Drago... How many passes does a guy get?
by davebruin on Mar 16, 2010 7:44 PM PDT
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PrintBumped. GO BRUINS. -N
Drago True Story: Long.
Not to pile on, but I witnessed something a few weeks ago that I thought I would just let go until after the season.
I post mostly on the football board of BRO, but those of you who know me, know I live in Oregon.
To set this up, my father had a heart attack the week of January 24th. He was in the hospital and stable, so I decided to fly down as soon as I could, which was on Sunday, January 31st, the day AFTER the Bruins beat Oregon State 62-52. I had to buy a last minute ticket on Alaska and got bumped to first class. I was sitting in first class waiting for the rest of the plane to board, when on walks the whole UCLA basketball team. I'm a diehard fan, and I was totally pumped to see them all. They were all talkative as they boarded and to my surprise, Coah Howland sat in the first class seat right in front of me.
As the plane filled up and we readied to taxi, the volume coming from the back of the plane seemed a little louder than usual...and I thought the team must be having a little fun. When we got about half way to the runway from the gate, the plane stopped and idled for what seemed like more than the usual amount of pre takeoff time. I was quite anxious to get going, being nervous about my dad's condition, and I thought for sure the captain was going to come on the speaker and say we had mechanical issues or something.
What I saw and heard next made me angry and sad. The lead flight attendant came to the front of the plane and began speaking to Coach Howland. She said that the players were being rude and disrespectful and that one player had crossed the line and was going to be asked to get off the plane. Coach looked shocked and asked, for the benefit of the other passengers, if he could handle the situation. The attendant said no, it was past that point. Guess who it was. Yep, Drago.
Coach asked what did Drago say, and the flight attendant said: "After I told him to be quiet, the young man said 'what she needs is a wiener'." I saw Coach turn bright red and tell his assistant coach to get to the back of the plane and let Drago come sit next to him. The flight attendant agreed after speaking with the captain, and up came Drago, who now got a first class seat next to the coach.
After a few minutes, things settled down and we took off, and I got a first hand listen to Coach completely REEM Drago out, to the effect of: "what is it with you? You have a great game yesterday and then you pull this ****? You could have been thrown off the plane! Do you know there's a sportswriter on this flight?" Drago tried to speak, but Coach interrupted him saying: "Shut up! All I want to hear from you is 'i screwed up. AGAIN.'"
That was it. For the rest of the flight, not another word from Drago. When we landed, the captain came out and spoke directly to Drago: "You are one lucky young man. I wasn't going to let you fly."
Drago was quickly escorted off the plane by another assistant, not even stopping to get his things.
At first I was happy with the way Coach handled the situation, but after thinking about it, how many passes should this kid have gotten?
To be honest, I didn't want to be delayed. I wanted to get down to my dad as soon as possible, but in retrospect, maybe they should have thrown him off the plane, and then off the team for good.
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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wow
I’m just glad I never have to think about this piece of Sh** again
See that? That's class my friends.
When I grow up I want to be like ’66.
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
Unfortunately,
I grew old but not up. And, an immature old man is not a pretty sight.
But, thanks for the compliment.
sjh
Hope You Don't Mind, But...
…how is your Dad?
I really don’t want to pry, but I really do know how you feel—my pops had a quadruple bypass a few Easters ago, and he was diagnosed with cancer late last year, so the being on a plane, anxious to get to him, I really, really know how that feels.
I hope he’s doing well.
Love My Bruins
He's doing ok....
The triple bypass was rough. I was in the hospital with him everyday for a week. His heart took a big hit, but he’s on the way to recovery. I can tell because he’s already started going to Costco again. Cracks me up :)
There You Go
If it means going to Costco, then that’s what it means, but hip hip hooray.
(For mine, it was working on the lawn mower. Brought tears to my eyes.)
Love My Bruins
DaveBruin, thanks for posting.
I’m really ambivalent about this post. My first reaction is that there is no way to know if this is true, outside your saying so.
I mostly believe the story, because like so many others around here I have become so soured with Drago that if you told me he clubs baby seals during spring break, I would probably believe it. But the mere possibility that this something fabricated by our enemies to make us look bad lingered in my mind. Until finally I decided it doesn’t matter anymore because Drago is gone. He cannot and will not bring me down for another second.
