Why Are You a Bruin Fanatic?
by LVBruin on Dec 10, 2010 1:25 PM PST
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PrintBumped. A great topic, which has been discussed previously in this community here, here, and here. For those who have not had the opportunity to share why you bleed blue and gold, this is a great opportunity to get your story in. - BN.
Photo Credit: BigWillieStyles (flickr)
This started as a comment in JeremyD's post and quickly trailed off into tangential territory that I felt could make for a revealing discussion. Specifically, based on the responses of my fellow Bruin sports fanatics, I'd like to determine if it's possible to make die-hard Bruin fans out of apathetic students without the aid of on-field success. If you don't feel like reading through my story, feel free to skip to the questions in bold at the bottom : )
I, for one, was bred to be a sports fanatic. Growing up, my dad was passionate about football, my mom was a cheerleading coach at our local high school and my older sister was one of her cheerleaders. From the time I was five, we had season tickets to Fresno State football. Back then, Bulldog stadium had grassy hills where their endzone seats are now, so every weekend my family would lay down a blanket at the top of the berm and enjoy a picnic and a ball game. Dinuba High football on Friday and Fresno State football on Saturday were as much a part of my childhood as grandma's house on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Eventually, I hit high school and found that my life continued to revolve in large part around sports. I played basketball and ran track, my clique was a jock clique and I continued to attend all our football games (of course, my attendance at that point had more to do with the fact that there were girls at those games than anything that was happening on the field).
Needless to say, as a UCLA freshmen in '96, Bruin sports had me at hello. The Bruins filled the void left by the suddenly-distant Dinuba Emperors and Fresno State Bulldogs. The fog-filled stadiums and red waves of my youth were replaced by a picturesque Rose Bowl and 8-claps. During my four years on campus, there was no competition for my attention on game days. I camped out for season tickets. I camped out for priority passes. I stood and yelled and jumped 'till I was hoarse and lightheaded. I would have hitch-hiked to the Rose Bowl if I couldn't find a ride. I was devout.
I said all that to ask the following: would I have become the Bruin sports fanatic I am today if not for those fond childhood memories? Would I have latched on to UCLA sports with a fervor if my dad and I hadn't bonded over sports trivia and games of catch? More to the point, would I get so upset when I see a half-empty student section at the Rose Bowl or Pauley if I hadn't been baptised in sports fanaticism at a young age, or would I understand?
Now, in my particular case, I can actually state with certainty that I would have become a Bruin sports nut regardless. In fact, I can pinpoint the specific moment when that transformation would have occurred:
The Moment (via wackyd)
Herein lies the rub. That was the final play of the final football game of my freshman year and it marked the end of one of the greatest games in college football history, the continuation of our dominance over our rivals and the first time I found myself hugging complete strangers. Over the following two-and-a-half years, we not only dominated those Scumbags, we dominated everybody. I watched as my football team won 20 straight games and skyrocketed to #1 in the nation. Meanwhile, my basketball team won an outright Pac 10 title and went to the Sweet 16 and the Elite 8. Perhaps more importantly from the moment of that interception until December 6, 1998, my Bruin football team went 10-1 at the Rose Bowl and their b-ball counterparts went 31-5 at Pauley Pavilion. I walked into games expecting victory and walked out smiling. It was just plain fun to be a UCLA sports fan back then.
With apologies to the non-revenue sports teams that are still kicking a** - is it fun to be a UCLA sports fan right now? Imagine being part of that Fall '08 Freshman class. UCLA students are overacheivers by definition, being associated with all that failure has got to be taxing.
So the question then, for all three of you who read this far is, why are you a UCLA sports fanatic? Since my love of sports was practically forged in the womb, I sometimes have a hard time looking at things from the angle of the casual observer. Was anyone here ever a casual sports fan? If so, what did it take to get you to this point?
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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My grandfather played under Wooden. That’s the genesis. None of his kids made it to UCLA as the two boys went off to ’Nam and his daughter(My mom) married pretty much immediately out of high school because of me. The family roots for UCLA religiously (Although my grandmother had Notre Dame as a STRONG #2, as she was from IN) and they grew up as Bruin season ticket holders and the same was to be true for me.
