Brace yourselves for big plays with Bruin sports
Serious fans, USC rivalry, exciting wins give UCLA life
Jeff Agase Agase doesn't live in the dorms anymore and really misses brunch. If you have Premier Plan and would like to swipe him in one weekend, e-mail him at agase@ucla.edu. Click Here for more articles by Jeff Agase
This story has a happy ending. I promise.
But to all you incoming UCLA students, before you hastily slip on your Bruin sweatshirts, T-shirts, hats, earmuffs, parkas, whatever, I thought I’d let you know what you’re getting yourself into.
Another year of Bruin sports is about to take off. So buckle up, there may be a fair amount of turbulence on the way.
Back on Feb. 8, some friends and I strapped on our flak jackets and headed across town for the basketball game between UCLA and USC. Oh yeah, I should probably let you in on something. To you aspiring comedians, USC jokes are about as difficult to come by as squirrels on this campus, and no matter how bad they are, they’re always funny.
So guys, when you see that girl start to stare blankly into the distance after you mention your ability to recite the names of the crew members of the USS Enterprise in reverse alphabetical order, just make some wisecrack about how USC is in South Central and you’ll be gravy. Trust me.
OK, back to the story. So here we are at the dingy Los Angeles Sports Arena watching our beloved Bruins duke it out with the detested Trojans. Most of the fans who made the trip are diehards, the kind of fans who camp outside of Pauley Pavilion days in advance for the best seats in the house.
Things are naturally rowdy as the teams exchange baskets, and with the Bruins clinging to a six, then four, then three-point lead, disaster strikes. With under two minutes left, the heart and soul of last year’s bunch of overachievers, senior point guard Earl Watson, fouls out of the game.
Although my memory fails me as to my exact words, they were something like, “Aw, damn it, Watson. What the hell is wrong with you?! You foul out against USC? We’re screwed. Screwed!”
But as you will soon see when fall sports swing into season, none of this uncertainty is really out of the ordinary for UCLA sports. Leads are never safe. Nothing is a sure thing.
And that’s what makes it all so captivating.
As the Bruin lead continues to dwindle, a collective gulp overcomes the UCLA student section.
On the free-throw line is then-junior forward Ray Young. The Bruins are up by maybe three points, and perhaps the most inconsistent shooter on the team needs to sink two free throws.
And then I heard it. It was the sound of jaded UCLA fans, scared that another one would slip away to ol’ ’SC.
“Ray Young? Oh, (expletive). Let’s get out of here and beat the traffic before we blow this lead.”
Free throw #1: good.
“Did I just see what I think I saw? Whatever, he’ll cho-”
Free throw #2: good.
What we all had failed to realize was that Young, as haphazard as his field goal shooting may have been, was almost automatic at the line. He went on to drain 11 of 12 from the line, vault the Bruins to a titanic 85-76 win, and nearly gave all of us heart attacks of shock.
It wasn’t the first time a UCLA team took years off of my life, and I can assure you it won’t be the last. But on that night, Young made believers of us all, and some time during your four, five, six, or – for you scholars out there – seven years here at UCLA, you too will hopefully tie a close bond to Bruin sports.
Not that it’s all that hard to do here in Westwood. With 22 varsity sports, world-class facilities and elite athletes to match, it comes as no surprise that in 1997 Sports Illustrated named UCLA the No. 1 jock school in the nation.
And they aren’t those stereotypical A.C. Slater meathead jocks. They are student-athletes. They are student-athletes who you will sit next to in class. They are student-athletes who you will fight with for the last croissant at Rieber Dining Hall.
And most of all, they are student-athletes who are successful.
Bruin sports teams have racked up a nation-leading 86 NCAA championships – in the last 50 years. If UCLA were a country, it would have placed seventh in gold medals at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. And considering all of the trophies on display at the J.D. Morgan Intercollegiate Athletic Center, UCLA could probably purchase a country of its own from all of the melted-down precious metals.
I could ramble on about legendary UCLA athletes like Jackie Robinson, Jackie-Joyner Kersee, Lisa Fernandez and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but my editors only let me write so much.
But seriously, look around. You are attending one of the finest universities in the nation and have the opportunity to watch (and play) sports in some of the finest venues college athletics has to offer.
Pauley Pavilion is a mecca of college basketball, and John Wooden, who is a frequent visitor during Bruin basketball games, remains a god-like figure on this campus. Sure, football games may be 45 minutes away, but they’re at the Rose Bowl, and if that doesn’t seem like a big deal right now, get ready to walk in, turn around and see what will become 90,000 of your closest friends.
If you want to get in on the action yourself, check out both the Wooden Center and intramural sports teams that range from friendly to intoxicated to rivaling the Clippers and Angels in skill level.
Most of all, get ready for another gut-wrenching, stomach-turning, frustrating, satisfying year of Bruin sports. They say the only three constants are death, taxes and Dick Clark. I’d like to add a fourth: the UCLA sports roller coaster.
Last year, the football team beat two No. 3 teams to start the season, then managed to lose to Cal and USC, two teams that finished with a combined eight wins.
That winter, just when Steve Lavin looked like he was about to put on his last glob of hair gel as UCLA head basketball coach, the team beat then-No. 1 Stanford on their home floor for the second year in a row, then proceeded to lose to hapless Washington to close out the season.
Like I said, it’s going to be a bumpy adventure. But that’s what keeps you coming back – knowing that occasionally, often when least expected, things smooth out and a team to which you become vitally connected hangs up another championship banner.
Welcome to UCLA. Enjoy the ride.
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