#SFatPauley – Guerrero Officially Surrenders to Bruin Nation, Restores UCLA Students’ Sideline Seats at Pauley
Members of the Bruin Family:
I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that we will continue to have sideline floor seating for students when Pauley Pavilion reopens for the 2012-13 season. Students will occupy the floor level seats along the south sideline and floor level seats behind the west basket, which was originally announced in the summer of 2009, in addition to upper level seats behind the west basket. This configuration can be viewed at campaignofchampions.com. The Pauley Pavilion Virtual Venue site will be updated by June 1.
Over the past few months, Athletic Department staff had worked with student leadership groups regarding the design of a cohesive student section behind the basket adjacent to the visiting team bench. After receiving the support of various student leadership and student focus groups, we announced the shift in the student section on March 30.
Two weeks ago, the Undergraduate Student Association Council (USAC), one of the leadership groups with which we consulted, decided to solicit additional student feedback by adding an advisory question regarding student seating to the Undergraduate Student Elections ballot. We respected and supported that decision. The results of the election showed that a majority of the students would rather retain the sideline floor level seats than have the unified section behind the visiting team basket.
On April 29, I stated that we would discuss the election results with numerous leaders on USAC, along with leaders of the other groups that are involved with student spirit and we did so before announcing this decision. This is a great group of young people who are completely committed to creating the most energetic and exciting atmosphere for our teams. We are committed to working with these student leaders to do everything we can to increase student attendance and make the experience of "being there" a memorable one. That includes the creation of the Student Enhancement Committee, consisting of student leaders, including newly elected undergraduate President Emily Resnick, who is very enthusiastic about working with the spirit group leaders.
This process reconfirms the tremendous passion that exists on campus surrounding our intercollegiate athletic events. As I have said before, the importance of creating a home-court advantage cannot be understated. An energetic and supportive student section is essential to the success of any team and it is my hope that all of the students who have been involved in this process will support our student-athletes and continue the great tradition of Pauley Pavilion.
Go Bruins!
The surrender by Morgan Center to #SFatPauley campaign is now official.
We wish Dan was still not advancing the spin about working with student leadership to justify its previous bad decision. The members of student leadership did not make good decisions and it is unfortunate that they did not represent the desire of their fellow students.
Let's all take this moment to look forward though. As we said last Friday huge thanks alums such as MexiBruin, who worked tirelessly to save our students' sideline seats. We hope students like UCLA14 and BruinKid remain engaged and are given opportunities by UCLA athletics and their fellow students to stay plugged in to gin up interests in sports among students. They are our true leaders. It will be important for these students to show up in big numbers next season so that we do not see this kind of land grab move again.
As for Guerrero and his athletic department, they remain squarely on our hot seat. We will continue to watch them closely as we wait for 2010-11 2011-12 ootball and basketball seasons. As for tonight though give yourselves a hand. Our students big victory became official today.
Update (A): The LA Times and the Daily News blog about Guerrero's statement with no mention of the online effort. LA Times has the following quote from Coach Ben Howland:
"It's nice to see how passionate the students are about wanting to stay courtside and wanting to be involved and wanting to be heard," Coach Ben Howland said. "I appreciate how passionate our fans are."
We wish he had made those comments earlier, supported the effort and showed his "passion" for traditions of UCLA basketball. So be it.
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South sideline
I have absolutely no concept of direction (as my husband would attest), but does this mean that the students will be on the same sideline as always? As in, the sideline that the camera does not face?
All that aside, I am THRILLED that the students will remain on the sidelines! My faith in UCLA Athletics is slowly being restored.
I believe the south sideline faces the TV cameras and sits behind the team benches.
Can it be?
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
YES
the south sideline is behind the benches.
unless they plan to flip everything during the renovation
Troy is burning
by bruinbasketball on May 10, 2011 3:15 PM PDT up reply actions
According to the original plan things would be flipped
so no students on TV.
Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I tweeted my followers to ask which I should take
by Ryan Rosenblatt on May 10, 2011 3:31 PM PDT up reply actions
EXCELLENT!
