Bruin Bites: Kenny Washington Honored, Ryan Bailey Coaching, Metro to Westwood, and Other Notes
by Bellerophon on Oct 9, 2011 12:00 PM PDT
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It's Sunday and we get to end this weekend following a Bruin victory over Washington State. Yes, it wasn't pretty, and if anything, the lackluster display against the perennial conference doormat raises even more questions about how long Rick will last in Westwood (have we offered the job to Urban or Leach yet?), but it was a victory, and it's always nice to enjoy a Sunday following a Bruin victory, even if it was a butt-ugly win over a loser program from a fourth-rate "university" in the middle of nowhere in Washington.
With that, let's turn to your Bruin Bites round-up of bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse to close out the weekend:
- Starting with football, former UCLA great Kenny Washington was honored at his alma mater, Lincoln High School, with the first Kenny Washington Memorial Game on Friday as part of their fundraising effort to rename their stadium after Washington and upgrade the facility.
- Switching over to basketball, in case you missed it, point guard prospect Dominic Artis de-committed from the Bruins following an in-home visit from Oregon on the last day of the contact period. Shrewd move by the Ducks, but according to Artis' family, UCLA is still the favorites to land the commitment of the highly touted PG prospect out of Findlay Prep (by way of Salesian in Richmond). Given that the kid left his hometown (Richmond, CA) and high school (Salesian) to join up with
diploma millbasketball grooming school Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nevada, it shouldn't be a shock that he has re-opened his recruiting. Can't blame the kid for wanting to keep his options open and enjoy the recruiting visits and process (but, well, told you so), but this one is on Ben Howland for not keeping Artis in the fold and for giving the cold shoulder to other options when Artis committed (Tyrone Wallace, L.J. Rose, and Javan Felix). Ben needs to bring in an elite PG this class. Period.
- Also on basketball, Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell has joined Ed O'Bannon's lawsuit against the NCAA and EA Sports because his likeness (from his college days as a University of San Francisco Don) was used by the video game maker without compensating him.
- Sticking with basketball, former UCLA basketball player Ryan Bailey, who has been the assistant coach at Loyola (L.A.) High (his alma mater) has been named the head basketball coach at the Brentwood School. Great news for Ryan.
- Beverly Hills councilman John Mirisch has a good perspective on the plans to extend Metro's Purple Line subway through West L.A. and the not-very-well-thought-out location of the "Westwood/UCLA" station. For now, the plan is to place the station at the intersection of Wilshire and Westwood, or, as I like to think of it, a long damn hike from campus. Not exactly a wise location. Mirisch writes that if Metro is serious about serving UCLA and Westwood, then the station needs to actually be in Westwood Village and not at the periphery. I know SoCal hates listening to NorCal, but the Bay Area knew what it was doing when it built its rail mass transit stations close to sporting arenas (BART's Downtown Berkeley station is walking distance from Cal, BART's Oakland Coliseum station is literally at the Coliseum/Oracle Arena, CalTrain has a special Stanford Stadium station for gamedays, and MUNI has a station within 100 yards of AT&T Park). The perfect location for a "Westwood/UCLA" station would be the intersection of Westwood and LeConte, making it a quick walk to Pauley and campus, but still in the heart of the village.
- Finally, the Daily Bruin has a Q&A with UCLA alum and star of CBS's new sitcom "2 Broke Girls" Beth Behrs. Behrs, a 2008 graduate of UCLA's School of Theater, Film, and Television talked about her time in Westwood, her life following graduation, what drew her to her career, and her new role on a big network sitcom.
Alright folks, those are your Bruin Bites for the tail-end of the weekend. We'll have all the news from our non-revenue programs (many in action this weekend) tomorrow, so for now, sit tight, catch some NFL action, and fire away with your thoughts, comments, and additions.
GO BRUINS
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Is Howland really at fault here?
Why would you keep recruitment to other PG’s open if you had one that verbally committed? Seems to me that the decommit has less to do with Howland and more to do with other recruiters whispering into the ear of Artis. I bet it caught him as a surprise as much as it did us.
I think so
Everyone knows recruiting is never final until the LOI is signed and delivered. When elite PG prospects are as hard-to-find as they are this year, then Howland should have had a back-up plan in place, or at minimum, kept up with Artis to make sure he felt the love despite Anderson committing and Oregon and Cal making a play for him.
Well, he used to. Strike that. Kerry Keating used to. How do you think we got RW? Keating kept in his ear, telling him to be patient and wait to see what JF did re: the NBA draft. Once JF made it clear he was gone, RW got his offer and the rest is history.
