Ran Jeremy Sports

Goodbye (For Now)

2011-01-31T17:02:00.001-08:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It has been quite a ride the past 18 months or so. From the most serious of posts to the most hilarious, it has been fun writing on this site and sharing my opinions with the rest of you all. It has been great to express my "creative" side through this medium and something that I might come back to in the future. However, with RJS being more than 90% written by me, and since I have been busy with graduate school this past year, I have not had time to write my inspired (maybe) and insightful (sure, why not) posts. Perhaps when the school year ends and I have my M.S. in hand I will be able to return to post on this site. Until then, and until new people want to help out, I have to call for a RJS hiatus. We are only the latest in great things to take such a break. I would name others, but no reason to drag others into this. The sports world is full of very opinionated folks so I doubt this website taking a break will make people cry, although if it does, I'd like to know and personally apologize. To my Bruin readers out there, which is probably like 95% of my fanbase, stay strong. Especially this week with U$C and St. John's Lizard coming to Pauley. To everyone else, take care. It's been real.

much love,
Ran

Cal Time!

2010-10-06T12:38:00.001-07:00

I wasn't going to let it get to me this time around. I wasn't going to partake in the trash talking. No, not this year. Heck, I am not even in California. I'm in New York. I thought I could do without getting riled up about this game, but I can't. Whether it is my friend rocking his Cal student section shirt to our graduate school class yesterday, or reading the message boards online, I just have to say something. I'll preface by saying I have the utmost respect for Cal as an academic institution. They are the #1 public school in the nation and have been. Heck they gave birth to UCLA 90 years ago. However, Cal fans seem to forget their former Southern Branch has overtaken big brother by quite a lot since. We don't have to count the higher applicant pool (10,000 people difference), or the lower admission rate (the theme of the last 10 years). Maybe how Cal's three biggest rivals (Stanford, U$C, and "little" brother) have the most national championships. But this week that doesn't matter. It's football. No reason to sweat over how Cal inspired Sons of Westwood, the colors, or even the name of UCLA. All of those are true Cal Bears, we know. So let's do a quick guide to how to make an annoying Cal fan who is trying to talk trash about the UCLA program shut up.

Cal fan: We have been so much better than you this decade.
UCLA fan: You have been better than us. You would consider this your best decade in sixty years, yet if you total the amount of conference wins you barely beat us. You also have a 6-4 against us and the same amount of Rose Bowls as us. And that is what we call a decade to forget.

Cal fan: When was the last time you guys played at home in January?
UCLA fan: Not since 1999. Which happens to be 40 years after your team did. And just to make something clear, the Washington schools, the Oregon schools, U$C, ASU, and your arch-rival Stanford have appeared in the Granddaddy of Them All. That's be 8/9 other conference foes.

Cal fan: No one likes UCLA football, it's like half full.
UCLA fan: Last year after a 4-8 season and a 7-6 season we had 66,000 people. Yes, that's roughly 72% of the capacity but still 5,000 more than Cal averaged in an era where fans in Berkeley have some optimism. How did the 90's attendance figures go for you?

Cal fan: Cal football has a rich tradition.
UCLA fan: If by rich tradition you mean no Rose Bowl since Jan 1, 1959, and a losing record against Stanford, U$C, and UCLA. In fact, all of those schools has at least 10 more victories in the head-to-head match-up. So if that counts as rich, yes. Very rich.

105 points, say WHAT?

2010-08-14T08:57:00.000-07:00

Look out Big East, here comes Corey Fisher. The guard from Villanova recently did his>best impersonation of Wilt Chamberlain at a summer league game by not only breaking the century mark but by doing so by five points, although when you score that much I suppose that's somewhat statistically insignificant but still... wow! According to The Hoop Doctors, he scored 105 out of the 138 points his team scored, which accounts for a cool 76% of his team's offensive production. Yes, when a team scores 138 points in a 40 minute game it probably means that defense was not the top priority for the opposition, but you still got to love Fisher's performance. A player has to be really darn good to be able to nail 23 three pointers on a "mere" 28 attempts (82%). Who in the world can do that in practice? Probably a few of those professional guys, who get paid to play ball. This is an amateur who did this during a game, which has to mean his legs and wrists were getting tired. Especially after he allegedly scored 72 of the points in the first half. This is the middle of the summer, not conference season. No way is he in that amazing of shape to not have to try really, really hard to score so much. Finally, if you were on the other team, would you let some one drop triple digits on you? I know I wouldn't, and I'm not a competitive basketball player (sometimes, not always). So Corey Fisher, congrats. That is one heck of a performance, simply amazing.

The Reciprocal Relationship

2010-08-07T03:02:00.000-07:00

Some relationships in life such as higher velocity -> higher momentum, lower resistance -> lower voltage used, and higher SAT scores -> higher chance of getting into college are called (directly) proportional relationships. Others such lower radius -> higher force are called inversely proportional relationships, or reciprocal ones. Well, we can now add another one of the type. When adrenaline goes up intelligence goes down. This one should be rightfully credit to U$C Fullback Stan Havili. Mr. Havili decided that such theory, which many Trojans might consider analogous to Einstein's theory of relativity, justifies breaking the cheekbone of a teammate in practice. Really Stanley, really? Just because emotions run high, doesn't mean breaking a bone in a teammates body is justified. There are plenty of other ways to be competitive without having to break a bones. You can trash talk, get in their faces with dumb jumping, or even to light shoving. I'm sure that there are many other ones you can do, but those three are the ones that come to mind. The bottom line is this, when emotions run high, don't break someone else's bones, especially of that someone happens to be the guy who come Saturdays will wear the same colors as you.

But hey, when the "school's" motto is FIGHT ON! can you really blame ole Stanley?

Georgetown Girls

2010-07-22T22:02:00.000-07:00

It seems like Laker players are all over YouTube these days. First it was Ron Artest and then it was Shannon Brown. But since Ron Ron is much more ridiculous and actually "raps" in his video, I'll focus on that. Plus, since it is closely related to college, all the more reason to blog about it. For those who have not seen the video yet, here it is:

I really wish I knew where to start about critiquing this fine piece of music (and video). So here we go:

1. According to basically everyone, Ron Artest attended St. John's university, which happens to be a Big East school, just like Georgetown. Since when do rappers talk about girls from schools in the same conference? Well aside from the fact that most rappers never attended college, like zero percent of the time. So this seems a little ridiculous. What's wrong with St. John's girls? Too New York for Ron Ron?
2. Georgetown girls are not nearly that hood, unless of course they play on the women's basketball team. Last time I checked, Georgetown costs like 40-50k per year and is also a fine academic institution (ranked #23 on US News's ranking) so no way will Ron Artest and his homie Killa Kyleon picked them up from some place that looks like the inner city.
3. I don't think that the overall Georgetown female population hangs out around strange rappers wearing a "hoed out" #21 jersey. Sure, Jason Clark happens to wear it nowadays but who cares? Why not rep' someone much better like Greg (Craig) Monroe? How about literally anyone else on the 2010 team? The video was released that year, was it really that hard to find a more relevant jersey?
4. This is not really a new point, just a summary. All the Georgetown girls I met when I visited back in March look and act nothing like the ladies in this video. Yes, they like to party with NBA players (Shelley, I know about Roy), and yes, they are fine looking, and most importantly, have a good time. Here is how I would have portrayed the Georgetown girl: alcohol drinking (at Rhino's), hard studying, sombrero wearing, girl. Probably rocking some gray shirt that doesn't make them look too slutty, but maybe not. Who knows.

And the Next Contestant is...

2010-07-21T23:44:00.000-07:00

Well the news today make the SEC seem even sketchier than college aged men listening to Miley Cyrus. A 4th school was contacted by the NCAA about a possible agent connection with a player (or more). Clearly, this is no good news for the SEC, nor for the NCAA. However, it is nice to see the organization many consider weak actually be proactive about a serious issue. Now it is just time to see what actually happens in terms of findings and possible sanctions. This will be an interesting rest of July and month of August! Can't wait (for the season to actually start that is).

P.S. The 4th SEC school is Georgia.

6 Degrees of Separation - NCAA Crusade Style

2010-07-20T22:38:00.001-07:00

Since a new school has been added to the apparent crusade the NCAA is on against agents infiltrating college football, I figured why not try to link up all these schools thus far that have been targeted. So far according to my records, those schools are North Carolina, USC, Florida, Alabama, and of course, U$C. Without further ado, here we go:

1. Alabama beat Florida for the SEC title while in the process dethroning it from the Nation Championship.

2. USC's coach, Steve Spurrier, is Flordia's former coach and Heisman trophy winner.

3. UNC has 13 players investigated, with the main player being good friends with the one being questioned at USC.

4. UNC's Herman Davidson hails from Long Beach Poly, where he was teammates with four current Trojan players.

5. All four of those players were recruited (at least initially) by current Seahawk and former Trojan lier Pete Carroll.

6. Pete Carroll recruited Reggie "Show me the money" Bush and coached him for his three seasons in the Ketchup and Mustard.

There you go, a bit of a stretch, but sometimes you have to put a bit of an effort to implicate and connect all bad things to U$C. But just a bit, not too much effort, there's no need to try that hard to achieve it.

USC Being Investigated for Violations

2010-07-19T12:38:00.000-07:00

Except this time it is the real USC, South Carolina. And unlike the Trojans, they will not be playing dumb and avoiding investigators. There is only one player currently in question according to The State. The reason the NCAA even got to him is because he is good friends with the main player under investigation at UNC (not to be confused with either USC). While it is not a good sight to see so many schools being investigated (now Florida is too), what the NCAA is doing is trying to clean up the sport as much as it can. Does it mean there is a huge problem in college football? Probably not. However, no reason not to get the few bad apples out of there before the reputation of a school and the sport is shattered. Additionally, it is nice to see the coach who's player is being investigated not deny anything, but rather be proactive. It also doesn't hurt that in the process he takes a shot at Pete Carroll. Good for you Steve Spurrier! Maybe Spurrier should be the one writing a book about winning forever. After all, he won a Heisman and a National Championship that haven't been taken away from the record books like the former coach of the "other" USC.

More Underaged Drinking at Notre Dame? So What?

2010-07-17T13:33:00.000-07:00

I just did my daily browse through Yahoo! Sports blogs, and came across a blog post about more college kids getting arrested for partying and drinking even though they are under the legal age to drink (21). To be honest, the only reason this is any news is because one of them is Nate, the son of Notre Dame and 49er great Joe Montana. Yes, when someone breaks the law it should be taken seriously, but not be blown out of proportion. Yes, this is not the first time Notre Dame has had to deal with this due to a recruit dieing from alcohol related reasons and Jimmy Clausen "broing it up" at the Beer Olympics (pictured below).
Do any of us really think those cops that made the arrest didn't drink as college underclassmen? Let's be real. The vast majority of college-aged "kids" drink and have some sort of social life. Not only that, but why make a big deal about what people do in their spare time? This party was not in the middle of summer camp, regular season, or even bowl game prep. So why scrutinize college kids for having a good time, especially when no one was hurt, no brawls broke out, and nothing Notre Dame football related was impeded due to this transgression. Sometimes athletes are held to a double standard saying they should not act like any other kid having the college experience. I would say that during the season or camp they should definitely not forget the reason why they are getting a scholarship and focus only on school (unless they are U$C athletes, in which case school is not part of the equation) and contributing their talents in the best way to the football team. But this is July, it was a house party, and they simply broke a law. Let the police deal with it, and move on. This happens all the time, and if no one gets hurt there is no reason to make a big deal out of it.

Who is Sponsoring World Cup Teams?

2010-06-18T12:55:00.001-07:00

Though this is not directly related to college sports, it is somewhat related. There are always discussions about whether a school should stay with a particular company or switch to a rival one. This was discussed here in regards to Adidas schools. So who are Adidas teams? Nike teams? Puma teams? or anything else for that matter. It is time to examine who is the dominating apparel provider in the world of (not-American) football.
Adidas:
France, Spain, South Africa, Argentina, Mexico, Greece, Paraguay, Germany, Denmark, Slovakia, Japan, Nigeria

Nike:
United States, Slovenia, Brazil, Portugal, Holland, Serbia, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand

Puma:
Algeria, Switzerland, Uruguay, Italy, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon

Others:
Honduras, North Korea, Chile, England

Clearly, it is a three horse race between Adidas, Nike, and Puma as I mentioned above. Puma has a huge stronghold on the African continent as the only country which is not representing the German company is Nigeria, which is rocking the gear of another German company (Adidas). As far as the two real giants go, the cake goes to Adidas in the world of football. As if having the rights to outfit referees and provide the official ball weren't enough, they are represented through 12 countries, compared to 9 of Nike.

It's (essentially) Official: Utah to Join the Pac

2010-06-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

So it was announced earlier today that Utah will be the 12th member of the Pac-10 conference (or soon to be known as the Pac-12). Personally, this isn't that big of a deal because aside from a solid football team that has done well in the MWC and bowl games, and a basketball team that was solid in the late 90's, there is nothing much to it. They have some other nice programs and what not, but that aside, big deal. Plus Utah is just an absolute boring place. But hey, at least they hate BYU, and so do I. That being said, the big question here is how the conference will not divide itself to accommodate all the teams. You have to go with a North-South alignment because East-West would mean one eight team division and a four team division. The big question with a North-South division is who goes in the North and who goes in the South. Do the Bay Area schools go with the South to keep California together, or do Utah and Colorado and their bad weather and actual Northern location go in the North? Personally, I would like to see the California schools stay together and play in a division with the Arizona schools. Those are all much closer together and culturally make sense too. And again, they are closer geographically. The new ski schools should play with the other cold climate schools in Oregon and Washington because it will save on travel and make for a lot of cold games that no one wants to actually play in if you are for California or Arizona. I also saw somewhere an alignment that would split each natural rivalry which is probably insane idiotic and does not make any sense from a fiscal and logistic stand point. However, I am not Larry Scott or any of the ADs of the member schools, so we shall see what happens. In the meanwhile, we can all just wait and write and read more banter about this.

Pac-16? Not Happenin'

2010-06-14T18:18:00.001-07:00

First, I am back! These past couple of months were filled with so much writing for school that I got so disillusioned that my blogging had to take a backseat. Either way, it is summer again and time to return to blogging about the happenings of college athletics. For weeks now, the raging topic of conversation has been conference expansion. We've all heard about it. School A will bolt conference X and will join conference Y thus leaving conference X is utter shambles. A, X, and Y have taken on many names recently and while some of these rumors have been true, many have been proven to just be a tease. What's hilarious is that many rumors that have been about East Coast schools, such as some ACC ones jumping to SEC, have taken a back seat to West Coast rumors. I'm shocked no one has mentioned how this is the first time ever that there's a reverse East Coast bias going on in the mainstream media. Since this blog is all about the West Coast we will examine the A, X, and Y pertaining to this side of the Mississippi.
The rumors that came to fruition last week when Colorado accepted the Pac-10 invitation to join its conference while Nebraska bolted on the old Big-12, for the new Big-12 (formerly known as Big-10 with 11 teams). This was believed to be a huge step towards turning both the Big-10 and Pac-10 into 16 team megaconferences. However, at least for the Pac-10 that will not happen. Today Texas turned down the Pac-10 invitation to join its conference, and Oklahoma and Texas A&M announced that they will stay put and try to keep the Big-12 together, as a 10 team conference. Personally, as a UCLA and Pac-10 enthusiast, I am happy about this. It for sure would have been cool to play those guys on a regular basis, but realistically, having a gigantic conference isn't that great. It creates tons of imbalance and weird scheduling problems and a lot more travel than the current format. Plus, having two eight team conferences seems pretty silly. With regards to recruiting, sure, it could have helped land a few top Texas prospects, but who's to say that the Plains schools won't come to California and nab a few prep stars as well? Also, some Pac-10 schools are already scheduled to play schools from the Lone Star state, so no big deal. In the end, the conference will probably stay with eleven or maybe nab one more (lets hope its a good catch) and hopefully put on a newly formed championship game.

Also, can the Big XII and Big 10 just like swap logos or something? Seems to be the simplest solution to me.

The Limits of Heckling

2010-04-25T21:56:00.000-07:00

Earlier today as I was doing my daily browsing of sports website, I came across a pretty entertaining piece on Yahoo! Sports. The subject? JJ Redick. The story? North Carolina fans heckling him even though he's been in the NBA for four years now. This was music to my ears because as anyone who's read this blog can tell you, I hate Duke. Since Mr. Redick was the face of the Blue Devils for four years earlier this decade, I cannot help but spite him. However, I couldn't help myself but feel sorry for the guy. He was saying how in college, aside from all the cursing that has been thrown his way, people started calling out his family.

I'm sorry, but you cannot start yelling stuff about a player's family unless it is relavent. When is it relavent? When their sibling played the sport. For example, UCLA fans chanting "Josh is better" at Jarren Shipp or Cal fans yelling "Joe is better" at Josh Shipp. If a player's family has nothing to do with the sport, don't involve them. Furthermore, if people make reference to a family member's sexual orientation, race, marital status, or whatever it may be, is a clear no no. Along those lines, making sexual references at a 12 year old sister? Really? Come on guys. It's ok to poke fun at the friend with the hot friend, but if she's not old enough to drive, you shouldn't even joke about it. That is what disturbed me by watching Redick's video. I mean, having people tell you to "F off" is one thing, but talking about sex with your 12 year old sister? That's just really sick. At that point the fun and games end and ground control really is needed. Actually, control is needed probably once family member references/names are mentioned.