Awesome news and glad to hear that Dan did the right thing in the end. Now we can definitely have a great student showing and a home-court advantage to be proud of! Hopefully, the students will take advantage of this benefit that many took for granted before it was almost taken away… Great news!!!
Great news!
Now we need the Bruins Den to step up and fill those seats every game.
Thanks again to everyone who worked so hard on this.
I may work with the Waves, but I'm still a Bruin!
(Formerly "HoozierDaddy")
GLORY, GLORY HALLELUJAH!
I’m in a weird state of shock. Did we really get the “L” shape back? Are we really facing the TV cameras?
Am I awake?
This feels surreal.
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
Not sure about TV cameras
looks like the students are moving north to south as well as the media section, not sure if that means tv cameras are switching sides as well.
I don't think TV cameras.
When I asked before the change, in the original plan, TV cameras facing the teams and the teams switching sides.
But all in all a great day!!!!! Keep smiling Hector!
Go Bruins!
Yep.
:-)
But no, no facing the cameras. We haven’t faced the cameras since, I think, the 1970s or 1980s.
The story I heard was that for one USC game, some student brought in a bunch of Trojans, and blew them up like balloons, and then let ’em fly into the air as they deflated. And the TV cameras seemed to catch every single instance of it happening. Well, all this was too much for the old alumni to take, they raised holy hell, and the very next game the cameras were switched to show the alumni instead of the students.
Is it true? Who knows? It’s become an urban legend by now. And as they said in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, “when the legend becomes fact, print the legend”.
BTW, you think the rest of the board has figured out who I am by now? :-)
Everybody, I would like you to meet Sean Wang.
Sean invited me over to campus to get people to sign a silly little petition. Sean got the referendum put on the ballot.
Sean and I were on the phone damn near every day leading up to the Spring Game and for a week after.
Congratulations, Sean! We did it!
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
YES!
Thank you to all who worked so hard to get this accomplished and congratulations to all of Bruin nation!
Another disaster averted…
Congrats to all those who worked so tirelessly on this
Would have been nice if Dan wouldn’t have to spin his backpeddling, but so be it.
by silverlakebruin on May 10, 2011 3:17 PM PDT reply actions
Time to update that Virtual Venue
Glad to see the students back where they belong. Now if only we could get dan guerrero to care about getting UCLA Athletics back where it belongs!
by insomniacslounge on May 10, 2011 3:22 PM PDT reply actions
apparently it will be updated by june 1
Troy is burning
by bruinbasketball on May 10, 2011 3:24 PM PDT up reply actions
STUDENT SECTION BETTER BE FULL!!
No excuses or I expect Bruinsnation.com to wage an all out assault and petitions on the Morgan Center just like they did with this. Pendulum swings both ways fellas!
Why stop there?
If that was the standard, we’d be in the middle of a decades long war on the alums who have season tickets and don’t show up.
Actually, I'm looking forward to your effort on that
Since you’re clearly passionate about this given the amount of unnecessary exclamation points you use, I see no reason why you can’t go out and do these things yourself. You’re not just a lazy bum sitting on the sidelines are you?
Or worse,
a lazy alum just posting on a blog!
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
It is not up to BN to gin up student excitement
That is a silly point. We are bloggers, not professionals who are getting paid to market UCLA athletics and generate excitement. We are bloggers who are passionate about our schools and we write on issues that matter to us. To pin us w responsibility to turn out students is a goofy point.
Also, it is funny to see you trolling in our comment threads. You relentlessly attack BN and its previous moderator on BRO often calling this site worthless. Yet here you are … Hanging out in comment section making a silly point. Let me guess after you get called out you will run to complain again … Only to find yourself reading all posts and comments on BN? Okay then.
by Achilles on May 10, 2011 3:41 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Boy you are just sharp as a tack.
In any case, to answer your question, go read some of the articles describing UCLA wins. If they don’t read as positive, you might need your head checked.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
Exactly
We have seen guys like EJ bash BN on other sites for being overly negative completely ignoring the body of work from last 6 years. Its selective memory at its worst. Normally I don’t like calling posters out like this but days ago EJ was taking cheap shots at BN.
by Achilles on May 10, 2011 3:55 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
I've disagreed with plenty of takes on this site.
