The Den

by lil eg not cs on Jan 28, 2008 4:37 AM PST Comment 35 comments

Bumped. A weekend post that deserves more attention heading into this week's homestand. For the record one more time - we love the Den. GO BRUINS. -N

There has been a lot of talk in the past couple days of the actions of the Pit Crew. Many have compared and contrasted that actions with that of our own Den. Yes, the Den is not perfect. As a member there are times at which I am embarrassed. The fact is we are much more mature and organized than many student sections.

Photo Credit: Jack Rosenfeld

In the Den, we try to focus of efforts on intelligent ways to make the players feel uncomfortable. A flier is handed out at every home game with a scouting report and a "dirt" section on the other team. The dirt is extensively researched and includes only information that can be backed by a source. It is real easy to take heckling material from the dirt and unleash yourself on a player. There is no way the den would ever start a "___ is a pu**y" chant.

I do agree to the notion that "F*ck $c" is inappropriate. Many members that sit at the front of the den refrain from using bad language at all. I also hate the bullsh*t chant too. We can show our displeasure another way.

I take offense to a comment in a recent diary that criticizes the leadership of the Den. The fact is the leaders do not start chants. That is the job of the yell crew. The "UC clap clap LA clap clap" chant on offense is meant to be slow. All is takes is for one yell crew member to stand on one side of the Den and another to stand on the other side to lead a slow chant. It sounds impressive when we are all together and loud. The fact is most people think the chant speeds up, which leads to its death around 15 seconds left in the shot clock.

When people started camping out for the $UC game on Thursday morning, some people were upset. They were upset because in all reality the campout could've started around 2 maybe 3 in the afternoon. However once the first person goes down there and sets up a tent its like a snowball effect.

If you think that the people running the Den don't strive for excellence then come to the Den meeting and speak up. They occur every couple of weeks in the Morgan Center Press Room inside the Hall of Fame.

I recently sent an email to Nestor updating him on the situation regarding Kevin Love's cell phone number being released. We found out the culprit behind the release was Daniel Cogan, president of the Pit Crew. We were able to obtain his number and, with some help from a friend, many of the numbers that had called Kevin. These numbers received text messages and phone calls. Not just one, but many many text messages. If you mess with Kevin, you mess with the Den. Kevin relayed to us how mad he was with all of the phone calls(he even blocked his number for 24 hours) and also thanked us in the media:

Howland said the team prepped Love plenty for the hostility directed at him and said Love never let remarks affect him. Even the days before the game, Love said he received plenty of messages from Oregon fans on his cell phone, though the Bruin student body sent out false numbers to misdirect Duck fans.

"I did get a lot of calls," he said. "We outsmarted them a little bit. I had some people back at The Den (UCLA's student section) mess with them a little bit, so I felt good about that. I'm real proud all the way."

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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The Den

I have said it before: the best student section in America. I love our student body. I consider them part of my extended Bruin family.

by Nestor on Jan 26, 2008 5:42 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Slow cheers

Back when the first Spanish land grants gave Westwood to the King Canute of Norway, someone thought that it would be a great idea to have the yells go S L O W L Y. Every yell squad since then has tried to make that happen, but without success. I think it's the hormones raging in the mostly teen-age rooting section - it causes premature 8clapulation. That is a serious problem which all young Bruins have to strive to overcome.

by Fox 71 on Jan 26, 2008 7:16 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

"premature 8clapulation"

Classic.

The band has a means to keep on tempo. Maybe we should have a yell conductor. Can't you see him/her, coaxing more treble out of the L-L-L-L-L-L section?

by Bruinut on Jan 27, 2008 12:59 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

lil eg

You guys do a fantastic job. Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the update and keep us posted.

by Ajax on Jan 26, 2008 7:17 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Didn't mean to offend...

So... I had more to say, and I'd like to be able to organize my ADHD flow-of-consciousness response hehe but I want to go get something to eat before the game starts!

