The UCLA men’s soccer team has won the national championship, and I can’t think of a better panacea for the athletic department’s current ailments.
After the school went without a national championship last year, unable to capture a title even in something ridiculous like gymnastics, this title is something to savor.
Additionally, UCLA has fired its head football coach after another
disappointing season, and the team is playing in some bowl game that no one can name (isn’t it the T.J. Maxx Spring Collection Bowl, or something like that?), while the basketball team needed its victory over Portland on Saturday to reach the .500 plateau.
Portland.
This soccer title is something to celebrate.
Sunday was a chilly day in Los Angeles; I was freshly home and already lazily enjoying my winter break, so I decided to flip on the tube and sample some HBO. (Up until recently my parents only believed in basic cable, but since they started receiving the home box office two months ago, all I hear about when I talk to my parents are the current storylines of “Arli$$” and “Queer as Folk.”)
Flipping through the stations trying to locate the blessed premium channel, I stumbled across ESPN2, and the image of Bruins in powder blue streaking across a field at Southern Methodist University filled my heart with joy. Realizing it was the championship match, I settled down for 90 minutes of great
soccer. The Bruins were unimpressive at times, but their play never sunk to the level of ESPN2’s coverage of the final match.I know this network usually televises hot-dog eating contests, tractor pulls and extreme zero-gravity chess, but you would think they could amass something somewhat professional for the battle for the national title.However, even uninformative sideline reporting and cliché-laden announcing could not dull the excitement of the match, as the Bruins won 1-0 on a goal by Aaron Lopez off a Ryan Futagaki
cross with 1:04 remaining. ESPN2’s best broadcasting decision of the day was showing a sign made by a UCLA fan which read, “Cost of going to Stanford: $$$…Cost of getting a 4.0 GPA at Stanford: $$$…UCLA winning the national championship: priceless.”
Genius, obviously.
With the match over, and the Bruins celebrating on the field, the
cameraman panned up to reveal a horde of cheering UCLA fans. These weren’t just the parents of players; I actually noted some young fellows with “UCLA” painted across their bare chests.Who says UCLA fans don’t travel? We can only hope and pray that as many spirited fans will turn out in Vegas for the football team.
The championship, the program’s fourth, caps off a season in which the Bruins won the Pac-10 Championship, and bowled over every opponent in their path, spectacularly beating Penn State, 7-1, in the NCAA quarterfinals. UCLA now has an unmatched 87 NCAA team titles, and 109 national championships.
So, Athletic Director Dan Guerrero gets a national championship in the first year of his stewardship of UCLA athletics, and fans get something to cheer about.Maybe the title will be the impetus for change that UCLA athletics sorely needs.
Or, Guerrero could just keep firing coaches.