Personally, this incident alone would get Drago suspended if it were my call to make. Coupled with his two previous arrests, and he would be off the team completely. All of this just continues to call CBH’s judgment into question.
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
Completely with you on this one.
I’m glad the CBH isn’t blindly defending Drago and recognizes that he screws up a lot, but come on. He’s got two arrests (even if you don’t know the result of them), and he says something like this while he is with the team, representing our school. I would have gotten rid of him right then and there.
I understand your feelings....
I waited until after the season to post, but his latest incident just pissed me off. I didn’t want to do anything that might come out negatively against the team, but in hindsight, I should have posted earlier.
I don't know that the timeliness changes a thing.
We all know that if this was some SCrub doing this, that Heritage Hall would jump into overdrive to silence the leak. We have nothing to hide, and if one of our guys gets out of line, we will not hesitate to call him on it.
I’m glad you shared it.
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
I do like hearing
that CBH reemed his ass out for that type of behavior.
But it then begs the question — why did he continue to give him massive PT after that incident? Such disrespect to women may be OK in Serbian culture, but not here at UCLA.
A double standard
If that was Bobo that did that, he probably would have been suspended for the rest of the year. Since it was Drag, nothing happened. Incredible.
You have to admit that is pure speculation.
But it drives home the point (yet again) “Why did CBH allow Drago such free reign?”
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
One thing to add ...
dave originally posted this on another message board, where someone deleted it after it went up and generated a ton of comments.
That tells me that the powers that be wanted it kept quiet and that gives it credibility.
if it were untrue, there would have been a correction. A deletion tells me it’s essentially true
That seems a bit like confirmation bias
I agree that if it were true and they were trying to keep it quiet it would be taken down. On the other hand, if it were patently false and complete fiction, then why would they even dignify it with a response? With Internet gossip like this, it’s hard to shake off no matter the response. Short of coming out with an admission that it’s true, I’m not sure you can conclude anything.
by SuperBruinMan on Mar 16, 2010 7:02 PM PDT up reply actions
BRO has rules about these kinds of posts
It’s a BRO board rule to not post details about the private lives of Bruin players or recruits (i.e., detailed accounts of seeing them at parties, class, quotes or pictures taken from their private Facebook/Myspace/Twitter pages, etc.).
For example, there were stories about Michael Fey at parties, Alfred Aboya being noncompliant with Access Control and Residential Assistants, the origin of the Drago/Dance Team Halloween photo that were all deleted.
by Alanamaslama on Mar 16, 2010 9:48 PM PDT up reply actions
We could have an interesting debate ...
about whether or not almost getting thrown off a plane is “private” or “public.”
yup
particularly when it is associated with the team activity.
There might also be a question about a timed embargo – allowing this kind of thing to be posted and discussed at the end of a player’s career, or at least at the end of a season.
by britishbruin on Mar 17, 2010 10:22 AM PDT up reply actions
I agree
It would make for an interesting debate, but I also believe that the nature of the post—a story that no one is able to confirm except Howland and Rago—was also reason for it being deleted.
by Alanamaslama on Mar 17, 2010 10:32 AM PDT up reply actions
If Howland wants to dispute this story
He can contact us. Pretty sure he knows by now that this post is up right here. If he wants to send a specific account of this incident we’d be happy to update the post.
Sounds fair
I only subscribe to the free board at BRO, but I do agree with this as well. If the Director of Information could contact BN regarding the Norm Chow situation a few months back, then CBH could clear this up as well.
by Alanamaslama on Mar 17, 2010 11:13 AM PDT up reply actions
I see this as completely fair game.
A player partying and acting like an a**hole is private behavior to me, as long as no laws are broken. ND acting in the way described while he’s traveling alone or with family, not representing UCLA, isn’t necessarily news.
The difference? This was the team traveling as a team, and when they travel as a team they represent UCLA. This wasn’t a private charter, it was a normal flight open to Dave and anyone else able to purchase a ticket. For that reason, it’s completely fair for a story such as this to be publicized and discussed at the time it happened.
much as I appreciate all information coming out
I can see the point of having a blanket ban on this kind of thing – it provides us with additional insight, but it can only really be damaging to the program (with a few exceptions – a picture of a guy who’s only claim to fame is playing for UCLA taken alongside some attractive young girls who would otherwise be way out of his league may be good for recruiting…).
by britishbruin on Mar 17, 2010 10:19 AM PDT up reply actions
I've seen Drago driving in Lot 7....
