he was changing up his defenses in response to combination Howland was going back and forth it. it was pretty fun to watch. Of course these contests involving UCLA games are that much more fun to watch when our coach is the one making lot of the aggressive moves, anticipating what his opponent will do, and making all the right adjustments.

I have said it along. There is a method behind Holand's scheduling. And we saw why GW was on the menu last night. We got our guys conditioned against a team coached by pretty good strategist, throwing lots of different looks (on defense) to keep us on our toes. Good stuff.

by Nestor on Nov 29, 2007 5:06 PM PST up reply actions

And yes, their coach is a good one

http://gwsports.cstv.com/coachhobbs/gewa-07-ch-bio.html

2006 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year *
Finalist - 2006 Naismith National Coach of the Year *

I mean, no he's not. We're just a bunch of racists here on BN.

by Tydides on Nov 29, 2007 12:42 PM PST up reply actions

Question??

Per the article, we have 6 Mickey D All-Americans?? Not that I care all that much about our player's recruiting rankings/credentials, but I thought that only Love and Keefe were Mickey D AA's.

Either way, just amazing what Coach Howland is doing with the talent he has. The player development in his program is simply amazing.

by norcalbruin95 on Nov 29, 2007 12:08 PM PST reply actions

I was thinking the same thing.

I can only count two, Love and Keefe, also.

The fact that this writer thinks that we have SIX McD's AAs shows what a great recruiter and developer of talent we have in Howland.

Shipp was not a McD's AA, but he, Collison and Westbrook sure look like they should have been.

by bornagainbruin on Nov 29, 2007 12:31 PM PST up reply actions

Answer

Shipp was an All American and so was Farmar but he is gone now obviously.

by turs12 on Nov 29, 2007 12:24 PM PST reply actions

As I recall

Farmar, Afflalo, Keefe, and Love were the only McD All Americans under BH.

by Tydides on Nov 29, 2007 12:30 PM PST up reply actions

Yeap

which makes last 4 years even that much more amazing.

by Nestor on Nov 29, 2007 12:31 PM PST up reply actions

This is Sparta! wait.. This is UCLA!

I loved that movie - the whole goal of the Spartans was to keep their way of life and completely crush & destroy their enemies. Compassion was not a virtue, it was a weakness. And I love it when we destroy anyone who sets foot into Pauley. If they don't like it, then don't schedule a game with us. We must and should play hard for 60 minutes for every game against any opponent. That's the difference between a champion and a whiner. Just as long we are good sports at the end of the game and shake their hands. And I have not seen any harassing in the crowd towards the other teams' fans. So we can continue to hold our heads high and happily crush everyone else.

by mark the bruin on Nov 29, 2007 12:30 PM PST reply actions

Playing hard for 40 minutes ought to do

Generally, if our guys play hard for 40 minutes, we should avoid overtime.

by Fox 71 on Nov 29, 2007 1:15 PM PST up reply actions

still stuck on football

and 60-minute games. Doh!

by mark the bruin on Nov 29, 2007 4:12 PM PST up reply actions

Also really liked this line

This was good:

Even UCLA's cheerleaders look to be straight out of America's Next Top Model. It is as if the program does not allow anything less than first class to get near the program, so the opposing teams will not perceive any weakness.

We need to get back to working towards making our football program "first class" starting Monday ...

by Nestor on Nov 29, 2007 12:38 PM PST reply actions

Whoops

Shipp was a Parade Magazine All-American is what I meant.

by turs12 on Nov 29, 2007 12:47 PM PST reply actions

hearing it from an outsider...

makes me appreciate the opening introduction chants.

However, i still don't like the "this is a basketball," "we are the bruins" chant. did the author mention how cool that was to witness? our students can come up with something better than that...or has it been around too long to lose it?

Virginia Tech's "enter sandman" - best introduction in all of sports.

by bendawgucla on Nov 29, 2007 3:29 PM PST reply actions

It has been around a long time,

the "Frisbee" cheer. Maybe one of the geezers can chime in with a more accurate date of its creation, but I believe it does date back into the Wooden era. For what its worth, I like it. Apparently ESPN does (whether that is a good thing is another question), as they used the cheer as the basis for one of their commercials promoting CBB last year, along with "Rock Chalk Jayhawk", and I believe the Crazies.

by bruinhoo on Nov 29, 2007 6:18 PM PST up reply actions

Geezer 2 reporting

I started in '64, missed the Alcindor years because the Army couldn't get by without me, and got back in time to get out in '71.

