BN's Gutty Little Bruin!

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Over the years I have gotten lot of emails via our BruinsNation email account from UCLA alums on how they could show their appreciation for this little online bar on the internets. Well here is your chance.

This place has become a pretty close group of friends who are threaded tightly together with the common bond that is Bruin blue and gold. We experienced a little bit of that emotion reading all the stories about what those magical four letters mean to us over this weekend.

Well here is another story which has been a huge part of this community since we got started. This is Tyler in the middle:

If you are new around here, I'd urge you to read his story here, here and here. He is Insomniac's (and ours) Gutty Little Bruin, who has become our pride and joy over the years here on Bruins Nation.

Tyler needs us this week and we need to respond. I will be upfront. Insomniac is trying to cheer Tyler on by making a donation to Dribble for the Cure in his honor. He set a goal of raising $1,500. We have already raised $850. I know we can blow pass the goal. So please, go to the following link and make a donation today:

Support Our Gutty Little Bruin

We need to let Tyler know that he is not alone. We need to let him know that he has thousands of members of his extended Bruin family praying for him all over the Bruin Nation.

In the words of RW - LETS GO.

GO BRUINS.

Photo Credit: bdeaton (flickr)

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I had a feeling this thread had a potential to become epic. Not only didn't it live up to expectations, I think it has gone past something special. I'd say it touched the blue and gold nerve in this community resulting in outpouring of emotion that is beyond overwhelming. Let me repost the two questions I posted on Friday night:

1. What is your connection to UCLA?
2. How did you become a part of Bruins Nation?

Since then we have more than 100 comments with Bruins ranging from high-schoolers to retirees, spanning more than 50 years, pouring their heart and soul into that thread. Every single story in that thread is amazing. Still I wanted to pluck out three stories and highlight them here on the frontpage to give everyone else a little sense of what this community going:

Bruins095:

UCLA, those 4 letters mean everything. I grew up mostly in Northern California with generations of my family attending Cal. Everything and everyone around me had some connection to Berkeley, but I knew UCLA was in my future. My brother started his love affair with UCLA at a very young age. He dreamed about becoming a bruin and worked extremely hard to make that dream come true. He and I would talk about UCLA and hopefully becoming a part of the bruin family some day. We would attend Cal-UCLA football and basketball games and were the only ones rooting for the bruins. When he got into the university, we were jumping up and down knowing one part of our dream had come true. My first visit was in 1983 and I fell in love with the school. I would visit every summer and love every minute of my stay. He would show me every part of the campus and rave about his experience. The bruin indoctrination was in full swing. My turn came in 89 and we both were now officially members of the bruin family.

My brother passed away in 1998. He was the biggest bruin fan I had ever met and we shared countless experiences with UCLA athletics. I thought the bruins might win the football championship that year. They came so close that year, and I know he is a proud bruin still. Every event I attend, I always think of him. Some may not understand how fanatical I can be, but the institution is a part of me. Thanks to him, my bruin pride is immense. He is the reason UCLA is in my blood. I’m extremely grateful for communities like this one. Thanks fo everyone for sharing their stories and experiences. Go Bruins!!!

Are you getting goose bumps yet? We are not done. More after the jump.

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Bumped. This has become another incredible thread which we will try to keep going through this weekend. GO BRUINS. -N

Heading into what is shaping up to be the most anticipated UCLA football season since 2001, I thought I try something out that will allow this community to become even together and get us to know each other even better.  Last time, we tried something like this it lead to an incredibly powerful thread. We have lot more friends who have become a part of this wonderful community since then. So I thought this is a good time to try this out again. I have two questions for all of you who consider themselves part of this community. Join me after the flip.

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I woke up this morning and was browsing through my UCLA reads and then found one of the toughest new I have ever read as a UCLA fan when seeing this thread about "EZ Beach" who was known as "EZ" on Bruin Report Online. EZ (Don Kramer) passed away.

I have never met EZ but I have been reading his passionate posts about all things UCLA football for years now on BRO. In all my years of following UCLA football and basketball via online communities (I have been member of that community all the way back when BruinReportOnline was part of Rivals.com in 1999).

