UCLA Football To Hold Inland Empire Fan Appreciation Day This Afternoon

Last Saturday, the turnout was good for Westwood Fan Appreciation Day. In all, about a thousand fans showed up to watch practice, mostly from an end zone of one of the fields. Honestly, the sight lines weren’t very good initially.

However, at 4 pm, UCLA opened up one of the sidelines so that fans could get a better look at the team.

UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero was there and he took the opportunity to talk to some fans who were in attendance before watching the football team practice.

Joe Piechowski

After practice, the players stuck around and signed plenty of autographs, even if one of them was on the jersey of a teammate. Of course, Josh Rosen was one of, if not, the most popular player as many fans brought their issues of Sports Illustrated which featured Rosen on the cover to be signed.

The fan in me made sure I grabbed a copy beforehand and asked Josh to sign it. And, you can bet that sucker is going to be framed and hung at Bruins Nation HQ (aka my home).

In a few hours, the gates will open for Inland Empire Fan Appreciation Day at Cal State San Bernardino. The schedule says that the gates will open at noon and the team is supposed to practice starting at 12:30 pm with another autograph session to follow.

But, if you’re heading out to San Bernardino, please be aware that, in past years, the final practice in San Bernardino has been a throw-away practice, that is, the team didn’t really do much practicing.

Whether today’s session will be more like years past or more like last week won’t be known until the team takes the field, but, hey, if you’re looking to get last week’s Sports Illustrated signed by the cover boy, it will be probably be worth the trip.

If you do plan to head to San Bernardino today, remember that there is no seating and limited shade. So plan accordingly and bring your own chairs and/or blankets. And don't forget the hats and sunscreen!

After concluding Inland Empire Fan Appreciation Day, the Bruins will head back to campus to start prepping for Texas A&M, starting Monday when practices will be closed to the public.

This is your open thread for today's practice. If you are heading out to Cal State San Bernardino, please do not hesitate to share your observations and thoughts in this thread. Or you could write up any extended thoughts or observations later on as a Fanpost. You can also tweet pictures to us at @BruinNation.

And, if you see a guy with a goattee shooting a bunch of photos, say "Hi!" It might be me and it’s always great to talk with BN readers.

Go Bruins!!!