ucla football: not a pretty sight

it is really quite telling when the highlight of the ucla scrimmage is the tailgate.

ucla's offense can be summed up in one word: suckage.

yeah, offense scored a couple of touchdowns. but the qb's would've been sacked -- multiple times -- before then but for the fact that there was a self-imposed rule of no hitting the qb's.

and oh, i was just informed that the touchdowns were against the second or third team defense.

great.

on the positive side, i love this guy:


"who does the taliban not want you to be? BRUINS!"


and another positive, i love the new grill for the tailgates. woohoo!

the last game of the season: ucla v.u$c

all i can say is that thank god it's over.

let the rebuilding begin and a new season unfold.

meantime, as far as i'm concerned, the score was:

ucla athletes rock!

we got rhodes scholars awarded to bruin football and rugby players. guess they're not wearing their IQ's on their jerseys.

go bruins!

finally, a win.

yes, wazzu was (is) at the bottom of the pac-10 barrel. but hey, a win is a win.

so much confidence, indeed, that bruin fans were doing the wave.... a lot... during the bruins' commanding 28-3 win. i wanted the wave to stop.



kevin craft seemed more confident. that's good. but my euphoria was (still is) tempered by the fact that, again, wazzu was (and still is) at the bottom of the barrel. we shall see what happens next week when ucla travels to oregon (who just got embarrassed by $c last night).

to be continued...

ooops, sorry

ok, i feel a bit remorseful for what i said after reading this.

good for coleman overcoming so much. and i am happy he is at ucla. i'd be happier though if he can hang on to the ball....

don't drop the damned ball!

i think derrick coleman needs to run 5 miles (or even 10!) with the ball tomorrow so he gets used to NOT DROPPING THE BALL!!!

so much promise and energy at the beginning of the game coming out of the tunnel:


all wasted by coleman dropping the ball in the 4th with ucla only down 5 points. ugh.

let the bad times roll

just like the roller coaster that was wall street this past week, so was ucla's football season. but at least wall street got bailed out. don't think ucla will get bailed out anytime soon.

ucla v. tennesee (27-24)

it has been a long 5 months since college basketball ended. and finally, college football is here. i am still a bit tired from yesterday's activities and my throat is still a bit sore. but, can i just say that THAT was an amazing game.

i had very very low expectations coming in to the season. yes, rick neuheisel, norm chow and dewayne walker sounded like a very good solid coaching staff. but, ucla's starting quarterback, kevin craft, was a third stringer junior college transfer.

the first half was unbelievably depressing. craft threw 4 interceptions. and it wasn't like any bruin was in the vicinity of the ball. oh hell no... no bruin was even in the same zip code. yep, craft pretty much threw the ball to tennessee. the bright side was that defense was amazing. and, defense scored a touchdown for ucla.

if the first half drove me to prozac, i almost had a heart attack in the second half. i thought ucla was losing, then ucla started moving the ball. then ucla scored a touchdown with less than 2 minutes left in the game to be up by 3. it was pandemonium... until tennessee tied the game to put it into overtime. i was on pins and needles. it was, however, pure joy to see tennessee's kicker miss a field goal.

bottom line is, ucla suffered a whole bunch of injuries during the game (not counting the ones to cowan and olson). ucla had no business winning against then no. 18 tennessee. even if ucla loses most of its game this season, the future looks bright.

GO BRUINS!!!



bruins coming out of the tunnel


neuheisel's post-game speech

what about 2008?

having a new QB for 2009 is nice and all but what about fall of 2008????

bad news

it happened last season when both the top 2 quarterbacks went out injured, which led that bethel-thompson kid to play QB.... which led to disastrous results.

now comes news that patrick cowan and ben olson got injured yesterday during practice within minutes of each other.

oh good grief! at least one good thing that could happen is that the reserves (apparently, ucla has 2 or 3) get some practice time and attention in case it happens again (which it could very well do) during the season. (think westbrook getting PT when collison went down; or keefe getting PT when mbah a moute and roll went down.)

get well, kids. otherwise, it will be a looooooooooooooong season.