I guess my main response to your post is that I definitely didn't mean to offend anyone. If I came across as someone hating for no reason, that's definitely not how I meant to come across. I love UCLA, and thus am always expecting to give the best to my university, and to expect the same from others. Although I personally do not have enough time to be a den leader or yell crew member (although I really wish I did..) I definitely nevertheless only expect the best from them. I could go ahead and join anyways, but I would probably do a poor job due to numerous other commitments, thus I refrain from doing so; I expect the same responsibility from others. The den leaders are taking on a very important position and need to respect their position as such. I am not criticising them to offend people, I'm criticising them because I think that our den deserves better, and I'm sure that we are both on the same page concerning our passion for the den.

My direct response to you:
First of all, the den leaders DO start chants. The frisbee chant at the start of the game is what I happened to be thinking of when I wrote that, and the frisbee chant is always led by the den leaders.
Second of all, many of the chants during each offensive period are led by den members because yell crew isn't really on task. While the fact that yell crew sometimes has difficulty being on point during the game plays a large part in den dysfunctionality, this does not negate the fact that the den leaders have not yet come up with any innovative plans for improvement.
And a couple of additional side-points which prompted my criticism of the den leaders:

The "who's he, etc." signs held up during the announcement of the opponent's roster are tattered and beat. It would not take much effort to fix those, and as a leader of many organizations myself, I feel like fixing those signs up is such an easy but crucial task that it would be pretty high up on their to-do list.
Camping out is a great tradition; I see nothing wrong with fans camping out early to get better seats. Also: between 3-5:00 on Thursday numbers 100-500+ were filled up on the sign-up sheet!! This is why the camping out period continues to extend as the team gets more and more attention. Perhaps you are a first year this year and have no point of comparison, but as an older student I promise you that there has been a direct correlation between the success of our team and how harcore the campers are. I would be offended if our team was this good and the fans were as lame as they were during the dark ages when we rushed the pauley pavilion court like dumbasses over pointless wins...

Also: psychologically, there's a reason why it's actually GOOD for the den to encourage camping out. The more the fans put into those priority passes, the more pumped up they are likely to show up. Sleeping out for two nights and sacrificing precious time sitting out there during the day is the true test of how much you care about getting to sit in the den.
But my issue was not with the den leaders complaining about fan dedication (which seems quite ironic) but with their backlash. I don't think that there was any reason for them to pout about it, nor to make us wait an extra hour and a half as "punishment" while they gave all of their fellow den members the cold shoulder. Anyways, gotta go eat; I hope this cleared things up a bit!

by jatteratious on Jan 26, 2008 7:30 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Den Leaders

First of all, lil eg (btw, what is the rule on using real names here?) I am glad you have chosen to write about this (even if it's not the first time some of us have hear it from you) and think you did a very good job.

Now to jatter, the fact that you say that the Den leaders "need to respect their position" and that the "Den deserves better" tells me that you obviously are not very familiar with the infrastructure behind the Den at all. If you ever happened to personally know any of the five executive board members you would realize that they are among the hardest working members of the entire UCLA student body. A lot of what they do really goes unnoticed (especially in regards to the Olympic sports) and I understand if you want to criticize the originality of cheers or something like that but I would never call them lazy.

I would also like to straighten out your understanding of the way a few other things work at basketball games as well. The students who do start cheers during basketball games are not necessarily the leaders per se, but just those who realize that we are being too quiet and take it upon themselves to lead the student section as Yell Crew often fails to do so.

I'm also not sure if you aware, but pretty much anyone who ever wants to do Frisbee cheer can do it. It not restricted to any "leader" of any sorts and it is encouraged that as many different people do it as possible (if you've noticed the same person has never done it twice all season). In fact, most of the times there is trouble trying to find someone who is even willing to do the cheer so if you, or anyone you know, are ever interested in doing the cheer feel free to stop by the front row and let somebody know.

Also, the signs that are held up during the starting lineup announcements have a pretty big tradition to them. Those sides have someohow miraculously stood the test of time and have been used at every game for almost forty years. If you ever get a chance, look at the back of the first sign and you will see the signature and years of every single carrier of the signs dating back to when they started. As most people know, signs are prohibitted in Pauley Pavilion and this is the one exception they make for the Den and so I don't think any adjustments will be made to them any time soon.