So have lots of people that regularly post here. But I have yet to find a more impassioned and active fanbase. Sure there is negativity here. But when there’s smoke, there’s often fire.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
Another off point response
This has nothing to w being positive or negative. This blog has no issues w being positive if there are genuinely positive developments to talk about in the world of ucla sports. If things are not good we will call it as we see it. It hasn’t been a good decade for ucla except for few Howland years. So it is important to explore all angles and figure out proactive steps for corrective measures. We do that when we see opportunities. That means vigrously pointing out the negative. If that doesn’t fit your style so be it. Don’t get huffy when you get shredded for making dumb points and demanding everyone just to clap harder.
by Achilles on May 10, 2011 3:52 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
But we'll save so many more fairies that way.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
Selective memory
Some people just like to cry and get butt-hurt when BN doesn’t fit their nice little narrative, usually because they have come here in the past, said something incredibly stupid, and got called out for being an idiot.
Never mind the (almost) entirely positive coverage Ryan has dedicated to Savage’s baseball program and the other positive takes folks had on women’s basketball (before we lost Caldwell) and some of the other non-revenue programs.
Expense of reality...
I didn’t see Dan Guerrero “Surrender”…its THAT phrasing of situations that make things seem overly negative at times….and smug. I’d like to think that we’re all on the same team.
I love the way BN.com links tons of other articles but I find the editorials hard to read because of the smug-ness.
Keep digging
If you don’t think this was a “surrender” then you were clearly not paying attention to facts. You can look them up. If you don’t like our posts, solution is simple. Don’t read them. If you want to bitch about it elsewhere on the internet, go right ahead. It only spikes our traffic – which we don’t care about all that much either. Just don’t expect not to be called out when you offer silly and irrelevant points.
by Achilles on May 10, 2011 4:10 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
You're missing my point Achilles...
Its the “us” vs. “them” approach that historically hasn’t worked. And the smug-ness of framing your perspective the way you did doesn’t win any more favors with the folks at the Morgan Center. Get more bees with honey than vinegar.
When people post on BRO.com about BN.com look at what they say. I’m not the only one who offers “silly and irrelevant” points.
Yes because the Morgan center
loves to use honey on their fanbase. Sorry champ, but Seto, Pauley, and this latest fiasco don’t exactly strike me as sugary and delicious.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
Oh, BS.
Niceness failed. Confrontation worked.
by Seth Chandler on May 10, 2011 11:03 PM PDT up reply actions
It only seems like smugness
To someone who is butthurt because during this entire ordeal he had his thumbs lodged firmly up his ass while some students and alums on this site took action when everyone else said it was impossible.
Maybe if there weren’t so many doubters, cowards, and naysayers out there, this wouldn’t feel like an “us vs. them” situation, but unfortunately there were. And it’s times like those that I’d like to think we’re on the same team; not times like now where it’s easy to get on board after a victory, but during the hard times. I say the truly negative people were those that sat on their asses and said nothing could be done.
Excuse me.
Who took a great day and made it negative? Attacking the blog that helped bring the students back after a great victory, for Coach, students, and alumni alike. Seems a bit negative to me. EJ, can you turn a page and become positive?
Go Bruins!
Assuming "media" refers to cameras
We’re in view! Lets hope this is the case! This is critical… what’s the point of having students on the sidelines if you can’t see them on camera?
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
there is media on both sides
section 215. i assume thats where the cameras will be
Troy is burning
by bruinbasketball on May 10, 2011 3:59 PM PDT up reply actions
Thats ridiculous.
Why? Why can’t they just switch sides?
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
I believe this is correct
Pauley was basically “flipped” – remember, the benches were formerly on the South side but are now on the North. In the past, the TV cameras have always faced the bench (which you can see in any TV broadcast video, such as this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfze65_u0c0). My understanding is that will still be the case – the goal is to show the sideline with the two teams on it. As you can see, the students are on the opposite side.