He drives a black VW bug and was driving so fast and out of control to schretching stops like a total idiot. Honeycutt was riding shotgun at the time. He was driving so stupidly I couldn’t believe it.
I am a Bruin through and through but I am so glad Drago is history. Good riddance!
Funny to read 'complete douche' and see the pyramid of success
Funny dichotomy.
My Dad had two bypass surgeries,
and eventually succumbed to heart failure. A day doesn’t go by when I don’t miss him. I wish you, your Dad, and your family all the best.
If this story is true, then the rest of this post applies. If not, then you got me.
I give up trying to figure out CBH. Reaming out ND was exactly the coach I thought CBH was up until this season. Playing him major minutes in the very next game was exactly the coach I thought CBH wasn’t.
To think that Bill Walton, all-American and NCAA champion Bill Walton, almost got himself booted off the team for going against Coach’s hair and appearance rules, the contrast is beyond stark. That a player was allowed to abuse a woman, annoy the crew enough to get himself thrown off a plane, and embarass our great University, only to be “punished” by a sweep under the rug just flabbergasts me.
Others on the team heard ND’s abuse, I’d guess. And, all of them saw that the behavior was, in effect, rewarded. This, I suppose, would help explain some of the communications break-downs that we witnessed this season.
You don’t have to be Coach to have principles. But, you have to have character and gumption to stick to them. I thought I knew CBH. I guess not.
There HAS to be a reason
It defies logic otherwise.
Maybe CBH thought basketball would “save” Rag, tried to keep him focused on hoops so that he’d stop fucking up off the court. Didn’t work out I guess. Rag is just now reaching adolescence.
And I do believe the story.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
by tasser10 on Mar 16, 2010 7:29 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
I believe the story, too
I used to work for an airline, and I know you have got to be a really big a-hole to get a flight attendant mad enough to kick you off the flight. (And believe me, if the FA wants you off, the Captain will kick you off without a second thought.)
So the first question is whether it sounds like it’s in character for Rag to do what he is alleged to have done, knowing what we know about him. Answer – sure. He comes across as the opposite of most Ben Ball Warriors we love and count as brothers. I find it hard to think that Mata-Real would have made a scene. Or any guys who have earned our respect like that.
I can also accept that the professional FA, probably old enough to be Rag’s mother, would have let Coach Howland diffuse the situation.
The bottom line is that I find the story totally believable.
What is difficult to understand is why Coach Howland continued to reward this guy. We all know that Coach Howland knows more about basketball than any of us us here. We know that it is his job and his pride on the line when his teams suck in a big way. I refuse to accept the notion that Coach Howland did not recognize that Rag was a huge liability on defense, and was a strength-sapping leech on offense when he continued to fire up bricks at a 23% clip. Coach Howland had to see the same things we all saw. I must conclude that Coach Howland had to have a reason to continue to let this guy play that has nothing to do with basketball. Was there some dying kid in the ICU who said, “Coach Howland (cough, wheeze) make me one (cough) just one (sigh, wheeze) promise. Ya gotta let Rag get his minutes. I’m not going to make it, Coach, so give me this one last wish. Let Rag play, no matter how bad he sucks.”
Yeah I mean
no matter how stubborn or arrogant you are, after a certain point when all the evidence is right in your face, you’ve got to accept it. And from this anecdote it seems CBH did at least to some degree accept that Rag was a screw-up.
From all the interviews and things I’ve read on CBH, he seems like a smart, intelligent, and reasonable man. There has to be a reason he let this idiot play over and over again. There has to.
Right?
Well I wouldn't go so far as supporting the FA
I was flying to Las Vegas once, on National Airlines. Here is the sequence of events:
- flight was delayed
- we finally sat down
- I got pulled off the plane because they “forgot” to do a “random” search on me (how is it random if they come after me specifically)
- there weren’t enough pillows, so the FAs asked people to raise their hands if they wanted one
- I raised my hand, FA came toward me with it, only to LITERALLY fake me out and give it to someone behind me, saying “he called it”
- I was outraged, she came to explain herself (not apologize), so I said “that’s fine, just leave me alone”
- well that got her pissed off and she wanted to have me thrown off the plane
- later, she wanted to throw a girl off the plane because she complained that the person in front of her put her bag under her seat (taking away the girl’s legroom)
- a week later, National went bankrupt…guess that’s why they were in a bad mood.