Finally, I am not sure what list you were looking at but there was no way there were 500+ lines filled up by 5pm Thursday of the '$C campout. I'm also interested by what you mean when you say, "I don't think that there was any reason for them to pout about it, nor to make us wait an extra hour and a half as "punishment" while they gave all of their fellow den members the cold shoulder." I'm not sure what you're referring to there so maybe you could clarify that.

by turs12 on Jan 27, 2008 2:14 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

The Signs

They have been around for a long time, after originally being made for just one game. After Dave graduated, he passed them on to the next guy, who held them for a couple years, and then I got them, as the third guy. When I graduated, I was the last of the original people who were part of the group that organized a lot of the things in the section during the 80's. We had to figure out who was going to have custody of the signs, and we held a little caucus at the last home game, and chose the successor. At that time, we figured that a record of the signs was needed, and we got the signatures started at that game, too.

Bob O. (Signholder #3)

by TuneMan7 on Jan 27, 2008 8:13 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Oh, so THAT'S what

Signholder #3 means... (=

by bruinbunz on Jan 27, 2008 2:14 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I said numbers, not lines

250 lines = 500 numbers.
I hadn't known about the legacy behind the signs, so that definitely clears things up for me there, and I will definitely have some newfound respect for them.

Althought the den leaders don't "have" to start the frisbee cheer, I don't think that's really more than a hypothetical. Granted, sometimes someone starts it who happens to be a friend standing right next to them (front and center). But that doesn't change the fact that if someone else tried to lead it, I probably wouldn't follow and instead would look to the den leaders.
I think there's a discrepancy here which is making it hard for us to understand each other. When I talk about how the leaders conduct the den, I'm not debating what they "have" to do, I'm talking about how they carry out their leadership. The only problem with this is that leadership is a very subjective thing.
They don't have to do anything during the game. Granted. They could sit on the floor and stare at the ground the whole time. But does that really have anything to do with the questions at hand?? No.
My issue is not with them "doing what they have to do." My issue is with them coming across as leaders and rallying people together. Granted, very rarely does anyone "have" to be a leader, and rally people together well. But in their position, it is expected.
So, the fact that they pissed off a large amount of people Thursday and Friday morning is not a failure on their part to do something that they "have to do," but a failure nonetheless. And it's ironic that I recieved so much criticism for being frustrated, from people who didn't even know what happened on Thursday.

by jatteratious on Jan 27, 2008 6:35 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Campout

I'm confused with what your issue is referring to the campout. Can you please elaborate? I was there the entire time and if you are talking about the situation I think you are then there is nothing to blame the den leaders for.

by Gole2000 on Jan 27, 2008 8:18 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Campout x2

I too am confused with what your issue with the campout was. I am a Den Leader, and I definitely want your input in what went wrong on the campout for U$C. Although I don't directly run the campouts, I can definitely pass on information.

I really have no idea what you are talking about and if you could elaborate here or via a private message or email that would be great.

The DEN has meetings every Tuesday of odd weeks of the quarter at 7PM in the Press Room at the Morgan Center. As I have said before there is no maximum or minimum amount of participation necessary. Please come out and express your concerns and suggestions. We REALLY, REALLY WANT YOUR ADVICE!!! The DEN is a young student organization and we are continually trying to make it better. Lots of things have changed since when it started, and also our basketball team has gotten a lot better.

More information on the campout concern would be greatly appreciated, as I really do not know the issue.

by BruinBaller on Jan 27, 2008 8:30 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

What the Den needs to do is slow down.

8 claps on crack are not audible or effective.

by True Blue and Gold on Jan 26, 2008 8:30 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

lil

I just slighted edited your post with html codes and then added in that shot.

by Nestor on Jan 26, 2008 9:27 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I love our Den

Valid points brought up about the use of profanity and such but on the whole, I'm also of the opinion that we have the best student section. I guess I got spoiled, thinking that clever chants were the norm but last night's game against OSU proved me wrong.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I am almost certain that during the 2nd half, the OSU student section was emphatically chanting "These guys suck!"