The smart play would have been to keep recruiting Wallace, keep the relationship open, rather than giving the kid the cold shoulder. Now, it’s pretty much hope we can swing Wallace back over to us, or hope we can get Artis back in the fold.
Great point on RW
He is a player that if we had pushed for an early verbal commitment, he most likely would have given it, UCLA was the best school interested in him. But, if he did get and early offer from UCLA, his stock would have shot up (earlier than it did at the end of his recruiting) instead of being a dark horse, and maybe Kansas or UNC or someone else decides to take a chance on him. Then, he backs out on us and we miss out on a budding superstar. I believe he didn’t even have a formal visit to UCLA, but if he has a verbal commitment in his back pocket, I am positive he would at least shop around some more.
Bottom line is, verbal commitments are not always in the school or the player’s best interests, take them with a grain of salt.
Absolutely
Until you have a signature “on the line that is dotted”, you have nothing. In reality, this whole “verbal commitment” comes from the coaches, it makes their lives easier so they can chalk up a recruiting win and move their sights onto another player/position. It rarely benefits the player to make an early decision, especially if that player is highly recruited, so it should be no surprise that players sometimes back out of their commitment. In fact if you think about it, players actually have an incentive to back out of a verbal commitment; the school they committed to almost certainly will still need them (especially in basketball where one need at a weak position, say point guard, can hobble even an elite school, say UCLA) and another school may be desperate to recruit that player.
I am sure a more math-inclined poster could probably throw out some game theory to sort this out, but in my opinion, a coach has to always be aware that staking their class on a verbal is not a great idea.
Ahh game theory
I suspect this man might have something to say about that.
Good ol’ Poli. Sci. 30.
by Bellerophon on Oct 10, 2011 10:46 PM PDT up reply actions
There are way too many people celebrating this "glorious" win
Over said fourth rate university from Bumfuck, Nowhere. Only reason I can think of is because they didn’t have to actually watch it.
You guys make a big fuss about an image in a video because it "dishonors" your university.
But you are totally fine dragging another school’s name through the mud? Are you out of “second-rate” adjectives yet? I think you could be a little more creative than this, coming from such a prestigious school.
CougCenter In Reid We Trust, Twitter!
Uhm
And it was you whining away about us successfully pushing back against Pac-12 on that ad. It’s funny that you are not noticing the irony here. It’s not us getting worked up about what Wazzu fans are thinking rest of the season when we are not playing you. And wrt to last night we thinking beating Wazzu in a horribly played game means as much as beating San Jose State. Based on records of last few years and this season, not sure what your complaint is. You should focus on your next game instead of whining about what we are writing here.
I am sure we are going to be writing posts, comments, tweets ...
Discussing the smack-fest going on between the Huskies and Cougars in their rivalry.
Yeah, totally
I always love fans from other schools who seem obsessed with UCLA. So much, that they go to other schools’ SBN sites to talk shit about UCLA when said school is playing UCLA.
When you play someone else, I could give a shit less.
Obsessed much, fellas?
Can I ask when I talked shit about UCLA?
You are the one doing the trash talking. I merely pointed out the double-standard.
CougCenter In Reid We Trust, Twitter!
It's not a double standard
Can you not read?
There’s a HUGE difference between the Pac-12 conference, which is supposed to be neutral and promote all of its members’ interests equally, putting up a commercial that disrespects one of those members and one of the member schools’ fans ripping on a in-conference rival.
The Pac-12 conference owes UCLA the same respect it gives the other 11 schools. I, on the other hand, don’t owe you or WSU anything.
If U$C wanted to make a highlight reel or commercial ripping on UCLA, including their chump Trogan mascot sticking his tiny sword into our logo, that’s their prerogative. I’d expect it from them. They’re our rival. That would get no complaint from me.
When the conference does it, on the other hand, that’s a different story.
But apparently you don’t get that. Thanks for playing, but you lose dude.
Can you read?
We’ve pointed out how if anyone is guilty of applying a double standard, it’s you. Let me break it down for you. You all took offense to our reaction to the Pac 12 ad, butting your noses in where they didn’t belong. What’s the big deal? We should just stand there and take it right?
Well live up to that ideal. Stand there and take it.
I don't understand
You can talk smack about us all you want. But then why complain about it we make our observations on yet another UCLA win after the amusing smack from Washington State fans from various corners of the internets.
Also, don’t you think it’s silly for you to ask for creativity when you guys cannot move past “Neuweisel” and “Slick Rick” after all these years?
You guys are making general comments about WSU fans.