My 1st game was vs $C in 1980, at the age of 5, and I’ve been a season ticket holder ever since (Minus a few years for my own football career). My family resided in section 2 / row 23 from the instant the Bruins moved to the Rose Bowl. It was myself, my mom, my 2 uncles and grandfather and grandmother and this was how we spent our Saturdays in the Fall.
Tailgating was not anywhere close to the scene that it is now and consisted of my Uncle Mike manning the BBQ while the others would play spades at the umbrella covered card table and listen to the other football games on the radio. I would wander off after eating and try to find whatever football game I could get into with the other kids. After numerous victories over “trojans” in Lot H, it would be time to pack up the table and supplies and go in for the game.
Going into the game required two things – your ticket and a greasy paper bag of grandma’s home popped popcorn; my Uncles, more often than not, would smuggle in some form of alcohol to share with Wally, who sat behind us in row 24. Once inside the game, I would invariably get to pick up a new pom to wave around, because they were only good for about 2-3 games after shedding paper strands in everybody’s drink within a 2 seat radius. The $C game always required a new one.
Some of my favorite games were the early season night games against either LB State or SDSU, because that meant fireworks. One year against LB State, a full nude streaker took to the field from the North endzone – it was one of the few times that my grandmother requested binoculars at a game.
Aside from the regular season ticket games, we would also make the trip to Jack Murphy Stadium when UCLA would travel to play SDSU and for Holiday Bowl berths. We also attended all Rose Bowl games that UCLA played in – we did that a lot when I was a kid. We would get down to the Rose Bowl in the wee hours of the morning and then hike up the hill to watch the parade. After about 3/4s of the parade or when the UCLA band marched by, whichever came first, we would make our way back down to the Rose Bowl and resume normal tailgating festivities.
We would also travel to the mausoleum every other year. Tailgating just wasn’t as much fun down there. The actual tailgate itself was setup and taken down pretty quickly; just enough to get a meal into us and then the remainder of the day was spent wandering through the museums and the rose garden. The seats for the $C games always sucked as they stick you in the corner down by the peristyle, so high that you can almost light the torch.
The years went by and I missed a few years due to my high school playing football on Saturdays and then playing college football in Oklahoma. Apparently having a 3.33 gpa in AP classes and a 1210 SAT weren’t good enough for UCLA, regardless of whether your grandfather played for Wooden or not. I came back from school and rekindled the traditions that I had grown up on.
My grandparents have since passed and my parents have moved to Missouri, so now it’s just me and my 2 uncles going to the games (Lot H for life, even for $27, LOL). We have tickets back in section 2 and get to be led by the best yell leader in football. There’s a lot of Bruin fans who don’t care for Geoff, but I was raised on him, so he’s always got a place in my heart.
I have my season tickets for football and have been making the roadtrip to AZ the last 2 years for those contests. The Spring / Fall scrimmages are treated as part of season tickets and I don’t miss those either. I try and make it to a few basketball games a year and we’ll usually go to whatever non-conference game is going on Christmas week when the family is all together. Softball is about to get an attendance boost as my wife’s cousin is a Sophomore pitcher for the Bruins and we’re going to be bringing a lot of support out for her. I can’t wait to start bringing my young family out to football games as season ticket holders; my son turns 5 next October..
It started in the 60s
I graduated in 1969, but only spent my junior and senior years at UCLA. The genesis for me was the classic game in 1965, which I listened to on the radio, when the Bruins beat suc 20-16 after being down 14 with four minutes to play. Then, I scored tickets to the ‘66 Rose Bowl game against Michigan State — another awesome experience. As a student from 1967-69, I attended every home football and basketball game as well as the Bay Area games. When I lived in San Francisco in the late 70s, I’d go to the Cal or Stanford games and usually make it down to L.A. for a game or two. I lived in New York City for 20 years and watched most football games with the alumni group there, including the double overtime victory, 48-41. I will watch any UCLA sporting event that is televised.
I was at the Rose Bowl on Saturday and then heard about the basketball loss to Montana. So right now, I’m somewhere between dispirited and despondent over UCLA FB and BB. Still, I will remain a passionate fan until the day I die. One great experience of last weekend was staying in the UCLA Guest House and taking many long strolls through the campus. It has never been more beautiful — virtually trash-free, gorgeously landscaped and manicured, and those majestic buildings! My pride and love for UCLA was reinforced in spades.
by TriedandTrueBruin on Dec 8, 2010 3:10 PM PST reply actions
I became a fanatic because.