Adidas Schools

2010-04-05T13:18:00.000-07:00

This is a post I have been meaning to write for about a week or two, and UCLA's recent renewal of its deal with Adidas was the final straw. Below is a list from the Big-6 conferences of those teams that are currently in partnership with Adidas as its main sporting supplier.

ACC:
NC State

Big 10:
Michigan
Indiana
Wisconsin
Northwestern

Big 12:
Kansas
Nebraska
Baylor
Texas A&M

Big East:
Louisville
Notre Dame
Cincinnati
Seton Hall

Pac-10:
UCLA

SEC:
Tennessee
Arkansas
Mississippi State

As you can tell, some conferences have very weak representation with Adidas (ACC & Pac-10) while others such as the Big 10, 12, and Big East have a fairly strong representation. It seems like Adidas does well in the Northeast and Midwest regions of the country, as well as a pretty good job in the South and Plains. Clearly though, it needs to ensure it uses its lone school in the West properly, because losing it somewhere down the line would be devastating to it. Lets hope the people at Adidas realize that.

Of Course I was Wrong...

2010-04-04T23:38:00.000-07:00

As the West Virginia game against Duke was approaching the painful end for everyone who doesn't go to the school in Durham, I realized that my bracket will officially go up in flames. What's worse is that I knew that once the final buzzer sounds my mom will have a better bracket than I do, and that's plain embarrassing. Then the game ended, and my mother promptly called me to make fun of me. Being the good son and great sport that I am, I hung up on her right away. I couldn't help but bare the thought that not only did I lose to my mom, who's main source of college sports knowledge comes from Regis Philbin, but that Duke has a chance to win its 4th National Championship. It is well documented how no one likes Duke because of they feel like they are entitled to everything, even though they have a worse history than rival North Carolina. Could you imagine if they actually won the whole thing and were the defending champs? Preppy kids with popped collars of pastel colored polos will rejoice in what may be the most white-washed celebration in college basketball history since Kentucky's racist teams won in the 1950's.
Speaking of white-washed events, this Monday's final as my friend pointed out to me, would be the most vanilla final in recent history. Duke usually plays 3-4 white guys on the court at all times. Butler does its best to counter with playing around 2-3 white guys, depending on Matt Howard's foul situation. The only way it could get whiter is if Stanford or any Ivey League school was facing off against Duke. No matter how diverse (or not) the game in Indy will be, one thing is for sure. It'll be the world against Duke, and everyone knows that as its probably been reiterated on every sports media outlet. As much as I would love to see Coach K and his band of whitiest come out on the losing end, I think that they are too experienced and talented to crumble under the ferocious Bulldog defense. Then again, let's hope that I am wrong again, just one last time.

The Final Four, F $C!

2010-04-02T20:09:00.000-07:00

Although U$C is not playing in this year's final four, and in fact they haven't played in one in over fifty years, the title is still fitting. Somewhere out there a Trojan semi-pro team is playing, so no reason not to wish them defeat. Trojan bashing aside, it is time to bash on the teams and players playing in this year's F4. To be perfectly honest, I really do not want to bash on too many teams nor their players because I do not have beef with them. Unless of course you play for the "other" prestigious school that dons four letters on its jerseys. I have made the point countless of times about how much I despise the Blue Devils. To be honest, it's not like I have anything against their players. In fact, I would have loved to see Singler and Scheyer don Adidas True Blue and wear a superior set of four letters (guess what does are?). My problem with the Dukies is their smugness and general belief that they are the best in life. I will outline a few points that should once and for all rid Dukies and Dick Vitale of their excessive pride.

1. The Yankees of college basketball. They only have three NC's and rank behind numerous other schools on the all time list. This makes them like the Phillies of college basketball. Except no one likes them.

2. Coach K is the greatest thing since bread came sliced. Again, no. He is a HoFer and all, but no way is he the greatest coach to coach student-athletes. His 11 Final Fours match the titles John Wooden won at UCLA. Also, Tom Izzo will probably catch up to him at some point. He has 6 in 12 years. Coach K has 11 in 30+ years.

3. Most hardcore fans. Well, they have awesome fans. But Cameron Indoor is smaller in capacity than the Galen Center so of course when you have a good team there'll be high demand. Add to that the small amount of resources (seats) and you basically only show the most hardcore of fans. I would say they are not as great as Kentucky, UNC, and Kansas fans who have arenas much larger that always sell out.

4. Everyone loves us that's why we are always on TV. Dukies, you are on TV because the ACC has an amazing TV contract. Since the ACC with the exception of UNC (and Maryland sometimes) is fairly average of course you are going to be on TV a lot. You know who else is on TV a lot? UNC and Maryland. Not to mention the entire Big East and Big-12. Actually, everyone is on ESPN all the time except the Pac-10. Still feeling special?

With those four reasons for Duke's Final Four appearance I will make a prediction on the outcomes of the national semis. Don't be surprised if I am completely wrong, but feel free to congratulate me when I am right (which probably won't happen):

Michigan State 65, Butler 59.
West Virginia 75, Duke 65.

Only if it Happened on April Fool's

2010-04-01T12:14:00.000-07:00

UCLA and Pac-10 fans alike got treated a couple days ago when two basketball coaching vacancies were filled. One was hyped for a few days while the other was pretty much news when it happened. One was of a slimy lazy coach, while the other was of a crazy and off-court slimy coach. One involved a former UCLA coach and the other a Southern Cal coach. So what does this have to do with April Fool's? Well, had those two coaching vacancies been filled today rather than on Tuesday, no one would have believed either one.
Any sensible basketball fan knows how Steve Lavin is a lazy bum who lucked out by inheriting a talented team, used that to recruit more good players, but only made it to the Elite-8 once. He is the guy that Baron Davis referred to when saying his UCLA teams deserved a banner in Pauley for having made the tournament despite not having a coach. Tim Floyd on the other hand, has gotten good performance out of his teams at times when no one would have expected them to perform well, but this was partially because he had ineligible player(s) and allegedly paid lots of cash to a handler of O.J Payo to get him to come to South Central. So when UTEP hired him, people were kind of shocked. Who wouldn't? The guy's reputation is down the toilet and rightfully so. To be fair though, he was only out of coaching for this past season. Lav has been out of coaching since he got fired from UCLA in 2003. So when St. John's hired him, it was kind of surprising (along with what I already wrote about). The good thing for UCLA fans is that they signed a home-home series with the Johnnies beginning next year. Personally, I hope next year's game is in NYC because I will probably be there for graduate school and would love to rock my UCLA gear at a game.

The Legend of Tom Izzo

2010-03-29T17:57:00.001-07:00

More often than not, I have been a total homer when it comes to discussing college basketball. On numerous ocassions I have discussed how much national championships are the most valuable thing you can measure a coach and/or a program by. However, in this post I will concede that such tough criteria is somewhat unfair. Why? Because some coaches just cannot be measured simply by looking at how many titles they have. Michigan State's coach Tom Izzo has "only" one national title since he took over the helm in East Lansing. With yesterday's thrilling win over Tennessee, he and his team have a chance to double up their amount of titles. Not impressed yet? Consider this fun fact: every upperclassman in Izzo's program has been to a final four. What is even more absurd is that he now has SIX appearances in the last twelve seasons. Not many coaches, let alone elite programs, can claim to have been to as many final fours as Coach Izzo has. Georgetown and Illinois? Five. Arizona and Syracuse? A mere four. All of those have been around for decades. Tom Izzo? For only a decade and a half.

The most impressive thing though about Tom Izzo's success is how he did it without dominating NBA prospects on a regular basis. The most talented team he has was the one who won the title in 2000, and a couple of those players are still in the NBA in Jason Richardson and Morris Peterson. The Spartans have been to multiple F4's since, yet barely have any players currently employed by NBA teams. I would find it hard to believe any top notch school can claim the same. Izzo clearly has done more with less than anyone else but has barely received any recognition about it. Sure, professional analysts who follow college basketball might give him praise but not as much as they would someone like Jim Boeheim (1 NC, 3 F4's) or Lute Olsen (1 NC, 4 F4's) and those coaches were coaches for over 30 years.

Brittney Griner is a Beast

2010-03-28T00:00:00.000-07:00

For those of you who were not bored enough to watch the NCAA Women's Basketball tournament this morning, you missed out. It was a great block party. Seriously, it was. It was the first time all year I watched more than five minutes of a women's game that did not involve UCLA or Stanford and I was not too disappointed. Baylor trots 6'8" freshman sensation (and amateur boxer) Brittney Griner. Yes, she has the height of a guy who could play D-I men's basketball at center. This basically never happens. Usually women centers hover around 6'3" (give or take), so there is an inherent advantage for the Baylor freshman. Today against #1 seed Tennessee it was no exception. She did not have any mercy on the Lady Vols as she tallied 27 points and a cool 10 blocks. Oh by the way, that is no fluke for Ms. Griner. In the second round game against Georgetown, she had a smooth 14 blocks. Those numbers are plain ridiculous and should not be taken lightly. When was the last time we saw a center in the men's game that had such a height advantage with such dominance? Long ago. Ok ok, enough about the blocks! You know those 27 points I mentioned that she poured on Pat Summitt's crew? Eleven of them came from the stripe. In thirteen attempts. Coach Howland, can we get her to transfer and play for us? She has a better looking shot then any of our players, seriously.

Kentucky and Kansas Winningest Ever? Really?

2010-03-26T01:21:00.000-07:00

Recently I heard about how Kentucky and Kansas are have the most wins out of any school in D-I history. Obviously, no one can argue with that fact. I even blogged about it. Nonetheless, hailing either one of those as the most prestigious would be ridiculous and shameful. Kentucky with all its winning, has only made 13 F4's while Kansas has the same amount. That ranks fourth behind UCLA, UNC, and Duke. And to put the final nail in the coffin, we all know that unless you win a championship, you are not the best. You can be one of the best, but not the very best. I mean, winning 35 games in a season doesn't bode as well when a team who wins say 33 beats you and takes the championship from you. In light of that factor, I have decided to do some very simple math. So simple even the Trojans might be able to follow (well, maybe). Kansas has 3 NC while Kentucky has 7. Add both of those up and you get 10. That'd be one less than what UCLA has. Sure, UCLA might have a couple hundred less wins than either of the previously mentioned schools, but at the end of the day, it has found a way to come up on top. To put it simply:

It's Been a While But...

2010-03-24T20:50:00.001-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It has been quite a while since we last spoke. In fact, it's been since the conference tournament weekend. That was two weeks ago. What have I done since you might ask? Took some finals, flew to the nation's capital, and a couple other historic United States cities. Some might say I have traveled more than such schools as Georgetown, Notre Dame, and Villanova from the Big East or maybe Kansas from the Big 12, or even those "good" schools out of the A10. Either way, lots has happened in these two weeks. Brackets have been destroyed, weird white guys have been winning games they shouldn't (Northern Iowa and Cornell) and even the Pac-10 has had a winning record thus far in the tournament at 3-1.

I was there in person for Georgetown's fall from grace against Ohio (who?). Well, I was visiting Georgetown when it happened, so not really in person, but kind of. Better yet, I got to watch Kansas lose live and screw my bracket even though I was travelling around DC. I saw part of Nova's game as they lost to the Bay Area's new pride, St. Mary's. And lets not even start talking about Cornell and Northern Iowa because that's been done by every professional on ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, SI, and some random foreign media. But you know, enough about the past. It is time to look forward towards a tasty Sweet-16. Here is what I want to see happen this weekend and why (by region):

MIDWEST:
1. UNI beats MSU. Why? So I can laugh even more at that super ugly white guy who looks like a leprechaun on growth hormones and anabolic steroids.
2. OSU loses to TN. Why? Everyone loves Bruce Pearl... unless of course they hate Jews. Nothing like having a member of the tribe having a chance to advance to the F4.
3. 1+2=69. Why? If you combine the previously mentioned outcomes, the Elite-8 match-up will be a "69" and no college male will object to that, right?
4. Evan Turner has a great game for OSU. Why? I want him to solidify his National Player of the Year over John Wall, simple as that.
5. TN beats out UNI and moves on to the F4. Why? see reason #2.

West:
1. Butler beats 'Cuse. Why? My adventurous weekend with some homegurlz in DC led me to not like 'Cuse. I think they will win, but lets give one out to the Hoyas. You know, because they blew it (like the rest of their conference).
2. KSU destroys Xavier. Why? So KSU fans can rub it in to the Jayhawk faithful how much closer they are getting to winning a championship. Two more and they catch "tradition heavy" Kansas.
3. KSU beats Butler. Why? see #2. Having Butler in the F4 would be comical cause they could barely beat UCLA, but I'll go against it.

East:
1. Cornell over UK. Why? So Calipari doesn't have a chance to vacate another F4 appearance. So UK has no shot at being two away from double digits. Lastly, so the team that claims to be the greatest ever (umm 11 > 7, sorry) loses to an Ivey League school.
2. Washington over WVU. Why? All my friends in the Big East give the Pac-10 shit. However, for the sake of comedy and West Coast bragging, lets have UDub get this one.
3. A double digit seed advances to the F4. Why? Everyone loves an underdog. Especially when their team is already out of it.
4. Kentucky gets sanctions. Why? It'd be hilarious. Third time is not the charm for Calipari.

South:
1. Duke loses. Why? No one likes the smug Dukies. Losing to a team from rural Indiana without their biggest star will be even funnier.
2. SMC over Baylor. Why? I'm from the Bay Area and so is Saint Mary's. Plus, it'll be funny to have another Big 12 team to a much lower seeded foe.
3. SMC advances to F4. Why? This will potentially set-up a match-up with Bruce Pearl and his band of Vols. What better than a title game between a Catholic school and a Jewish head coach?
4. Coach K loses, a sponsorship. Why? Everyone is sick of him. Except Dick Vitale. But everyone is sick of Dickey V. Therefore, no one really likes Coack K.
5. Chris Kramer dunks over Nolan Smith and/or Lance Thomas. Why? Duke plays like four whities at all times (sometimes three, god forbid), so why not have a white boy from Purdue hurdle Duke's remaining rotation players. A dunk over Andre Dawkins would suffice too.

Crazy Start To Conference Tourneys

2010-03-11T23:22:00.000-08:00

With most conference tournaments from the Big-6 under way, it is time to look back at the day that was. That day was Thursday (clever, I know). All across the country lower seeds took out higher ranked teams. To be honest, due to finals and all that, I only got to concentrate on two tournaments. However, those two provided plenty of upsets. To get the most out of today, I decided to follow the best conference, Big East, and its polar opposite, the Pac-10. Both provided plenty of drama and excitement. Sure the Big East featured five ranked teams, while there were non on the Left Coast, but oh well. The day began with Georgetown showing it only knows how to play against good teams, as it beat archrival and squeeze of the month Syracuse. The Hoyas did not slip as they did against the Orange earlier this year as Chris Wright was dominating and Greg "Craig" Monroe showed why lefties are so awesome. The day continued with Marquette taking on Villanova. The announcers kept talking about how it was going to be a good game and all that jazz, but I wasn't buying it. And I was proved wrong. 'Nova decided to also shoot itself in the foot and lose to a lesser (though talented) opponent. Then came the Bruins turn to pull of an "upset".

Even many die-hard UCLA fans didn't expect their Bruins to pull out the win against the Wildcats of Arizona and to fall to them for the third time this season. For what ever reason (that reason was probably Reeves Nelson), the Bruins dominated throughout most of the game, and sent Arizona and it's "25 year streak" of NCAA tourney appearances back to the desert. Though then Cal dominated the Ducks, the third game of the tournament was a thriller. Well, not really. Stanford jumped out to a lead early one, gave most of it up, but then stepped on the gas in the second half and embarrassed those Shocker-waving-Sun-Devils all the way to Tempe. But back to the lEast Coast. Notre Dame and Shrek, err Luke Harangody sent much higher ranked Pitt packing a bit early for Jamie Dixon's taste. This marked the third straight upset in the Big East Quarters. Luckily for WVU, they had a miraculous bank shot to win against the Bearcats of Cincinnati. The same thing almost happened back in Los Angeles, where Beaver Fever was in full swing against UW, but the Fever fell asleep halfway through the middle part of the second half and Washington prevailed. This sure sets up a fun march for all fans out there. I wonder if Syracuse, ASU (if they make it in), Nova, and Pitt play well or play like this guy sings:

There's a Real Ran Jeremy

2010-03-09T14:18:00.001-08:00

Hopefully none of you thought that I was Ran Jeremy. The name is a combination of my name and my good friend Jeremy who helped inspire the creation of this blog. Anyhow, a few weeks ago, my friend and colleague Ryan James Walters I and I did some googling about our blog and found a real person that is Ran Jeremy! The link was to the guy's facebook, and because of it, we had to friend him. Today, he finally friended back! Don't believe me? Here it is:

Pac-10 Tourney Preview

2010-03-07T18:24:00.001-08:00

Since it has been a while since I last blogged up, I would like to first apologize for the absence. Secondly, let's get to the topic at hand. The regular season is over and now a bunch of pretty bad teams will try to steal an automatic bid to the Dance. What will happen? By the way the that league play has gone, I'll probably be completely wrong, but might as well take a stab at it. I will examine each matchup and offer my prediction and quick reasoning for the predicted outcome. This will be done for all ten games.

