Bruin Bites: Explosion in Westwood, No Lights at JRS, U$C Marketing "Gets It", and Other Bits and Pieces from the UCLA-iverse
by Bellerophon on May 19, 2011 5:01 AM PDT
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PrintSo, we're going to try something a little new here at BN. This new segment is a little something we're calling Bruin Bites, mostly because, well I like alliteration. Basically, once a week, I'm going to throw together as many clips, tidbits, and other assorted stuff from the interwebs all into one place for your viewing/reading/complaining/commenting convenience.
With that little introduction, let's get to this week's inaugural set of Bruin Bites:
- In non-sports news, there was a large explosion in Westwood near the intersection of Weyburn and Westwoodas an underground electrical transformer decided to pull a Mel Gibson: overheat, go crazy, and explode with fury, with some gratuitous property damage for good measure. Fortunately, no one was hurt.
- On the football front, Hello Kiffin has announced (probably due to displeased Trogan alums) that Second Choice's band of merry thugs will be wearing their traditional ketchup-and-mustard home uniform against UCLA this year.
- If you were at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Tuesday for the UCLA-Cal State Fullerton game, then you already know that the game had to be cancelled due an electrical box exploding, causing some of the lighting for the game to go out and forcing game officials to call off the game for safety reasons. Coach Savage was not pleased: "We need to win as many games as we can to get as high a seed as we can, so when you have the opportunity to play Fullerton and it gets canceled, it’s just disappointing." Hmm, an elite coach being saddled with inadequate, sub-par facilities? Why is this not surprising given Morgan Center's incompetence under Dan Guerrero's Reign of Error?
- Mike DeCourcy at the Sporting News calls UCLA a "loser" in the 2011 recruiting battles. What's even worse is that DeCourcy is calling St. John's "winners" for bringing in Lavin and his recruiting success thus far.
- Sticking with basketball, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, has called out the Lakers for not erecting a statute in his honor outside of Staples Center. Apparently, the Hall of Famer is not pleased with how the Lakers organization has neglected to give him his fair recognition in shiny metal form.
- UCLA's softball team had nine players take home All-Pac-10 honors: Andrea Harrison and Kellie Fox made All-Pac-10 first team, GiOnna DiSalvatore placed All-Pac-10 second team, while Donna Kerr, Katie Schroeder, and B.B. Bates received honorable mention recognition. On the freshman side, Kellie Fox, Jessica Hall, and Alyssa Tiumalu made the conference All-Freshman squad, with Talee Snow getting an honorable mention. Congratulations ladies!
- If you want to catch the next generation of the NFL's talent, head down to the North Athletic Field on Friday at 5 p.m. Included among the rookie participants in the 2011 NFL Players Rookie Premeire's flag football game are Cam Newton, Von Miller, Marcell Dareus, A.J. Green, Colin Kaepernick, Jake Locker, Mark Ingram, Andy Dalton, Blaine Gabbert, and Julio Jones. Too bad UCLA can't put together than kind of talent collection at Spaulding.
- Finally, in yet another example of how U$C's marketing folks "get" it and Morgan Center remains woefully behind, the Second Choice goons signed a licensing and merchandising agreement with Dallas Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones' Silver Star Merchandising. Once again, it makes one wonder why Morgan Center can't seem to think outside the box and create these kinds of unique and lucrative opportunities to further promote the UCLA brand.
If there's something I missed in UCLA-related bits and pieces of news, feel free to share. Fire away.
GO BRUINS
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in honor of Bruin Bites, I'm going to comment in similar fashion:
~ So, does this mean that Lane Violation is NOT stupid?
~ Mike DeCourcy is the real loser. Nice of him to try and pass off opinion as fact though. Maurice Harkless and Sir’Dominic Pointer are ‘underrated’? Must be nice to be able to look into the future.
~ Kareem, being right does not mean you get a free pass for your petulant foot stomping. You should know better.
~ The Cowboys and Trojans are partnering up. Two teams I love to hate just got hateyer. Yes, that is a word.
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
Really disappointed in Kareem
You can’t demand recognition. If it’s given, accept it with humility. If it’s not given, be content within yourself. You know what you accomplished.
"Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful."
You would think that someone who studied at the foot of Coach, and who reveres him still, would know better.
by GoodTimesBruin on May 19, 2011 3:28 PM PDT up reply actions
We're all flawed.
Kareem isn’t the most humble person alive. Let’s be quite frank: He deserves it, IMO more than some statues that are already there. Whether or not he should think he does, he does.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
I mean, he deserves a statue
But why ask for one now? He’ll get one all in due time. What’s the point of agitating for one right now? It’s not like the Lakers are building statues all the damn time.
Well, if we're talking about deserving,
so does Elgin Baylor. Jerry West and Magic Johnson were Lakers their whole careers. Kareem is certainly in their illustrious company, but he doesn’t deserve a statue before them. As is, he poisons the atmosphere for when they DO erect him a statue.