I transferred to UCLA from the local JC in Santa Ana. I was the first in my sphere of friends and family to go to a “name” school. The best anybody had done was CS Fullerton. I fell in love with UCLA when I got here. And, not just the campus or my dorm mates. That’s a given. I love the fact that there is something in the air that can only be described as a ‘drive to succeed.’ Everybody in the dorms had big plans. Law school, Med School, Engineering, you name it. UCLA was for most the first of many steps. But, as a transfer student, i felt like an outsider.
My first year, I attended the UCLA-USC game at the Colosseum as a spectator. I was blown away be the atmosphere. There was not a neutral color to be seen. Everybody was wearing either Blue or Red. You would find an occasional Tailgate party that was split down the middle. One woman was wearing two jerseys sown down the middle. I guess she had a kid at each school. I remember wanting to be a part of it all. And, that’s when it hit me.
I was wearing a Bruins jersey. I was a student at UCLA. I’ve been bleeding Blue and Gold ever since.
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
I get that
I was the same way. Most of my family seemed determine to live and die within the same 30-mile radius. Bold aspirations and foreign environments were the stuff of dreams for a lot of the people I grew up with.
That being said, I’m also pretty sure that the game you’re referring to was part of our run of eight straight (’97?). Would your passion have developed the way it did if that game had been preceded by a mediocre season, ended in a loss and was followed by a mediocre-to-bad season?
I can't say, because that's not the way it turned out.
I do know I was pretty passionate about my high school team even before our great success. I was passionate about the Lakers during the early 90s before Shaq and Kobe came into town and made tickets hard to get.
I think things would have turned out the same, because the light turned on before the game started. The realization that I was a part of it all was the key moment. Victory made it sweeter.
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
Coach and his players made me a Bruin.
I have to confess that before I was admitted to UCLA, I was like most Angelinos. I rooted for the winners, which were The Lakers (West, Baylor and Goodrich) , the Rams (Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen and Roman Gabriel) the Dodgers (Koufax, Drysdale, then Cey, Garvey Lopes and Russell) and the UCLA Bruins (Lew Alcindor, Lucius Allen, Mike Warren, John Vallely and then Wicks and Rowe). I was no more a UCLA fan than I was a fan of any other.
I then was admitted to UCLA. Everything changed. I went to my first UCLA game in September of 1970. I received my packet of season ticket in the mail before school started and went to the stadium on my own. Pepper Rogers was the coach and the ran the Veer. We had a beer bust on the bus that my Hedrick Floor (FUBAR) rented for a later game. It was my first (and only) experience being plastered for a Bruin Football game. I participated in cards stunts, learned to 8 clap, and came back hoarse from every game. I was hooked.
My first UCLA-USC game was awesome. It didn’t matter whether you were home or away then, except that you switched sides of the field. I took my first college girlfriend to the game. Half of the stadium was in red, the other half was in blue. It was full to capacity. An underdog UCLA team managed to tie the high flying trojans 7-7, and Rob Scribner dropped what looked like an easy pick six that would have meant victory.
When basketball started, my best friend played on the Freshman team, and he gave me his floor seats to watch the game. I would come for the freshman games, and stay through the varsity games. The Freshman team that year was stocked as ever. Dave Myers, Pete Trygovich and Andre McCarty played on the team. My roomate was the 7th man walkon, having been all league from Reseda High School. The Varsity that year was Walton, Wilkes, Farmer, Greg Lee and Larry Holyfield, with Tommy Curtis coming off the bench. UCLA was in the middle of its 88 game winning streak. Gary Franklin, probably the 3rd player off the bench, lived on our floor, so I knew one of the players on the team really well. We went to the games at Pauley and then came back to the dorm to watch the replays at 11 pm of the same game we had just watched. We fans were spoiled and expected to win every game.
In football, it became the era of the Blair Pair, McAlister and Johnson. Although we had difficulty with USC, the Pac-8 was known as the Big -2 and the little 6. We beat most opponents, and every USC game was a monster affair. Mark Harmon came over as a JC Transfer quarterback, and not only was I able to see him play, but I was able to watch him cheat on a final with one of my buddies as he sat three seats away from me in History of Science 106c. I’ll bet the crew on NCIS doesn’t know that.
