MJD, Kevin Nelson, Chris Markey, Theotis Brown, Skip Hicks, Deshaun Foster, Wendell Tyler, Freeman McNeil, Gaston Green...
One player is about to pass them all.
Someone please inform our Athletic Director of this ASAP.
In this week's blog newsletter Word From Westword (and btw,whatever happened to the "Ask Dan" segment? Did it really take so little time to run out of planted questions?), Dan goes through his usual machinations of puffing up the botched Pauley renovation while devoting a mere 4 sentences to this weekend's Homecoming Football game against Arizona which is overflowing with Pac-12 South championship implications.
As usual, Dan is looking backward and not forward. And while he has clearly been overwhelmed with such things as putting up sandwich boards, not sticking up for his school with the coin toss fiasco, and screwing up the dates and debut of the alternate jerseys, he apparently forgot one other little item about this game...
I know that one of the hallmarks of this team is that the players are much more team-first than we have seen in recent editions of Bruins football. And Franklin himself would probably downplay any accolades, which is part of what makes him a great team player and Bruin. But when a player is about to set the all-time career rushing record, it's notable. Scratch that, it's not just notable, it's historic. And it should be treated as such. Mayor JetSki is a mere 20 yards from eclipsing Green's all-time record of 3,731 yards, so it's not like there is much suspense that it will happen. So where is the hype? Why the hell isn't Dan broadcasting this from the top of Powell's rooftop? Oh yeah, it's Dan.
While the Guerreror has failed the good majority of his duties at U.C.L.A., his biggest failure by far has been his lack of marketing and outreach of his University and its teams. This weekend, something will happen that hasn't occurred since Green passed Freeman McNeil in 1987, meaning it has been 25 years since this sort of occasion has come to pass. Well, run, actually, not pass. So it's worth noting in his weekly newsletter. And it's worth a sandwich board or two, along with some banners over Bruin Walk and at the campus entrances, and ads in newspapers, and blast emails to students and alumni, and Facebook postings and tweets. And any other way that someone can create a buzz and fan the flames of enthusiasm.
Instead, we get the usual sounds coming from Morgan. Crickets and snores.
Luckily, we have some loyal Bruin fans like Lentron who are banging on Morgan's doors trying to wake up the corpses and make sure this occasion is celebrated appropriately. But isn't it part of Dan's job to make sure that's all being taken care of in the first place?
Johnathan Franklin deserves better. U.C.L.A. deserves better.