Thinking About UCLA Baseball With Coach’s Words: "Getting There That’s The Fun"

Suffice to say the entire Bruin Nation has full on baseball fever now. It is kind of fun to watch but also kind of amusing. I got a chuckle out of reading the official notes from today detailing all the attention baseball program has gotten from the traditional media from the national and local level:

UCLA's 6-3 win over TCU on Monday evening became the story of the day at the College World Series, as the Bruins became the first team to win its first two games. ESPN.com featured the Associated Press recap as well as video of postgame highlights and an interview with Gerrit Cole.

Baseball America's Aaron Fitt wrote this article about Gerrit Cole's strong pitching effort on Monday night. Kendall Rogers of Yahoo! Sports/Rivals.com wrote this column about Cole's 13-strikeout performance against TCU. Michael Huang from The Sporting News wrote about Cole's standout effort in his first-ever College World Series start. Doug Miller from MLB.com had this article about the Bruins' win.

Los Angeles area newspapers have also featured UCLA's prominent run through the 2010 College World Series. Watch highlights of UCLA's 6-3 win over TCU on the Los Angeles Times' website here. Shandel Richardson covered the Bruins' victory for the Los Angeles Times. Jon Gold of the Los Angeles Daily News was at UCLA's win over TCU and also write about the Bruins re-shuffling their defense after Tyler Rahmatulla was injured on June 13.

lol. Monday night's victory was amazing. It was the highest point for our baseball program to date and hopefully we are not done yet. Yet while reading about all the attention our baseball team has been getting (both from traditional media and number of others who are suddenly realizing that we have a program) I kept thinking about the following quotes from Coach, he shared few years ago while talking about "true success" (in this video starting at 13:22 mark):

"Cervantes said, "The journey is better than the end." And I like that. I think that is - it's getting there. Sometimes when you get there, there's almost a letdown. But there's getting there that's the fun.

All the accolades our bestowed on our baseball team has been a lot of fun. I am getting a kick out all the comment threads that have been filling up as if it was a basketball game (it's truly fun). For me though, the pure joy from following this team started from following this team from the get go when John Savage was brought in to inject life in this list-less program.

At this point what happens from here on out, doesn't matter. It shouldn't matter to those who have been following this baseball team for years (offline) or via BN. As Coach said above, to me it has been all about the journey about getting to this point. It has been about reading Ryan's throrough and meticulous notes on every aspect of this program than just reading the press clips that are just now showing up in the local papers.  I have had just as much following this team as I did during Coach Howland's first Final-4 run when it all came together.

I think this is something we should also take note of while following the downs and ups we are going to experience with football in the coming seasons as CRN will be going through the same trajectory as John Savage. It is also the same level of patience we are going to need (including yours truly) as Coach Howland attempts to get UCLA hoops back to where it belongs in next two seasons.

The bandwagoners will be around (like they are now) when everything is going well. For those who stick with the team through thick and thin, these moments are extra special, because they have been building up little by little through the journey we have been on for not just this current season, but for last few years on BN.

Just something to keep in mind as we get ready for Friday. No matter what happens from here on out, it has been a glorious ride. Thanks to Ryan not just for his season but driving our train for all the years he has been on BN. He has gotten us there ... and as Coach said ... "that's the fun."

GO BRUINS.