Now, I will ignore the fact that they were shouting the aforementioned, endlessly clever chant when our Bruins were up comfortably by 20. But...

"These guys suck"? Seriously?

Apparently, a little ingenuity and effort is a luxury in some places. Guess it's easier to just boo Kevin Love every time he touches the ball... oh wait, the Ducks already did that. Guess they didn't get the memo.

by uclabruin07 on Jan 27, 2008 3:04 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

I think it was..

"these refs suck"...

Because if they were chanting "these guys suck" when down by 20... I would suggest that they need to get their accreditation taken away....

by sfatoo on Jan 27, 2008 12:51 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Unless they were talking about their own team

They are 0-8 in conference so you can't really argue against that.

But yeah, it was "These Refs Suck".

by Tydides on Jan 27, 2008 1:20 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Actually guys...

it was "zebras suck". Not a new chant at any venue.

by popopapa on Jan 27, 2008 10:13 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks for the clarification

I guess I'm the fool, eh? I'm actually relieved that I'm wrong.

by uclabruin07 on Jan 29, 2008 12:38 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Thank you Turs

Ok, I think it is clear that most of the people commenting here do not know what the DEN actually does. We do not only support Basketball and Football, but actually all of the sports teams. We particularly love the olympic teams (Gymnastics meet tomorrow at 2PM!). Everything that the Den does is voluntary based. Please come to meetings and give your suggestions. There is no maximum or minimum amount of participation necessary.

We do things to reward members and we are trying to continually improve. Your complaints against the DEN are quite unfounded though. I will be the first to admit that we are not perfect, but I simply do not see how any of your arguments fly.

-ET

by BruinBaller on Jan 27, 2008 4:50 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Kevin Love

Thanks lil eg for bringing this up to. I was contacted by a good friend of Kevin Love's on Wednesday around noon. I was told that we needed to find a way to get back at them because he was quite annoyed. I will tell you, that myself along with a group of people literally put our lives on hold for 36 hours to work for Kevin. I didn't even pay attention in lecture because I was coordinating ways to respond. I easily used over 100 text messages in the time up to the game coordinating.

By the time game time hit, and during the game, we had planned and executed a very successful retaliation against the students who had done it. Kevin Love gave us a shout out (nice find lil) and he was definitely pleased. It was a lot of fun, and lil summed it up really well.

I can tell you the president of the DEN puts in more time (and does not get paid) than many of the members on campus for this school. He literally is working for the school, making them money, and not only is he not getting paid (he is actually paying his own money). He has had to increase his cell service significantly, and all the DEN leaders have spent a lot of money on supporting our teams.

See y'all at gymnastics today!
-ET

by BruinBaller on Jan 27, 2008 5:04 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Show Kevin some Love this week?

Maybe the Den can take an even higher road on Thursday with some extra cheers for Kevin and his family (assuming Dad and Mom will be there.. maybe a roll-call cheer for them too? I don't know..).. Not only show them how classy our Den is, but to show our support for the way KL completely dominated Oregon on Thursday in spite of the vicious personal attacks on him and Stan Love during the game. I don't know what form it would take, or what extra cheers they can do, but it would be great if we could let him know how much he and his family are appreciated at UCLA.

He tore apart the Oregon defense, crashed the boards, hit the threes, kept his cool during the game, said all the right things afterward... and this guy's only a freshman. We likely won't get the chance to do it next year (unless he plays for the Lakers, or God help him, the Clippers), so this is our chance right now. With a tough homestand coming up, we're going to need everything he can give us. Thoughts, anyone?

by Class of 86 on Jan 28, 2008 8:54 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

How/When did the Den start?