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Idiotic.
Who cares about the bench? The bench isn’t jumping up and down and screaming!
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
No clue
I think it’s pretty standard for most Pac-10 schools (at least to my memory). Maybe it’s a Fox thing? I can’t think of a case where hey haven’t – I know for sure they show the benches for USC, Oregon, Arizona, and Washington.
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I'm wondering if this three split up student sections is the "horrible alternative"
that the Den leaders didn’t want, because it’s not one unified area.
I believe so
I think the students could ideally put more pressure on making sure secs. 121 and 122 become available to them if need dictates it
121 and 122
You mean the upper half of them? Based on the new naming, the students will have 121 and 122, the lower portions. The upper halves will be available for purchase. There are no more ’300’s.
To be honest, I think it’s more likely that if there are extra students vying for seats (which would be awesome, but require a huge push by the students – the new section is close to 2k in total), they’d probably give them portions of the faculty/staff areas in 119 and 118.
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I was referring to the upper halves of 121 and 122
I think if students show up in huge numbers they could be put in that section and that would address the concern about not having all of them in a “unified” section.
This was not a perfect plan but to me it is still way preferable to everyone behind the basket plan. This plan could potentially give students to expand into other sections while holding on to their sideline seats.
That's a big 'if' -
There’s a lot that could happen, but much of it rests on student attendance. I think that the Den is going to have to really show up in droves come 2012 to get that sort of (additional) concession from the administration. The opportunity is there now that single-game tickets are once again available, so one of the big reasons for lessened student attendance (“must buy a Den pass”) no longer applies.
Obviously the best solution would be to just give the students the entire sideline 100s, but there’s no way the administration would part with that kind of revenue, I don’t think. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of response there is in 2013 and 2014 (after the allure of the “new” stadium has passed).
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I'd also point out
that the only reason it is three sections and not two is because of the awful renovation that leaves the corners empty instead of filling those in with seats. If there are seats there and put put students there it doesn’t feel like the sideline and behind the basket courtside are two sections, but instead one big section of courtside students.
Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I tweeted my followers to ask which I should take
by Ryan Rosenblatt on May 10, 2011 4:53 PM PDT up reply actions
It may not be that simple.
The extra space (which is there for additional exits at the floor-level) may have been required by the fire marshal. I know that the student section during last season lost a chunk because not all of the exits were available due to the remodel.
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I understand that
But UCLA spent enough $ on renovation design. They could have hired folks who could have offered up better solutions.
I agree
There’s a lot I would have done differently with the design. But they may have been asked by certain high-level donors and/or Wooden (who was still around during the design, and to my understanding had some influence over it) to keep certain aesthetics intact. I mean, I think that’s why the students still are opposite the benches, even though they got moved.
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If you look at the virtual Pauley carefully
You’ll notice that they’ve placed little plexiglas barriers in the aisles between what used to be the 100 and 200 levels. I can’t imagine why they’d do this, but I could see why this would impede traffic flow considerably, limiting the floor level seating (and creating the need for snack bars and restrooms down there).
To me, it makes no sense at all to have those big gaps in the corners. If you look at any NBA game, you’ll see they cram as many seats onto the floor level as possible, even near the corners. The new Pauley would be greatly improved just by adding more seats there.
Virtual Pauley needs a redo
Though they may not model it, yhey’ll lose two or three rows somewhere in the South sideline 100s now that the students have moved back. The students all stand for much of the game, while the fans behind them… don’t. That’s created an obvious issue with sightlines for certain rows.
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Agree w/ Achilles
This “renovation” will still result in a terrible design with lots of wasted space and poor sight lights. Just as a point of comparison, look at how these other arenas are laid out:
Staples Center (Los Angeles Lakers):

Dean Smith Center (North Carolina):

Breslin Center (Michigan State):

Matt Knight Arena (Oregon) (which has an L-shaped student section w/ sideline seating and baseline seating):

All-in-all, you’ll see that the corners aren’t wasted. Achilles is right: UCLA has the money to have hired someone to plan around those issues and come up with a more effective use of the space (more seats = more revenue potential) and with better views.