While I am making specific things about what you have said. Your argument makes little sense. Where in my writing have I used those terms for your head coach?
CougCenter In Reid We Trust, Twitter!
Not our responsibility
We don’t have the time to go through all the comments from your community or comments from Wazzu fans online in general to show the attacks coming against UCLA fans and Rick Neuheisel.
Or
Don’t come whining in here after going out of your way to attack this community in the first place (and I am sure Craig will be keeping it up all over SBN).
When WSU wins its 100th team title you can smack us in our house.
My unborn grandkids will probably be dead by then.
I find it hard to believe
That you’re so naive as to think that you don’t represent WSU fans when you go onto a rival’s site. It’s like we said before, we don’t give a shit about you all 99% of the time, which is more than I can say for you or some of the other mouthbreathing idiot fanbases that seem to be obsessed with us, so we don’t have time to take notes on who said what. If you’re going to take offense to what’s written, then be prepared to defend the reason for why it was written.
Negative dude
You came here, to BN, and complained about how it’s a “double-standard” that we went after the Pac-12 for their BS commercial, yet we call WSU out for being the loser program from a fourth-rate school in the middle of nowhere that it is (truth hurts, doesn’t it Craig?).
We tell you how you’re full of it, and yet you spin and try to nit-pick about something entirely different.
Get over it dude. You came here, said something stupid, and got told you’re an idiot.
Thanks for playing, but you fail.
And one more thing, Craig
It is a fact that Washington State is a second rate school. It’s a nice school and all that, but it’s about on a par with a directional school from the mid-west in terms of things by which universities get measured. The fact that you might not like it or that it’s not politically correct to call a university “second rate” doesn’t mean it’s not an accurate description. There are plenty of pot-shots you can take about UCLA and its environs, such as smog, taxes, cost of living, various forms of douchebaggery, but you can’t in good faith call UCLA “second rate.” It just doesn’t fit the description. Unfortunately for you, Washington State does on so many levels and in so many ways.
So get over it and move on.
It's funny...
…because when people were talking about being against conference expansion and bringing in Utah and Colorado (or recently, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas Tech) and using the academic excuse that some (OSU or Utah) wouldn’t “fit” academically, we simply pointed to Washington State. Or Oregon State.
Of course, they can...
…but it’s funny.
It’s almost like there is this contingent of Bears, Ducks, Cougars, Huskies, etc. fans who have the following thought process:
“Who is UCLA playing this week? Oh, it’s _______. Quick, let me go over to that team’s SBN site and talk some shit about how much I hate UCLA!”
There is so much LOL factor in there, it’s not even funny.
Where have I talked shit about UCLA on this blog, this week?
I haven’t made a single comment on this blog until today. Additionally, why do you keep saying that I am making reference to UCLA at all? My original comment was not on the university.
CougCenter In Reid We Trust, Twitter!
Not sure why you think this is about you?
The observations here is has been about Washington State. There has been no attack on your community or on you personally.
Seriousy
But it’s an absolute fact that if you go to pretty much every other SBN Pac-12 site, there is a contingent of losers who go from site to site who do nothing but talk shit about UCLA.
It’s funny how obsessed they are. And it’s kind of funny how Craig seems obsessed with us now.
You both have responded to my comment by saying that WSU fans come on to your blog and talk shit about UCLA during gameweek.
Which I have not done.
CougCenter In Reid We Trust, Twitter!
Doesn't matter
You acknowledge that it does and has happened and that’s why you’re getting blowback now. Whether you personally participated is irrelevant. What you’re asking for is the right for your fanbase to freely talk shit on us on your blog but deny us that same right on our own blog.
So you tell me who’s applying a double standard.
No Craig, we didn't say that
Do you not know how to read?!
My comment was:
It’s almost like there is this contingent of Bears, Ducks, Cougars, Huskies, etc. fans who have the following thought process:
"Who is UCLA playing this week? Oh, it’s _______. Quick, let me go over to that team’s SBN site and talk some shit about how much I hate UCLA!"
I never said they come here to talk shit. These idiot fans go to whoever is playing us, in this case (for this week), WSU’s SBN site, to talk shit.
Fuck dude, learn how to read. Way to put that WSU “education” to work.
This is not about you
I think you have to get over that.
Also, the blowback against Washington State is against the general smack leveled against UCLA and Neuheisel all through the game week coming into last night’s game. We just called it like it is after the game was over and frankly will not spend much time thinking about Wazzu after we are done talking about this game tomorrow.
Why are you even here obsessing about our site?
