dhucla91's blog

This past Saturday night I was at the Wooden center on campus for the True Blue Celebration, a big dinner/auction/fundraising thing for the UCLA athletic department. I went as part of the Alumni Band, as we were the entertainment for the evening. I had never been, so I decided to check it out...

I saw an article in the L.A. Times the other day that stated that our great alma mater had more applications from people wanting to get into our fine university than any college in the country. This makes it the 6th or 7th year in a row that this is the case, I believe.

Here are the numbers:

People applying for admission to UCLA for 2008-2009: 55,397
People offered admission: 12,579
People comining to UCLA and becoming new Bruins: 4,889

This is one of the things that confirms that UCLA is, if not the greatest, one of the greatest institutions of higher learning in America.

It's been a while since I've written in here - I've been sitting back and observing what's been going on in our Bruin Nation. Here's how I see things:

On this date in 1947, a young, muscular African American named Jack Roosevelt Robinson stepped onto the baseball diamond at Ebbets Field, in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, wearing the home whites of the local team, the Dodgers, and changed not only the face of sports forever, but also changed America forever.

What should be a particular source of pride for all of us in Bruin Nation is the fact that Robinson was an alumnus of our great university. In fact, he was, without a doubt, our greatest athlete ever. Here's the proof:

Having graduated from UCLA over 15 years ago, from time to time I have comtemplated about what I wished I had done during my time as a Bruin in Westwood. With the ten-week quarter system, time went by so fast that it was pretty much impossible to do everything I wanted to do. The fact that I was a transfer student and didn't have as much time as those who started as freshmen made it even more the case.
As such, two things particularly come to mind when I think about what I should have - and wished I had - done at UCLA, and am in a way kicking myself for not doing:

For the third consecutive year, the UCLA Bruins Men's Basketball Team ends in the Final Four without a national championship:

Memphis 78
UCLA 63

Disappointing. Definitely disappointing, but...

OK, I'm back with more musings & thoughts about our Bruins' Final Four arrival:

Now that our ticket has been punched for San Antonio this weekend, let us touch on our next enemy, I mean opponent: Memphis. Most weeks as the #1team in the nation. With only one loss all year, they've never been ranked lower than 3rd. A team full of NBA lottery picks. Where Elvis once lived and where Graceland still stands...Needless to say, these Tigers are a VERY good team and Saturday's game with them will be extremely tough, BUT...

AND NOW, FOR THE THIRD STRAIGHT YEAR, THE FINAL FOUR APPROACHES:

UCLA 76
Xavier 57, AND IT WASN'T EVEN THAT CLOSE!

There were concerns after Western Kentucky and Texas A&M, what with the lapses, the turnovers, the lack of focus at times and the close called referee bailouts, but for our Bruins, this Elite 8 contest wasn't so much a win as it was a STATEMENT...

HEART, AGAIN!
CHARACTER, AGAIN!
PERSEVERANCE, AGAIN!
OVERCOMING ADVERSITY, AGAIN! AND HOW!!

DESPITE - Us apparently coming out flat,
DESPITE - Lacking a perimeter shooting game (yet again),
DESPITE - Being down 10 points at one point,
AND DESPITE - Josh Shipp scoring 0 points in the game...

Final score from the Honda Center this past Saturday:
UCLA 51
Texas A&M 49!!!

I was reminiscing the other day about a road trip I took with the UCLA band to Arizona for the football game in Tucson, where we played the U of A Wildcats. Let me share...
Second week of October, Fall Quarter, 1989. UCLA football, 3-2 at the time and still having a chance for a successful season, was on the road that weekend to play the Arizona Wildcats in Tucson.