Wow…that was way OT!
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
I used to handle lawsuits for airlines
The first question I asked the FA was whether they did it or not, for real, no kidding. Sometimes they said they did and were having a bad day, but very rarely. We had our share of coffee spills in the lap. On those I also always asked if they did it on purpose because the passenger was being an ass. Maybe 10% of those times I found it was a little frontier justice. We always tried those. Flight attendants always (well, almost always) make great witnesses.
It’s a fact that something happens to ordinary, generally decent people when they get on an airplane. Many of them turn into absolute jerks. Interestingly, most of the people who complained about how horrible the flight was or how bad the FA was or something like that always wanted to settle their case or their claim with some free passes. I always made it a point to have the phone numbers for all our competitors on my desk so I could pass them out when people called me to complain.
Now the big question, Tas – who is more off topic?
Let's just hijack the thread and be done with it!
Well, you put over a hundred people in a tiny tin can hurdling through the atmosphere at 500mph, I guess some can get testy! Is it just me, or are the airlines some of the most hated companies in America? Is this really the best they can do?
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Things are considerably different now than they were when I was there in the 80's
Flights weren’t always full. Airlines didn’t have hubs, so there wasn’t always a heavily congested airport involved in every trip. (When I started with Trans World, we flew to 31 destinations out of Kansas City; when I ended, we flew to one – St Louis.)
But there are lots and lots of stories. Lots of strange plaintiffs and strange plaintiff’s lawyers and weird lawsuits. How about a denied boarding case for a doggie, who’s doggie maid of honor was forced to go into the hold rather than ride under a seat on one leg of the trip to the doggie’s wedding in Washington DC. And that case went to trial. Or the guy who sued us because he was punched in the nose by the passenger in front of him. That one went to trial too, and we got the puncher to come to court and explain that he socked the guy because he kept reaching between the seats and fondling the guy’s 12 year old daughter.
We’ll have to have a separate thread for strange stories from work. We have threads on just about everything else.
My grandfather
flew for TWA for 20 years, and was based in KC.
I hope he never had occasion to work directly with you, Fox. Perhaps he flew you around a few times, though he retired in 1970, so perhaps you were too young to have crossed his (flight) path.
And don’t say hijack in this thread. Airline folks get nervous at that word..
greg in denver - UCLA guy for life
This is what happens
when bitches marry. As for the fondler, I trust that the judge ruled “You’re right. He should not have punched you in the face. He should have kicked you in the ’nads. Bailiff!”
So let me see if I get this right
the next time I’m stuck back in coach, and CBH is on the plane, I abuse a flight attendant and CBH will have me moved to first class?
Wow, that’s a punishment.
sjh
You wonder
Why Honeycutt has been so POed and Michael Roll looked so disgusted at Rag during the Cal game. The problem here obviously is not Rag (even though he has been a complete d’bag since his arrival at UCLA). The problem is much deeper than this jerk. It goes to the very top.
I feel like Jill Painter
may have misreported that. On multiple occasions regarding Dragovic’s arrest and charges, it was reported that he was defending his roommate, Aleksandar Stanisic. Unless Rag (and Roll) enjoyed triples (I sure didn’t, triples in Hedrick were awful) that much, I’m pretty sure it’s not all three of them in the same room. One of the sources must be misreporting. Maybe Roll and Rag were roommates at some point (athletes do tend to live together their first few years, and most do continue that way) but not any longer?
Roommates when the team travels but not at home
That is my guess.
I've lived with guys I absolutely could not stand.
student life makes for strange living situations.
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
Awkward
What was funny was that after all the interactions with the flight attendants, they still treated him with respect and had to serve him. They acted with complete class. Believe me, you wouldn’t have wanted that seat. You could cut the tension with a knife the whole way down to LA. I actually thought they were going to have someone meet the plane when we landed as that is often how they deal with “unruly” passengers.
DA drops Dragovic's felony
I saw on espn’s website the last 2 days that charges have been dropped against Nikola. Anyway, interesting story. Howland handled it like a champ. Sit down and shut up Drago. With a little tough love.
by Lets go Bruins clap clap clap clap clap on Mar 16, 2010 8:13 PM PDT reply actions
What really perplexes me
And I’m sure it gets to everyone, but why is it that Howland kept giving this guy a free pass?