"Play-in Game":

Oregon v. Wazzu - this will be difficult to call because UO has lame-duck coach Ernie Kent, so it will be interesting to see how he gets his team ready for this game. The Cougs can definitely put up some points if Thompson and their young guys decided to do so, but they have been inconsistent so that is a toss-up. In the end, I think that Tajuan Porter will take care of business and send Oregon to their next game.

1st round:

Cal v. Oregon - This could obviously be Cal against the Cougs, but either way Cal pulls this out. Their three main guys are all seniors who want to prove winning the regular season title was no fluke. They are also coached by one of my favorite coaches growing up in Mike Montgomery, so I have to go with them.

Arizona v. UCLA - Oh man, let's see. Arizona swept the Bruins, though the Bruins dominated the last game, only to lose it in the closing minutes. This game is played in Los Angeles, but it probably does not mean much since the Wildcats destroyed the Bruins at Pauley on Jan 2nd. Though my heart says Bruins, I have to choose the Wildcats.

Washington v. Oregon State - Beaver fever will probably not be enough to stop senior Quincy Pondexter and tiny soph Thomas. Washington has too much fire power to lose this game.

Arizona St. v. Stanford - The Cardinal cannot win away from Maples and Arizona State is simply better than them. So the loose-shocker waving Devils will advance.

semi-finals:

Cal v. Arizona - Arizona has been way too up and down this year to win this game. You also have to figure the Berkeley faithful will try to make this game a home game since they usually don't have too much of a reason to be excited about Cal basketball. Also, Nic Wise will get destroyed by Jarome Randle, and I personally will love to see that happen.

Washington v. Arizona State - Both feel like they have a legitimate case to make it as an at-large but know they are by any means locks. Both teams have also been hot of late but the last time I checked, the game will be played in Los Angeles not Seattle. Washington has issues on the road, so ASU should be able to pull this off.

championship game:

Cal v. Arizona State - Cal pretty much is a lock to make the tourney. Arizona State has a great chance, but is not assured of anything. We do know one thing, Cal sports tend to choke. This could very well happen, and none of us should be too surprised to see ASU win the tournament to earn the automatic bid.

Thoughts on Attendance

2010-02-22T22:24:00.000-08:00

So Ted Miller just blogged up the Pac10's numbers for the 2009 season. Since URSA is ultra slow for my last first-pass ever to sign up for classes, I figured I should present and then comment on these numbers. Before I get to the analysis part, here are the numbers:

USC... 84,799

UCLA... 64,547

Washington... 64,356

California... 59,472

Oregon... 58,544

Arizona State... 48,556

Oregon State... 42,328

Stanford... 41,436

Arizona... 35,656

Washington State... 25,909

The top and bottom is nothing surprising at all. Washington State really sucks, and have a small stadium. Those two combined imply it'll be last. On the other end of the spectrum, it should also not surprise anyone U$C leads the Pac. They came off a Rose Bowl win (again), a new hotshot QB, which means the bandwagon was in full force. Two of their losses came at home, but during the last quarter of the season so they wouldn't really impact attendance as much. In the middle of the pecking order, you can find UDub and Oregon. The reason why I am singling them out is because their numbers are essentially they seating capacity of their respective stadiums and that should be pointed out. Those two fanbases deserve lots of credit, especially the Huskies, who haven't really had a reason to be excited about football until Sark came in. Then again, I am sure that none of them expected to win too much this year, so it's darn respectable of an attendance figure.

Now, it is time to get to my Bruins. Yes, we are second in attendance. Yes, it is not too surprising. No, I am not happy with just being second (especially with those figures). With all the progress the team has made in the offseason, and with the hype around Coach Neu, the numbers should have been WAY higher. As someone who was there for every single game, I can attest to the emptiness that (did not) fill the Rose Bowl. The biggest area of concern and disappointment for me was in the students. I would always check out the size of the student section as we did our pregame routine (Fanfare, Strike, Nat'l Anthem, Sons, Mighty) and although I never thought it'd be full 20 minutes before kick-off, it was never even close to having the lower half of it full. That's just sad. I know I am not the only one as there has been lots of discussion about the apathetic nature of some of the student body amongst UCLA blogs, so no reason to repeat does sentiments. What we should take from it is that apparently our fans appreciate a decent team more than a team with more talent but has a tendency to choke, right?

Rating this Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T21:42:00.000-08:00

Folks, today officially sucks. Not because I do not have a Valentine or anything remotely related to that, but because UCLA got swept by U$C. In basketball. That's right, three straight losses dating back to last season's Pac-10 tournament, which unfortunately I was courtside for. Good thing we don't play them again until next year right? But in all seriousness, this really sucks. I was honestly not expecting it be a great game for us, but it still stings. It always sucks to lose to the Trojans, and doing so in my favorite sport, one that UCLA dominates traditionally, hurts even more. In my four years at UCLA we have gone 6-4 against them including two semi-final meetings in the conference tourney. Considering that UCLA was a final four team twice during that span, and finished ahead of them the first three years in the standings (right now they are a game ahead of the Bruins) make it seem pretty sad. But enough ranting about this, and back to February 14th. Below is how I would rate my Valentine's days in my four years as a UCLA student:

1. Senior Year - 2010. It is pretty clear that the loss tonight truly stings and will leave me angry and annoyed at how bad this year is. I think that it is also a prelude to how the next two games in Washington are going to be, so this really does suck. It feels much worse than...

2. Freshman Year - 2007. Playing IM Indoor Soccer, I tore my calf on a corner kick and although I scored the tieing goal to eliminate the opposing team from the playoffs, I couldn't walk properly for the next four weeks and screwed up a couple good grades in the process and yet this is only number two.

3. Sophomore Year - 2008. Three midterms during sixth week, including one on Vday and one on the following day. Sure I dominated the one on Vday, but then having to study circuits and get my game on with Kerkhoff's Laws was not something I wanted to do on that day.

4. Junior Year - 2009. Honestly, it was a pretty fun day. Lodged in the middle of the long weekend, I had just turned 21 and got to enjoy myself after a week midterms. Sure, this is not nearly as bad as the top three, but it sure needs a mention.

Now, how can I make myself feel better? By checking out this video:

NBA All-Star Weekend, College Style: the Game

2010-02-14T15:53:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's day readers! I hope that yours will be more interesting than mine, considering I am planning on planting myself in front of the TV and watch the NBA All-Star game and UCLA v. U$C basketball game tonight. As I did on Friday before the Rookie Challenge, I shall provide yet another list of colleges/countries/high-schools that the game's biggest stars hail from. Without more rambling, here it is:

College:

Dwayne Wade - Marquette

Allen Iverson - Georgetown

Derrick Rose - Memphis

Rajon Rondo - Kentucky

Paul Pierce - Kansas

Chris Bosh - Ga Tech

Gerald Wallace - Alabama

Joe Johnson - Akransas

Al Horford - Florida

David Lee - Florida

Steve Nash - Santa Clara

Carmelo Anthony - Syracuse

Tim Duncan - Wake Forest

Deron Williams - Illinois

Chauncey Billups - Colorado

Kevin Durant - Texas

Zach Randolph - MSU

Chris Kaman - Central Michigan

Jason Kidd - Cal

High School:

Dwight Howard

Kevin Garnett

Lebron James

Kobe Bryant

Amare Stoudemire

International:

Dirk Nowitzki - Germany

Pau Gasol - Spain

It is pretty obvious that the majority of the players in this year's All-Star game attended college for at least one year. However, half of the chosen starters are guys who came straight from high-school. And remember, the high school class of 2006 was the first one that was banned from jumping to the pros, but they would be in their 4th year (actual 3rd year) in the league, so it's not like those numbers would be too skewed. Perhaps Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose would have been the only ones to make that jump who made the All-Star roster since 2006.

It should also be interesting to note that four players are from non-BCS conferences, which includes Wade because at the time, Marquette was not part of the Big East. It seems like the SEC actually has the most representatives with five.

And before you go, I will leave you with this video to set the mood for Valentine's Day:

NBA All-Star Weekend, College Style

2010-02-12T16:47:00.000-08:00

Have you ever felt like you need to find someone to root for in the pros? Someone who represents your school or country? Well, here at RJS we feel that pain and we have thus compiled a list of the participants in the Rookie Challenge which airs tonight on TNT. More lists will come in the next couple of days for the Saturday night competitions and actual All-Star Game.

Rookies:
Omri Casspi (Kings) Israel
DeJuan Blair (Spurs) Pittsburgh
Stephen Curry (Warriors)Davidson
Tyreke Evans (Kings) Memphis
Jonny Flynn (T-wolves) Syracuse
Taj Gibson (Bulls) USC
James Harden (Thunder) Arizona State
Brandon Jennings (Bucks)Lottomatica Virtus Roma (Italy)
Jonas Jerebko (Pistons) Sweden

Sophomores:
Michael Beasley (Heat) Kansas State
Marc Gasol (Grizzlies) Spain
Danilo Gallinari (Knicks)Italy
Eric Gordon (Clippers) Indiana
Brook Lopez (Nets) Stanford
Kevin Love (T-wolves) UCLA
O.J. Mayo (Grizzlies) USC
Anthony Morrow (Warriors)Georgia Tech
Russell Westbrook (Thunder)UCLA

As you can tell, the most represented schools are UCLA and U$C with two players each. It should be noted though that Memphis would have had two but Derrick "SATs" Rose is playing in the actual ASG. The Pac-10 has 6 representatives from four different schools, leading all collegiate conferences. Internationally, there are four countries, all of which are European (Israel plays in Europe in basketball), probably a first.

UNC = UCLA East?

2010-02-07T21:06:00.000-08:00

Has anyone been following the huge collapse of UNC? If not, you should. It's kind of fun to see. It is amazing how similar of a downfall it is to UCLA's. There is a youth movement in both places, as UNC also plays tons of freshmen and sophomores, although they still have much more experience than UCLA. Unlike the Bruins, Carolina has tanked it up in the ACC having lost six of eight conference games. However, it should be noted that the ACC >> Pac-10 this year, so that fact might be slightly skewed. Additionally, Carolina has actually beaten all the teams they should beat out of conference, except College of Charleston. That fact sits much more comfortably when you consider UCLA lost at home to Fullerton and on a neutral court to the likes of Portland and Long Beach State on a neutral court. So the two situations are somewhat different, but in the big scheme of things its a very analogous story. Two powerhouses in the world of college basketball that wear light shades of blue and recent final four programs, that will probably not make the Dance. Still, I would love to be in Carolina's position much more than UCLA's. You know, being the defending National Champs.

Signing Day Disparity

2010-02-03T17:40:00.000-08:00

Today has been a crazy day for those following National Signing Day. Many fan bases have been feeling good about themselves, while many have not. No matter who you root for though, you must have noticed the differences that the three main recruiting rankings have between them. I have always found it quite odd that most of the time none of the three agree. Here are the top-15 rankings from each service (Rivals, Scout, ESPNU):

Clearly, these three have tons of differences. While each has UCLA and U$C as the top schools out of the Pac-10, the third one differs for all three. Rivals has Cal, Scout has Washington, and ESPNU has Stanford. At least Scout and Rivals both agree that Oregon is #13. Another striking difference is that U$C is ranked as high as #2 on Rivals, but as low as 7/8 on Scout/ESPNU. Speaking of U$C and Lane Kiffin, check out Tennessee's ranking on Scout. Much lower than both of the other services. Staying in the South, it is interesting that FSU is ranked #10 for both Rivals and Scout but as high as #6 on ESPNU. There are also a few teams on ESPNU's rankings that don't appear on either of the other two. As previously mentioned Stanford is absent from the other two, in addition to Ohio State, Miami, and Georgia. That's just above 25%. On Scout, Ole Miss makes an appearance as does Washington, and Rich-Rod's Michigan amounting to 20%. Rivals for whatever reason has California, Texas A&M, and Notre Dame, also comprising 20% of the rankings. As you can see, these three services have tons of disparities between one another. But hey, at least they all have Florida at #1.

NCAA Tournament Expansion? No thanks.

2010-02-02T18:39:00.001-08:00

The world really does revolve around money doesn't it? As if the current contract that CBS and the NCAA have for the glorious event that is March Madness, they have to come up with new ways to generate more revenue. Sadly, the NCAA is seriously considering adding a bunch more mediocre teams and expanding the filed to 96. This seems completely dumb. If you expand it, why are you giving a bunch of teams, 32, a bye? The first round is going to suck, a lot. If you expand, do it the right way, and expand it to 128, a power of two (shout out to my fellow engineers). But regardless, I am not for it. Especially if the main purpose is for a more lucrative television deal. I mean what is wrong with the current format? Enough teams get a chance to play and those have all given us plenty of upsets and heartbreaks, so why try to create more? Chances are those teams that are added will not be able to do much. Also it eliminates the excitement smaller schools have when finally making it to the tournament. Lastly, the current format provides three glorious weekends that are logically organized and give tons of schools exposure and a chance at the spotlight. And oh by the way, this is coming from a UCLA student who is watching his team slip away from even the slightest chance at making the Big Dance this year.

Midseason Report

2010-01-31T21:32:00.000-08:00

So I have been completely off on most of my predictions about how this Pac-10 season was going to turn out, but I feel like so have a lot of people. Who would have known that Washington can't win (even once!) away from the friendly confines of Bank of America Arena? Who knew Arizona would be able to put something legitimate together and be in a tie a top the conference? And who knew that Oregon would win its first two, then drop a five, then sweep the LA schools? Not me and not anyone. This has been a roller coaster season, and even that is an understatement. For those who like to see actual numbers, here is the way the conference looks right now (courtesy of ESPN):

Yes, only three games separate first and last place. There are also five teams with a 4-5 record right now. With the exception of Oregon State, all the teams are tied at least with one other team. There balance and parity is out of control this year. But don't be fooled, it's not in a good way. I've watched plenty of the league games both in person and on the tube, and never saw a team put a three game stretch that would turn the heads of the NCAA Selection Committee. In this post I made some daring guesses about how the conference would transpire. Right now, I think that I would like to flip my top team and most disappointing team. I mean, Arizona is overachieving and Washington is completely inconsistent and undeserving of any praise at this point in the season. In five weeks, this could change again though. As far as my picks for FOY and POY I think that I am right on point because Reeves Nelson and Quincy Poindexter have worked wonders for UCLA and Washington respectively. So yay, I am 50% right at this point! This is like getting back a UCLA Engineering midterm because if you are above the 40% average, you can feel good about yourself.

Georgetown Exposes Duke

2010-01-30T16:20:00.000-08:00

So as I woke up this morning tired and trying to figure out what exactly happened last night, I checked my phone and saw a text from my dear friend Shelley Murveit at Georgetown saying she was pissed off at me for texting her in the wee hours of the morning on the East Coast. Obviously, she was probably not angry that, but because she had to wake up super early (7am) to day drink and watch her Hoyas take on those Dukies. Either way, it reminded me that instead of being angry at the world (I also have a midterm in two days) I should watch the top-10 contest between the two schools. As I turned the TV on about half way through the first half, I smiled. Duke was getting owned. Luckily for me, this didn't change until the last minute of the game, but by then, no one cared. Georgetown exposed Duke once again as an over-hyped, crappy, and ultra-vanilla basketball team. Greg "Craig" Monroe destroyed anyone Duke had to offer, including foul machine Lance Thomas (seriously, every game I watch he's in foul trouble, like Alfred Aboya circa 2008). Wright, Georgetown's point guard was terrific in distributing and showing how one of the best Jewish players (Jon Scheyer) in college basketball is probably not as good as Dick Vitale would like you to think he is. Actually he did score 17 points, but on 5-13 shooting, or as UCLA fans call it, a Drago line or kind of like this guy:

While the basketball was obviously the biggest attraction of the game, Barack "Lefty" Obama was courtside with his VP Joe Biden taking the game in. He did not really show any favoritism either way, which I think is smart. As he was being interviewed by the CBS guys, he laughed at his bodyguard Reggie Love, a former Duke player. He also mentioned a few key things, and broke down fellow Lefty Monroe's pretty spin move in the lane (including a right handed finish!). This sideshow however did not distract yours truly from enjoying a Duke team get destroyed. Ironically, Coach K used the "Stanford line-up" (3 white guys) as opposed to the "Duke line-up" (4 white guys) and it still did not help. Probably because Nolan Smith was feeling the home jitters as he was playing in his hometown, but I don't buy it. Of course, those could be the same jitters Duke players felt in 2007-2009 as they failed to move past the sweet-sixteen. But hey, at least we found out from this game that Georgetown is for real (unlike Duke), and could make a serious run at the final four. I guess that VP Biden agrees...

We're a football school? Right???