If these other schools can do it, there was no reason we couldn’t.
by Bellerophon on May 10, 2011 10:45 PM PDT up reply actions
absolutely correct
this is a victory, but the whole decision to keep pauley is such a disaster its still going to be a crappy place to watch a game.
by silverlakebruin on May 10, 2011 8:13 PM PDT up reply actions
Let me clarify that
it will be a crappy viewing experience from most seats, which will be just as far away from the court as they were before the remodel. I am criticizing the design, not the team or the program
by silverlakebruin on May 10, 2011 8:15 PM PDT up reply actions
Where will Coach's seat be?
Congrats to BN which was the driving force in this return to sanity.
One typo. We have already had the 2010-2011 BB and FB seasons. Such as they were.
by BrendonBruin on May 10, 2011 5:25 PM PDT up reply actions
Anxious to know this as well...
Will they preserve Coach’s actual seat, leaving one empty space among the new student section? Will they reserve a seat behind the new UCLA bench, even if it isn’t the spot where Coach actually sat? Will they do nothing? My bet is on the last option considering the fact that no one, except his family, came up with a decent way to mark his seat last season. I hope I’m wrong. Coach should always have a seat in Pauley and it should be a fitting memorial.
My guess is the last as well.
Coach’s seat should be in Coach’s actual seat location, with Coach’s actual seat.
Roses are red, violets are blue...f*** $C.
They should place a statue of Coach in that seat.
It should be a statue of a seated Coach Wooden watching the game with a rolled up program in his hands.
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
I think a statue of coach in the student section would be amazing.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
Come to think of it.
The statue should include Nell. and they should be holding hands.
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
by MexiBruin on May 11, 2011 10:50 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Faculty/Staff section should be moved to the 220s.
Students should be in 117, 118 and 119. Faculty/staff are not big donors or big cheerers. There is no justification for giving them seats so close to the court.
by Seth Chandler on May 10, 2011 11:35 PM PDT up reply actions
congrats all
Nice work all. Morgan Center still on the hotseat no doubt but I congratulate them for making a good decision here.
by RealisticBruinFan on May 10, 2011 4:18 PM PDT reply actions
Updated the post
Updated the post with links to LA Times and to the Daily News. Neither of them mention the effort it took to save these seats. The LA Times does offer a quote from Ben Howland. The comment from Ben is nice but it’s kind of late at this point.
Doesn't the coverage by the fishwrap
and Coach Howland’s late comments reek of Morgan Center interference? It’s seeming more and more likely that the Morgan Center has actively warned the press (who depend on access to interviews) and university employees (including CBH) not to comment negatively against them. Now that they have given in, all of a sudden Coach Howland finds the words? And now all of a sudden the fishwrap is allowed to comment on the situation, but conspicuously omit any mention of BN? I am displeased with the Morgan Center.
I'm not certain
I mean, it’s hardly been a secret over the years here that the various local newspapers are… let’s just say, less than friendly to UCLA athletics. I’d be surprised if they suddenly decided to play nice just now.
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Addendum
I will say the lack of comments by Howland was probably due to the AD’s interference.
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I think that is the case too
I am one of those who asked for Howland to be more vocal about this. I think based on his past advocacy for students there is a good chance he spoke up behind the scenes. I wish he spoke up in public but we will take this for now and hope he brings UCLA basketball back next season.
Awesome news.
I read it while still at work and broke out into an 8-clap. My students asked, I explained! Congratulations to all of you for keeping the pressure on and getting the word out. Just called and renewed my tickets. The deadline is Monday. They might have also had time pressures. I even got a call from Morgan today to remind me to renew. They might be having some difficulties in this department. Anyone who has been waiting to renew, this is a good time. I also mentioned (as I was speaking with someone in Morgan) that I had been upset about the seating plan and didn’t feel the desire to buy. But with the email and the decision, off to the phones I went.
Go Bruins!
