A Juggling Note

by Nestor on Dec 15, 2006 2:14 PM PST in Football

Thought we end this week on a lighter note. I am sure every one of you by now knows about our juggler dude. The guy has become a mini celebrity all around the 'tubes. Even Peter (BON) and Orson (EDSBS) pegged him as a key to our win over Southern Cal little more than two weeks ago. He has taken a lot of flack from everyone including from yours truly.

Apparently the game against Southern Cal was his last game as a student at UCLA. He is reportedly a good guy and crazy about UCLA sports. I don't know guys. Even though I have not been all that crazy about this juggling at our sidelines, the kid kind of grew on me. You can see here the dude is pretty good:

I like what we have one our side. I will take our wacky juggling dude doing his crazy tricks, Geoff Strand being Geoff Strand, egged on by the crazy Den, and our cheerleaders/dance team over those clowns from South Central with some turd in a metal skirt and "song girls" making idiots out of themselves game after game.

I hope the juggling dude comes back next year as an alum.

What do you all think? Thumbs up or thumps down for our juggler? Fire away folks.

See you tomorrow.

GO BRUINS.

0 recs | Comment 35 comments

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Thumbs up...

I'm not a big fan of juggling, but when someone has a passion for something, and is naturally gifted at what he/she does, I can support that. Not to mention that the guy is truly passionate about UCLA athletics. It would be a different story if the guy was a HACK, but as far as I could tell, he's got SKILLS.

I'll take a kick-ass juggler over a fuc*ed up dancing drunk tree or a homo-erotic metal skirt wearing bunghole any day of the week.

by norcalbruin95 on Dec 15, 2006 2:51 PM PST 0 recs

Amen to that.

MIM

by Meriones on Dec 15, 2006 6:57 PM PST up 0 recs

The Juggler is AWESOME

The Den loves him and goes nuts whenever he goes out on the field for shows and it gives us something to distinguish ourselves from the common bands and cheerleaders. Plus, his blue suit and hat with the yellow tie is SWEET. LOVE THE JUGLLER.

by ryebreadraz on Dec 15, 2006 3:07 PM PST 0 recs

Thumbs up

The kid's got talent.

by bruinbabe2000 on Dec 15, 2006 3:09 PM PST 0 recs

I like'em

As a current student, the juggler and I have a number of mutual friends and they all say that he's a really nice guy. Also, he put on the HANDS DOWN best performance at the 2006 Spring Sing (which was only a skit and not actually part of the talent competition). All I gotta say about his performance at SS was that it totally made me feel like a kid again watching a light show at Disneyland...

I also remember that he once performed at a basketball game at Pauley and got a standing ovation.

by BruinDLC on Dec 15, 2006 3:16 PM PST 0 recs

v. Washington last year

I just came across a picture from the game on my laptop.

by bruinhoo on Dec 15, 2006 9:12 PM PST up 0 recs

I say

dress him up in a Bruin costume and let him loose.

by JWongUCLA on Dec 15, 2006 3:28 PM PST 0 recs

Thumbs up

I was down on the juggler at first. But he is a superb performer. I was still sort of wavering, but the comment about the stupid tree and that ... thing over in south central made me realize that talent needs to be recognized. Geoff has been around since before Red Sanders, it seems. I say to Geoff - make room. I think he should be on the sidelines next year, if he's willing.

by Fox 71 on Dec 15, 2006 3:37 PM PST 0 recs

I love Geoff...

... and the guy who stands up there with him, whose name I never can remember.

The two of them together show a long sports tradition at UCLA, and, in fairness, their regular spot on the sideline is in front of the "Young Alumni" section, in front of the Alumni Band. Geoff runs around for certain portions of the game, but I'd say he spends at least half the game right in front of my seats.

Seriously, though, check out the older guy. He does some sort of kick move with his 8-clap that was probably lost by the early 1950's. They do some old "oop-oop-de-oop" cheer about touchdowns and onion soup. Not to mention, Geoff introduced him at a game a couple years ago and told his biography, which included (if memory serves on the details) starting at UCLA, enlisting in World War II to serve on the German front, then moving to the Pacific theater to fight the Japanese, and then coming back to UCLA to finish his degree.