I’m friends with a couple players on the team, and I asked them what the deal was. They’re in the dark about it too. A lot of it is showing loyalty to the seniors, at least from their perspective. They think Howland may be rewarding the people who were here four years, but they acknowledge that Howland knows about Dragovic’s problems. Believe me, the stories I’ve heard…
But this incident is also emblematic of our team this year. Their discipline is incredibly low, and the character of some of the recruits… just no. A lot of the off court issues go unreported, and Howland has had to deal with it. Really, the character of the people he’s recruited has gone downhill.
I get that sense too.
I mean the FA wasn’t just complaining about Rag. Rag was just the one who stepped over the line. What worries me is that with all of Rag’s off-the-court issues and CBH rewarding him with PT, the culture that is being built is that these off-the-court issues don’t matter in the long run.
Rag's behavior
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard about him talk like that towards women. He’s been known to be pretty disrespectful at parties
I'm so glad that RN chose MR as his mentor.
At least it shows good character on his part. I wish I knew who was in the a$$hole camp. God, I hope CBH can turn this culture around. I’m sure BH felt a responsibility to get the kid home, but that should have been the end of it. I’m so sorry you had to witness this when you already had so much on your mind. I hope the character guys can work with CBH to turn this around. I find this so upsetting. I hope Coach isn’t reading this. This is not what our university is about and we should have none of it. It does start at the top, but I can’t help thinking the man at the top could really use some help with all of this.
Go Bruins!
The gloves are off
and I have no reason to believe this story is false, as well. I should preface my remarks by saying that I am married to a woman who was born in Belgrade and speaks the language fluently (although she grew up here), my mother-in-law is Serbian, much of my wife’s family is Serbian, and we have many dear Serbian friends. But this guy is the very definition of Eurotrash. We have the Ugly Americans over here who go to places like Mexico and act like barbarians – he’s the Serbian version of that. There is no doubt in my mind that Coach would have booted his ass off in a heartbeat. All I can think of is that CBH was so sure his bench was insufficient that he couldn’t chance losing Dragovic for more than a few minutes in any game (despite having suspended him once early in the season when the new felony charge was made public). It doesn’t excuse his behavior, and I will hold this whole sad chapter as a mark against CBH.
Like so many of you, I am glad he is now just a bitter memory.
That's the part I don't accept - afraid of losing Rag for more than a few minutes
daggy, you said “All I can think of is that CBH was so sure his bench was insufficient that he couldn’t chance losing Dragovic for more than a few minutes in any game….” I can’t accept that, really. Rag could shoot free throws, but that’s all. He was a liability on defense, although that’s hard to measure statistically. You can look at the numbers and see that he had very few fouls, which suggests either brilliant moves, or keeping a good, safe distance from the other guy. I think the latter. On the more measurable offensive side, he was very nondescript.
There is no reason to think that one or more of our bench guys couldn’t have replicated Rag’s numbers with 35 minutes of playing time. How hard is it to shoot less than 25% from three point land and less than 35 % overall (in the last ten games.)
Coach Howland’s mind-boggling decision to keep playing this guy simply can’t be explained from simply a basketball perspective. There has to be something else.
Nikky was CBH's charity case
He thought he could change him, but a leopard cannot change its spots… just like usc and breaking rules. Either that or CBH had a season long brain lapse and didn’t have any of his assistants stand up to him and not be yesmen.
CBH was between a rock and a hard place.
I, don’t know. From my perspective he was in a no win scenario. Either show his players that he’ll stick with them and defend them in public, or ditch them and lose their trust. Additionally after loosing Drew Gordon, either keep a poorly shooting player that somehow averages double digits, and try to at least make a .5 season, or kick him out and automatically settle for a losing season while you rebuild the team. Both of which will warm his seat and give him sleepless nights. As a competitor he had to try for the win, and in the end of the day it seems that the main reason this season was so poor was due to a combination of poor team dynamics, young players, suborn coaching, and Drago being a disaster on and off the court.