I have never imagined a football season without reading EZ's takes. He was exuberant, passionate and one of a kind. He was a friend whose takes I needed to read everyday, trying to get a sense of the Bruin zeitgeist.

I can't really describe how stricken I felt while reading that thread.

I am really going to miss you Don.

Have a great time in the blue and gold heaven and hope you get to raise a glass soon celebrating a BCS championship. It is coming BROther. Be sure to be ready for it.

GO BRUINS.

Somewhere On The Chesapeake Bay

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From somewhere in the Eastern Maryland shores want to wish everyone in this community and the greater Bruin Nation a Happy and Safe 4th of July.

As mentioned couple of days ago like many here and all across the country, I have been taking advantage of a long 4th of July weekend. If any of you all are interested in the extended entry I will share some of the pictures from last few days. So more after the jump

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I have always wanted to ask this question here on BN. Now that we are in the middle of off season this seems like the perfect time.

If you are an alum or a current student you will get this question.

Are you from this side:

Photo Credit: brain stem (flickr)

or are you from this side?

Photo Credit: --Mark-- (flickr)

I was thinking about using Royce Hall for the question but that probably wouldn't have been too fair.

So let's hear it. Which side do you belong to? I have also put up a poll on this.

It will be very interesting to see how the responses shake out in this little (unofficial) UCLA community.

GO BRUINS.

AA: Just One Of The Reasons To Celebrate "4" Years Of BN (Photo Source: alix_drawec's photostream (flickr))

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While the community of Los Angeles is celebrating a World Championship, there is another occasion to raise a glass here on BN.  Four years ago today we launched this little virtual bar for those who bleed blue and gold on the internets. It was Odysseus who got the blogging started originally by creating Fire Karl Dorrell. He invited Ajax and yours to share our thoughts (okay, venting/ranting in frustration are more appropriate words for it) on the state of football program back then.

We found out that we just liked writing about lot more than just a football coach who wasn't getting it done. Soon enough three close friends including Tyler from Athletics Nation invited us to become first non baseball blog to join SBNation.

So there we were on June 15th of 2005 launching Bruins Nation hoping it will emerge as a new community that will platy a prominent part in shaping the narratives within larger UCLA community of alums, students and fans who are devoted to our athletic programs. A very raw and unpolished original welcome post was bumped up again on June 22nd after we got linked up DailyKos)

It's been fun and we will keep doing it because chatting up about those magical four letter will never stop being fun. Thanks again to everyone who has been with us from the very beginning. Thanks again to everyone who has stayed with us since joining the party.

Lot's to be happy about in a beautiful Monday in this little corner of the internets. So raise a glass and say cheers.

Carry on.

GO BRUINS.

From UCLA Today:

When Space Shuttle Atlantis mission STS-125 lifts off on Monday, May 11, for NASA’s final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, a proud Bruin will be among the seven crew members. On her first space flight, Mission Specialist K. Megan McArthur earned her B.A. in aerospace engineering at UCLA in 1993. She went on to obtain a Ph.D. from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. In 2000, she joined NASA, where she worked in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory and the Space Station and Space Shuttle Mission Control centers. In 2004, she served as the crew support astronaut, stationed at the Johnson Space Station in Houston, for the Expedition 9 crew during their six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. The planned repairs to the Hubble should allow the telescope to function until at least 2013, when its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, is due to be launched.

You can read UCLA Today's interview with Megan over here. I will just bring attention to this detail that caught my attention:

We understand you’ll be taking along a couple of items from UCLA?

We are allowed to fly some small personal items for our families as well as for organizations that are important to us. I contacted the School of Engineering and told them, “I’d really like to fly something that represents UCLA with me on my flight because UCLA was a big part of my life.” I’m going to take along a miniature IMP, the computer switch that served as the first node of the Internet at UCLA in 1969. I’ll also be bringing along a UCLA T-shirt because, as you know, go Bruins! I had a lot of life-changing events when I went to school there, so I’m happy to fly with a little piece of UCLA.

Just gives a whole new meaning to concept of a greater "Bruin Nation."

GO BRUINS.