Kevin Modesti of the Daily News has a column on Karl Dorrell, that gives us with yet another example of why so many of us have lost confidence in the role of traditional sports media in Southern California. Modesti basically tries to advance an argument (completely ignoring all the real/big picture numbers of Karl Dorrell era) that to succeed as the UCLA head coach, all KD needs to do is to give us an exciting football team.
He starts with this nonsense:
The good news for Dorrell is that he has a chance to show not only the city but the nation a more dynamic side when UCLA faces Notre Dame in South Bend on Saturday in what could be (depending on the meaning of the USC game in December) the Bruins' most-watched game of the season.
By winning, Dorrell said Monday, the Bruins can "get ourselves in position to do great things."
As important, by just showing some spark, the Bruins can put fans in a mood to keep watching them.
So the standard Modesti is setting here is for the Bruins to show "some spark." Modesti is asking the Bruins to shoot for yet another meaningless moral victory. So that's what the standard of UCLA football has been reduced to under the cowardly quitter. Just showing up and playing with some emotion and putting up a good fight will be good enough for these stooges in the traditional media.By winning, Dorrell said Monday, the Bruins can "get ourselves in position to do great things."
As important, by just showing some spark, the Bruins can put fans in a mood to keep watching them.
Modesti than goes on to write that to succeed at UCLA all KD needs to do is come up with a rousing team:
To succeed, Dorrell has to produce teams as rousing as his public personality is stoic.
UCLA's 10-2 record in Dorrell's third season was a huge step. As was the way the 2005 team kept winning from behind with explosive offense, Drew Olson throwing 13touchdown passes of between 21 and 91 yards, six of those going to wide receivers. If that team wasn't as good as its record, at least you had to give it credit for excitement.
What? So apparently all UCLA fans are looking for is an exciting team. Notice Modesti conveniently doesn't addressing the real issues of how upset UCLA students and alums about the program's current 7 game losing streak to Southern Cal, Dorrell's 0-8 record against team with winning record on the road, embarrassing/underachieving losses, and lack of single big win (wins over rebuilding Cal and OU from last year do not really count) in his more than three years at UCLA. Of course Modesti will not address those real issues.UCLA's 10-2 record in Dorrell's third season was a huge step. As was the way the 2005 team kept winning from behind with explosive offense, Drew Olson throwing 13touchdown passes of between 21 and 91 yards, six of those going to wide receivers. If that team wasn't as good as its record, at least you had to give it credit for excitement.
And the Modesti had to throw in this nonsense:
UCLA needs Dorrell to succeed. Because, as the first football hire of the Dan Guerrero era, he's the face of this athletic director's stewardship of the football program. Because, having come up under Donahue, he's totally a representative of the school. Because of where he fits in the campus' legacy of racial barrier-breaking - a role whose pluses and minuses he embraces.
Again I'd like to know what Dorrell's race has to do with the facts that:
- he is winless against Southern Cal
- hasn't beaten a winning team (or a ranked one) on the road
- doesn't have any big marquee wins in his four year career
- has given us offense which has been a disaster 3 out of his 4 years in Westwood (and even last year's offense was arguably ineffective because in so many games it as plodding and sputtering in first 3 quarters before exploding in desperation/comeback mode in the later moments of the games)
- constantly makes foolish excuses or blames others for his total incompetent game management week after week
- has embarrassed and humiliated the football program
Again I like to know what does race have to do with those facts and why it is even being injected in the discussion.
How much of this has to do with Ben Olson's injury twoweeks ago and Cowan's inexperience, we might find out at Notre Dame.
"We need to get on the same page," Dorrell said. "We're just not getting it done."
Just google Karl Dorrell + "same page" and check out how many entries you get from last four years. This guy has been trying to get UCLA football on the "same page" for last four years. Of course Modesti didn't address any of that."We need to get on the same page," Dorrell said. "We're just not getting it done."
This is yet another column that kind of typifies how most of the traditional media in Southern California are either stupid or lazy or uninformed or intentionally trying to get across the wrong POV to the general public. Or perhaps in this case Modesti's asinine column has to do with the fact that he is an alum of Southern Cal and he is probably enjoying nothing more than watching Dorrell turn UCLA into Southern Cal's permanent football b!tch. It's probably not in his interest to tell the real story about why majority of the Bruins Nation is unhappy with Karl Dorrell because gosh you know it may put some pressure on Morgan Center to think about doing something right and take steps to get rid of the cancer that is killing the UCLA football program.
GO BRUINS.