2010-01-30T13:10:00.000-08:00

From Rick Reilly's newest article (you can read here http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=reilly_rick&id=4861102&sportCat=ncf ):

"It's been bad news for USC football fans, who just lost the Doberman Pete Carroll to the NFL and had him replaced with the puppy Lane Kiffin, an unproven, scatter-mouthed, rule-breaking 34-year-old whose combined head coaching record is 12-21. Kiffin's leaving the Vols was especially bad news for Kiff in's 1-year-old, Monte Knox Kiffin, whose middle name is an homage to Knoxville. Honey, do you have the Wite-Out? Maybe we can pencil in "Troy" on the birth certificate?

But it's been good news if you're a UCLA football fan. Suddenly, Bruins coach Rick Neuheisel looks like the altar boy in town, the seasoned genius. Hell, Neuheisel's already beaten Kiffin head-to-head, trumping the Vols 19-15 last season. Plus, Kiffin tried to steal Neuheisel's brainiac offensive coordinator, Norm Chow, and whiffed. It's all sunshine in Neuheisel's sports section lately. Trading Carroll for Kiffin as your crosstown rival is like trading a hangman for a hangnail."

UCLA has already passed USC in the recruiting rankings with the addition of DTs Sealil Epenesa and Cassius Marsh.

Rey Maualuga Is a Role Model

2010-01-29T16:18:00.000-08:00

That is, if your idea of a role model is a thug who hangs out with minors and drinks and drives. It is not to surprising if you are a UCLA fan, or for that matter, a fan of any other Pac-10 team who's mascot is not named after a lost civilization. This guy has been a punk for years, and if you do not believe me check this video out:

You many have also seen him taunting fans and opposing players numerous times on the the field and sidelines, but that's not that uncommon these days for athletes so I'll give it a "pass" for now. But what happened today is truly dumb and a new low for Rey. He went out and drank. Sure why not, we all do that. He then drove. Some people do that, not smart. He hung out with a minor. Some people do that too, they are called pedophiles and probably end up in jail. Essentially Rey managed to complete the trifecta. According to reports, he blew a .157 after he got pulled over, and was hanging out with an 18 year-old and 17 year-old girl. Rey, how old are you? That's right, 23. The five year gap is a lot in my opinion, but under the law is legal. The 17 year-old? Illegal. Now, I am not going to ellude to any inappropriate behavior but the simple fact that he is hanging out with two girls who should not have even been around a bar is troubling. What's worse is that he then perceeded to drive them and hit two cars in the process as well as a parking meter. Maybe the parking meter was intentional because he needed some spare cash after getting a pay-cut when leaving U$C to go to the Bengals. Again, just a thought. But hey, at least Rey got arrested in style, check out his "mug shot":

Pac-10 Representation in the NBA

2010-01-27T19:02:00.000-08:00

In case none of you beloved readers knows how many Pac-10 players there are in the league, or what team they play for, I am here to help. Earlier this evening, I was pointed to a web site that has a list of all college alumni currently playing in the NBA. With that, I have decided to put together that information in a nice little list for your convenience:

Note: Special thanks to CBS Sports for this, it's amazing!!!

Arizona:

Gilbert Arenas	Washington Wizards	PG
Jerryd Bayless (4)	Portland Trail Blazers	PG
Mike Bibby (10)	Atlanta Hawks	PG
Chase Budinger (10)	Houston Rockets	SF
Channing Frye (8)	Phoenix Suns	C
Jordan Hill (43)	New York Knicks	PF
Andre Iguodala (9)	Philadelphia 76ers	SG
Richard Jefferson (24)	San Antonio Spurs	SF
Damon Stoudamire (3)	San Antonio Spurs	PG
Jason Terry (31)	Dallas Mavericks	SG
Luke Walton (4)	Los Angeles Lakers	SF

ASU:

Ike Diogu (1)	New Orleans Hornets	PF
James Harden (13)	Oklahoma City Thunder	SG
Eddie House (50)	Boston Celtics	SG
Jeff Pendergraph (31)	Portland Trail Blazers	PF

Cal:

Ryan Anderson (33)	Orlando Magic	PF
Francisco Elson (9)	Milwaukee Bucks	C
Jason Kidd (2)	Dallas Mavericks	PG
Sean Marks (4)	New Orleans Hornets	PF
Leon Powe (44)	Cleveland Cavaliers	PF

Oregon:

Aaron Brooks	Houston Rockets	PG
Malik Hairston (1)	San Antonio Spurs	SG
Fred Jones (2)	Los Angeles Clippers	SG
Maarty Leunen (10)	Houston Rockets	SF
Luke Ridnour (13)	Milwaukee Bucks	PG

OSU:

Stanford:

Jarron Collins (20)	Phoenix Suns	C
Jason Collins (34)	Atlanta Hawks	C
Casey Jacobsen (23)	Memphis Grizzlies	SG
Brevin Knight (2)	Utah Jazz	PG
Brook Lopez (11)	New Jersey Nets	C
Robin Lopez (15)	Phoenix Suns	C

UCLA:

Arron Afflalo (6)	Denver Nuggets	SG
Trevor Ariza (1)	Houston Rockets	SG
Matt Barnes (22)	Orlando Magic	SF
Darren Collison (2)	New Orleans Hornets	PG
Baron Davis (1)	Los Angeles Clippers	PG
Jordan Farmar (1)	Los Angeles Lakers	PG
Dan Gadzuric (50)	Milwaukee Bucks	C
Jrue Holiday (11)	Philadelphia 76ers	PG
Ryan Hollins (1)	Minnesota Timberwolves	C
Jason Kapono (72)	Philadelphia 76ers	SG
Kevin Love (42)	Minnesota Timberwolves	PF
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (12)	Milwaukee Bucks	SF
Earl Watson (2)	Indiana Pacers	PG
Russell Westbrook	Oklahoma City Thunder	PG

U$C:

DeMar DeRozan (10)	Toronto Raptors	SG
Taj Gibson (22)	Chicago Bulls	PF
O.J. Mayo (32)	Memphis Grizzlies	SG
Brian Scalabrine (44)	Boston Celtics	C
Nick Young (1)	Washington Wizards	SG

Washington:

Jon Brockman (40)	Sacramento Kings	PF
Spencer Hawes (31)	Sacramento Kings	C
Nate Robinson (2)	New York Knicks	PG
Brandon Roy (7)	Portland Trail Blazers	SG

WSU:

Kyle Weaver (5)

Oklahoma City Thunder

Here they are in order of most to least players:

UCLA - 14

Arizona -11

Stanford - 6

Cal/Oregon/U$C - 5 (each)

ASU/Washington - 4 (each)

WSU - 1

OSU - 0

Most Historically Overrated "Basketball Schools"

2010-01-24T20:01:00.001-08:00

I am sure anyone who reads this blog has heard the term "basketball school" before but I shall reiterate what it means. It means that the school is traditionally successful in basketball (as opposed to football). But what does successful really mean? Making a sweet-16? Final Four? Winning a national championship? If you ask UCLA folk, they tell you the latter. If you ask folks in the state of North Carolina, Kentucky, or Indiana they will say the latter two. With that, it is sad that some schools get the title of a basketball school basically because they have a horrible football team and a basketball winning tradition that rivals the quality of a Snoop Dogg movie. It is honestly really annoying when some schools claim greatness (or anything remotely close to it) only because they have terrible football history and a couple nice basketball moments. To let my frustrations air out, I have decided to compile a list of the top-5 schools who are only basketball schools by default and not because they actually deserve it. This is ought to piss off some fanbases, but the numbers don't lie.

NOTE: THE SCHOOLS CONSIDERED ARE THOSE WHO HAVE THE RESOURCES AND HAVE BEEN THE TALK NATIONALLY HAVE A REPUTATION.

5. Villanova: They only won one title and that came in 1985. They have reached the final four four times (including last year). Not a bad resume and nearly identical to the honorable mentions but they have far less success in their own conference when compared to the Big East teams that I put as honorable mentions.

4. UNLV: They have similar numbers to a lot of other schools that are honorable mentions (and the previous spot) but they come from a conference that is not one of the Big 6. They made all four of their final fours under the same coach (including their national title) and have been accused of some shady business in the early 90's when they were most successful.

3. Maryland: They won their lone national championship in 2002. They have two final four appearances (in 2001 and 2002). Otherwise, they do not have too much nationally. Sure they have 22 seasons of 20+ wins, and have made 5 elite-8's but that's not too great. They do not have the top spot because they won at a time where Duke was dominating nationally as well as the ACC and so they had to overcome that shadow when they finally won.

2. Stanford: The basically have the same numbers as Maryland but... they last won a national championship in 1942. They last made a final four in 1998 and the only other time they got there was when they won in 1942. Yes, they have had a lot of success in the late 90's in the conference but when their performances on the national stage are pretty infrequent.

1. Memphis: Umm... Three final four appearances, two of which were vacated by the NCAA. No NCAA titles. Those are some ugly facts. Congrats to Memphis for finally being #1 in a national discussion of college basketball!

Honorable mentions: Arizona, Georgetown, and Syracuse.

Pac-10 Weekend Recap

2010-01-24T11:27:00.000-08:00

As I have been for the last few weeks, I am going to recap what's happened in the Pac-10 this past weekend and how it has shaped the conference for the near future. Once again, there is tons and tons of parity and unpredictability. It should be no surprise really that only one game separates the team at the top (Cal) and five other teams who are at 4-3 in conference play. There are two teams sitting at 2-5 in conference that actually were not too bad going into the conference season, and both happen to be from the same state.
Now as usual, it is time to delineate a list of the significant things and changes that occurred on Thursday and Saturday in the West Coast best (historically) conference:

1. Cal is not as bad as I thought. They are sitting at the top of the conference, and have recovered quite well after their choke job against UCLA and destruction at the hands of Washington. Sure it was against the cellar-dwellers of the conference, but a win is a win, and two wins is even better. Hopefully next week I won't have to write a paragraph about how Cal is really bad again, but we'll see.

2. Washington sucks. The literally cannot play well on the road. They first lose a heart breaker against the Bruins on a buzzer beater and then just get straight up destroyed against U$C. They have now lost five games on the road and will probably end up in the NIT unless they win the conference tournament. But then again, the conference is in Los Angeles, not in the friendly confines of Bank of America Arena in Seattle.

3. The Los Angeles schools are for real. UCLA came back from an embarrassing loss of historic proportions last week against the crosstown cheaters and swept the Washington schools. U$C did lose at home to Wazzu, but came back and completely destroyed Washington. With nothing to play for except pride, look for U$C to make noise in the conference and effect the seeding of the teams for the tournament.

4. Arizona is back on top in its own state. The last couple of years there was a clear shift of powers towards the team from Tempe, but this year the shift is back towards Tucson. Arizona beat it's in-state rival in impressive fashion and have the same conference record.

5. Oregon schools in basketball seem like the opposite of their football counterparts. The Civil War this year was to determine who wins the conference and goes on to the Rose Bowl. In basketball? Well, they both sit at the bottom of the conference and things are not looking rosy at all. Things could change when they get the bi-polar acting LA schools at home this week, but chances are not too high for that.

Rush the court? Always.

2010-01-22T22:45:00.000-08:00

It's time for me to put in my two cents on this developing debate on when rushing the court is appropriate. I am going to come out in an extremist position and say that rushing the court is OK whenever it occurs. That's right. When the students want to rush, I say rush the court and mob it like crazy.

Here's why. There is something unique about the college game, irregardless of sports. Unlike professional sport clubs who represent the people of a certain city/region who share certain characteristics and common life experiences, college sports represent a university comprised of students of all diverse backgrounds. Despite the diversity, students have one thing in common to offer the college game - their youth and energy. College sports can be at times far more emotionally invested than professional sports, as it is not only your team but for four wonderful years, it's represents your life. As a student, your campus is your world for four years. You eat, sleep, go to class, make friends, and transition into full adulthood among the buildings and quads of your campus. There are so many things that happen to you at college that there is no doubt that most students feel strong emotional ties to their campus. If not the campus or university itself, then at least strong emotional ties to the period in life that college encompasses.

Athletics offers an opportunity for your school to be represented on national television, carrying your personal emotions on some level to the field. We trust in our athletes to represent us in the best way they can and hope that they can prove on the field just how great the school is. I am not saying there aren't emotional victories in professional sports - there are. I just feel that the emotional uprisings created by professional sports are not the same uprisings felt at the college game. The emotion that students unleash is youthful, hopeful, and unbridled.

We at UCLA don't get to rush the field at the Rosebowl. That is one of the most unfortunate things about UCLA. I was fortunate enough to be in marching band on 13-9 (Dec 2, 2006). I was allowed to storm the field after upsetting the giant across town. The students were held back with tear gas and riot squad gear (I was also teargassed, even though I was allowed to be on the field, a story for another time). I can't describe the rush I got, being able to run on America's most celebrated sporting arena after upsetting USC. The only thing I regret is that the thousands of students behind me weren't able to join me. I would have wanted nothing more to make Sportcenter's Top 10 list, and top it number one. Imagine how good that looks for UCLA. Not that we need any more reasons to convince students to come here.

You don't go to a Chargers game and storm the field after a victory. Hell, you can't storm the field even if your team wins the Superbowl. You can rush the field in college. You can storm the court. That in itself is a unique element of college sports, which is an embodiment of the experiences I tried to explain above. I don't feel that we should be storming the court regularly. But I don't think there should be rules as to when we should and shouldn't. I don't care if its a ranked opponent or not. I feel that the beauty of the college game is embodied in a spontaneous burst of emotion that compels one to storm the court. That energy should never be curtailed or held back.

-RJWI

Rush the Court? Sometimes, Not Always

2010-01-22T14:08:00.000-08:00

As a response to the blog post by our newest writer Scott (welcome Scott), I am here to give my own opinion as to when rushing the court is acceptable at the esteemed institution that is UCLA. Let me begin by saying that yesterday, from my view in the band, I wish I could run courtside and high-five Mustafa for his amazing game winner against those Huskies. But I couldn't. I think that we all got swept up in the dramatic way that the game ended and did not think too much. I was there next to two of my two best friends in the band who are also seniors and have seen the glory days of the last few years. All three of us were high-fiving and jumping up and down (and screaming) with joy. We lived the moment, not the past. That is until I mentioned to them, "hey, this is as good as the finish against Cal (and Stanford) from sophomore year!"

We discussed how this is completely different and more epic because two years ago, we were expected to win, if not dominate every game. So sure, why not let those great feelings of years past come back to us upperclassmen or let the freshmen celebrate a great (well it's Washington...) win at home? Here's why. No matter how bad the team might be this year, those four letters on the chest of the players symbolize what has come before them (or in the case of the seniors, their time) and the rich tradition it stands for. Yes, we should not be pompous and elitist but UCLA is still the class of college basketball (maybe not by how fans show up to games) and it will be until anyone can even come close to the magical number, 11.

Like UCLA, there are other schools rich in tradition. When those schools come to Pauley Pavilion and are ranked higher than UCLA, there should be a reason to rush the court. But let me restate it, ONLY if they are RANKED HIGHER! Otherwise there is no legitimate excuse for the student section to ever rush the court. Now you might ask who might those schools be? Here is a list I, along with my roommates a few weeks ago, came up with (in no particular order):

1. Kentucky

2. UNC

3. Duke

4. Kansas

5. Indiana

To us those seemed like the only schools who have enough name-brand and rich tradition that in the somewhat rare case (like this year with Kansas) of them coming to Westwood with a higher ranking that we should rush the court. There are a few other schools that maybe deserve some consideration such as Georgetown, Syracuse, UConn, Michigan, and Michigan State. In fact, I would maybe only consider UConn and MSU but just wanted to suggest a couple other schools who I respect for what they have done.

Rush the court? Yes we will!

2010-01-22T00:46:00.001-08:00

As a UCLA student, I felt obligated to reply to the criticisms for tonight's attempted rushing of the court. While many have called it pathetic, I too found the Den (and UCLA fans in general) to be pathetic but for far different reasons than you (which I shall address at the end of this rant).

The first thing I wanted to address was your pre-game attitude of fans. Many fans including myself (which is shown by the decrease of average attendance this year by 2,000 -i read this statistic i hope it's not true-), have expressed loss of all interest in the Bruins this season. Many people have lost all interest in this team as for ever glimmer of hope they show, they follow it up with a truck-load of disappointment. The feelign going into this game was that even if we squeaked out a win, we'd become embarrassed by Washington State and the Oregon teams. So what's the point?

Would an ordinary UCLA team follow up a win with embarrassing losses? No. Would this team? Yes, this team normally would. They are a team that is an embarassment to John Wooden and UCLA basketball. This has been the team that fell way short of our justified expectations of tournament wins. We were quick to shun this team and it showed. Fan attendance has been lackluster at best as I was able to get floor seats for these games in the student sections mere hours before the game, while in past years camping out was a necessity. This team is not your UCLA basketball team. This is a team of young, immature playeres who have not met the more than colossal expectations, and had no motivation is sight.