What an a**hole
This guy has no business representing UCLA, period. I don’ t care for these arguments claiming he was some kind of help on the court. Even if he was (which he wasn’t), it’s completely beside the point: we aren’t Trogans and we don’t stand for this kind of behavior.
by gradstudentbruin on Mar 17, 2010 2:13 AM PDT reply actions
Coaching styles
CBH should have left Drago in Oregon-permanently.In the past a UCLA Coach had kicked a player off the team or suspended the week before Senior Day. It was the right move then and would be today. CBH could have and should have done the same with Drago. At least he is gone and we will not have to put up with that crap again. we hope.
Great Story
And the moral is – if you misbehave in coach class, you get to fly in first class. Of course, you get reamed out, but you just tune out CBH, as you always, do, and you can have all that extra leg room.
Drago played CBH very well for the last couple of years. I wish I knew why.
Bleeding powderkeg blue and gold for 55 years. Go Bruins!
Dave
Our thoughts and prayers are with your Dad. Hope he is doing well. Thanks for sharing this story.
lol
“Not to pile on… but here is a negative story about a guy you all hate!”
Thanks for the info though. Does make it sound like CBH is dealing with a bunch of schoolchildren (ND and others) rather than mature young adults. Would be interested to know who the other players were being rude; the internal dynamics of this whole team are fascinating and repulsive at the same time.
not to pile on...
sorry, that part of the post was a reply to an original post on BRO…that got deleted.
Also made me laugh!
“not to pile on…” LOL
Something else that made me laugh was what my friend put as his Facebook status:
Now former UCLA basketball player Nikola Dragovic was cleared of all charges of assault stemming from an altercation in a club before the season started. Apparently, the judge watched all of their games, saw Dragovic shoot and ruled he was incapable of hitting anything.
HA HA!
"The entire world that bleeds blue and gold ... they have been dying for this." - Coach Rick Neuheisel
After spending my Freshman and Sophomore years (89-91)
in the Hitch and Saxon suites, I could tell you stories about athletes (football and basketball) that would surely make you uncomfortable. Stories such as these really should stay under our collective radar. However, after everything that has happened with this guy, and this program, I totally understand the motivation to shed some light on it.
"I don't forget very much" Rick Neuheisel, 11/28/09
There is a big difference
between what is said in the relative privacy of a dorm and how a student athlete conducts himself in public. As representatives of a premiere program in men’s (and now women’s) college basketball, the students have a responsibility to conduct themselves appropriately and be on their best behavior in a public venue. Rewarding bad behavior with a trip to first class (despite the tongue-lashing from CBH) is inexcusable. He should have been thrown off the plane and the team as well.
I find it interesting that even though both the assault and domestic violence charges were ultimately dismissed, how did Rago get in the position of being accused in the first place? Once may be an aberration, but twice, you have to think that where there’s smoke, there’s fire. We had a losing season with him anyway, and it seems to me that the honor and integrity of the program should be the first priority. Who knows how the season would have played out without him. There were kids on the bench who could have been played, and maybe one of them would have stepped up. It is hard to believe that it would have been worse without him “Dragging” down the program as he did.
Okay...
First Dave, best wishes to your Dad.
Regarding the incident, my thought is, what would Coach Wooden have done. I believe Drago would already not be on a Coach Wooden team by this point in his career. However, if he was on the team at this point, he would not be on the team by the time they got off the plane.
I do not believe Ben Howland has control, and if this story is true, this proves it. I don’t like Drago, but he is gone and is no longer a problem. However, Coach Howland is still here.
The validity of this story could be in question, if it were not for the fact that Drago is a dirt bag. However, is it possible that the flight crew might have logged it in as an incident report. At very least so the Airline can cover its ass if a complaint was to arrise by another passenger. It is possible that there might be something on paper somewhere.
Validity...
The truth is, I only wish I was making this up. It was a HORRIBLE couple of days for me leading up to the flight, and I was so excited to see the team board the plane. I am a diehard Bruin fan, and I sent a text to my wife right before they closed the doors telling her the team was on the plane. She knows how much Bruin sports means to me. I was so embarassed by what went on. I actually thought to myself: “this is the kind of crap that goes on at USC, NOT our school.” It’s an interesting debate above, as to whether it’s ok to post this stuff or not. Well, it happened in a public place in a public setting, so I felt ok. With all the stuff going on up here in Oregon with the Ducks’ players, I have very little patience for students who choose to do stupid things while representing their universities.
You are right, there probably is a record of it somewhere, or the sportswriter on the plane decided not to write about it. Whatever. Coach knows what happened, and he made the decision to handle things in his way, which with drago, meant a little chewing out and then back in the lineup.