The next three years led to two national championship, and a heartbreaking loss to NC State, which Walton has called a stain on his UCLA career, but was as much David Thompson (the Skywalker before Luke) and Tom Burleson win as it was a Bruin loss. I graduated with Myers, and was there for Coach’s last national championship. Richard Washington and Marques Johnson were the big name underclassman.
As I went to UCLA law, I was able to stay an active Bruin Student for 3 more years.
I was in the first row at the Rosebowl in 1976, and vividly remember Wendell Tyler’s run directly in my line of sight into the endzone, and beating Ohio State, which had previously beaten us badly during the regular season. John Sciarra was our leader and quarterback that year, and I got to see Coach Dick Vermeil cry for the first time after that win.
I was a critic of Gene Bartow, who ran the basketball program into the ground with a 52-9 record and a final four appearance in his three years at UCLA.
Not only am I a Bruin, but my wife, and two daughters are also Bruins, with my baby having finished her last final last week. We have six other Bruins (3 brother’s in law, a sister in law and 2 nephews) in our family. We all tailgated to the Rosebowl last week, and still can’t believe that Trogans are allowed to come to the Rosebowl and tailgate on our turf. It just seems wrong.
My only question is – how can you not want to be a Bruin? I feel sorry for anyone who isn’t a Bruin. Champions are made here.
My Dad never went to college
But he was crazy about the Bruins starting in the 50s because his brother, my uncle, graduated from UCLA. He loved the Rams, too, but always talked about Red Sanders and the single-wing. I remember as a kid how disappointed he was to see on TV IIRC the Bruins destroyed by Syracuse in 1959.
We used to listen to the games, both football and basketball, religiously on the radio. Games were rarely shown on our old black and white TV with three network channels in the 60s. But I remember very well listening to my heroes like Kermit Alexander play SUC and Billy Kilmer play Notre Dame and how we changed to the T-formation under Billy Barnes, who used to have the worst record as a UCLA head coach.
I remember listening breathlessly to radio games of Coach Wooden’s early NCAA teams, especially Cincinnati two years in a row, when he could not quite break through to the Finals, the only game that was televised.
Of course, with Coach Prothro in football and Coach Wooden in basketball I heard the glory years of our sports, inluding the unforgettable Gary Beban to Kurt Altenberg TD against SUC that won it in a miracle 20-16, followed by watching UCLA beat hugely favored Michigan State 14-12 in the Rose Bowl game on TV when Bob Stiles tackled Bob Apisa to preserve the victory.
Of course, from 1966-1970, when I was a student, I saw all the home football games and most of the basketball games live and in person. Great days. Great memories. Great coaches.
My two brothers and I graduated from UCLA, as well as my two sons. My youngest, my third daughter, is a freshman this year. So hopefully, the good times will roll again, if not in my lifetime, at least in theirs.
GO BRUINS!
OK, My Turn.....but first a question
This is a great topic. Ever since Nestor’s farewell post (in which he asked, rhetorically, "why do we get so passionate (I think that was the word he used but it might also have been “emotionally involved”) over the Bruins, I’ve been wanting to open a thread to explore the psyche of a fan(atic). I haven’t done so because some of what I have concluded about die in the wool sports fans kept sounding awfully negative (as for example — why spend so much time and energy on something that is, bottom line, just a game which we, as fans, have no control over? Aren’t there better ways to spend what precious time we have here?). What does that say about us as adults? Cause I think there is a real difference between being a fan while in school or somehow or another attached to the team, and being as equally fanatic when we’re old codgers sitting in front of our TVs and computers. Like I said, I haven’t opened that thread and I don’t have any answers. Maybe there’s been books on the subject. Its fascinating. And with that, here’s my story…….
I’m 64 years old. Attended UCLA in what I still see as our Glory Days. Others have mentioned names like Beban, Stiles, Alcindor, Prothro et al and I still get goose bumps thinking of them. To be honest I’ve never had a great memory for detail. I see things in broader epochal terms. I do remember Stiles hit and Beban to Altenburg — I was there for both. But I can’t recall specific games from almost 60 years of watching, listening, reading about them. I saw 33 Dodger games in l959, a most memorable year, but can’t remember a single one. But I do remember clearly how it felt for me, a 13 year old who had just lost his father to cancer, to hitch hike or bus it to the Colisseum and sit behind the short left field screen waiting for a Moon Shot. And I can clearly recall Vin Scully’s words when we beat the Braves in the playoffs….“bouncing ball over the mound…….and we go to Chicago!”
