sadness!

i just realized that ucla is NOT selling mini plans for the men's basketball season. apparently, because of ucla's recent successes in the tournament, ucla scrapped them altogether and only offer full season tickets for sale.

i gripe because 1. those damned season tickets are expensive, and 2. i can't go to all the games because of work. as a result, i don't even know if i can go to any games this upcoming season. (except for the wooden classic, maybe)

after all my anticipation with love coming in, i feel like being kicked to the curb and stomped on. waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! i have been going to those games for years (since the up and down and further down days of the lavin years) and i certainly don't feel the love now. waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

i am so feeling the love

i know i am supposed to talk football now with the bruins home season opener against byu just around the corner.

but i can't help it. sports illustrated did a nice story on coach ben howland yesterday, and today, something on kevin love. i love this quote:

One thing Love does not need counseling on is his outlet-passing skills; he has long been known as a virtuoso of the long-bomb outlet on the AAU circuit. Bruins point guard Darren Collison got to experience it first-hand when he and Love played pick-up together for the first time, earlier this month at the Adidas Nations Basketball Experience in New Orleans. "We were setting up a little thing at the free throw line," said Love, "and right when I'd take the ball out of the net, he'd take off on a full sprint, and when he caught it at the other end, he wouldn't even need to take a dribble -- he'd just lay it up."

"People were asking us afterwards how many times we'd played, saying, 'You look like you've been playing together for years,'" said Love. "But that was the first time we'd played together, so it was good hearing it. Hopefully we'll take that into the season and make a run for a national championship."

and here's a video of love's skills, among them, his famous outlet passes (from a YEAR ago!!!). he can only get better.



i am so excited for this upcoming season already!

from what coach howland says, it appears that mata will play the 5 and love will play the 4. interesting. i do like mata's hustle and defense, but dude just doesn't have strong hands! but, the coach knows what he's doing.

in memoriam: victims of the 8.0 earthquake

living in earthquake country myself, i am keenly aware of the horror that happens when the ground starts to shift. and so, my heart goes out to the victims of the earthquake in peru and to those who were injured and lost their homes.

i do remember my short time in lima and fondly remember a neighborhood called miraflores (the santa monica of lima). it makes the news stories of the earthquake more personal as i read about people in miraflores and in the affected areas, in general, go through their horrifying experience.

i hope that peruvians can soon find peace, safety and healing.

shocker!

espn actually gave pac-10 bball a lot of love. they went even as far as saying, pac-10 is "Best in the nation good. Scary movie good."

was there a shake-up over there?

got off scott-free?

ucla decided to reinstate eric scott today even though "During the investigation, previous incidents in Scott's background were discovered." karl dorrrell said "'Eric fully understands and is very clear on the importance of being a good role model and the standard of behavior expected of a coach at UCLA. He also recognizes that UCLA has given him the opportunity to further his professional career and positively impact the lives of many student-athletes.'" meantime, ad dan guerrero said "'While being supportive of the decision, I also reinforced with Eric the standards expected at UCLA.'"

hmmmm.... i hope scott can still be a good role model given his "previous incidents." perhaps, he can use such "previous incidents" as an example of NOT what to do and NEVER doing anything like those things again. otherwise, the "standards expected at UCLA" will be one big joke!

injuries.... not again!

as much as the 2005-2006 season turned out surprisingly well for the ucla men's basketball team by going to the national championship game even after all the injuries, it is just not good to have injured athletes. news came today that james keefe is going to have surgery tomorrow while josh shipp is still recovering from his second hip surgery.

i hope the kids recover nicely and remain healthy and be ready to contend for another national championship title when the season starts.

go bruins!

players need role models

eric scott has been vindicated. according to brian dohn of the la daily news:

Scott cleared
According to Sgt. Leonard Rivas of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, the district attorney's office was just alerted them that no case will be filed against UCLA assistant coach Eric Scott.
"The D.A. declined to file on Eric Scott,'' Rivas said. "The reason was the victim was unavailable and declined to testify.''
Jane Robison, a spokesperson for the the district attorney's office, said a reason for not filing charges was a lack of cooperation from the witnesses and victims.
"We're aware of the district attorney's announcement,'' UCLA spokesman Marc Dellins said. "A statement about coach Scott's status will be made after a meeting between coach Scott, coach (Karl) Dorrell and the athletic administration.''
According to sources, that meeting is Friday. Scott is expected to be re-instated.

as much as i am happy for him, makes me wonder how the victim could both be "unavailable" while "declin[ing] to testify." hmmm....

eric scott has been instrumental in the recruitment of highly touted athletes. that being said, this whole arrest thing has brought to light some unsavory details about his past. as much as i advocate for second chances, i just hope that ad dan guerrero and karl dorrell know what they're doing if scott is reinstated. after all, scott is not only going to be reinstated in the assistant coach position but is also supposed to act as a role model to these recruits.