Only slightly less prestigious than the 108 National Titles at U.C.L.A. are the annual Bruins Nation Awards. Shown above are our two winners for 2011, as selected by the readers of Bruins Nation. For Best Post of the Year, the winner is tazmiami with Sent My Voided Check, UCLA Gear & Letter to Chancellor Block. For Funniest Post of the Year, the winner is Rowdy44 with UCLA's Athletic Department to Merge With USC's. Congratulations to our winners!
It would be most fitting that these two pieces of eloquence, intelligence, and love for U.C.L.A. be proudly hung in front of the Bruin Bear on campus and displayed there for all to read. Anyone in Westwood can feel free to do that. Being in Colorado, I am relegated to finding another appropriate location. Fortunately, for whatever reason, the Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver features a 40 foot high blue bear outside the facility. Perfect. Below are photos of taz's and Rowdy's articles taped to the bear's lower leg (and then NOT left there so as not to annoy the Convention Center staff).
taz's post. You can tell by the photos throughout the article.
Rowdy's post. Really. It is. You'll have to trust me on this.
Rowdy44 and tazmiami now join our 2010 winners, insomniacslounge, for An Update on Tyler, our Gutty Little Bruin: A Story of Strength and Perseverance; and truebluebruin for The Original Trogan. The 5 inch high replicas in the top picture will be mailed to the winners as soon as I get addresses and then feel that it's safe to venture back to the post office. Yup. Big time prizes here at BN.
An honorable mention goes to jrose and his article suggesting that some guy named PetersEn deserved consideration as The Next Football Coach. Though it wasn't included on the ballot for Funniest Post, there was a strong write-in voice supporting him. If only Petersen's wife felt as strongly. Oh well. Also, Bruinut gets a special mention for having 3 articles on the ballots this year, and he received the greatest cumulative number of votes for Funniest Post. If he can manage to limit himself to just one great post in 2012, he'll be a heavy favorite next Dec.
Finally, in all seriousness, I want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who contributed on Bruins Nation in 2011. At the risk of neglecting anyone deserving, I wanted to give a special HT to of this years nominees including Class of 66, IEAngel, insomniacslounge, BruinIke, ucla7477, and LABruin; as well as to Mexi, bruinkid, Venice, Fox, KSBruin, oswego, LV, jtthirtyfour, island, Seth, and too many regulars to name here (if you think you could be included here then you should be), to our guest bloggers throughout the year, and most of all to Nestor, Tydides, and all the front page crew for letting me be part of this place and for building this amazing community. 2011 was a difficult year for Bruin fans, and I am thankful that Bruins Nation, and that includes every writer, commenter, reader, and lurker out there, was here to help us all get through.
Here's to 2012 finding us a new Athletic Director, a new attitude, and a new hope going forward. Go Bruins!