Ben Howland certainly wasn't providing motivation. Ben Howland is not a player's coach. There's no way around this fact. He preaches defense, but on the sideline you don't see much emotion. This is not the coach a team rallies around. Indeed, Howland played zone nearly all game showing all loss on his principles. While this is necessary for our skill-set, giving up on the trademark of his coaching certainly had to have some players losing some faith in his coaching. This team is starving for some form of motivation. In past wins they followed it up by losses since there waas no motivation. They were playing at a winner's school, where their minor victories were not met by congratulations but attidues like "its about time" and "they better not embarass us again." They were more rather scared of failure at an institute that condemns anything but perfection.

Therefore, the Washington game provided the attitude this team needs to thrive. This is not a team that will meet UCLA expectations. If you're worried about national expectations that's a joke. We have our reputation, it won't die over one season. We need to start focusing on this season. We have become the underdog team. We're not that team anymore that teams come to play saying "this is UCLA, they are proven, we better come out and show it." They are now the team of undercoached, overvalued youngsters who haven't done anything but disappoint.

This point brings me to tonight's attempted rush of the court. Coming into college I thought the only way UCLA would ever rush the court was a perfect season. Today changed that. Sure it was embarrassing. Sure it would seem terrible to see on Sportscenter: "UCLA rushes courts against unranked opponent." Its embarrassing. Its juvenile. And it's exactly what this team needs. We must drop this pompous, elite attitude. We're not a superpower this year and we gotta stop acting like it. Fans aren't coming to games since they expect perfection and they're not getting it this year. But we're an underdog team that can bring the exciting game (Cal and Washington) and that's what the fans should be expecting to see. Even though we failed to rush the court, it was exactly what we needed. Some of us (including myself) made it to midcourt. While we were shortly ushered off, the players certainly took note. I have never seen more energized players. Reeves Nelson let out a tremendous yell and Lee and Honeycutt were high fiving everyone. Don't say "These are the young players who have yet to understand our tradition". Roll was more amped up than anyone. This is what this team needs. If you don't want to be disappointed vs. Wash St (or the future), the team needs this encourage. They can no longer be thought of the "let-down team" but rather "the underdog team". We'll rush the court. We'll take it as an accomplishment. We'll win the games. Not as much as we should, but this team needs to take on a new identity.

Which brings me to my final point about the Den being pathetic. There was no reason we should not of rushed the court. The security guard were not intent on stopping us, they were doing only their duty (holding up their arms) and the LA fans got scared. While I know you are going call me out on breaking the law, but cops are obligated to do this. Ask any college basketball fan who has rushed a court (and do not bring up the USC-UCLA argument, Rose Bowl is completely different, we do not own that stadium so cops can pepper spray us, that would not do that to their own student at Pauley). You gotta take the step and run past those guards. Rushing the court is about claiming the court as ours. And that's what we needed. LA fans lack the enthusiasm needed. I have been to every football and basketball game and it has shown throughout. It showed during football season (half the stadium was empty for our bowl clinching win) and it has been half-empty this basketball seaason. Its embarrassing. That being said, if we could have pulled off the rush, imagine the clip on sportcenter. It would be what our players and fans needed. Think of any rushing the court clip, the riot in the middle of the courts, fans celebrating with athletes. Now forget history, if fans see that on the tv do you not think they will be pumped up to go to future games? What's better? Seeing the win and then seeing our record (8-10) and thinking we suck? Or seeing the win and the celebration and thinking "this is a team i wanna see." If this team saw a chaotic celebration do you not think they would be amped up knowing their fan base loves them?

We were the number one play on espn and our crowd needs to get behind this team. They are not our past teams but they are today's team. Never forget our history. We are UCLA. We are championship. But this team is not at the level so we have to meet them halfway. Our expectations are too high, we are an underdog team and we gotta feed that identity.

Sorry to offend any fans, but being in the heart of the den then hearing the criticism set me off. Celebrate with the team. Our reputation will stay in place and if we want more respect, we need to start winning. Some of the point may seem exaggerated, but I hope the point reaches home. Drop the attitude of expecting championships for right now. At least for this season. These players need that.

Best Day of College Basketball... EVER!

2010-01-20T21:54:00.000-08:00

For it to be a good day in college basketball, a few things have to happen. One, UCLA must not lose. Since UCLA did not play tonight, so that can be crossed off the list. Another category is for the two hated ACC schools to lose. Somehow, that happened. UNC once again got caught with their pants off at home against Wake Forest and Duke was upset by NC State by double digits. Both losses are quite UCLA-esque for this season, so the Blue and Gold faithful can relate to the blue wearing Tar Heels and Blue Devils. But seriously, those two teams are arguably the most media hyped teams every year and although Duke has looked great at times this year, they are Duke. Does anyone remember a good Duke team in the last five years? Neither do I. The North Carolina fall from grace (and by next week the Top 25) is not as surprising considering that they lost so much talent to the NBA and although they are restocked, they are still young. Pretty much a better version of UCLA in an analogous situation. The biggest shame from today is that U$C didn't lose, but I guess that there's always tomorrow for that.

PS. This post is dedicated to Megan Grant, she'll know why.

What We Learned This Weekend

2010-01-17T20:20:00.000-08:00

Today marks the end of another weekend for Pac-10 basketball. Once again, the games have left many fans both jubilant and distraught about their team's play. This conference is so wide-open, and not in a good way like the Big East, that each week brings tons of drama, and more often than not, disappointment. Here are my personal short list of what should be learned from this weekend's games:

1. UCLA cannot play on Saturdays. Or maybe shouldn't. No clue why no Bruin fan has tried to petition so that the Bruins don't play on Saturdays. I have personally been there for the two humiliating home losses (and watched the third on tv), and it was absolutely horrible. As many of my friends put it, "It's gonna be a long season". Can't argue with that.

2. Washington is for real. For whatever reason, Washington decided to act like a UCLA basketball team (circa 2010) and lose games it shouldn't. However, on Thursday and Saturday they destroyed the Bay Area teams, if not annihilated. They looked really sharp and focused on both sides of the ball. Which brings me to my next point...

3. Cal is really not that good. Like, really really not. It was pretty clear by a few of their OOC games, and solidified by the one point home loss to UCLA last week, but the way they played against Washington was truly painful to watch. Like watching a UCLA game on a Saturday. Yes, that bad. I have faith in Mike Montgomery but this is not looking good. However, this could all change when Jorge Gutierrez comes back from injury.

4. U$C will cause a whole lot of issues this year. Many made this assumption after the first week of league play but this was clearly premature because they then went to the Bay Area and got swept. Then came the rivalry game with UCLA. During the game I kept mentioning how "life sucks" and "screw this game", and this is because the Trojans were truly embarrassing the Bruins. Though this team is not going anywhere this year in the postseason, they can make lots of noise during the regular season, especially considering how bad the conference is.

Clown Show in South Central

2010-01-14T19:26:00.000-08:00

Oh boy... what happened? Just a week ago everyone thought that Pete Carroll would stay over at SUC and that the Pac-10 and college football are going into a relatively mellow (not including the Coaches against Humanity efforts) off-season. Well, then came Friday afternoon and all hell broke loose. We then had the weekend to hope that everything is true and wait for Cheat to officially sign with the Seahawks. Only on earlier this week Tennessee fans figured they'd still have a slimy loud-mouth head coach. They don't anymore (well, they can always get another one). The bottom line is that a lot has happened this week in Los Angeles (and Seattle, Knoxville, Corvallis, Jacksonville). I have decided to give the five main stories and subplots that will prove to be most significant in the wake of Lane (what a dumb name) Kiffin taking the U$C job.

5. U$C's dirtiness is mentioned on ESPN, a lot. Every Bruin fan (and most people around the Left Coast) know about U$C's dirty recruiting and has been waiting for the NCAA to "grow a pair" and punish them for it. Well, with Pete bailing on the sinking ship, ESPN has finally decided to acknowledge the wrongdoings of U$C on a consistent basis. Considering the fact that they really are the World Wide Leader in sports, it's a big deal in my book.

4. Former U$C player and assistant turn them down. How many candidates did Notre Dame go through to find their guy after a 6-6 season? One. U$C after a 9-4 season? Like four. But let's concentrate on two. Yeah, Mike Riley turned them down in 2001 and things turned out well for $C. But come on, how is this not discouraging for Trojan fans? He decided to turn down a bunch of money and Los Angeles to stay in Corvallis! Corvallis?!?!?!?! Yes, Corvallis. Worst yet, they were turned down by a former Trojan player who is coaching all the way on the other side of the country. The saddest part about Del Rio turning down his alma mater is the fact that he turned them down to coach one of the best players in the league. Maurice Jones-Drew, a Bruin.

3. University of Tennessee gets Kiffin off their hands. For those who have not seen the riots that have been breaking out in Knoxville, I would suggest you open up a new tab on your browser and go to YouTube, ASAP. It was amazing what happened. (Fast to get out of there) Lane was lucky to have gotten out of there. I am not really sure if Vol fans are more mad because they missed out on a good coach or because said coach just abandoned them all of the sudden. I think it's safe to go with the latter. Though it's going to hurt in Knoxville with recruiting for the short-run, I believe that a program with great history, great stadium, and from what I hear good fanbase will turn out just fine.

2. Lane Kiffin is hired by Master Cheater (I mean Athletic Director) Mike Garrett. Ok, he is a good recruiter. But he's also a cheater who after only a single season of college coaching has a bunch of secondary violations piling up. Additionally, he already got fired by the Raiders (record of 5-15, ouch) and had a 7-6 record with a bowl loss in his only season in Knoxville. Good job Mike Garrett! To sum it all up though, he lost 19-15 to some team from California that wears Blue and Gold (no, not you Cal) and hates U$C. Nothing like a home loss against who is now your arch-rival, at home.

1. Norm Chow shows that U$C is not a "dream job". Lets see, Norm Chow turned down a chance to coach the #1 rated overall prospect from 2009 in Matt Barkley, a legit receiver in Ronald Johnson, and a top notch crop of running backs. He also turned down a chance to earn a salary of 1.5 million, which would have been almost three times his current salary at UCLA. Lane Kiffin hasn't even played UCLA as a U$C head coach, but already lost a huge battle. For those of you who are mathematically inclined here is an equation that for sure will drive this point home to you:

(UCLA + $600,000) > (U$C + $1.5x10^6 + 5-star QB+ impending sanctions)

Pac 10 Basketball, Where No Team Stands Out

2010-01-10T23:37:00.000-08:00

The sole team that came into conference play ranked in the top-25 was Washington. Tonight, they sit in last place in the conference at 1-3. That's what a loss to Oregon at home and getting swept by the Arizona schools will get you. Worst of all, it's not like neither Arizona school was doing too well going into this weekend. Each lost to U$C, and ASU got burned at UCLA as well. Speaking of UCLA, Ben Howland's team loves the weekday games. Definitely not the Saturday games. Although UCLA is arguably the most bipolar team in the conference, it is not alone. There are four other teams that own a conference record of 2-2. Rival U$C dominated (though in ugly fashion) the Arizona schools but got trounced by the Bay Area schools this weekend. So much for making a statement after getting hit with sanctions.

The bottom of the conference has Washington (as mentioned above), and the Fever. The Beavers came into this weekend 0-2 in Pac-10 play and worst of all, got DESTROYED at home at the hands of Cameron Dollar's Seattle U. So what did they do? Beat their bitter rival Oregon. Ironically, the loss was Oregon's first in the last two weeks as they were previously 2-0. Sitting along with Oregon at the top of the conference are Bay Area foes Cal and Stanford. Cal recovered nicely after losing a heartbreaker to rival UCLA by putting away U$C. Stanford, took care of both Los Angeles schools. So what's next for this conference? I wish I could make an honest and confident prediction but I just have no clue. Just look at the predictions I did for the beginning of the league, and how they are already so different after just two weekends (out of nine).

Pete Carroll... Kicking and Screaming

2010-01-09T18:17:00.000-08:00

If anyone doesn't get the reference to the movie made by famous Trojan Will Ferrell, shame on you. Well, if you've seen it, shame on you. With the impending departure of the biggest douche in college sports, it is only right that we here at RJS pay the man who brought us the term "what's your deal?" a fitting farewell from the world of amateur athletics. Actually, check that. He was always in the professional athletics world, my bad. Since there is some saying about how a picture is worth a thousand words, and I don't feel like writing that much, a pictorial tribute seems right. With each picture comes a nice (and hopefully funny) set of words.

Pete: Yo Matt, how's the Jarrett living arrangement going?

Matt: Good, but can you please get your hand off my butt.

Pete: Check these guns out! Got them with special help of substances commonly found in my players when they take NFL Combine tests.

Pete: Oh! This feels great! I love getting wet by 250lbs men!

Pete: Shit... there goes our 2009 season. Thanks a lot you Dirty Sanchez!

Pete: Don't worry, your paycheck has been mailed with the bonus you deserve for this great win.

Pete: Hey you! Remember, I own the police, so watch yourself.

Pete: Oh dear god, this feels so right. Please don't ever let go.

Matt: I won't daddy, I won't.

With that, from all of us at RJS, I would like to thank the Seahawks and Pete's ego. And Pete, you will NOT be missed.

Hey Cal, What Hurts More?

2010-01-07T17:06:00.000-08:00

Remember 2008? Hopefully. Remember senior day at Pauley Pavilion? I seriously hope so. Not only was it a memorable Senior Day for Mr. Mata-Real, but it was the day the Bears once again got owned by the Bruins. Why am I bringing this up 22 months later? Well... last night's magical ending to the UCLA v. Cal game brought on a similar aura as that 2008 game in Pauley did. UCLA was down and out of the game for the most part, but somehow, had a veteran 6'5" guard/forward find a way to put the pull in the hoop in the remaining seconds of the game. Sure, UCLA went on to the Final Four and the game as a home guy. This time around Cal was the heavy favorite (15 points in fact) and the home team. Luckily, the result was the same. Cal choking, UCLA winning. Here are two videos to remind the fans of the top 2 UC's about those two magical endings:

Game from 2008:

Game from 2010:
Here are the highlights from last night

So what was better?

The Year of the Big 10

2010-01-05T20:47:00.000-08:00

That's right, it is the year of the Big 10. Tonight's Orange Bowl between Georgia Tech and Iowa marked the last game of the season for any Big 10 team. Much like their fellow Big 10 BCSers Ohio State, the Hawkeyes took care of business and gave the conference a stunning (if not miraculous or amazing) 2-0 record for the 2009-2010 in BCS bowl games. Last year, the conference went 0-2 with OSU and Penn State getting owned. The year before that? Much more embarrassing as both losses in BCS games were blow-outs. Before that, after the 2006 season? That's right also 0-2. So this 2-0 performance should be celebrated throughout the Midwest as the conference has finally restored but of its torn reputation. However, the BCS wins are only part of the story.

The conference obviously had some other bowl games right? Well, yeah. Here is how it did in those: 2-3. Yes, it's a losing record, but let's consider some factors about those three losses. Minnesota lost by a mere point to Iowa State, so obviously that game could have gone either way. Northwestern lost in a bowl game played in the South against an SEC team. Furthermore, if it wasn't for a trick play, they could have tied the game up in OT and perhaps win it. The last loss came in the state of Texas against Texas Tech, a team that was playing with lots of emotion. There you go, three really close losses that could have gone either way. Also, it used to be where the Big 10 would get blown out and flat out embarrassed, so this is clearly a huge improvement.
Overall, the conference went 4-3 which is not great but quite good. It definitely beats the Pac 10's amazing 2-5 record. The Big 10 has played two tough BCS games and came out on top, twice. Only one other conference has a chance to do that this year and that is the SEC. But remember, Florida's win came in New Orleans which is not too far from Gainsville. Anyone want to compare that to the distance from Columbus to Pasadena or Iowa City to Miami?

U$C Basketball Takes It Like an Inmate

2010-01-03T16:49:00.001-08:00

For those of you who have not heard the news, Mike "Sketch" Garrett decided to save his bff Pete "The Cheat" Carroll and impose sanctions on Kevin "Crazy" O'Neill's program (well, program is being used loosely). It's funny. The basketball team is looking more impressive than their football team did this past season as it swept the Arizona schools this weekend. So why sacrifice the basketball team to try to save the football team from Bushgate? Well, here's why. No one honestly cares about U$C basketball. Sure, like 10 students might, and maybe 200 when UCLA plays at the Warehouse (sometimes referred to as Galen Center). Yesterday's attendance from the pathetic game against ASU was 5,917 and 4,813 attended the Pac-10 opener against Sean Miller's Wildcats. Those numbers show the lack of support the U$C "family" has for its basketball program. 50% capacity just does not cut it. The football team in comparison brings in over 80,000 fans regularly, with probably 70% of it being bandwagon fans.

The bandwagon fans are really the key to this whole situation. Since they do not care about U$C basketball, it seems like a no brainer that that should be the program that gets punished to avoid the Lack of Institutional Control penalty the NCAA could theoretically impose on the athletic department. I mean, from a business end, this is absolutely brilliant. Why not punish the less profitable of the products? The monetary set backs will be minuscule and it will be easy to say that the athletic department is ethically correct and all that jazz. If anyone who is reading this thinks that I'm crazy and the only one who thinks this crazy notion, I would suggest checking the non-partisan view of those on ESPN and Fox Sports. Once again Trojans, and I will paraphrase a line said by one of your most famous alums in a movie, STAY CLASSY $C!

