Read today's paper and found a surprise in the sports section. This is from KOMPAS, Indonesia's most widely circulated newspaper, 30 November 2011. What's weird is that they never feature US college sports let alone basketball, and there are no stories about the game or NCAA either in today's issue. Thank God we won this game handily.
6 months ago
drebruin
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Weird indeed
The way things are going for us, I’m just glad that we won by a big margin. It’ll probably reinforce people’s opinion that UCLA is still good.
As for Asia, it depends. Here in Indonesia it is a pretty respectable name. Not as popular as Harvard, but it is still somewhat recognized.
In China things are pretty bizzare. I went to Shanghai a while ago and visited a UCLA boutique store selling clothes. The Daily Bruin picked up on this some time ago.
Weird? Not to me. Many people here have no concept of the reach of the UCLA brand.
UCLA Basketball is absolutely revered the world over. I cannot over-emphasize the importance of winning on the regular, and winning in style (large margin, excitement).
American sports fans who have lived in foreign countries know how much UCLA is admired, adored, deeply respected. Why? We’re in the US. We’re in California. We’re in Los Angeles. We’re known for winning. We have a long history of big-time names associated with our school. LA is Hollywood, and is absolutely “dreamy” to many people of the world. As a boy from ages 10-15, our family lived in Europe. Back in the early 70’s, there was only one American TV Station available, and it was not a 24/7 channel. When it was time for AFN (Armed Forces Network) to broadcast football, count on seeing Notre Dame or University of Southern California. Basketball? UCLA led the pack. It does not surprise me one bit to find an “action” shot of UCLA Basketball, with a caption pointing out a large margin of victory. Walk up to any kids, any young men into athletics in any country, and say “UCLA”. Smiles break out. And inside a minute they’ll be feigning some basketball move. To the world at large – this photo was UCLA, being UCLA. Our brand, our image, our place in the world must be protected (imho). Not winning regularly is not acceptable. When it comes to college basketball, we are McDonalds, we are Coca-Cola. That’s our place. Embrace it. Hold us to that standard.
U-C-L-A Fight, Fight, Fight! Go Bruins!
NBA: Where Greed Happens. RIP 10/10/11.
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