These guys are institutions and I sincerely hope that they have no plans to step down and join us on the sideline any time soon.

by antipimp on Dec 15, 2006 4:31 PM PST up 0 recs

Definitely like him

Anything that makes us stand out from other programs I like - Juggler, Geoff Strand, unique colors, playing at the Rose Bowl, some other things I can't think of right now.

by bruinmikeh on Dec 15, 2006 3:39 PM PST 0 recs

I liked him from the very start

He's like an extra school mascot, and definitely part of the school to be proud of; the juggler, the ninja, and the crazy religious people definitely add a lot to our campus.

Check out the juggler in last year's spring-sing skit about the undie run (MTV spoof):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=G9LIiix8-9I

by jatteratious on Dec 15, 2006 3:42 PM PST 0 recs

Three things UCLA needs to lose

The juggler
Geoff Strand
Towel Waver Ed

All three make UCLA look bush league

by BillyZoom on Dec 15, 2006 3:43 PM PST 0 recs

Get real Zoom

What else do you want to lose? Our colors? The 8 Clap? The Den? Our name?

Anyway, The Juggler rules. Geoff Strand IS UCLA. On a magazine add for EA's NCAA game a few years ago, there was a collage of college tradition. Geoff was in there. Geoff and Frank are as apart of UCLA as blue and gold.

by True Blue and Gold on Dec 15, 2006 5:52 PM PST up 0 recs

Please...

you're equating the freaking 8 Clap with the juggler? How about Kazerian? The guy is an embarrassment and should be banished from the sideline. If that was a guy at Oregon or Cal, you'd consider him a clown

by BillyZoom on Dec 15, 2006 6:11 PM PST up 0 recs

Towel waver sucks

Ed bad, Juggler good.

Sorry man. The peeps have spoken. The juggler rocks.

by Sweetbreads Bailey on Dec 15, 2006 6:22 PM PST up 0 recs

no way

Ed is the most winningest head coach in D-1 history, no way can we get rid of that. He gets apathetic people pumped with his towel, so if the difference is people sitting and eating hotdogs and no towel, or people standing and yelling and spinning things above their heads with towel, then fuck yea the towel stays. It's sad that we need him to spin his towel in order to remind people to make noise on defense (and possibly even GASP stand), but as long as that's a fact, then he should stay. Plus, he appears good at his real job, making sure the football players are going to class. I see him all the time with a little checklist, doing random searches.

by ranelar on Dec 15, 2006 6:56 PM PST up 0 recs

Haha, the Ninja

Haha, the ninja....I know him. Funny guy.

by BruinDLC on Dec 15, 2006 4:12 PM PST 0 recs

Yay Juggler!

That dude rocks. If we get him to chuck one of those swords at Ed Kezerian, we're all set!

I vote yes on Proposition Juggler Guy!

by Sweetbreads Bailey on Dec 15, 2006 4:37 PM PST 0 recs

Thumbs up

Going back to saying the various sideline performers constitute a tradition, the Juggler actually represents a wrinkle in an old tradition.

Does anyone here remember the baton twirler they refer to as the "Golden Girl"? One year, and I assume it was the year she had graduated, she was gone and her place had been taken by this guy out there juggling. (Iirc the suit came later, and he was dressed less strikingly the first time I saw him.)

I'd always been skeptical of the Golden Girl at the time, recognizing the talent but not sure it was necessary on the field or court. And my regard for the Juggler started from a similarly skeptical place, and grew to an appreciation of his talent and then acceptance.

Again, if memory serves, it was two years ago that he and a friend with jumprope tricks emceed the bonfire. And I was sold because of what was clearly a rabid support for all things Bruin, and the fact that he and his friend owned the crowd that night. (I think I was even sober...)