UCLA Football Over the Last Four Years (Part II)

2009-12-31T18:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I analyzed the Bruins' performance against its conference rivals. Today, it is time to look at how the men in True Blue fared against out of conference competition, including the three bowl games. I will show the breakdown by the conference we played, and do a similar record break down for each team like I did yesterday. Here we go!

ACC:

FSU 0-1 (0-0, 0-0, 0-1, 0-0) <---- LOST EMERALD BOWL!

Big-12:

KSU 1-0 (1-0, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0)

C-USA:

Rice 1-0 (1-0, 0-0, 1-0, 0-0)

Independents:

Notre Dame 0-2 (0-1, 0-1, 0-2, 0-0)

MAC:

Temple 1-0 (0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0) <---- WON EAGLEBANK BOWL!

MWC:

Utah 1-1 (1-0, 0-1, 1-1, 0-0)

BYU 1-2 (1-0, 0-1, 1-0, 0-1) <---- LOST VEGAS BOWL UNDER D. WALKER!

SDSU 1-0 (1-0, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0)

SEC:

UT 2-0 (1-0, 1-0, 0-0, 2-0)

WAC:

Fresno St. 0-1 (0-1, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1)

Overall: 8-7

Bowl: 1-2

ACC: 0-1

Big-12: 1-0

C-USA: 1-0

Indep: 0-2

MAC: 1-0

MWC: 3-3

SEC: 2-0

WAC: 0-1

Dorrell: 3-4

Neuheisel: 5-2

It is easy to see how the different coaches have done. Neuheisel inherited a horrible team in 2008 and still managed to beat UT. Dorrell on the other hand, gave ND their first win of the 2007 season after they started 0-5 in the Rose Bowl. Furthermore, anyone remember 2006 in South Bend? I personally tried forgetting since I was there in person and my heart broke right there and then, but it happened. Dorrell coached not to lose, and we still lost. The bowl games under the Dorrell regime were not so different either. The FSU game up at AT&T Park in SF was a heartbreaker as we gave the game away to the 'Noles. The Vegas Bowl, though under Walker, was essentially under the Dorrell regime so I am going to lump that in there too. Again, my heart was broken in freezing weather as Forbath's FG attempt was blocked by the gigantic mormons. There it is, UCLA football over the last four years. Some great moments, but tons of heartbreaks and disappointments. Hopefully the next decade will bring about a new sense of winning to the Bruin program.

UCLA Football Over the Last Four Years (Part I)

2009-12-30T14:01:00.000-08:00

UCLA's first bowl game win since the 2005 Sun Bowl marked the official end of the of its 2009 season. It also marked the end of UCLA football during my collegiate time. I have been fortunate to be at UCLA and been able to attend (for free, thank you marching band) games at the Rose Bowl for four years. However, UCLA football has not been so "Rosy" lately. Though there have been some ups, for each one of those, there seem to have been multiple downs. Since I am an engineer, I felt the need to quantify the football team's performance in some way, shape, or form.

The first part of the analysis will be looking at the Bruins record against each Pac-10 team, against which they have played two home and two away games. It will hopefully show where great opportunities were missed and perhaps where great results were seized. Below are the records against each conference opponent in alphabetical order in the following format: Team, Overall Record (Home, Away, Dorrell, Neuheisel).

Arizona 1-3 (1-1, 0-2, 1-1, 0-2)

ASU 2-2 (1-1, 1-1, 1-1, 1-1)

Cal 1-3 (1-1, 0-2, 1-1, 0-2)

Oregon 1-3 (1-1, 0-2, 1-1, 0-2)

OSU 2-2 (1-1, 1-1, 2-0, 0-2)

Stanford 3-1 (2-0, 1-1, 2-0, 1-1)

U$C 1-3 (1-1, 0-2, 1-1, 0-2)

UW 3-1 (2-0, 1-1, 1-1, 2-0)

WSU 2-2 (1-1, 1-1, 0-2, 2-0)

Overall: 16-20

Home: 11-7

Away: 5-13

Dorrell: 10-8

Neuheisel: 6-12

The easiest statistic to look at here is the away record. It's absolutely abysmal and should easily be much better. If we then look at the the differences in records between the two coaches, the casual observer would point out that Dorrell has a much better record. However, for anyone who has actually followed UCLA football, this should not be too surprising considering how little talent Neuheisel inherited last year. Furthermore, the Pac-10 this year was about as deep and competitive as it has ever been, and UCLA was still retooling so that definitely influenced the win and loss columns. Here are some key games against the Washington schools that I believe should have gone our way but we blew under the Dorrell regime:

Both losses to WSU. I was there for the one in 2006 and it was terrible. I also remember watching the 2007 game, the Bell tears ACL game, that we basically gave to them.
UW 2006. We had a 13-0 lead coming out of half-time and completely blew it. Sure, it was in Seattle, but we completely dominated the first 30 minutes before tanking it.

If you add those, that's two easy wins in 2006 (which would have given UCLA a 9-3 record), and one easy win in 2007 (putting UCLA at 7-5). Also, I think that we got really lucky in 2007 against Oregon because they were playing without Dennis Dixon, and thus had no offense. Sure, injuries did hamper some of those Dorrell teams, but they had solid talent (and in 2007 national hype), to a point that we needed to not tank easy games. Unfortunatly, the out-of-conference schedule and bowl games were another area where UCLA did not necessarily excel at during my tenure as a student. That part of the analysis will come tomorrow so stay tuned!

UCLA Wins, Putting the Pac Back at .500

2009-12-30T00:59:00.001-08:00

Thanks to the two Los Angeles schools, the Pac-10 conference is now sitting at a cool 2-2 record with three games left over the next three days. So how did UCLA even up the conference's bowl record? Here are three unconventional factors that helped the Bruins:

1. Icy Field: If it wasn't for the icy field, Mr. Ayers would have never slipped and unintentionally tricked the offensive line and quarterback of the Owls.

2. Matt Brown: Sure, he had a touchdown and some pretty fancy runs. However, when it really mattered, he got eaten alive by Brian Price and Reggie Carter. Maybe the key was for Bernard Pierce to get injured in the 2nd, that's up for debate.

3. Shirtless warm-ups: Clearly, they didn't end up hurting the team on the field. Furthermore, it ended up giving them great publicity. ESPN kept talking about it and cutting to it on it's pre-game show, during the game, and continuously on Sportscenter. It was also a highlight on local newscasts in the Bay Area, showing that America is clearly ready for large tattooed college kids. If I am a big time prep player, I would think this is awesome. Nothing like some good publicity, right?

Pac-10 Basketball Preview

2009-12-28T13:05:00.000-08:00

As the Pac-10 regular season approaches, and many teams are finally done with their non-conference games, it is time to look ahead to what may end up being as the most "competitive" and up in the air conference season in a long time. The last four years were basically a UCLA domination, with Washington emerging last year to steal the regular season crown by a mere game over UCLA. The same Huskies should be the favorites this year but have not been that dominating despite their high preseason ranking. The loss to Texas Tech was a huge disappointment, and so was the loss to equally powerful Georgetown. Like Washington, instate rivals WSU have only two losses from the preseason although they do not have any impressive wins. However, the play of Klay Thompson will carry them a long way in conference. Arizona State, a team believed to not be in contention after losing Jeff Pendergraph to graduation and James Harden to the NBA Draft, is sitting at 10-3 but like WSU, does not have any signature wins. Here is the entire pecking order as of Monday:
WSU 10-2
UW 9-2
ASU 10-3
U$C 8-4
UO 7-4
Cal 6-4
UA 6-5
OSU 6-5
SU 5-6
UCLA 5-7
Now, it is time to make some bold statements and predictions:

Pac-10 Champ: I still think UW has the most fire power and showed the most consistency thus far, and should therefore win the title. Plus, it's impossible to win against them in Seattle, just ask Ben Howland.

Pac-10 Surprise: U$C. Yes, I know. They are the lowly Trojans, but... They have two wins over ranked teams, including a very impressive win against the Vols. That being said, they lost to LMU, so I could be completely wrong.

Pac-10 Disappointment: It would be easy to pick UCLA, but we are talking about the conference season here. I would have to go with UofA because they were picked in the preseason to finish 4th in the conference, have a better record right now than UCLA, and have tons of question marks. If it wasn't for my admiration for Mike Montgomery of Cal I would have picked them.

Pac-10 POY: Quincy Pondexter of UW. He's coming in to the conference season averaging 21.8ppg and 8.4 rpg. He is the lone senior on the best team in the conference. Those two factors combined will bring him the award. Klay Thompson of WSU should also be in consideration, but since he is younger and on a lesser recognized team, he won't get it.

Pac-10 FOY: Reeves Nelson of UCLA. He is averaging twice as many points per game for a lower scoring team (UCLA) than Abdul Gaddy's UW. He plays with a chip on his shoulder and has had dominating performances against bigger and more established players. There really is no other freshman this year in the conference in terms of points and contributions to his team beyond the stat sheet.

Pac-10 Jumps Ahead, MWC Gets Last Laugh

2009-12-24T14:15:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year, I wrote about the most overrated conference in college football heading into the season. The conference I chose is the MWC. Now, I may seem kind of silly and somewhat stupid. TCU is going to be playing in a BCS bowl game and BYU and Utah just beat up on two schools from the nation's most competitive conference. Then again, bowl performances are not the true indicator of how well a team and subsequently its conference are, but it does hold some truth. For those who watched the Vegas and Poinsettia Bowls, I'm sure that there was one common theme. Pac-10 team jumps to a quick lead, then blows it. In the Vegas Bowl, the wind (all 40mph of it) and Max Hall's arm helped penetrate the Beavers. In San Diego, Cal's ineptitude in tough games and Utah's perseverance helped seal the Pac's early 0-2 bowl record.

It is easy to just look at the past two games and quickly declare the MWC slightly superior to the Pac-10. I mean, they are 2-0 in the bowl season against their neighbors in the Pacific Time Zone. But there is an underlying factor in there. The Vegas Bowl featured the MWC's 2nd best while it only pitted the Pac 10's 4th best. The disparity in rankings is then somewhat amplified in the Poinsettia Bowl since Cal was the Pac's 6th best and Utah was the MWC's 3rd best. Would BYU really have an easy a time against the Pac 10's second best? That'd be Arizona. Remember last year's Vegas Bowl? If not, here is what happened: Arizona upset BYU. Furthermore, would Utah beat Stanford? Utah lost to Oregon and Stanford manhandled Oregon, all this season. So probably not. However, the hypothetical games are only hypotheticals so we all have to face the reality. The Pac-10 has laid an egg while the MWC seized the moment and dominated its opponents. Congratulations to the Utah schools, and good job Beavs and Cal for misrepresenting the West Coast.

Pac-10 Bowl Predictions

2009-12-22T14:00:00.000-08:00

Bowl Games Pac-10 Predictions
(Last week Truebluebruin 1-2, 2-1 against the spread. Blueandgold 2-1, 1-2 against the spread)
(Overall Truebluebruin 51-24, 28-41-2 against the spread. Blueandgold 52-23, 32-36-3 against the spread)

BYU vs Oregon State (-2.5): Vegas Bowl
(Truebluebruin) People like to joke that USC was getting tired of Rosebowls the last few years, but BYU could probably say the same thing about multiple trips to the Vegas bowl. They will definitely be accustomed to the intense cold of the bowl game (I was at that bowl 2 years ago, it was freezing!!). Still, this is an Oregon State team that game 1 game away from going to the rosebowl in a very strong pac-10. They beat a Gerhart lead Stanford, so taking on Unga of BYU shouldn’t be too imposing.
Oregon State 31 BYU 23
(Blueandgold) The meeting of 2 offensive minded teams. OSU looked good in the Civil War and they have a dual threat of passing via James and running via Jaquizz, and with Canfield being the orchestrator the Beaver Offense is in good hands. But they go up against Max Hall who has been rock solid the past two seasons with over 3,000 yards this year as well. BYU is slightly better than OSU in all offensive categories, however OSU had a tougher schedule. Because this game is in Vegas and BYU's second home, I'm gonna pick them in this one; their fans really know how to fill Sam Boyd Stadium.
BYU 28 OSU 21

Utah vs Cal (-2.5): Poinsetta Bowl
(Truebluebruin) Probably the most inconsistent team in the pac-10, you never know what team will show up when Cal takes the field. Utah isn’t the team that went 13-0 last season, but they are still a strong enough team to give Cal fits if they don’t take this game seriously. Shane Vareen has been a power for Cal since the loss of Best, but I don’t know how focused they’ll come out for this game. I have to pick Utah in this one
Utah 21 Cal 20
(Blueandgold) This is a great matchup. Cal would win this easily with Best, but without him, it makes for an interesting game. The team showed a lot of poise beating Arizona and Stanford in the final weeks, although getting spanked by Washington in the last game really hurt. Utah is formidable opponent, however they aren't the same team from last year. Also with the game in CA, I feel the home crowd will help put Cal over the top on this one. Cal, like BYU, is slightly better statistically than Utah, but those statistics come playing in a tougher conference than Utah.
Cal 24 Utah 17

Boston College vs USC (-7): Emerald Bowl
(Truebluebruin) Be careful what you wish for, Trojan fans. After complaining about getting tired of Rosebowls, USC finally gets a new venue, but definitely not the way they would hope. The fact that USC didn’t win the pac-10 again isn’t that big of a shock, given that all “dynasties” end eventually, but that with the embarrassing amount of talent on both sides of the ball and in the depth chart, that USC finished in 5th place in the pac-10. If USC is even remotely focused on this game, they should overwhelm Boston College based off of talent alone.
USC 38 BC 21
(Blueandgold) Well a down year for USC, finishing 5th in the Pac 10 after 7 straight Pac 10 Championships. However even though they lost their final game to AZ and haven't looked the same in the final 6 weeks, they are really statistically better than BC in all offensive categories. However, the Joe McKnight scandal may change the tides of this game, losing their 1,000+ yard rusher, leaving TRUE FRESHMAN Matt Barkley to win the game on his arm (which hasn't been stellar of late). Still the competition of BC is not enough to match 'SC's superior talent on both sides of the ball.
USC 28 BC 17

Temple vs UCLA (-4): EagleBank Bowl
(Truebluebruin) Well, the bowl season hasn’t played out so far how UCLA would have hoped, with 3 players already removed from the team for the bowl game, and fans upset over the “wall incident” while the Owls are much more focused after gaining only their 3rd bowl bid ever. Temple should enjoy an advantage in location, weather, and fan support, but UCLA should be the more talented team and more battle tested due to playing a much tougher schedule. If UCLA can stay focused, they should be able to win a tough game.
UCLA 24 Temple 17
(Blueandgold) A very interesting matchup to say the least. Bruins come in as basically the last team to get a bowl bid and being only at 6-6 against an Owl team appearing in their first bowl in 3 decades under a rising superstar coach. UCLA is a pass oriented team playing against a Temple Run oriented team. The two are very different, and they split many offensive statistics because of that. UCLA did play a tougher schedule though and should prepare them for solid Temple team. Playing against Vareen, James, Gerhart, and Rodgers should have prepared the Bruins for what they see in Temple's running game.
UCLA 24 Temple 21

Nebraska vs Arizona (even): Holiday Bowl
(Truebluebruin) Probably the hardest game to forecast, you have a strong offense for Arizona against a stifling Nebraska defense, that can’t really move the ball. Nebraska almost knocked off Texas, and Arizona’s offense should be easier to shut down. This could be an ugly, low scoring game, with Suh being the difference, causing havoc in the Arizona backfield
Nebraska 17 Arizona 14
(Blueandgold) Well the winner of this game will show whether a good Defense or Offense is more dominant. Arizona is an Offensive minded team, beating Nebraska in all offensive statistics. However Nebraska comes into the game with a Heisman Candidate in Suh leading a suffocating defense that almost pulled off the win against Texas. I feel this is the toughest game to project of all the Pac 10 matchups. But with a little help from a hometown crowd, I feel AZ will be pushed over the top.
Arizona 24 Nebraska 21

Oklahoma (-7) vs Stanford: Sun Bowl
(Truebluebruin) Oklahoma should enjoy a sizeable home field advantage in this game. Stanford’s offense won’t be at 100% with Andrew Luck somewhat beaten up. Gerhart alone could carry this team. However, he is no longer facing a pac-10 team that has a reputation of defending against more finesse, speed, spread based offenses. Stanford is going up against a big-12 school used to power, smash-mouth football. Oklahoma should be able to keep Gerhart in better check than the rest of the pac-10 could.
Oklahoma 31 Stanford 20
(Blueandgold) Stanford finds itself in a bowl for the first time since 2001, but they will play a team that was in the National Championship game last year. Stanford is statistically better offensively than OU, and will need a big game from their go-to guy and Heisman winner (according to me) Toby Gerhart. However Luck may not be back in time for the game, which could severely hurt Stanford, but no Bradford will definitely hurt Oklahoma. Still Stanford's backup has experience and won't be a total drop off from Luck. Pac 10-Big 12 Bragging rights are on the line here and I will go with the Big 10 on this one because of the home crowd from OU in Texas and with the Bowl experience that OU has over Stanford.
OU 35 Stanford 27

Ohio State vs Oregon (-2): Rose Bowl
(Truebluebruin) So nice to see a rosebowl without USC playing in it. Funny that despite a close line of only Oregon as a 2 point favorite, the entire nation seems to agree that Oregon should win this game. Oregon’s offense should give Ohio State fits. While Ohio State can put up points on an average Oregon defense, I’d be very surprised if they can keep up with the yards and points that this Oregon offense produces in large quantities. Ohio State’s vaunted rushing defense is about to be exposed.
Oregon 35 Ohio State 17
(Blueandgold) Oregon wins this one because their offense is just way too hard to contain. They can run with James and Masoli and they have the future Heisman candidate in Masoli as well. Oregon is better in all offensive statistics and has individual leaders beating their Buckeye counterparts. Oregon's defense is also superior, which will suffocate the OSU offense. Add to that Trussell's uncanny ability to lose big time games and you have the makings of possibly an Oregon blowout (not to mention a probable Oregon hometown crowd with the game on the West Coast). Too many weapons against a team that hasn't really shown in the national spotlight they have the answers. Although this game is the 6th best rushing offense in Oregon against the 5th best rushing defense in Ohio State. I'll take the offense in this one.
Oregon 28 Ohio State 17

Kentucky Makes History

2009-12-21T21:27:00.000-08:00

A couple hours ago, UK (the one on this side of the Atlantic) made history by becoming the first program to make it to 2000 wins. This feat is definitely an amazing one, there should no absolutely doubt about it. Yes, UK had a lot of its success before 1960 under Adolf Rupp, which came in a segregated conference as Pat Forde of ESPN pointed out in a column a few months ago. However, it had a great streak of NCAA tournament appearances which was just snapped as well as having the 2 National Championships in the 1990's under two different coaches. As a Bruin, I feel like am obligated to say that 11 > 7, especially when all 11 came since 1965, but that's enough of that. Congrats to Kentucky and its supportive fan base (which honestly seems more dedicated at times than UCLA's or any other school).

