Walker and Chow Speak at Local Event
by uclafan11 on Jun 23, 2008 4:55 PM PDT
7 comments
Last week I attended a great event at a private home in The Pacific Palisades. The speakers were DeWayne Walker and Norm Chow. I can't believe I forgot my camera/video recorder, but I thought I'd share what my impressions were from the evening with BN. There were about 200-250 people there to hear the coaches thoughts on the upcoming season.
After cocktails and great Mexican food, Chow got up and spoke for a while. At first, he brought the big UCLA crowd down a notch telling us many times to "be patient" with our offense. As time went on, it felt more like he was just being cautious and downplaying things. He discussed his coaching background and referred to $c as "that other school". He also mentioned Carson Palmer and how fast he got going from average to great. He deservedly got a few boos for even bringing that up! He said that our strongest area at this point is running backs (assuming Bell will be healthy). When he was finishing up, someone said to him, "Please can you just beat $c!?" The look on Norm's face was priceless. He was beaming from ear to ear and clapping. You could see he wants that as much as we do!
Next up was Walker, who you can see has a good relationship with Chow. He joked around with him and they had a good banter back and forth. He told the crowd that Chow was, as we thought, totally downplaying what he expects this year on offense and not to worry. He also told us how he has coached with Norm at two schools previous to UCLA. When Walker was at BYU in the mid 90s, the head coach asked him "Who do you think is the best Offensive Coordinator in the college game?" and Walker said "Norm Chow". Then Rick Neuheisal asked Walker the same thing just a few months ago, and Walkers answer was of course "Norm Chow". DeWayne then turned and looked at Norm and said "So, I am responsible for getting TWO jobs for you, Norm!" Everyone laughed and Walker continued to speak about the defense and what to expect.
Walker is very confident in his defense and thinks UCLA has the players to step in and step up in place of the seniors who left vacated positions. He spoke of Reggie Carter and how he felt he was more than ready to handle the big void left by Christian Taylor. He also talked about the secondary, as he knows we are all concerned about the vacancies left there. Walker is very confident in the players he has in that area and said they are ready to step in. He is very excited about Alterraun Verner and what he is capable of contributing as well. Walker also brought up "13-9" and rightfully so, you could see he is extremely proud of that score . When you say those numbers to any UCLA fan, we can't help but cheer and smile. I glanced over at Norm, and again, there he was smiling and clapping.
Walker opened up the floor for questions and someone asked about recruiting kids with somewhat lesser skills, but good character and coachability. Walker had the quote of the night when he responded "I'll take a kid with character and skills we can develop any day over a...butthole"
Couldn't have said it better myself!
GO BRUINS!!!
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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I just realized.
20 -16 will always be the game I remember. But that was then. The current group will remember 13-9 exactly the way I remember 20-16.
Remember it well, younger Bruins. It will be fun for you to bring up when you become geezers. (Let’s hope that the next generation of Bruins doesn’t appreciate it, because we will have beaten the trOJies 44 times in a row by then.)
by Fox 71 on Jun 23, 2008 8:38 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I don't remember that one
but I wish I did – must have been great! What year was that and what were the circumstances?
Others that really stand out for me are 1992, 1996 and 1997. Barnes to Stokes in 1992 will never leave my memory. From then on I never missed seeing another UCLA $c game in person. In 1996 it was so fitting that in the first year they allowed overtime in college football that UCLA and u$c would take it that far…and more. It took 2 overtimes to settle that one. What a great game! When Marvin Goodwin intercepted that ball in the end zone in 1997, that provided another unforgettable moment. I believe we were down 6 and they were on about the 4 yard line. What a HUGE pick! I could go on all day!
GO BRUINS!!!
by uclafan11 on Jun 23, 2008 8:59 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
OOPS
I meant 1993 – that was the Marvin Goodwin year. :)
by uclafan11 on Jun 24, 2008 9:13 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Here's a couple of recent posts about 20-16
From me:
We were so beat. We were getting pounded. But we never gave up. Beban hit Witcher (best pal of sjh) for a 48 yard TD. Then a two-point conversion to Byron Nelson (and Curt Gowdy must have said a million times "No relation to the former golfer of the same name.") Then Kurt Zimmerman kicks a perfect 10 yard one bouncer to Dallas Grider. Then on 3rd and 15, Coach Prothro calls the "X post H" but instead of throwing to Farr, The Great One hits Altenburg for the TD to give us the lead. But they still had time, and they ran Garrett four times for 9.9 yards and that was it, sports fans.
I will never forget the way the sky looked that day. Somehow I found myself wandering on the trOJan side of the field after the game (we rushed the field in those days) and found a play McKay had drawn up on a piece of cardboard under their bench. I remember basically nothing else for the next two or three months
from WHP 68
The good old X-POST-H.. ..thanks for the great helping of nostalgia!
You should have Hoovered up the piece of cardboard; it would have been a great piece of memorabilia.
The players and the fans were going crazy. I remember jumping on Dallas Grider’s back and pounding his helmet and him turning around and practically squeezing the life out of me in sheer joy. (High fives had not been invented in those days.)
While many have their own personal favorites for favorite UCLA games (esp. versus the condoms), very few can match this one for drama as Fox points out. A Here is a good description Fox’s recollections in more detail. (This was the link – sorry, I don’t know how to put the nifty blue highlight automatic clickerator thingy on it. http://www.english.ucla.edu/ucla1960s/6465/Smith2.htm)
It also ranks up there for sheer drama because we got "invited" to the Rose Bowl and upset the #1 MSU Spartans 14-12.
For those of you arguing over a college playoff verus the bowl system, this will drive you nuts: the next year UCLA upset USC in the famous "Norm Dow" game and went 9-1 while USC went 7-3. They selected USC over UCLA to go to the Rose Bowl (I think it was one of the last vestiages of the "no repeat" policy) despite the fact that USC got the crap kicked out of them by Notre Dame, 51-0 in the following game. UCLA went nowhere..and the condoms lost to Bob Griese and Purdue
..also, if Zenon Andrusyshyn (who is still playing football somewhere) hadn’t funked an extra point and two field goal attempts, the 1967 game would have been a hat-trick win for Tommy Prothro instead of the show-case for that double-murderer wearing the ugly-assed shoes.
by Fox 71 on Jun 25, 2008 4:13 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
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