Here comes the whine again

Here they come.

The whiners, the doubters, the over-analyzers.

The weak-minded, the lazy, the entitled.

I am so proud of this team. Let me tell you something: in nearly every game this season, our players will be outmatched. Every single game, except perhaps Washington State. I am talking on an overall level, not at specific positions. We were thoroughly outmatched even against Tennessee, except in the coaching department. The heart of the players wasn’t outmatched, but their abilities were. And you know what? I think they know this, and yet they come out and play hard every game because they believe in the coaches. If you don’t believe me, look at how ecstatic they were when we beat Tennessee. How often have you seen a QB go up and hug a coach like Craft did? And they played hard against BYU, even if they made some mistakes: just look at how few penalties we had, that is a sign of discipline.

The single, unifying, indisputable goal of this team is not to go to a bowl game or “overachieve”, but to lay down the foundation for a new UCLA dynasty. And the way to do that is to take your licks and keep getting up, to listen to your coaches, to learn how to practice efficiently and to create a positive environment that will entice top recruits to want to come here. Essentially, what the players should be demonstrating is that if these coaches can do “this” with us, imagine what they could do with you and for you. It will take a huge selfless act on their part, but it really is in their benefit anyway. The major, glaring obstacle for these coaches is to NOT LET THEM GIVE UP. And that, my friends, is why CRN keeps repeating his mantra of Relentless Optimism.

CRN will need to do some smart recruiting over the next two years, and to follow in Howland’s footsteps in recruiting winners, not just talent. The kind of players who will get in their teammates’ faces for not working hard enough in practice, for laughing it up on the sidelines during a blowout. I have no interest in the ra-ra “primeval” garbage spewing out from the thugs in the South Central locker room. I want some football players. I want me some Mata Real and some Afflalo…in pads.

It will happen, and I for one will continue to support the coaches and the players. It’s not their fault, really. I am trying to say this without being demeaning, but many of them shouldn’t even be at UCLA. And that is ALL CTS’s fault, bringing in the scraps from the rest of the Pac-10’s recruiting.

CTS had banked his UCLA coaching career on last year’s team. That’s how he recruited, with a one-year outlook. He figured, once he had another fake 10-win season, he’d get his extension and all would be fine. It wasn’t a bad strategy, for that one year…but he forgot about the coaching part, and he sure forgot about what would follow the “magical” season. And now we are left with his Lavinoma-like legacy: no center (OL) and no point guard (QB – even BO wouldn’t have been here if he hadn’t redshirted due to injury). So CRN still has my trust. I still expect no more than 4 or 5 wins this year, a bowl game next year and contending for the Pac-10 in 2010.

LET’S GO!!!