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Puttin' around the off season ...

By Nestor

Funny timing from the Daily News. The day we posted an interview with their UCLA beat writer Brian Dohn, they ran his interview with our incoming QB - SouthPaw Jesus - not about how his summer work out is going, but about his golf game:

Olson is set to take over at quarterback for the Bruins, who were 10-2 under quarterback Drew Olson (no relation) last year. Olson, a sophomore, was a standout football and basketball player at Thousand Oaks High, but he's got some game on the golf course, too. Olson, who's 6-foot-5, said he can drive the ball as far as 350 yards. He said he doesn't play as much as he'd like, but before UCLA's training camp opens Aug. 7 he has some time.

What's your best memory on a golf course?

I don't know that I have one great memory. It's the whole atmosphere of golf. I like being outside, especially early in the morning. I like to go out with family and friends and enjoy the company and still keep it competitive.

What's your most embarrassing moment on a golf course?

I don't know that I've ever just missed the ball altogether but a couple of times I've hit it three yards off the tee. Then there was a broken golf cart. It wasn't me, it was my buddy, Dave Anderson (a wide receiver for the Houston Texans). Me and my uncle and buddy Dave were playing, and my uncle and Dave decided to play bumper carts. Things got carried away, and the axel on our cart broke. I was kind of mad because we had to quit playing and take the cart back. The (club officials) were cool. They were just happy it didn't end up in a pond.

[...]

You used to play golf with Drew Olson. What was that like?

It was fun. We'd get pretty competitive, but Drew is better than I am. I'd try to hang with him a little bit but he used to beat me. I think some other players (at UCLA) say they can golf. I think (kicker) Justin Medlock plays and (tight end) Ryan Moya says he's pretty good.

Yes, emphasis mine. Man I sure hope BO is getting this all of out of his system. It's all right if he doesn't turn out to be as good as a golfer as Drew Olson. After all look how the end of the regular season turned out for him last December:


Photo:Wally Skalij / LAT

Yeah ... I'd say that was more embarrassing than anything the Southpaw Jesus every experienced on the golf course. BTW if you think you have read somewhere UCLA coaches/football players working on their golf games during summer time instead of consuming themselves with how they can close their gaps with USC, you are right. Remember this from last September?
Karl Dorrell was talking about his summer-long quest to break 80 on the golf course. "I kept coming close, just a stroke or two here or there," the UCLA football coach said, laughing. "But I just couldn't quite make it. I will, though. I'll do it eventually." In many ways, his golf game is a metaphor for this coming season, the year Dorrell mustre-establish UCLA as a viable contender in the Pac-10. The year he has to break through.
Yes it must be working on that golf game that contributed Dorrell's growth as a head coaching making savy decisions not to for on 4th and 5 on USC's 35.

Anywhoo ... practice gets started in less than a month. And just 51 days till BO officially takes over at the Rose Bowl. Whatever he has been doing this summer let's hope he is thinking about how he can help erase those memories from the USC game. One would think that's what all young hungry QBs around college campuses are doing this summer this off season - working hard around their practice fields (those "voluntary workouts"), weight rooms, watching game films - instead of goofing off around the golf course.

Hey a little time around the links is all right. Everyone needs to take a break and have some fun. But I am sure Olson understands the expectations going into next season, which is to win 9 games and beat SC. Even a cautious Dohn commented that the Bruins should be winning somewhere between 7 to 9 games this upcoming season and making a good showing against USC. So if an impartial news reporter is setting those standards you can see why UCLA alums who are sick and tired of losing to those SCums from cross-town are expecting a little more from Southpaw Jesus and rest of his team-mates then a good showing against Trojans this season. A summer article on golf from a team that desperately needs to establish that it is finally serious about closing gaps with USC (on and off the field) and delivering on the expectations of winning the Pac-10 doesn't really help that much. Just saying.

GO BRUINS.

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