Ive spent exactly zero time reading other teams SBN sites. Obviously, you are free to do as you like Craig Powers, but isnt there anything better for you to do with your time wherever you live.
Ya know
They have much to be obsessed about.
Thank you for highlighting the fine "education" you received at said fourth-rate school
There’s a HUGE difference between the Pac-12 conference, which is supposed to be neutral and promote all of its members’ interests equally, putting up a commercial that disrespects one of those members and one of the member schools’ fans ripping on a in-conference rival.
The Pac-12 conference owes UCLA the same respect it gives the other 11 schools. I, on the other hand, don’t owe you or WSU anything.
If U$C wanted to make a highlight reel or commercial ripping on UCLA, including their chump Trogan mascot sticking his tiny sword into our logo, that’s their prerogative. I’d expect it from them. They’re our rival. That would get no complaint from me.
When the conference does it, on the other hand, that’s a different story.
But apparently you don’t get that. Thanks for playing, but you lose dude.
Remeber, your team will play in our field next year.
by well you win some and lose others on Oct 9, 2011 4:35 PM PDT up reply actions
Not sure what this is all about...
…and I don’t really care, troll.
But all I needed to know about Washington State’s football program I learned in the last 30 seconds of last night’s game…calling a useless timeout to set up cheap shots thrown in frustration.
We may not be a very good football team right now (as proven by barely beating a 3rd rate Wazzu team), but rest assured that this community wouldn’t stand for that kind of low-class garbage.
Not sure why folks are getting so upset
Leading up last night’s game there was a lot of chest thumping going from Cougars after beating some crappy teams. We kept reading comments all over the internets around “Slick Rick” and “Neuweisel.” So Bruins beat a team last night that it should beat 9 out of 10 times at the Rose Bowl … handily. Calling it as such is not a matter of disrespect. It is what it is.
If people want to see potshots, they should see how Bruins and UCLA are constantly attacked in communities of other fans. We don’t go around whine about it [and save the pushback against the Pac-12 re. the ad. The fact that other communities went out of their way to attack this community over it tells us something about whine and attacks v. UCLA].
I got sidetracked with the Washington State business
The bigger thing is the Metro. The children of the current edition of Bruins will love it, no matter where the station is. It’s better than where it is now, which I think is somewhere by Universal.
But between now and opening, it’s going to be very bad. Do you remember what Wilshire was like when the tunnels were being dug. I suppose the good news will be the nice industry that will grow up tosue the MTA. I was involved in some of that litigation,and I believe it is still on-going. The streets will be torn to smithereens for a long time, it will be loud and dusty. It will be impossible to park anywhere (the construction guys will be working around the clock, probably, and will need to park somewhere). And the contruction will probably take long enough for an entire generation of Bruins to know nothing other than subway-related horror stories. (And there will be inverse condemnation cases galore, and there will be contract cases by the general contractor(s) and subs against the MTA and cross-complaints by tne MTA against the general.
The big philosophical question once again is whether you throw your mom or your wife or your only child overboard. Do you sacrifice several years worth of Bruins whose otherwise idyllic on-campus university experience will be very adversely affected (if not ruined) by tunnel and station construciton, or do you make every future generation of Bruin have to walk from Wilshire to campus.
Let me put it this way. I would gladly have put up with the horrible construction hassles and increase in incidental fees to have an on-campus football stadium.
i don't think that's the way it will go
during my first two years at UCLA I lived in the Miracle Mile and got to UCLA using the MTA’s 21 line (back when it existed). When I couldn’t catch the 21, I just caught the 20 that stopped at Wilshire/Westwood and took the Blue Bus to the transit terminal, or just walked. If there’s a shuttle that runs to Ackerman and another one that goes to the transit terminal, a Wilshire/Westwood stop will do just fine for Bruins, and be better for the larger community because of the direct connection to the 720 Rapid and other transportation options at Wilshire/Westwood.
Imagine how much easier it would be for UCLA students to get back and forth from home games at the Rose Bowl. Purple Line from Wilshire/Westwood to Union Station, Gold Line to Del Mar. I really don’t see any downsides to the Wilshire/Westwood stop, and if the 30/10 plan comes to fruition we can have it done in time for the class of 2025.
I'm not sure going up to LeConte and Westwood is a good idea
Let alone plausible. Most of the buildings in Westwood village have parking garages 2+ floors deep underground. I’m not entirely sure how far down a subway line has to be, but I can guarantee that those garages are an issue.
Given that LA public transit is inadequate as it stands, any improvements to public transportation are welcome.
I know that tunnel machines exist, but the issue is generally building the stations.