!!!!

i am still stinging from saturday's debacle, which i am still not ready to talk about.

that being said, norm chow got hired as ucla's offensive coordinator!!!! sweet!

ucla's college basketball and football programs suddenly are looking great!

i am so glad i am keeping my football season tix next season!

so far, so good

my boys beat stanford in the pac-10 opener and beat cal today to make it a nice sweep of the bay area schools this weekend; $c lost to cal in its pac-10 opener and i am hoping it will lose to the trees later tonight.

neuheisel retained dewayne walker.

it will be a great 2008 (and i don't care if the wear twins go to north carolina).

new football coach

today, ucla hired neuheisel as coach.

i am afraid of possible violations and sanctions.

another call for dorrell to get fired!

washington state v. ucla. ucla lost. ....to wazzu! the same team that was 0-4 in conference play before ucla came in to the palouse. ugh!

i am not as angry as yesterday. but dorrell has got to go. now.

another w -- courtesy of defense

bruins beat the bears!

again, 1 touchdown was courtesy of defense after an interception. defense also did a good job in holding off cal. good times.

HOWEVER, there was a time when the crowd was chanting "fire karl!" because offense was terrible. and i must admit that i joined in....

is it possible? from LAT:

IT'S THE first game off the Notre Dame debacle, and TomDienart from
sportingnews.com reports a few days ago: "A source told me that UCLA AD Dan
Guerrero met with Bruin defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker last week during
the team's off week to discuss the possibility of Walker taking over as interim
coach this season if Dorrell is let go early."

UCLA insists there is no truth to the report, so Dienart takes it off the website, which indicates sportingnews.com's operation is about as shaky as the Bruins' offense at times.

UCLA confirms Guerrero and Walker had a breakfast meeting, though, but only to discuss Walker's career development.

it was a sold out game!

out the tunnel.

end of the game celebration. GO BRUINS!

players leading the 8 clap

overheard at the game:
alumni cheerleader: who does america wants us to be?
crowd: BRUINS!
alumni cheerleader: who does al qaeda wants us NOT to be?
crowd: BRUINS!

the alumni cheerleader

dorrell sucks!

fire dorrell!

there is a lot of blame to go around during ucla's loss to notre dame -- who, previously, was 0-5. embarassing! but the blame, primarily, rests on dorrell.

it was utah all over again. no touchdown loss. again.

third string, freshman, walk on quarterback played. yes, he made bad decisions -- like throwing the ball to a notre dame guy when there was no bruin anywhere around that guy. (i did say that him starting can't be good...)

there were also TWO failed touchdowns because the bruins seem to keep on dropping the ball! WTF?!?!

but primarily, what plays where they calling?!?!?! bethel-thompson is a third string, freshman, walk on. and why was he told to keep on throwing the damned ball?!?!?!

why did bethel-thompson look so unprepared given that a) cowan is injured, b) olson is injury prone and got injured and c) there are no other quarterbacks after cowan and olson?!?!?! yes, i know he is a third string, freshman, walk on. but they've got what they call "practice" and "coaches" to at least prepare him for something. good lord he was awful!

and do i need to repeat it? notre dame was an 0-5 team? what was dorrell doing in practice?!?!?! he better not blame this loss to "injuries."

8-clap

bruin spell out

highlights of the day (because the game was a definite lowlight)
1. spotted: lorenzo mata (who is now lorenzo mata-real), james keefe (with a new haircut) and deandre robinson before the game (i can't wait for basketball season to start!!!!)

2. the bruins won! i meant those kiddie bruins playing at half time against the kiddie trojans. and the baby bruins did it with a touchdown!!! so adorable!

*as a sidenote, how come those kiddie bruins know what to do to get a touchdown and dorrell doesn't!?!?! (perhaps, because the kiddie bruins weren't doing the west coast offense?)

3. there was also that moment of joy in the stadium when stanford tied u$c, and eventually got the extra point to BEAT $c. both bruins and irish at the rose bowl were happy. the bruins had to find victory elsewhere because it ain't happening on the field. the trees' victory over $c also means that there is still a chance ucla could be pac-10 champs because the utah and notre dame losses were non-pac 10 games.

4. the $c loss meant the headlines were primarily about that upset and not about ucla giving the irish their first win of the season.

5. spotted: kevin love after the game towering over the crowd (i can't wait for basketball season to start!)

...oh, and have i mentioned, i can't wait for basketball season to start!

looking forward.... to saturday and basketball

i know ucla won yesterday against oregon state. but it was ugly. the score might state otherwise (40-14) but the first 3 quarters were painful to watch.

i am looking forward to the notre dame game this saturday...

but more importantly, i am looking forward to college bball to begin. so this article re kevin love makes me laugh. i just have to remember that he is, after all, just a kid and most likely hormone crazy:

Asked why he chose to attend UCLA in 25 words or less, Love lists his teammates' names, along with "campus, academics, atmosphere, winning, tradition and California girls." Asked if he's more tired of answering questions about Bill Walton '74 and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar '69 or — talk about California Girls — the Beach Boys (singer Mike Love is Kevin's uncle), he admits it's Kareem and Bill. "How can you respond when they compare you to the two best college basketball players ever?"