I graduated in '98 and we didn't have "The Den." Was it students who started it or the Athletic Department?

by mark the bruin on Jan 28, 2008 9:09 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Fall 2003 was the debut, as I recall

Planning/calls for participation had started over the prior couple of quarters. As for the origin of the idea, the current/past Den leaders on here probably have a better institutional memory of that.

by bruinhoo on Jan 28, 2008 9:24 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Den Beginnings

The Den originally began as the "Sports Marketing Association" but during 2003-2004 the students in the organization decided that they cared more about being fans than the marketing of sports and changed the group to become the official student fan group of UCLA-The Den. Also, 03-04 was the first year ever that the UCLA student section had a unified t-shirt. Unfortunately, it did not say The Den on it but rather had the "True Blue" that some of you might remember. Realizing that UCLA was not the Dodgers in '04 the shirt was changed to have "The Den" in bold on the front of the shirt. Finally, in '05 the most important change of all was made, giving a place to the name with UCLA being added to the front. Of course the group is much more than just a t-shirt(and even much more than just the student section for football/basketball games) and I would gladly divulge more info on the group if anyone is interested but I think BBaller talked about most of it already.

by turs12 on Jan 28, 2008 11:41 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Keep Roaring in the Den

As a season ticket holder who has sat across from the Den since its inception, I enjoy your raucous cheering and enthusiastic needling of the other teams. Be smart, be funny and be LOUD as you've always done. I agree there is no place for obscenities. It degrades the otherwise good work you do supporing our teams.

One question, can an old guy get a Den T-shirt or are they only for "members". Can my three boys and I become ex-oficio members? We're willing to pay, which hopefully will help support the best "athletic supporters" UCLA has...

by Bald Eagle on Jan 28, 2008 12:55 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Den T-Shirts

I would also like to hear if they are available to the ones who came before.
If you want to check my bona fides, I can tell you the actual names of sign holder #1 (the guy who made them, plus where he currently sits for the games), and #3 (that would be me, and I watch the games in my "den" at home in Virginia).

Bob O. (Signholder #3)

by TuneMan7 on Jan 28, 2008 1:03 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

den shirts for sale

I am not completely sure of their availability but shirts are sold outside of the student section entrance (gate 11). I know students can get them, but I have never personally seen anyone else buy one. I'm pretty confident that they won't deny your money (only $5 each).

by bk bruin on Jan 28, 2008 4:40 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Den shirts are on sale

only to students (officially) for $5. We're supposed to charge $20 for non-students or sometimes even say they're only for students. I've personally never charged someone $20 (it just feels wrong) so you should be able to get them for $5. If they ask for $20 just grab a student hanging out around the gate (since they are sold at the student gate) and ask them to get it for you.

by captain mightykite on Jan 28, 2008 5:33 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Paying for Den shirts

Yeah, definitely don't get suckered into paying $20 for a Den shirt. The sad fact is that the Den actually gets $0 from all the Den shirts all sold as all the profits from t-shirts they get for free go straight to the athletic department.

by turs12 on Jan 28, 2008 5:45 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Good Job Den

As a UCLA alum who lives up in the Bay Area, can I just echo many of the posts on this site who say how proud we are of The Den for finally getting the student section organized. The unified T-shirts and cheers look great when I'm watching the games on T.V., and it's a far cry from my freshman year at UCLA (1987) when you could buy a ticket 5 minutes before tip-off and sit floor level to watch Trevor Wilson throw 3-foot bricks off the backboard from 5 feet!

As for the fast 8-claps, speed just comes with being young and full of beans. My 8-claps didn't start to slow down until I was out of school for about 5-10 years. Ah, where does the time go . . .

Keep up the great work, Den. See you all in San Antonio. GO BRUINS.

by ucladavid on Jan 28, 2008 2:21 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

by TuneMan7 on Jan 29, 2008 8:10 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Digger Mocking

How about the Den all wear fake powder blue ties and hold light blue highlighters...

Or possibly a rounding rendition of the song, "Digger the Dog...". You older guys may remember this song from the commerical selling the Digger the Dog yoy.

Something like, "Digger the Dogger.... Digger he goes with you, when you explore...

cant remember the rest, but someone can probably find the lyrics and write a parody....

by Bald Eagle on Jan 29, 2008 11:01 AM PST reply actions 0 recs