Dude
that makes me hate Drago even more that he did that to you after sucha horrible couple of days.
Back to Serbia you heathen! Begone, Sorrow of Belgrade!
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Complete misunderstanding
Drago simply said, “You need a winner.”
Upon hearing this, the attendant duly noted that he wasn’t the man for the jump and asked him to leave.
by AllHailMightyBruins on Mar 18, 2010 4:22 PM PDT reply actions
Hey Dave,
I hope your father is doing well.
(sorry I didn’t say this higher up. I got caught in the thread and neglected to say the most important part. Best wishes to both of you)
greg in denver - UCLA guy for life
just a quick question
I understand why this information is of value to us – the Bruin faithful who want to see our team do well and our program succeed.
What I don’t understand is why any of us would want to disseminate this information more widely than the readership of this message board.
According to the number at the bottom of the post, 36 people have shared this article via Facebook to the broader world. I don’t understand why any Bruin fan would want to do that, other than out of hatred for a certain player. If this was during the season I could see some value in giving CBH more of a nudge to drop ND from the starting lineup or limit his minutes or whatever, but at this point it seems like it can only undermine the program, undermine CBH and undermine recruiting efforts. Am I missing something here??
Two thoughts
> I personally see it as fair game (as I’ve said in previous comments) to include in part of a discussion about CBH’s decision-making.
> We know some of the BN faithful suffer the pain of reading u$c* boards to laugh at the happenings there. It’s entirely possible that a number of those 36 are not actually Bruin fans.
sure
Your first point is why I think it fair game for us to talk about ‘in the family’, but your second point would be a reason for Bruin fans to do a less assiduous job on digging up and publishing dirt on their own people.
by britishbruin on Mar 19, 2010 10:54 AM PDT up reply actions
Dragovic
Is not “our people.” He is Howland’s “people.” Don’t call Dragovic “our people” on BN again. Thanks.
sure
let me rephrase to “people who are considered (at least by the wider public) to be representatives of the UCLA basketball program”
I should also say: nothing I said above was meant to imply that the BN editors should censor this stuff (indeed, you bumped it to the front page), just that I don’t understand why anyone here would want to perpetuate this shadow over the program beyond the (critical but fair) family.
by britishbruin on Mar 19, 2010 1:16 PM PDT up reply actions
We have no problem with this story distributed at massive level
If we did we wouldn’t be bumping it to the homepage. If this happened with a Trojan athlete we’d be screaming about it and rightfully embarrass the hell out of their coaches. We will do the same with our guys. Howland’s handling of Dragovic this season has been completely unacceptable and frankly disgraceful. While Drago is a lost caused I am ashamed at Howland for being more relaxed with disciplinary issues than Pete Carroll.
If this becomes a national embarrassment so be it. Howland is responsible for it, not the people spreading it around online.
are you hoping that the criticism will help make Howland a more successful coach?
(e.g. by avoiding this type of situation in the future?)
To the consistency point, you say
If this happened with a Trojan athlete we’d be screaming about it and rightfully embarrass the hell out of their coachesbut while this may be a true statement of your own behavior, the ability of a UCLA fan page to ‘embarrass the hell’ out of anyone at U$C is much less than the ability of a UCLA fan page to embarrass its own players and coach. If a U$C page was posting a ‘true story’ posted by an eye witness everyone would question their motives and whether it was true. I think the goal of consistency is objectively admirable, but the effects seem unequal, and I don’t know how many other blogs are likely to repay the favor by strongly propagating negative material about their own program….
It’s also totally fine if you want to hold our guys to a higher standard of behavior than other people hold their guys to at other schools. I just think the credence given to negative stories about UCLA guys written by UCLA fans is much higher than that given to similar stories written by UCLA fans about people from other schools; and so our ability to be equal-opportunity shamers of miscreants is limited. At this point, people feel like it is ok to pile on to a particular player – I just don’t know how many do so because they feel it will further the cause of UCLA in the long run, vs how many do so out of respect for higher principles such as consistency, vs how many do so in order to vent their anger without thinking about any further consequences. Whatever.
by britishbruin on Mar 19, 2010 1:52 PM PDT up reply actions
drago era has ended, we all need to move on.
Important part is, what has CBH learned from this and how is he going to adjust in the future.
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