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Roundup: Past, Present & Future ...

By Nestor

Another mixed bag of roundup for Bruin related items for this Humpday. The LAT had a piece on Dorrell's predecessor Bob Toledo, who is now coaching at Tulane. Two glaring bit of ironies in how this all played out considering Toledo has ended up somewhere a deadly hurricane is the backdrop and also involves the story of a cursed QB recruiting saga (Losman). If either one of those storylines had gone the other way, it could have resulted in a different Bruin program post December 5, 1998. I don't need talk again about December 5, 1998. I already shared my thoughts on that day here in response to a question in a blogger roundtable.

Moving on to the present. Let's talk about the good stuff. The baseball team rebounded from Sunday's loss with a win over number 12 ranked Pepperdine:

Freshman right-hander Garrett Claypool (El Camino Real) threw five scoreless innings to lead the No. 21 UCLA baseball team past No. 17 Pepperdine, 4-1, Tuesday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium.

Shortstop Brandon Crawford went 3 for 4 for UCLA (28-19), which won for the 20th time in the past 25 games.

Designated hitter Eric Thames led the Waves (31-17) at the plate, going 2 for 3.
Next up for Bruins: ASU Sundevils. UCLA gets back in action on Friday, when they start a three-game series at ASU. Bruins lead the Devils by one game in the Pac-10 standings. The first pitch scheduled for 7 pm.

Also staying on present we have been basking in Gordon's commitment in last 48 hours. Well here is something else. Something for all the soccer fans on BN. Lauren Barnes, a senior defender at Upland was selected as the Gatorade California Player of the Year. Why am I bringing up Lauren? She of course committed to our powerhouse program at UCLA.

These days pretty much every athletic program has developed into a powerhouse except for Dorrell's mediocre football program (and Olivier's joke of a basketball program). That brings me to the future. ESPN's Ivan Maisel, a Dorrell apologist who coined the term - Dorrellian - let the cat out of bag in his latest Q&A revealing the extreme pressure KD will be under this season to prove that his program is ... ya know relevant:
Until proven otherwise, the Pac-10 belongs to USC and Cal. If there is a third member of the ruling class, I think Oregon is a stride or two ahead of UCLA. This is an important year for Karl Dorrell. The upset of USC last December could be a springboard for the Bruins or it could be a reminder of what UCLA hasn't done on a consistent basis. I'm less concerned about how Olson does than about how the defense does. That's the engine for a Bruin renaissance, as the 13-9 victory over the Trojans proved.
In other words despite all the happy talk coming out of Dorrell backers, his program is still seen as irrelevant and that will not change unless he brings home a Pac-10 championship this upcoming season.

GO BRUINS.

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