But to be a die hard Bruin fan started even earlier. I must have been around 7 or 8 when I began hearing about Ronnie Knox and his crazy father Harvey. My Dad was in show business and there was some connection. We had season tix to the Rams ($27 for the six games and three preseason games) and of course the Rams had Bob Waterfield and Tom Fears (among other) Bruins on the team. We lived in Beverly Hills and that’s a short bike ride to campus. So I was a UCLA nut from the start. When I graduated from high school (more like booted out) with a D average my prospects for college were obviously slim and none. But in 1963 there were special UC entrance exams which trumped grades and SATs. I did well and started school in Sept 1963. On Nov 22 I was helping out a fellow student after a math class when the word came that the President had been shot. Talk about hugging strangers; try crying in each others arms to create a bond. And it was just days before the SC game (which if I recall, was postponed). So I hung around Westwood for 4 years, graduating Magna cum laude and making Phi Beta Kappa. What do I remember most about graduation month (June 1967)? Two things: hearing so many students in the new library (where I worked in government pubs) all abuzz cause the Israeli’s had taken Sharm el Shiek, and listening to Sgt. Peppers over and over again. I thought I had had enough of UCLA for awhile so I went up to Berekely for Law School. Bad decision. Berekely in 1968 was not conducive to studying. Saw alot more of Janis Joplin, Grace Slick, Santana, Jerry Garcia and others over at the Fillmore than I saw the inside of Boalt Hall. Never did get my law degree.
Anyway, I could go on. But the question still remains….what is really the glue that keeps me tuned into UCLA, the Dodgers, and Lakers? I can’t get behind the St. Louis Rams, and that in itself makes me wonder if being a fanatic has something to do with geographic proximity. I live in Northern Calif now, I still root for my LA teams, so there’s more to it than that. But I wonder sometimes if its all that healthy. One thing has changed for me though since those days in 1958 when the Dodgers finished 7th — I no longer internalize losses like I did and allow them to put me in a foul mood (though I did get a queazy feeling when I first saw the score of last weeks Montana game). And conversely, winning is a great feeling but at my age I know that it will neither last nor will it change the world around me.
If anyone has had the time and patience to read this, I would welcome your comments as to what makes us fanatical. Perhaps our brains are wired just a bit differently than non sports fans. Thanks.
Great Opportunity
I usually feel like any posts or replies I make had better stand on their own and not be diluted by words about my background, as if I needed to justify my opinions. So this feels like a unique opportunity, and yes, it does matter. These are some great stories.
My Dad went to UCLA, but was never a fan of any sport – even the games I played in. However, somewhere around fourth grade, you had to make a choice: Who are you for, sc or UCLA? It seemed like my teachers were all grads of one or the other. By that point I had gained some youthful impressions of lofty education and benefits to mankind, so the choice was obvious. I was probably equally a Rams fan, but of course, that faded.
However, we eventually moved out of the area. I played football through high school, but was not college or even high school star material. I went to college in Washington, and remember the excitement I felt when 7- 0 UCLA came to town. I also remember the pain as I watched the Bruins go down 16 – 3 to UW in their only loss of the ’66 season. Believe me, the field at Husky Stadium was the wettest place in Seattle outside of Lake Washington in a true homer victory for the Huskies. I was angry.
Ironically, a number of years later, I finished my last two years of undergraduate study at UW. It is a fine research university and a good educational experience, but honestly, not as demanding as UCLA. I have fond memories of UW. I returned to the LA area many years ago, and have actually attended a number of UW/UCLA games at the Rose Bowl. I have always been there to support the Bruins. When I don’t attend UCLA games, for sure I am glued to the TV.
I have a good friend who is a former Daily Bruin Sports Editor. Attending games with him gave me more insight into UCLA, but also let me know how deep UCLA sports had dug into my psyche despite not being an alum. One area where we seemed to differ was hatred of sc. I just had not developed that aspect. That is until family relations put me in the position of attending some games at the Mausoleum.