The comparisons continue, but Love seems ready. "My role will be different than [in high school]," he says. "Now I get to play with great scorers like Josh [Shipp] and Darren [Collison] and rebounders like Luc [Mbah a Moute] and Lorenzo [Mata]. We will look out for each other. My goal is to win the NCAA championship."

Well, that's one of his goals. His final e-mail concludes, old-school style: "I am also looking forward to getting to know the many girls on the UCLA campus. Girls, keep me in mind, please."

uh oh

FOOTBALL



















pre-game

saw a beautiful full rainbow on the 10 on the way to the rose bowl.


the game

went to the rose bowl to watch the ucla v. washington game. it was a w. thank god -- especially after last week's debacle.

we lost patrick cowan to an injury -- saw him on cruthces. we have a third string quarterback (bethel-thompson) most likely starting next week. a walk on. it can't be good. although i'd like to be pleasantly surprised and eat my own words.

again, defense scored a touchdown off an interception. there was a touchdown off a punt return. otherwise, our offense sucks! ...or more appropriately, our play making sucks! so frustrating to know that we always run the ball down the middle. ugh!

doesn't dorrell know that everybody else knows what he's gonna do? and just going back to basics: what about all those false starts (4 of them, i think)??? how many returning starters are there? how many seasons has dorrell been at ucla???? ugh!

a friend said that ben olson is having difficulty learning the west coast offense. he said it took drew olson 3 seasons to get it down before getting good at it.

meanwhile, ben olson has been injured last season and appears to be injured again this season; thus, can't possible be comfortable with dorrells' offense. i said, why can't dorrell coach and make plays that enhances the strength of the players he's got? why does he have to force the west coast offense on them?

i see it like this. coach ben howland works with what he's got -- coach howland's (initial) recruits may not be superstars but we've gotten back to the big dance in his second season, the national championship game in his third season and back to the final four in his fourth season. we've gotten nowhere with dorrell in his first 4 seasons. and i think coach howland had to climb out of a bigger hole from what lavin left than what dorrell had to get out of from what toledo left.


out the tunnel. GO BRUINS!!!



we are the mighty bruins!

fight song. U-C-L-A, UCLA fight, fight, fight!

the hoochie dance has gotten tamer.

post-game

went to roscoe's chicken and waffles after.

saw neyo.


BASKETBALL

let me just say this now. if kevin love makes a sweet outlet pass (or any other pass) to darren collison, that should be referred to as a "love line" -- i think "love connection" sounds too cheesy. you heard it hear first!!! do i have a proprietary interest in that? you betcha!

ucla football and legal ramblings part quatre

ucla football

ucla fell out of the ap rankings today because of that horrid "no touchdown" loss to utah. utah!?!?! the same utah that was 0-2 before the game against ucla!!!!

olson has not delivered. clearly. but, i think a lot of this has to do with coaching. ucla barely won against byu. and this loss exposed the joke that dorell has been.

i am almost dreading going to the ucla-washington game this saturday!

surely, ad dan guerrero knows what to do next..... and it starts with getting an exploratory committee to get a new coach in!

more on chemerinsky

the word today is that chancellor drake rescinded the rescission of chemerinsky's contract and he will now get to be the first dean of the uci law school. over the weekend, there have been reports that some conservatives were on drake's ear prior to the rescision.

i almost feel that chemerinsky should just say "thanks, but no thanks." i am sure that chemerinsky will do a fabulous job as dean and get funding, hire excellent faculty, etc, etc. but there have just been too much bad karma already. and, if in the .0000000000000001% that he fails, the conservatives will just have ammo to say "i told you so." and i hate that.

offense needs a lot of work

went to the rose bowl today to watch ucla beat byu 27-17.

it is a w. but 7 of ucla's 27 points was off a defense interception. plenty of times, bruin defense held off a byu charge.

but, offense, c'mon! this was supposed to be olson's "in your face" game against his old alma mater. but, no. offense was, at times, painful to watch. block! what a concept.

they better play better at the end of the season!!!

...and beat $c december 1, 2007.