In any case, you just don’t demand a statue, rant that the Lakers don’t respect you, and sulk off into a petulant funk. Yes, we’re all flawed. But, it’s still wrong to demand applause. It’s very un-Coach-like.
by GoodTimesBruin on May 19, 2011 9:29 PM PDT up reply actions
the list is long and distinguished.
George Mikan and Wilt Chamberlain certainly deserve their statues.
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
Magic came out and stated
Kareem deserves a statue and deserved one before I did. Or something to that effect.
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
Two different issues
(1) Who deserves a statue and when; (2) Whether it’s right to demand one.
On (1), Kareem certainly deserves a statue. Whether he should have gotten one before somebody else is a minor matter, IMO. As you point out, lots of other Lakers qualify, as well.
On (2), this is where I find disappointment in Kareem’s actions. He is ruining the atmosphere for when they do put up a statue. His actions today will reflect poorly on him then, as “Well, it’s about damn time.”
He’s drawing lines and making claims of mistreatment and disrespect that do nobody any good. Frankly, they taint my feelings toward him, too. Demanding praise is just not right.
by GoodTimesBruin on May 20, 2011 1:57 PM PDT up reply actions
Marketing UCLA
I agree that something has to be done with “marketing UCLA”. I go into many stores and they have all kinds of JUNK from the university of second choice. I ask them about UCLA and they say that the school is responsible for the marketing of their items. I have called the school and have gotten the run around from them. Also with Leinart and Sanchez out in town “helping” kids with being better players, isn’t that another marketing ploy to keep $c in the newspapers and telling kids that $c is the place to go for football? Like I have said before, when I go into stores and see $c things for sale, I turn them around so no one can see the logo. It makes me feel better.
by Forever a Bruin on May 19, 2011 10:26 AM PDT reply actions
I've done the same thing with sc gear
ESPECIALLY the Ralphs in Pasadena that everyone stops at to shop for tailgates before heading into the Rose Bowl. I honestly cannot believe that store puts out a bunch of sc garbage tshits in the checkout line. =(
UCLA merchandise
UCLA merchandising is controlled by ASUCLA not the school directly. The student store is where most UCLA stuff is sold. It is up to the individual stores and vendors if they wish to carry UCLA products. ASUCLA maintains the trademark for merchandise and any partnerships with apparel providers. I believe that due to the unique nature of ASUCLA they prefer to take a more passive approach with apparel so that fans utilize the student store and the students who work in the store derive greater benefit. However if a store is telling you that it is up to UCLA to push their merchandise, they are lying. UCLA is partnered with most major brands, so if the stores wanted UCLA stuff they would get it easily.
Supply and demand
All of these stores are retailers, it comes down to simple economic law, supply and demand. If every year all of these stores have more of u$c’s garbage than ours, I have to believe that their fans are buying it.
Last year the Target store in my neighborhood had a section of team apparel. The majority of the merchandise was split between the Dodgers and u$c. There was a smattering of UCLA gear. i shop there two or three times a month. What I noticed is that most of the people who shopped for u$c gear were already wearing something with the logo. Most everyone who looked at UCLA gear had nothing on that identified theselves as a Bruin fan or any other university.
The ironic thing was at the end of the season most of the merchandise that was marked down was UCLA gear.
Supply and demand redux
Just came back from the Target store and there isn’t a lick of UCLA gear. The gear they have is evenly divided between the Dodgers and u$c with a couple of Lakers jerseys. All of this is spread over 15 feet of shelf space.
Coach...
Would be turning in his grave if he read what Kareem said. I’m done with this but speaking of statues, why don’t WE have a statue of Wooden by Pauly??? There is no doubt he is worthy of having one before anybody in the sports world.
Probably not, though I hope there will be one in the student section where his old seat will now be located.
I think that would be amazing.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
If they moved it to the other side of the arena
so “his seat” was still behind the bench, I’d be cool with that too. I kind of like the idea of Coach behind the bench.
Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I tweeted my followers to ask which I should take
by Ryan Rosenblatt on May 19, 2011 2:12 PM PDT up reply actions
Statue of Wooden
Agreed a statue of Wooden (seated statue) in his seat at Pauley would be amazing as well as deserved.
On another note, move the football practice field to Drake Stadium. Certainly would give competition to what $C has done with their field and we could have a better facility.
Not that there would be anything wrong with a statue
but having the court named after him is a pretty huge honor and a constant reminder of his awesomeness so I don’t think the statue is something that needs to be done. That said, if they did a statue of him, you can bet I’d be there for the unveiling.
Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I tweeted my followers to ask which I should take
by Ryan Rosenblatt on May 19, 2011 2:13 PM PDT up reply actions
game canceled because of electrical problem just showed the sub-par facility of UCLA baseball. I can’t believe they don’t have the right personnel in place to fix the problem in time for the game to go on.
it’s kind of embarassing for UCLA Athletics Department, IMO, because I’ve never seen games get canceled for this reason.
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