It has been noted in other posts about the higher energy at other stadiums compared to the Rose Bowl. That was immediately apparent, but that is not all. At Bruins games, I usually enjoy the folks sitting around me. There are always a few elderly professorial types here and there, and people who look like I’d like to know them. At the Mausoleum, I noticed a difference. Women with too much makeup and jewelry, plenty of bad behavior, and guys wearing gold chains and surly attitudes! Okay, there is probably some diversity in both crowds, but it was actual experiences there that turned the tide. I won’t go into the ugly details here. USC not so slowly but surely turned into $uc for me.
Funny thing is that the family members are okay, even likeable, but there is now a lingering recognition of some of the things they buy into for values. A few years back, I did have the feel good experience at the Rose Bowl a week before the $uc game of seeing the Huskies and Bruins combined bands act out the drama of the Trojan Horse in which the "Greeks" from both schools, who shared virtues of truth, honesty, etc., overcame the Trogans, due to their inebriated and debauched state and lack of virtue. I really loved my alma mater that day, and also got to see them go down to the Bruins!
At this time in my life, sports are becoming much less important than they once were, but not Bruins sports and especially football. Obviously, I have suffered a lot, but Bruins teams have also provided some of my happiest sports moments. Go Bruins!
Feel like Mexi-Bruin
I too was a transfer and I was the 1st in my family to go to college. I remember the day I walked on campus for orientation in the summer and as a part of the tour they walked us through Pauley. I looked up and saw all the banners and I felt like I was in a palace or some other type of place where I did not belong. We walked across the quad and a group of Chinese tourist asked if they could join us on the tour just to see the campus. It was amazing. UCLA was more than just a school it was a dream and I remember calling home to tell my mom about my day at orientation and we both cried on the phone (pay phone back then) and I just remember feeling like I was now a part of something special. My best friend and I went to the season opener at the Rose Bowl and the crowd was thin as school hadn’t started yet, we 8-clapped until our hands hurt. I was hooked and consider my time as a Bruin as the official start of my adult life and I wouldn’t trade those years for anything! Being a Bruin made me who I am and I am so proud to be a part of the tradition and community that is UCLA. I try and get on campus at least once a year just to walk around and enjoy the beauty of the campus and pick up a new sweatshirt. I have wished we won a few more games at the Rose Bowl and Pauley after many years but I have never not been proud to be a Bruin. One thing that has always made me feel good is being asked “where did you go to college?” when I respond I went to UCLA people just know, I have never received a follow up question, no one asks, where is that ? They know….
Wow what a great question.
My parents were very young when they had me and struggled financially because of it. My father was a good student who had dreams of attending UCLA (his dream school) but those plans were derailed by life as a young parent. He worked two jobs (morning & swing shift) so the only time i got to see him was Saturday nights around 11 pm when channel 5 would show the the games on tape delay. He would rush home and my mother was instructed to keep me awake so i could sit and watch the Bruins with him. My early hero’s were players like Kenny Easley-Marques Johnson-Roy Hamilton-Lupe Sanchez – Rick Bayshore – Raymond Townsend – jimmy spillane the list goes on and on.
Some may think it was a sad time only seeing my dad a couple of hours a week? but for me those were the glory days! Dad and I became super close and he was the best man at my wedding! Sadly he died from injuries suffered in a car accident just days before his grandson was born but he was without a doubt the most passionate UCLA BRUIN i have ever known! i even stole his nick name THE UCLAN.
"Success is never final, Failure is never fatal. It's Courage that count's" - John Wooden.
**** Born out of the Rivalry*****
I was born in 61 and grew up in Orange County with my earliest sports memories being the rivalry …. My late older brother loved nothing but sports and took me to so many games—both high school and college. How could a young kid not be enthralled by the athletic greatness of the time…60s and 70s…UCLA basketball was so dominant. Naturally I wanted UCLA football to be dominant too. It was a great thrill when UCLA and John Sciarra beat USC and then Ohio State in the 1976 Rose Bowl ending a Rose Bowl drought of some 10 seasons or so. The next year UCLA had a new head coach and a new starting QB, Jeff Dankworth. He was fabulous in the Bruins 1st game of the Donahue era when he ran all over Arizona State at Tempe. The Bruins had a great year moving up to No 2 in the rankings on the day of the showdown with USC who was ranked #3. Critical turnovers cost UCLA dearly and they lost 14-24. I felt so horrible after that. I also remember the PAIN of losing in 1981, during my undergrad years, when Norm Johnson’s would-be game winner was blocked…When I got home I was inconsolable….I just fell on the couch and didn’t move until Monday…damn, that one hurt! The 87 and 88 losses made me feel funny because I felt UCLA had a better team both times—and still lost….I sure liked the feeling in 98 after beating USC and joining in the chant of “WE’RE No. 1!”