I knew the time would come, but I'll be sorry to see the Juggler missing from his spot next to the band.

by antipimp on Dec 15, 2006 4:40 PM PST 0 recs

I have a soft spot

for things that started during my stay here as a student. The juggler is one of them. The juggler gets my nod of approval.

by Tydides on Dec 15, 2006 5:06 PM PST 0 recs

um

we also had baton girls...which are no longer there. i say juck the fuggler

by bluejoe on Dec 15, 2006 5:45 PM PST 0 recs

LOSE HIM

He's a great juggler, a super fan, and an incredible dork... he makes UCLA look like a joke. It's funny, someone further up mentions the tree at Stanford, that's BETTER than the juggler so where does it leave us?

Seriously, if any of us saw a juggler in that suit on the sidelines of a football game for another school, we'd have a freakin' field day. And you can't tell me other schools aren't mocking us. This is a big problem for UCLA. No theme and unclear / weak traditions (like the uniform and it's colors changing every fifteen minutes). Name a bigtime school that would allow juggling?

by badfootballschool on Dec 15, 2006 6:44 PM PST 0 recs

UCLA

by ranelar on Dec 15, 2006 7:00 PM PST up 0 recs

I'd also like to point out

that at the Washington game last year, after his act he got a standing ovation from the Washington fans, one of which said I wish we had someone like that. So not only are we not laughed at, they're jelous of us.

by ryebreadraz on Dec 16, 2006 12:06 AM PST up 0 recs

Please. Cal has a XYLOPHONE in their band...

...and the juggler makes us look like a joke?

At least our add-on guys demonstrate a difficult skill of physical dexterity. Any 5-year-old can play a Fisher-Price xylophone.

JUGGLER ROCKS.

MIM

by Meriones on Dec 15, 2006 7:02 PM PST 0 recs

DUDE, I WOULD'NT PUT BLADES BET/ MY LEGS....

but at least if UCLA doesn't want him, he could have a job doing lightning quick circumcisions on 3rd street promenade for a few bucks a pop..... he seems pretty good.

Go Bruins, Go Howland, F-Lavin, and let's get rid of Dorrell....

by BruinManDan97 on Dec 15, 2006 7:04 PM PST 0 recs

Geoff Strand...

...is a parody of himself. He should have been put out to pasture twenty-five years ago.

by mcbruin on Dec 15, 2006 7:34 PM PST 0 recs

Stanford tree vs. The Juggler

Well, considering the Juggler hasn't gotten drunk during games or been apart of offensive shows...There is no comparisson.

by True Blue and Gold on Dec 15, 2006 7:59 PM PST 0 recs

Well...

Isn't just having a juggler pretty offensive? And drunk juggling would be way more impressive.

by badfootballschool on Dec 15, 2006 8:32 PM PST 0 recs

Nestor - What have you done

This controversy is hotter than whether Dorrell stays or goes, and more bitter than the Auburn-Alabama discussion over at the MZone.

One note about Stanford's goofy tree. Anybody can put on the tree suit, flop around, be unnecessarily offensive, and act like a complete jerk. The juggler has to have actual talent.

And the comment about the Golden Girl. The one I remember from my sophomore year (and I'm sure sjh remembers here) was also skillful and talented, but more than that, she was remarkably good looking. If the juggler looked like her, there would be no dissenting votes.

by Fox 71 on Dec 15, 2006 9:35 PM PST 0 recs

golden girl

She was Miss California, a nationally ranked baton twirler (top 3?), and I believe a Miss America runner up.

by ranelar on Dec 15, 2006 11:37 PM PST up 0 recs

Whatever Happened To The Air Horn?

The Juggler's cool. Hope he comes back next year as well. Wasn't he at the Notre Dame game? Thought I saw him there.

On a totally different front, whatever happened to that air horn we used to have go off whenever we scored or came on to the field before the game and right after halftime? God, I thought that thing was so cool. The times I got to see the Bruins on the road (at Iowa in '81 and at Wisconsin in '82) and that airhorn went off it was just awesome. Wish they would bring it back.

by Minnesota Bruinfan on Dec 16, 2006 6:35 AM PST 0 recs