Another Wednesday and another half-way point to a weekend of meaningless UCLA football, all thanks to Dan Guerrero's incompetent leadership, Rick Neuheisel's failed conservative play-not-to-lose philosophy, and the diseased culture of mediocrity that Dan Guerrero has fostered at Morgan Center.
Ultimately, there will be no joy surrounding UCLA football until Dan Guerrero is fired or resigns.
With that, let's turn to the bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse:
- Starting with football, Neuheisel could only offer up empty words and assign blame for the ugly brawl that left six Bruins suspended for this weekend's football game with Cal. In an all-time lame move, Neuheisel says that, had the Arizona streaker not distracted the referees, the brawl would never have happened. That's almost as lame as the criminal blaming the police for not watching him to keep him from committing crime. Pathetic.
- Sticking with football, ESPN's Peter Yoon posted his preview for this weekend's Cal game. Suffice to say, Yoon (like BN) doesn't think UCLA has a very good shot, despite playing a relatively weak Cal team at home in the Rose Bowl. Hmm, and people wonder why Rick needs to get the axe.
- Turning to basketball, Jon Wilner at the San Jose Mercury-News posted his Pac-12 preseason ballot, ranking the Bruins at #2 in the conference, behind only Cal. As Wilner notes, it'll be an open battle between the top four (Arizona, Cal, UCLA, and Washington) for the conference title.
- Meanwhile, Jon Rothstein at CBS Sports is calling junior UCLA forward Reeves Nelson one of the top five "glue guys" in college basketball for this upcoming season, or in other words, the kind of player who does all the things necessary for a team to win (the "glue" that holds the team together). While folks at BN may take issue with such a simplistic analysis of Reeves (especially when he goes into sulking Bad Reeves mode), one thing is clear: while LJ is the brain of Ben Howland's squad, Reeves is the heart.
- Going old school for a minute, Curtis Harris at Hardwood Paroxysm has a profile of former UCLA basketball player and Dutch sensation Swen Nater (who unlike a certain fellow Dutchman, did not spawn a hilariously awesome series of blog posts) covering his arrival in the United States, his time with UCLA (predominately as Bill Walton's backup), and his professional basketball career.
- Finally, the L.A. Department of Transportation has reversed its decision on aggressively ticketing folks who "apron park" in Westwood. Following some fierce opposition from UCLA students and Westwood residents, the city rescinded its decision to aggressively enforce a ban on "apron parking." For all the details, follow the Daily Bruin on this story here.
With that, those are your Bruin Bites for the middle of the week as we patiently wait for what is likely to be another embarrassment thanks to UCLA football. It's been a long decade of irrelevance for UCLA football and it's time for wholesale regime change.
For now, fire away with your thoughts, comments, and additions in the comment thread.
GO BRUINS