and then the absolute desolation following the Miami game…The 13-9 win was real sweet
while it lasted. I felt like we’d won the National Title after that one…
And yep, all the other great sports at UCLA like the unparalleled men’s volleyball under Scates, women’s volleyball under Banachowski, Track under Bush, et al… 106 huh? I say 107…don’t forget 1954.
My freshman year was also Bill Walton's senior year
Growing up as a high school kid in Wisconsin, sports never excited me.
Even as the giant Californian, signed with Milwaukee Bucks became the rage of my home state, it mattered little to me. Remember back then, in Wisconsin, America’s Dairyland, Scandinavian names abound. This towering individual caught my attention only because of his exotic, religious sounding name. My interest was in the books primarily. I aced almost everything academics but you would pity my PE grades. Gym teachers passed me out of humanitarian concerns.
I came to UCLA because my family relatives lived in Los Angeles and, don’t laugh, those Beach Boys music footages I saw on TV. They sold me on the coastal sceneries and the palm trees. Besides, as a teenager, I was beginning to yearn for winters without snow, a life never experienced other than watching it on the tube. In my sheltered, mid western mind, you can also say I genuinely equated life in California to being on the studio set of Elvis’ Blue Hawaii. That my college of choice’s perennial dominance in NCAA athletics, especially in basketball, scarcely raised an eyebrow for me.
To make a long story short, everything changed after I attended my first ever game at Pauley.
Honestly speaking, after the final buzzer, as students mobbed the exiting players, I fixated my sight only on one unusually tall, fair complexioned redhead. He didn’t play the entire game. Whenever he sat on the bench, some team trainer would hand him ice packs to be placed on his knees, with his long legs stretching out. It never occured to me what they were for either. To this day, his quickness, agile leaping skills, and the uncanny accuracy of his turnaround jumpers, not to say the mid range bank shots from the perimeter utterly astounded me. I cannot leave out those sky high rebounds and vertical blocks. Their suddenness and the sheer height of the jumps must have cowered the referees from calling them goal tending.
Walton got away plenty.
I came away awestruck, dazed in disbelief by Bill Walton’s overwhelming talents and dazzling style. He was the game changer. Even more surprisingly, I never knew that this majestic player with thrilling skills actually performed on a pair of fragile knees. Just like those prized thoroughbreds these days, their turbo charged speed is sustained by their chopsticks like legs and this magnificently tall player’s prowess and mobility his brittle, injury prone knees and ankles.
Maybe this was God’ way of leveling the playing field for other players because on that night, unless my memory faulted me, nobody could score on UCLA when Walton was in.
I later returned to Madison, Wisconsin for graduate school because UCLA delayed notifying me of its decision. As they say, absence merely made my heart grew fonder of UCLA athletics. I watched on TV UCLA games whenever Wisconsin TV networks carried them. Gene Bartow’s quick exit didn’t surprise me. I never thought UCLA would settle on him. To me and my simple, straight forward calculation, the assistant that went to Louisville had the inside track.
We all know the history after Wooden. Through it all, as I chronicle my own nostalgic times with UCLA basketball now, the picture of a tall guy hunching his back listening to a bespectacled, somewhat elderly person along the UCLA bench always stands out.
And if this is a case of torn between two lovers, I hope it never ends. Wisconsin’s achievements in Big ten football tickles me. Yet it devastated me when the Badgers vanquished the Bruins last time they played in Rose Bowl. But then I told myself one thing. To be affiliated with two winning institutions ain’t bad at all.
Go Badgers come this New Year’s Day.
