Dorrell Era DE Bruce Davis Attacks Jim Mora for OTW Criticisms
by Achilles on Dec 23, 2011 10:38 AM PST
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PrintEarlier today Bruce Davis, a DE from Karl Dorrell era fired off couple of tweets blasting coach Jim Mora's pledge to put an end to "over the wall" (OTW) "tradition" at UCLA:
Who does Jim Mora think he is saying that he is going to change a tradition that has been in place since the late 70's...
If Mora is gonna come in changing **** like this it better translate to wins on the field. If not this is all just hot air. We shall see.
Davis has deleted those tweets. It appears that Marc Dellins got to him and he promptly deleted his rants. We did not save screenshots of those comments but they are out there and they provide good examples of the mindset of entitlement that has permeated this program in this past decade.
It's interesting to see Davis talking about "winning." He played a part in 13-9 and had that great clip blasting the Trojan loving sock puppets on ESPN. That was nice but his team followed it up with an ugly face plant against Florida State. During his time UCLA never won the Pac-10, never appeared in the Rose Bowl, and never came close to playing in any other New Year's Day bowl game. So we are not exactly sure how can Davis actually talking about generation "wins on the field" and living up to actual UCLA football "tradition" which used to be about winning Rose Bowls, instead of dreaming about ditching practice.
It's one thing when a legend like Randy Cross who won huge games at the Rose Bowl and was one of the main cogs of multiple Super Bowl winning franchises blasting UCLA's lack of commitment to football, it's whole another thing when an NFL journeyman who never led UCLA to any kind of championships defending a lame tradition to ditch practice.
We are fully behind Mora on this and we hope he forever gets rid of this mindset of entitlement in Westwood. Culture change at UCLA can't come soon enough.
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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Tradition?
Not in the sense of Fiddler on the Roof.
Or in the sense of those of us who were around when we had a tradition of playing hard, winning the Pac 10 and winning Rose Bowls.
Tommy Prothro would never have allowed this and I’m glad Mora won’t either.
Traditions are born from successful struggles — not losing.
sjh
Traditions...
Why are our guys so enamored with this tradition? It’s really strange that has elicited such a strong response from Embree and now Bruce Davis.
I saw no such outcry from players when the Athletic Department decided to mess with the tradition of home uniforms against the trogans.
The UCLA stripes have been comically shortened on our uniforms. They are more than a tradition, they are named after our university.
I have a theory: This team is so in need of an identity that this is the one tradition that links them back to when UCLA football was good. Think about how often in the past years our team resets the season to try and keep guys motivated. They’ve done things that UCLA has never done to try and get something going. Team is reeling… Helmet Stickers! Uh oh, losing steam…. Burn The Boats! I know, let’s try alternate uniforms!
So nevermind the fact that the intervention of an embattled athletic director was needed to make a bowl game, our guys feel that entitles them to go over the wall.
I don’t know if my memory is misleading me, but I was wondering about the recent history of “over the wall.” I searched, but it may exist on BruinsNation before it switched to the new format. I remember something about Bob Toledo banning over the wall and Dorrell bringing it back. Someone recently posted that Dorrell would schedule it with players in advance. Neuheisel didn’t seem to like it, but apparently didn’t feel he had the moral authority to stop it since he was a frequent participant in it, and was able to alter it from a spring workout to a bowl workout. Did players go over the wall during the Toledo era?
by Westwood is the best wood on Dec 23, 2011 11:30 AM PST reply actions
It's like high school ditch day.
I guess these guys don’t want to grow up. Other than the jammed knuckles and hip pointers. I actually enjoyed practice and don’t understand why it’s such a big deal to these guys. It would be one thing to leave and return a bit later. But to skip practice for the day with a bowl game coming up, it boggles the mind.
Been a Bruin since birth
by LongtimeBru on Dec 23, 2011 12:03 PM PST via mobile reply actions
Francophiles tune out
Over the wall is a tradition not at all unlike the French Tradition of “hands up.”