A Mexican 8-Clap

2009-12-20T22:50:00.000-08:00

This past week I was on a cruise with five of my dearest of friends to and from Mexico. It was the perfect way to get rid of the anxiety from finals week. It was also a great way to represent our beloved UCLA with a ridiculous amount of 8-claps. We decided that just represnting it in the United States would be "half-assing" so we proceeded to do it in Mexico as well. The video below documents our 8-clap in the Cheeky Monkey bar, which by the way is amazing. Here is the video:

What I found really cool later in the night is that there were Oregon Ducks fans sitting in the same bar but on the floor above us, and upon hearing our "UCLA chant" as they put it, they responded with their own "O" thing they do. It is nice to see friendly competition and pride in one's respective school. On our trip we also encountered Husky, Cougs, Beaver, Golden Bear, and sadly Trojan fans. Ironically it was the U$C people that seemed to have less pride than any other group we talked to. Go figure.

Pac-10 Basketball = Crap

2009-12-13T00:36:00.000-08:00

With another disappointing yet somewhat expected UCLA loss today coupled with Washington getting dominated by the Hoyas in Anaheim, I realized that this year is most definitely not a good one for the Pac-10. Actually to be fair, this seemed pretty obvious when Texas Tech beat Washington, and even earlier when Cal got embarrassed by 'Cuse. The only highlight for the Pac-10 thus far has to be Stanford's choke against Kentucky (which has still yet to lose a game). So how bad is the conference this year? Really bad. Like, when a U$C student attempts to spell SAT bad. Actually, maybe slightly better than that. Here are some disgusting numbers at how badly the conference has looked in the first month of the season:

Teams with a winning record: 5 (WSU, Cal, Washington, ASU, and Stanford)
Teams ranked in the top-25: 1 (Washington)
Teams ranked in the top-15: 0
Horrible Losses: Cal v. NMU, Stanford v. USD, Stanford v. ORU, Oregon v. Montana, OSU v. AMCC, OSU v. Sac State, U$C v. LMU, UCLA v. CSUF, UCLA v. LBSU.
Bad Losses: Washington @ TTU, Baylor @ ASU, Cal v. 'Cuse, Arizona @ SDSU.

Yeah, this is U-G-L-Y! There is no way around it. I even left out the losses by UCLA and Oregon to Portland, mainly because Portland turned out to be pretty good against other good teams. Also, it seems like the conference has like one or two wins against top-25 competition. Actually, according to what I just saw over at ESPN.com it's more like ZERO wins. As Andy Katz said in a column he wrote a few weeks ago, the conference might only get two invites come March. At the time, I thought that he was being somewhat ridiculous. Now? I might have to agree.

Heisman Time!!! The Sequel!

2009-12-12T18:05:00.000-08:00

Well, looks like Player B won the Heisman trophy just now. Although I personally believed Player A should win it, I think that Player B deserves it almost as much. He becomes the first player in the storied tradition of the Alabama Crimson Tide football program to win the trophy. Altough the score on the poll that we posted here was in favor of Player A, Player B came through in the eyes of the actual voters of the award.

If you haven't figured it out yet, here are who each player is:
Player A: Toby Gerhart, Stanford
Player B: Mark Ingram, Alabama

Heisman Time!!!

2009-12-10T17:48:00.000-08:00

Even though the Heisman Memorial Trophy will be announced on Saturday, and right now it is "only" Thursday, it is never too early to speculate who will (or should) win the most coveted award in college football. Actually, people have been speculating about the 75th Heisman since like... last year. Regardless, it is still early enough to offer up some predictions about who is going to take all the beans home. There are five outstanding candidates first and foremost. However, two should be eliminated because their career stats are amazing, and this year was slightly more "average" for them. Good-bye Tim Tebow (and Jesus) and Colt McCoy (and his >70% completion rate). Yes, you have both had amazing careers, but let's be honest, you do not deserve it right now, especially after your sad performances in the SEC and Big-12 Championship games respectively. This brings me to the one-man machine out of Nebraska. Ndamukong Suh, personally destroyed Colt McCoy and the Texas offense. Like in the clip below (thanks to Yahoo! Sports for bringing this to light):

Yes, he has 12.5 sacks on the year. A stat which is outstanding for an interior DL. Here is the problem, he's a DL. No defensive lineman has ever won the Heisman. The only defensive player to win it was Charles Woodson, and he also played some special teams. Therefore, it should be a safe bet to eliminate Mr. Suh from the runnings. Oh how harsh this world is! The only remaining candidates are running backs. Therefore, let us compare them directly to each other.

Player A: 311 1,736 5.6 61 26 (ATT YDS AVG LNG TD)
Player B: 249 1,542 6.2 70 15 (ATT YDS AVG LNG TD)

Let it be noted that Player B also has three receiving touchdowns.

Who would you pick, A or B?

Who should win the Heisman?

We'll reveal the identities of the players on Saturday!

Kiki beats his old coach

2009-12-04T23:06:00.000-08:00

Another Bruin is now in the win column as an NBA head coach. Tonight Kiki's Nets beat the Bobcats in the Meadowlands to snap their record 18 consecutive losses to open up the season. As I watched the highlights, I thought to myself "hey, didn't Larry Brown coach at UCLA around the time that Kiki was a basketball player there?" Well, turns out my intuition was validated (according to Wikipedia). Yes, it was 30 season ago that in his senior year at UCLA he played for Mr. Larry Brown and the UCLA team that went to the championship game. Must be nice to beat an old college coach for your first win as one right?

Here are video highlights courtesy of ESPN: Bobcats @ Nets 12-03-09

Pac-10 Week 14 Predictions

2009-12-03T09:45:00.001-08:00

Week 14 Pac-10 Predictions
(Last week Truebluebruin 4-0, 0-4 against the spread. Blueandgold 3-1, 1-3 against the spread)
(Overall Truebluebruin 50-22, 26-40-2 against the spread. Blueandgold 50-22, 31-34-3 against the spread)

Oregon State @ Oregon (-8)
(Truebluebruin) It’s nice to know that USC’s run at the Pac-10 title and Rosebowl has FINALLY come to an end. Tonight, the civil war will determine who the Pac-10 will send to the Rosebowl. Oregon, despite a small slip up against Stanford, has been hot all Pac-10 season long, while Oregon State has had a few more bumps in the road. Both teams feature star playmakers that could run away with the game, but considering the game is in Eugene, I’m going to give the nod to the Ducks.
Oregon 35 Oregon State 28
(Blueandgold) Well the Rose Bowl is up for grabs, making this a great matchup for the final weekend with so much on the line (not to mention bragging rights for a year). The Civil War poses two great teams against each other, one with a monster offense while the other with a quick and crafty one. Defense is gonna win this game so I give the edge to the Ducks (although if they give up the yardage they gave to Stanford they are in for a long night).
Oregon 35 OSU 24

Arizona @ USC (-8)
(Truebluebruin) It would be very fashionable to pick Arizona in this game. USC certainly didn’t look like world beaters against the Bruins last week, and the Arizona offense will certainly give USC more of a challenge than the Bruins did. Still, Arizona is coming off of two loses and a much too close victory against ASU, and themselves are struggling. That is bad news on the Road against ‘SC.
USC 24 Arizona 20
(Blueandgold) USC is coming off a win to quiet their critics, but the game against the Bruins may have added more questions to how the offense is functioning. If you look at it, Barkley had a good season, not a great one, but a good enough one. I feel that Arizona's high tempo offense and wildcat formation mix in will overwhelm a USC defense thats going through the motions. I'm gonna go with Arizona on this one.
Arizona 24 USC 21

Cal (-6) @ Washington
(Truebluebruin) Cal is flying high after their road victory in the Big game, while Washington crushed their rival by 30. I think the only reason this line is so close is the combined factor that Washington is at home and they showed signs of an offense against Washington State. Problem is, everyone shows signs of an offense against Washington State. Shane Vereen is on a roll and should be able to run all over the Huskies.
Cal 31 Washington 17
(Blueandgold) Cal should win this one. Washington had one huge win this season and thats about it, they beat who they were supposed to and lost who they were supposed with the exception thankfully coming against USC. Cal is still without best but with an good QB and some receivers they are the favorite. Also Washington's defense isn't that great either so I expect Cal to come away with the W against washington.
Cal 24 Washington 17

Notable Tweets 12/02/09

2009-12-03T00:08:00.000-08:00

Here at RJS we would like to think of ourselves as young, hip, and with the times. Therefore, we have our own twitter account (Follow us!) and we figured we should follow some "people of interest". To be honest, we have not used this feature as much as we probably ought to, but better late than never right? Without further a-do, here are some tweets that caught our eyes:

From Pete Carroll: "i get a kick out of you by frank sinatra... goes out to TJ simers... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtwO2tKZmwQ"
To those who do not know TJ Simers, a usual hater of UCLA athletics, actually decided to insult (and rightfully so) the Trojans, their head-coach and even his own colleague Bill Plaschke. I'm assuming then that Pete's tweet is referring to this column: Never let it be said he isn't right on USC-UCLA game

From David Beckham: "Just found @lightinthebox ( http://bit.ly/litb ) a good place to find interesting Made-in-China stuff. Hey, even my tees were made in China!"
To be honest, while this is his most recent of works, it came a month ago. However, the sheer comedy that Becks exudes in his tweet is fantastic! I'm glad that he finally, after over 30 years, figured out where most of his Adidas apparel is actually made, congrats!

From Bruin great Baron Davis: "Be sure to check your beard after eating, as crumbs in the chin scruff may attract unwanted visitors..."
The man sports one of the best beards (on the right) in all of sports. Therefore, it is his civil duty to inform others how to ensure their beards stay as well groomed and perfect as his. Thank you Baron Davis, thank you.

From the Shaquille O'Neal: "How u know were I'm at, when u haven't been where I been, understand were I'm coming from"
No clue if it's his own words or not, but either way I do not believe it. I mean, the dude is 7'1" and weighs 350lbs, how can you know not where he is? I can for sure say he was in Cleveland because I saw it on Sportscenter earlier, sorry Shaq.

A Day Later... He's Still a Douche

2009-11-29T22:15:00.001-08:00

I told myself I would wait a day from the end of the game until the time that I started to vent about this. I figured I should let my emotions cool off a little bit after seeing all of the nonsense transpire in person. Yes, I was down on the "sidelines" (because U$C makes opposing fans/bands/etc sit on the like -15 yard line), and go to see the classless thugs that is U$C bandwagon fans go crazy. Oops! I meant players and coaches. With less than a minute left, Neuheisel called a time-out after Barkley took a knee. To me, that's saying "I'm not going to surrender and show my team I don't have the fight in me" from Neuheisel. Maybe it was not the most appropriate thing to do, but this thing is done commonly by coaches when they are down a score or two towards the end of the game. What happened afterwards is where things turned ugly.

"Coach" Pete Carroll and his OC decided to not only run a play for a first down but wait for it, for a touchdown. Yes, a 48 yard pass down the middle to Damian Williams who had to go less than five yards for the score. This wasn't a let's show 'em by getting a first down and maybe more, but straight up in-your-face bomb. This should not be a surprise to anyone who has been following Pac-10 football since Pete Carroll took over at U$C. His hypocracy is amazing. He whines about his quarterbacks getting hit, but is there to defend Overrated Player of the Year Taylor Mays for his slew of late cheap-shots. And most importantly, about running up the score. Remember when the Trees from Palo Alto tried going for two points to hang 50 (which eventually they did) in South Central only two weeks ago? If you think I am too much of a UCLA homer, lets examine what some people outside of UCLA have to say about this incident:

From Seth Davis of SI: "It's official: Pete Carroll is a no-class lowlife. Does he have any notion he is supposed to be an educator?"

From Arash Markazi (U$C alum) of SI: "Consensus amongst many level headed USC fans: More embarrassed by rub-it-in TD and taunting than the Stanford game."

From Cal alum Gordon C.: "Pete Carroll is an asshole, plain and simple. Absolutely ZERO class or sportsmanship."

From George Schroeder of The Register Guard: "USC coach Pete Carroll showed no class in throwing deep for a TD with less than a minute left against UCLA."

Yeah, so while Trojans and dumb LAT columnists keep trying to spin this off, it seems like a national consensus seems to be to the contrary.

Let's hope for a Beaver win this Thursday and a "Bearing Down" by the Wildcats at the Coliseum to send U$C where it belongs.

Stay classy U$C!

The morning after...

2009-11-29T14:48:00.000-08:00

The morning after is never fun, especially when your night could’ve been greatly improved by a brawl in south central (I was going to reference the ironic fact that the opposing sides were wearing blue and red, but to be honest I decided that would be a terrible terrible idea).

So anyway lets put aside the complete lack of class from the Trojan football team, USC completely shafting UCLA fans on tickets, and the fact that even when watching on TV the USC fight song can still be heard every 15 seconds (after a holding penalty…really?); and lets focus on what’s really important: USC’s standout academic athlete of the game (or whatever the hell Comcast Sports called it).

Meet Abe Markowitz. He plays on the offensive line. During yesterday’s game Comcast cut away from the action to show us this fine young man and his academic exploits which are apparently a source of great pride at the USC athletic dept. Now sit down and strap in folks because our boy Abe is the proud owner of a staggering 2.9 GPA. I know, I didn’t think it existed either.

Now to be honest I know that the occasional intelligent student-athlete does find his/her way into that school, so why show off this guy? Well it just so happens Mr. Markowitz is in line to be a King of Tonga (according to CSN Bay Area). Yeah that’s right, he’s THAT kind of academic standout, the “it’s not what you know, but who you know” kind of standout. It’s like calling George W. Bush a scholar (only without the cocaine and DUI’s and whatnot).

I for one say screw Tonga. Half their population lives abroad and the half that doesn’t will be underwater by the end of the century (provided our boy hasn’t run the country into the ground by then). Forgive me green lobby, but this time Global Warming can’t come soon enough.

This message was brought to you by the gratuitous use of parentheses.