Seto, Student section
Morgan Center should just ask BN before permission before making important decisions from now on.
A bruin is good forever, a Trojan is only good... ahh eff it, just use tin foil
by MaltBaa on May 10, 2011 6:59 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
This is at best a negotiated truce rather than a surrender.
We have prevailed in one little battle, but the object of the war is to bring the students together into one cohesive group, from endline to endline and from bottom to top. Please don’t tell me it can’t be done, because as I recall it was done when I was a student. Demand for tickets was higher then than now, I’m sure. J.D. Morgan (he who is spinning and spinning as he watches guerrero) had no problem with giving students priority over nonstudents.
Let’s take all the nosebleed seats (which to me appear to be located just outside Pauley) and put them in the other end zone. If we need more room, there’s sections 113 to 116.
Whatever Morgan Center might raise as an objection is trumped completely by the fact that COACH DID IT THIS WAY. Sorry, Morgan Center, figure out another way to raise the revenue that you’ll miss in the short run. (In the long run you won’t miss it because there will be so many more donors who caught basketball fever.)
The Morgan Center people are still screwing the students. Why should a student be banished to the nosebleed seats in a building on the student’s campus? It’s not a building designed for use by donors or by fans who can afford the ridiculously high cost of a ticket. It’s a building for students. It’s not that much different from a large classroom. A donor doesn’t get to sit in the front row just by buying a ticket.
We haven’t made it to Student’s First, in my opinion. It’s not Stick a Red Hot Poker Up the Students’ Butts, as the original plan was, but it’s not where we should be.
And for EJ Bruin, who thinks the BN is a negative place, I have this to say. You are absolutely wrong about the Bruins Nation. The only thing negative is the what has happened to my alma mater. It appears more and more to me that the administration treats students as a necessary evil, and has forgotten the ultimate goal. Freshmen enter as children, and they are supposed to leave four years later as well rounded adults ready to take their places in the adult world. Athletics is a part of that well roundedness, just as are the core subjects and the electives. I took courses because they sounded interesting, not because I thought I needed them. I took Afrikaans, for example. That’s part of a diverse education. Athletics is, too, and the students are being collectively screwed by an administration which simply does not care. If we’re not going to do it right, why do it at all? What you perceive as negativity, EJ, is simply a description of what exists. How much more positive can you get than to want to change the things that are wrong into things that are right?
End of rant.
Well, EJ, I care. So do many of my brothers and sisters. I care that a great part of my growing up experience is being taken away from those who follow me (which may well include you.) You perceive that as negative. I perceive it as asking for something positive.
by Fox 71 on May 10, 2011 7:21 PM PDT reply actions 2 recs
How they do it at other schools......
When my son was a student at Wisconsin, the school was about to open their new arena, The Kohl Center. One of the first things the athletic dept did was to call in a small group of students to get their opinion about seating. My son, who was a beat reporter for the MadisonState Journal covering Badger sports was one of the students on the committee.
The school was very interested in what the students thought about seating arrangements. The students recommended that the student section be on the sidelines and facing the cameras. The students thought it was important to have a loud cheering section. They also thought it was important to have the cheering section face the TV cameras so they would have exposure.
One of reasons the students wanted to be on camera was to advertize the school and create a sense of being so a prospect could see what a great time one can have going to Wisconsin.
Here at UCLA the Morgan Center tried their best to do the exact opposite of what they did at Wisconsin. It’s no wonder athletics at Madison get the great support that it does. The AD and his staff have the students backs.
How long has he been a student?
“I’m thrilled,” said Sean Wang, a graduate student in statistics who was instrumental in getting the advisory vote on the student ballot. “I didn’t want part of my legacy to be that when I was here we lost sideline seats forever.”
Long enough to know Morgan Center was wrong...
…and however many years that is, is good enough for me.
by Bellerophon on May 10, 2011 10:37 PM PDT up reply actions
YES!!!
Los Angeles Rams and the UCLA Bruins!!!!!
by Minnesota Bruinfan on May 11, 2011 4:26 AM PDT reply actions

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