It is the opposite of the traditional (albeit stale) dump of the gatorade onto the coach. That is only done after winning. Over the Wall celebrates losing. Which is why so many players who have never won and have no real familiarity with the experience think it is great.
LongtimeBru notes that he enjoyed practice. I never played big time sports, but I participated in big time opera for quite a few years. We had hundreds and hundreds of hours of rehearsal strung out over several months which culiminated in two performances. I enjoyed every second of those rehearsals. We had choristers go over the wall, and they indeed did not come back.
Our new coach has been crystal clear. If he does what he says he will do, it should come as no surprise when guys who thought they were on scholarship find that they are off the team and will have to pay to get a degree. If he does what he says he will do, then it’s another plus. If he wimps out, then he joins Chianti Dan and Block the Schlock on the “must go” list.
By the way, a front page headline on Yahoo (not just Yahoo Sports) was a link to a Bruin Blitz article saying our new coach hates this stupid losing “tradition.” Everyone (make that eveyone except Embree) thinks its stupid. The more I think about Embree, the more I wish Jim Healy was still here to punch the button for the two guys (Wally Joyner and someone else) to say “Wow, what a nerd!”
Who does he think he is? He's the head coach of a program that's beaten $C only once in 13 years.
"It's not who you are underneath. It's what you DO that defines you."
If it's such a great tradition...
Why don’t Bruce and the rest of his practice squad mates do it?
by Bruins#1 on Dec 23, 2011 6:30 PM PST via mobile reply actions
Somebody call Bruce Davis
(if you can find him cause he is playing for his 6th organization in 3 or 4 years) and tell him to take his one tackle his has this entire season and stick it up his a**
by muircoach on Dec 23, 2011 10:18 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
Unlike
C’mon. The guy is a former UCLA All-American and is number two on the charts in sacks. He deserves a little more respect than that. He found success in our program despite his coaches and administration being completely inept. I feel for him because devoted his time in college to playing football and for whatever reason this one and only tradition still lives on. Everything else has been pissed on by the Morgan Center. There is no other tradition that lives on today from Bruce’s time besides getting blown out of completely winnable games.
by beeru on Dec 23, 2011 11:29 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
Gratitude for his on field play? Definitely.
Defending a laughable tradition? Never. Get back to winning the Pac and going to The Rose Bowl. These are traditions we can cherish.
+1
Bruce Davis is no Taylor Embree. Sure, his comments were misguided but then again, so was the entire UCLA football program for the last decade. I’m sure Davis dreamed of beating USC…and he did it, while Embo dreamed of hopping the wall.
Dump Dan!
by bruinclassof10 on Dec 24, 2011 1:35 PM PST up reply actions
Guns don't kill people
Justin Hickman and Bruce Davis do! Those were the days
Dump Dan!
by bruinclassof10 on Dec 24, 2011 8:53 PM PST up reply actions
CJM has a great opportunity for culture change
Build the kiddies a 10-foot obstacle course wall on Spalding and have ’em keep climbing over it til they puke. This team has needed some Harbaugh-style toughening up for years.
Bruce getting emotional again
But that Mora commentary and interview on the over the wall on BRO was over 5 minutes long. A little weird there was enough on the subject to talk for 5 minutes. Do away with it already. Here’s the answer: we don’t need to cut practice at any time to win now. There’s a culture change starting today and it’s one of serious football, preparation, and accountability to the university, team, coaches and teammates. The OTW tradition is one of fecklessness.
In other words
can Dan and his giddy little athletic department and marketing department please end these traditions, stop shamelessly promoting new coach by releasing said tradition as newsworthy on yahoo and Bro with 5 minute streams, stop releasing embarrassing advertisements talking about monopolies before winning, and stop raising the white flag as symbolic all white uniforms?
13-9 happened like 4 years ago
Stop living in the past Bruce Davis. A Losing team can’t complain about tradition of ditching practice.
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