If I recall correctly, It means digging a big hole, pouring the slab, then the walls, then the ceiling, then connecting to the tunnels. It’s a herculean undertaking. They might be able to work around the parking garages, but the issue is the station box that has to be built.
There has to be someone in the BN more knowledgeable than I am about the engineering parts of this.
I also think it’s unlikely that the interests of a few non-taxpaying, transient students are going to be given much thought at all, when compared to the tenants and employees of tenants and customers of tenants in the big buildings at Wilshire and Westwood. If I were going to build it, I think I would do it a block south of Wilshire to keep from disrupting Wilshire traffic for too long. But who knows.
Put the UCLA underground tunnels to use
It’d be cool to have gotten off the train and literally walk right up to campus…. even if one of my first sights would be Murphy Hall.
Who do I give props to
for the caption under the cheerleaders? That’s good stuff.
+1
Our cheer squad would kick ass on any other school in a calendar contest! The selection committee deserves much props!!!
Does anyone know when the stats will get posted???
I was on an overnight desert riding trip and missed the game so I’m looking forward to the replay coming on now but I’d love to see the stats.
That article on the subway is off
The BH councilman acts as if the only riders will be UCLA students. There are a lot of people who work along the Wilshire corridor and in the Village that would be served by a station on Wilshire. Plus, a station near Wilshire & Westwood (I also think he’s wrong in stating that’s where it would be…he wouldn’t like this, but I’m pretty sure Metro is leaning towards a station at Wilshire between Veteran and Gayley)—I work in the Kinross Building, and Metro has done their tests on Wilshire closer to us than Westwood Blvd.) connects to several bus lines.
Students/campus staff wouldn’t have to walk all the way—there are the shuttles at Wilshire Center and Lot 36. Having a station at Westwood/Le Conte would also be costlier, because the tunnel would be longer.
It's entirely possible...
…to build a stop that services both the UCLA campus (Westwood and LeConte) and Westwood and Wilshire.
Build the platform between the two and then have the two entrances/exits in opposite directions.
NYC has this for it’s subway system. Problem solved.
I don't doubt it's possible
…there are tons of things that are possible when it comes to public transportation in LA, but we usually get the bare minimum.
by Westwood Wizard on Oct 9, 2011 6:20 PM PDT up reply actions
It's hard to build a station underground
Wilshire Vermont and Wilshire Normandie were “slab on grade.” As I mentioned above, you dig a hole, then build a box, then cover the box up. It’s hard to imagine how that could be done north of Wilshire.
That said, it was hard to send people to the moon, but it got done. I have confidence in the engineering ability of people. The issue will probably hinge on cost.
That's fine, but...
…the only riders that I care about are UCLA students/staff/alums/etc.
But this is BN, so that much is probably obvious. ;)
Lots of UCLA staff that work in buildings not on campus
As I can personally attest. Kinross Building, Wilshire Center, Extension Building…a map of UCLA offices would show a lot of buildings off campus.
by Westwood Wizard on Oct 10, 2011 7:23 AM PDT up reply actions
From the Metro site re: Westwood Subway
Why is the Westwood/UCLA Station not closer to the UCLA campus?
In addition to locations along or close to Wilshire Boulevard, the Alternatives Analysis (AA) conducted in 2007-08 also considered station locations closer to the UCLA campus. Locations in the middle of Westwood Village, at the entrance to UCLA along Le Conte, and on the UCLA campus were not carried forward into the Draft EIS/EIR for two primary reasons. First, they would have required tunnel alignments to travel under the Veterans National Cemetery in order to allow the subway to continue west. In addition, the narrow streets in Westwood Village and the additional distance from Wilshire Boulevard made these locations ill-suited for station construction and associated impacts, including locating sufficient land for construction staging and earth removal and identifying truck haul routes.
Station locations closer to or under Wilshire Boulevard will serve Westwood Village as well as the high rise office buildings along Wilshire Boulevard and the multi-family residential buildings in that vicinity. There is already significant bus service in the Westwood Village area provided by Metro, Santa Monica Big Blue Bus, Culver City Municipal Bus Lines, UCLA Transit and others that provide many connections between Wilshire and the campus.
That's OK with me - Build the stadium underground, and put Drake Stadium on top of it
Didn’t we have a Pauley Pavilion renovation plan that moved students into an underground seating area?
This isn't that far-fetched
There are already miles of tunnels under UCLA’s campus and enough landfill around Murphy Hall to bury the pyramids of Giza
limited expense-to-reward ratio
as mentioned above, there is plenty of transportation to campus from Wilshire-Westwood.
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