I don't remember the Frisbee cheer. Nor do I remember the "This is a basketball" cheer as a student. (Sorry guys, I always thought it was lame when I heard it as an alum.)

What I do remember is when the other guys would stall (there was a time when there was no shot clock) the students would say "bounce, bounce" on dribbles and "pass." I thought that sounded pretty good.

Our go to guy here will be sjh, who was a cheerleader when I was a sophomore.

by Fox 71 on Nov 29, 2007 7:08 PM PST up reply actions

My first year was fall of '90

and "this is a basketball" was definitely already part of the repertoire.

by AZBruin on Nov 29, 2007 8:55 PM PST up reply actions

Frisbee Cheer!

by Tydides on Nov 30, 2007 11:23 AM PST up reply actions

Memory

I don't know if he started it but the guy who used to lead that cheer was nicknamed "Frisbee.

I had season tickets starting in '82 and I always remember that getting done before each game.

Memory is a little fuzzy, but that's what I remember.

by artybruin on Nov 29, 2007 9:49 PM PST reply actions

Could be better...

First, let me say that I love Pauley and all of the Bruin cheers. However, this article reminds me that our atmosphere is lacking compared to what it could be. I went to UCLA undergrad and then on to Duke for grad school. When UCLA came to town, I painted my face blue and gold in Cameron Indoor along with another Bruin and we felt like we were going to get run out of town on a rail. But I digress. The point is this: Dookies do pretty much the same cheers we do (left, right, left, right, see ya! and all that), but they also have about a million more. They actually have a class for freshman (maybe more like a workshop, but I digress again) where they learn how to cheer effectively. On top of that, the student section surrounds the court and when it gets rocking it makes the craziest Pauley crowd you've ever seen seem docile by comparison (and, yes, I was there when Ed O kissed center court).

Don't get me wrong, I hate Duke basketball. I chuckled when I first saw the amount of random banners they have hanging in the rafters. But they could teach us a thing or two about how to cheer and how to best organize seating for proper home court advantage. I suppose the season ticket holders will never give up the court-side seats, but that's the price we pay for having a school in a city where the alumni actually want to live.

by Moosen on Nov 29, 2007 10:48 PM PST reply actions

season ticket holders

I wish season ticket holders could get those court side seats!! I am a season ticket holder up in 309A and my nose has not yet stopped bleeding from the last game. Have been a season ticket holder for a few years now and those are the best I can do in terms of seats.

It's my understanding that to sit better one must contribute to the athletic department (donor) to have the honor of purchasing better seats.

If anyone knows of a better way, please let me know. In any case, will not be giving up my seats in the near future given Howland, Love, the Fab Four and now 2010!!

Let's rock on Sunday! (Who cares about tomorrow!)

by erfmd on Nov 30, 2007 12:56 PM PST up reply actions

The Frisbee Cheer

The man known as "Frisbee" is the person who brought the cheer to UCLA basketball games (don't remember when) but he is not the creator of it. He actually store the cheer from Pepperdine (I think they used it for either Volleyball or Water Polo, I don't remember). Every now and again he will try and come back to games and steal the cheer from students so he can do it himself. And FWIW, it's "IS this a basketball?" (call and response) and it's a fun cheer so don't knock it.

by turs12 on Nov 30, 2007 12:37 AM PST reply actions

Cheers

I really don't remember the Frisbee cheer. Can someone describe how that goes? Or does one of our denizens have a tape of it that can be put up?

Turs12 hit the nail on the head about the cheers: "It's a fun cheer so don't knock it." The game is supposed to be a fun event, and if a particular cheer raises the fun level, then in my opinion it's a good cheer by definition.

by Fox 71 on Nov 30, 2007 5:46 AM PST up reply actions

Frisbee cheer text

I believe this cheer does come from the Water Polo/Swim Team world. I was a swimmer growing up and this was super popular for my swim team to chant before each meet.

The cheer goes something like this:

Frisbee/Leader holds basketball and starts cheer by addressing the crowd with: "Is this a basketball?"

Crowd: "Yes that is a basketball"

Frisbee: "Is this the court?"

Crowd: "Yes that is the court"

Frisbee: "Is this the looooosing team"

Crowd: "Yes that is the looooosing team"

Frisbee: "Is this the winning team?"

Crowd: "Yes that is the winning team"

Frisbee/Leader then does the Bruin spellout: "Give me a B-R-U-I-N-S....What does that spell....Who are we?....Who is going to win? Who is the Best Team in the West? " (Something like this)

And all Bruin spellouts end with the 8-clap.

by bruinliv on Nov 30, 2007 6:32 AM PST up reply actions