Good Question
I am still following the Bruins even though I am in a blue funk right now because of the sorry state of Bruin football (and apparently basketball). I was brought up in L.A. It is my town even though I don’t live there now. I did not go to college at UCLA. I have to credit the L.A. (Trojan) Times for making me a life-long Bruin fan. I grew to develop a deep disgust for anything Trojan because of the obvious and incessant promotion of USC at the expense of UCLA. That has not changed to this day. It has been this extreme unfairness in news reporting and the love of sports that has kept me firmly on the side of the Bruins. But, God knows how difficult it is to be a UCLA fan these days. I don’t really like the UCLA colors, the lack of fan spirit at the football games, the un-inspiring fight song, the phoney cheers (please retire that old guy that keeps trying to lead the cheers) and, of course, the sorry excuse for a football coach we have right now. But I am and will forever be a Bruin.
(please retire that old guy that keeps trying to lead the cheers)
i couldn’t disagree more…that little old guy is one of the things that earned my love for UCLA. For me, such a strong tradition of love for one’s school made me a believer.
Why I "heart" UCLA
Like Keptycho, i did not attend UCLA. I attended UCR and started going to UCLA parties with my brother (Mexibruin) during the end of the 8 straight wins over SUC. Aside from the beautiful women that were there, there was a classy climate of “We are Bruins” in the air. A couple of times a Trojan would be there and after a short good natured ribbing, people basically chilled.
I was there at 13-9, and that made me even a bigger believer in UCLA. This season has really had me wonder just what the hell is going on in the football program, but i’m reminded of all the sports fans whose team has sucked for a long time and still bleed their teams colors. I think at this point i’m more disappointed by the students and fans who waver in their conviction.
This week, after the loss i still wore my UCLA gear to the school I teach at. A fellow teacher commented “nice”! They get it. When your team is down, it’s even more important to let people where you stand, to hold your chin up and say “this too shall pass”.
Thumbs up to Bruin Bro for wearing the colors
I do the same. If you are going to brag when you when, you have to take it when you lose and can’t hide.
When I Was Just An Elementary School Kid...Back Home In Iowa
Just watching the UCLA – USC game every year. Just something about those gold helmets with the cursive UCLA on them and the fight song hooked me as a youngster and it’s been love ever since!
Los Angeles Rams and the UCLA Bruins!!!!!
by Minnesota Bruinfan on Dec 13, 2010 10:45 AM PST reply actions
I know in your region, essentially the same as mine in Wisconsin
the annual Ohio State / Michigan matchups sometimes pitted family members against each other.
My math teacher then hailed from Columbus, Ohio, home of the Buckeyes. He mentioned Woody Hayes in every other sentence. Unfortunately his nephew attended Ann Arbor. In those days, the Wolverines & Buckeyes traditionally played each other the weekend before Thanksgiving to determine conference championship. So according to him, they perennially dined on turkey rancorously. Whichever school lost that year, its alum always argued with the one from the winning school & vice versa.
Football was religion, the holy jihad between Buckeyes & Wolverines.
Both my parents are alums, so I've been a Bruin for life...
My parents always said that I would be sound asleep on the way to games until the put in the band CD and as soon as the fight song was playing, I was wide awake and clapping along.
The first real memory of watching football I have was the 1996 $c game, but my most treasured moment was meeting Skip HIcks on my 5th birthday when UCLA played Washington, who was the 13th ranked team at the time. Skip caught 1 TD and ran for 3 more in 52-28 trashing of UW for #8 of the eventual 20 game win streak.
"The true athlete should have character, not be a character."- John Wooden
Forgive me, this is my first post.....
But this subject was what made get my own SB account. I am a passionate fan of the Bruins and have been all my life! I actually asked my father this question during this years UCLA vs. suc game. He replied to me that we have always been Bruin fans. So my family which have all been smart and hard working people have always loved UCLA. None from my family have ever had the priviledge of attending that great university,but we all have been and are die hard fans! I think I may have come the closest to attending though….I did some plumbing work on new dorms in 2003 or 2004. I hope I dont come off as being disrespectful for I know I am a newbie and not much of a typer either. But I just am happy to be a Bruin at heart. And love connecting to like thinking and feeling people! After the Rams left….well i still cheer for them……but nothings like cheering for your hometown team! Go Bruins!!!! And like I said I dont mean to show any disrespect being new and all.
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