I'll shut up now

Week 13 Pac-10 Predictions

2009-11-27T22:08:00.000-08:00

Week 13 Pac-10 Predictions
(Last week Truebluebruin 3-1, 1-3 against the spread. Blueandgold 3-1, 2-2 against the spread)
(Overall Truebluebruin 46-22, 26-36-2 against the spread. Blueandgold 47-22, 30-31-3 against the spread)

Washington State @ Washington (-26)
(Truebluebruin) I suppose if Washington State is going to win a pac-10 game this year, this would be their chance. Not that they have much of a chance, the team is simply atrocious. UW will be fired up after last year’s debacle, and unlike WSU at least have a few play makers. I’m not sure, however, that UW can cover the spread.
Washington 30 Washington State 10
(Blueandgold) So again the Apple Cup will be between two bottom feeders in the Pac 10. Although Washington has improved over last year's season, they still have to put up a tough fight to avoid the "upset". Really no one outside of Washington will care about this game, because unlike last year, it was between the worst two teams in college football. Washington should win to regain the title of the best in the Evergreen State, but not by the spread.
Washington 27 Washington State 10

Arizona (-3.5) @ Arizona State
(Truebluebruin) I think the only reason this line is so close is because Arizona has lost two tough games recently. They played Oregon very tough in a heartbreaking loss, and the only thing that could hurt them is a fired up ASU against an emotionally drained Arizona. It’s definitely possible. I think it’ll be close for a half, but Arizona will take over in the 2nd half
Arizona 28 ASU 13
(Blueandgold) Arizona is coming off a tough loss to Oregon, but showed they have the fire to compete with the Pac 10 elite. Although they are in a little rut, they are the better team in AZ. ASU is in a major rut, losing a ton of their last few games. I don't really see an upset in the making in this one, especially with ASU's offense and turnover proneness. Arizona is looking to gain some momentum going into a tough game against SC next week.
Arizona 24 ASU 13

Notre Dame @ Stanford (-10)
(Truebluebruin) Notre Dame is a tough team to figure out this week. They may come out fired up to save their coach with a big win, or perhaps the team is too distracted with questions about who their next coach will be. Despite a close loss to Cal, Toby Gerhart is still Toby Gerhart and should be able to lead the cardinal to victory.
Stanford 31 Notre Dame 17
(Blueandgold) Will Charlie Weis be fired at the end of the season. All logic points to yes especially with a mediocre 6-5 record for the Irish. However never count the guy out until the pink slip is officially handed to him. Stanford choked last week at maintaining pressure on Oregon that might have affected the outcome of the Oregon-Arizona game. Toby Gerhart will tear up the Irish defense, especially with the game being at home. Looks like the Irish are in for a .500 season.
Stanford 28 Notre Dame 21

UCLA @ USC (-13)
(Truebluebruin) I promised myself that I would not make any homer picks this season, so I’m trying to approach this game rationally. UCLA has beaten every team below them in the pac-10 and lost to every team above them. Stanford and Oregon, who were able to beat SC, were able to do so with a dominating running game. Unfortunately, UCLA doesn’t have that. UCLA is going to have to win the turnover battle in a big way to win this game. I think UCLA makes it close, but I honestly can’t pick UCLA, no matter how much I hope I’m wrong.
USC 24 UCLA 20
(Blueandgold) Here we go, the game that decides LA, and this year looks like it will deliver fireworks, at least on paper. UCLA is on a 3 game winning streak, with an offense that is clicking under Norm Chow's play calling. USC has had a disastrous few weeks in November (presumably Pete's best month all time), with losses of more than 20 points at the hands of Oregon and Stanford. The Pac 10 reign is over, now it's time to determine if they are still at the top or middle of the conference. Bruins smell blood and I am actually going to pick the upset in the coliseum.
UCLA 19 USC 17

Why I really, really hate U$C: One Bruin fan's memory of the 2007 game

2009-11-27T18:04:00.000-08:00

I really, really hate U$C.

Most Bruins share my sentiment on principle, but my hatred reached a whole new and personal after the 2007 game at the Coliseum. The end score was 24 - 7, but this had nothing to do with it. Here's what went down.

In 2007 I played tenor sax for the UCLA Marching Band. I knew that as a UCLA band member I was going to be the target of severe disrespect and hate but I knew that and I was cool with it. During the pregame show I anticipated the boos and heckling, but I certainly did not anticipate seeing 10,000 U$C students turn their backs to us and flip us off. And it wasn't even like it was a couple douchebags doing it; the douchebaggery was consistent across the entire student section. So whatever, I learned long ago that the Trojan stereotype of being arrogant and classless jerkoffs is NOT a stereotype. It is well rooted in solid fact. So I was like whatever, I can take this.

Then we get back to the stands to set up for the pep band. That's where I found out that U$C has not allotted a single seat in the Coliseum for the band, something that we do for their band and all other visiting bands at the Rose Bowl as a common courtesy. Instead, U$C built us a metal pen, which is probably better described as a cage for us in somewhere off to the side of the stadium. Wtf. It gets worse. Our band was very close to their band (which is a really bad idea, the bands hate each other with as much fervor at the football teams do). Now objectively speaking, the U$C band is extremely inferior to the UCLA band in terms of the fact that they suck ass at marching and music, essentially meaning they can't do either part of marching or being a band. Case in point: their band was microphoned. Apparently they can't be loud enough on their own, they have to be electronically amplified. I'm was with that, but I was NOT ok with the fact that they placed two giant speakers facing towards our band, effectively drowning us out and giving Bruin fans a disgusting and endless regimen of Conquest, Fight On, et. al. F*cking assholes. I can't believe their arrogance.

But the worst was yet to come. In terms of arrogance, I have not and will never in my life experience anything more ridiculous than the 4th quarter 'lighting of the torch'. Oh. My. God. I was pretty much already throwing up in a trashcan from all the tooling/douchebaggery that happened throughout the day. But the torch lighting thing really takes the cake. If anyone here reading has been to a U$C football game you know what I'm talking about when I say the lighting of the torch. For those who don't this is how it goes down.

So the 3rd quarter ends and as a football fan you expect the 4th quarter to begin promptly. No no, not so at U$C. The band plays that song that they play every damn second again and Tommy Trojan starts prancing down the field on his horse toward the torch. For those who don't know, the Coliseum was built for the 1932 Olympics and used for the 1984 games, where the opening ceremonies were held. That torch is still there. So while the whole crowd throbs with their "V" fight on fingers and their Conquest playing and their Trojan prancing, the whole place stews in a U$C spirit soup. It's foul. With much regalia and pomp and circumstance, the Trojan points his sword to the torch where it explodes into flame. The crowd goes completely out of its mind, I finally cave and go in search of the nearest trashcan/U$C sweatshirt.

This description does not convey even one-tenth of the arrogance of the scene. I seriously don't have the words to describe how ridiculous it is. I've seen tradition in college football. I've been to a Notre Dame home football game and they have their historic traditions too. But none of those scream cocky arrogance. Furthermore, I must say that Notre Dame fans are very classy individuals; when I was there I experienced little to no animosity. U$C fans on the other hand are probably the most classless and despicable fans in college sports. Their sense of entitlement and arrogance is astounding. There was one thing that made up for it just a little bit though. During the 3rd quarter I was walking around getting food, still dressed in my band uniform obviously. We had just completed our halftime show and I was hungry. I was stopped by at least three or four U$C alumni and parents who thanked me for putting on an awesome and entertaining field show. They told me they wished their band had half the skill and precision that our band had, and they considered their band a disgrace. So shove it U$C band. Oh and while we're on this train of thought of bands and arrogance, do you know what the tagline for the U$C band is? "The Spirit of Troy: The Greatest Marching Band in the History of the Universe."

God I hate U$C. For all you Bruins who will be invading the Coliseum, be sure to wear as much true blue as possible. For those of you who will be going to the Coliseum for the first time, bringing a trashbag might be a good idea: you have yet to see how sickening their arrogance is.

USC Standard Application for incoming freshmen

2009-11-26T16:27:00.000-08:00

I didn't create this. I can only applaud those who did.

Mascot Wars: Beat $C Edition!!!

2009-11-26T15:22:00.000-08:00

Hello RJS readers. Apologies are in order: I realize I have not written in a very long time. There were so many delicious mascots ripe for the lampooning (I can't believe I missed Oregon State Beavers...) but I was too busy failing left and right. I hope that we can move on and that you'll forgive me for my indiscretion. Today's subject is none other than the junior college over cross town: University of Southern California Trojans. If you're unfamiliar with USC, click here.

As one of college sport's most iconic mascots, the image of Tommy Trojan and Traveler (his mount) strike up feelings of school spirit and pride among many spoiled children around Southern California. He prances around the Coliseum like a pretentious douchebag. But what exactly IS a Trojan? Many people have no idea what a Trojan is outside of the ones that come in blue boxes behind the counter at Chevron. That's where I come in. Below I will clear up some myths and lay down some facts about our neighbors over in South Central.

Trojans have nothing to do with a Coliseum. The Coliseum was not in Troy, not in Greece, but in ROME. They certainly didn't play American football their either although did they did play similar games called 'Gladiator' and 'Christians to the lions.' They also had things like chariot races and some legends assert that the Coliseum was once filled with water and they had a naval battle inside of it which sounds pretty freakin sweet. But again, this has nothing to do with Trojans.

Trojans aren't rugged. Trojans are stupid. This is an entirely objective and historical fact. What are the Trojans most famous for? Having their city burned to the ground and destroyed so concretely that we still aren't sure where Troy was (props Greeks). Let me recount the story of the Trojan War for you to see what I'm getting at.

Once upon a time in ancient history, the Trojans came over to Greece and stole Helen. Even thousands of years ago, Trojans were lacking in moral character. Some things never change. She was a looker for sure because as history indicates her face launched a thousand ships i.e. the Trojan War. All the all-stars came out for this war like Odysseus, Paris, Agamennon, etc. They had a battle royale outside the walls of Troy, but eventually it was fought to a standstill. So the Greeks devised a plan. They built a giant horse, filled some soldiers in it, and planned on bursting out at night to open the gates for the regular army. This plan, that a 5 year old could see through, worked.

How dumb do you have to be to fall for this??? I suspect the conversation went something like this:

Trojan soldier: Hey boss, the Greeks are gone and they left behind a giant horse.
Trojan captain: They left behind a what??
Trojan soldier: A giant horse boss. Wooden. Looks like a Florida Cracker.
Trojan captain: There is nothing sketchy about this at all. Let's bring it inside.
Trojan soldier: Tight.

The Greeks wait until night, emerge from the horse, and throw open the gates. The Greeks roll in, still in shock that the Trojans fell for this plan, and proceed to slaughter the hapless Trojans and erase their city from the archeological record (for further reading see Homer's Iliad).

In short, the Trojans are best remembered for being complete and total fools. Normally I'd wonder why a school would choose this mascot but when considering that it is U$C, its just fitting. Have you ever wondered what a tool looks like?Tooltooltooltooltooltooltooltool.

So tomorrow regardless of the outcome, take comfort in the fact that the Trojan heritage is being dumb and sucking at life. And also take comfort in the fact that as a Bruin, you'll never be represented by this guy seen above.

Why the Bruins Will Win

2009-11-25T12:39:00.000-08:00

Here are the top 10 reasons why a Bruin victory on Saturday could happen (with a pictural tribute to Reggie Carter, this was 3 years ago):

1. Rahim Moore/ATV v. Matt Barkley - Matt Barkley loves throwing INTs. Well... I don't know if he loves it, but he does so anyways. Moore leads the nation in INTs and ATV just had another pick-6 last weekened.

2. Brian Price - Sure the U$C OL was touted as the best in the conference, but Brian Price dominated the Tennessee and Stanford ones, so why not them?

3. Kai Forbath - Duh.

4. Jeff Locke - another Duh.

5. Nelson Rosario - the kid has come into his own since the Oregon State game, and we know it's a matter of time before Taylor Mays hits him late after a catch and UCLA gets 15 more yards (sounds familiar Trojans?).

6. Norm Chow - Without him Pete Carroll offenses are clueless if they have talent even remotely close to their opponents. Chow knows the Pete Carroll defense, and this year he actually has competent components to try and shred it apart.

7. Akeem Ayers - This guy has been unbelievable the second half of the season. It would be a surprise if DC Chuck Bullough doesn't use him in multiple ways to disrupt Barkley and the U$C OL.

8. Rick Neuheisel - He knows how to beat the Trojans (though hasn't yet as the Bruin coach), and how to get into Pete Carroll's head. Hopefully he'll join Jim Harbaugh and do so on the field as well.

9. IQ - sure U$C might be more talented, but we all know their players lack the brain cells UCLA players have.

10. Want - it seems like the Bruins want it more, plain and simple. The Trojans have the talent, but do they really want it? Not by what I've been reading.

Beat $C!

2009-11-24T11:35:00.001-08:00

With the annual Crosstown Showdown, or whatever the heck the official name of the game is, it is time to start preparing for this monumental showdown. Sure both teams are not ranked in the top 10, let alone top 20, but this game has plenty of implications on the landscape of college football for the future. For the Trojans, a win will still solidify them as the rulers of LA (though I'm sure if they lost they would still be getting paid), and thus will not see much decrease in their recruiting efforts. For the Bruins, a win will give them a claim to the town for the first time since 2006, and for only the second time this decade. It will also exponentially (for any Trojans reading this, exponentially is a mathematical term commonly used since high school) increase the talent level that will choose to commit to CRN and his UCLA team. Furthermore, it will set up a scenario in which U$C could end up with the same amount of wins (omg!) as UCLA for the season pending their final game against Arizona. I mean, even if the Wildcats were to lose to the Trojans on December 5th, it would mean that the Bruins would be only a game behind U$C, and who would have thought that'd happen so soon? Throughout this Thanksgiving week we shall bring more sights and sound to help build up to the big game at the Coliseum on Saturday Night.

Here are some photos from the Beat $C Rally which was held at UCLA last night:

Is Reeves Nelson the New Jon Brockman?

2009-11-17T09:39:00.000-08:00

Last night I was watching the game at Pauley, I could not help but notice something positive in the sea of missed shots, missed assignments, and general disarray (no, not the South Park character). What was it? Reeves Nelson. Sure, there were times that he looked like a complete freshman out there, and not the way Kevin Love looked like a freshman. However, his hustle, rebounding, and energy made up for it. He played as well as anyone out on the court. Ok, no one played that well, but still. Throughout the first half I couldn't help but get the feeling that he could be the next Jon Brockman. I kept telling my friend Jeremy that he reminds me of Brockman with his nack for the ball off the boards, power play in the paint, and the passion for the game. Yes, I realize it has only been one game (officially) into the young season, but with the loss last night, I have to try and find optimism in something. At the bottom are the dimensions of each player in terms of height and weight. What jumps out at me from those numbers is the difference in weight. While Nelson has an inch over Brockman, he is outweighed by 27 pounds. However, that weight is the one Brockman was listed under during his final year at Washington (per their athletic website). Nelson has plenty of time to develop an even bigger and stronger body than the one he already has, so no need to worry there. The way he is already knocking bodies around on the floor after only one game as a freshman serve as good indication as to what the kid can do. I think that I can speak for all UCLA fans when I say that if Nelson develops into what Brockman became after his freshman year for the Huskies, we will all be very very happy.

Name
Height (ft)
Weight (lbs)

Reeves Nelson
6'8"
228

Jon Brockman
6'7"
255

A look back at our weekend...

2009-11-16T10:01:00.000-08:00

Before I start I need to explain something. For those of you who don’t know I’m a die-hard Bay Area Sports fan, Giants, 49ers, Warriors, Sharks and I’m going to throw UCLA in there too for no particular reason. Now I’m no fair-weather fan but to be honest watching sports events I am emotionally invested in has been one of the most depressing uses of my time since the 2002 World Series…or really since Steve Young retired. This weekend, however, was a little ray of sunshine on the cloudy day and I thought I’d share it with you since you started reading this anyway.

49ers (and Jay Cutler) beat the Bears
Going into this game I was assuming Alex Smith would be the quarterback who would lead the 49ers to victory (if they won that is). I was wrong. They still won, but Jay Cutler did more for Mike Singletary than the Niners’ passing game could dream of. Thanks to his efforts the 49er defense had more total yards receiving than all but one of the Chicago receivers (90 yards). Who’s wondering what Rex Grossman’s up to?

UCLA destroys Wazzu
No one’s saying this shouldn’t have happened. Washington State blows. But it’s nice to see our boys in blue stick it to someone for once. Prince looked comfortable in the pocket and made plays, the receivers caught their passes, and for some reason Coach Neuheisel decided Chane Moline should get every potential touchdown run. 1 win away from bowl eligibility wooooo!!!

Stanford takes USC behind the barn and shoots it
What a mess this was. It’s not just that USC got its vaunted ass handed to it. It’s not that it happened at home. It’s not even that Pete Carroll’s golden boy Matt Barkley threw 3 interceptions. It was Pete Carroll’s face after the game as he walked to shake Jim Harbaugh’s hand (and presumably lecture him on running up the score, ironic much?). The game Saturday wasn’t a tricky win, just a straight up beating issued by Stanford’s offensive line that effectively ended the Trojans’ hopes of being at all relevant this year. This wasn’t a win for Stanford; it was a win for America.

San Jose Sharks
I hear they’re doing pretty good. Ok, to be honest it’s too early for hockey. Moving on.

Warriors wi-…Warriors almost win!
How often does a team score 125 points in regulation and not win. But then again how often does a rookie score 55 points against them…during his seventh game ever in the NBA…without any overtime. There’s no denying it now, our boys might have a problem on defense…might. However, assuming they were a normal team and could play even acceptable defense there’s no question they’d have won. I’ll scratch that down for a win for Don Nellie and his Warriors.

And then…

Warriors trade Steven Jackson!!!
Thank god, I’ve been saying we should drop Jackson since Baron Davis got the hell out of dodge and ended up on the seasonal powerhouse LA Clippers (HA!). So anyway this story didn’t ruin my weekend until I read the whole headline: “Warriors Trade Steven Jackson…to the Charlotte Bobcats.” As good as Michael Jordan was at playing basketball, he’s that much worse at managing basketball teams. Under his guidance Charlotte has become a wasteland of mediocrity that simply boggles the mind. The only saving grace of a trade sure to bring us a heaping pile of nothing is that the Warriors somehow pushed Capt. Jack onto a team with less of a future than they do.

So much for this weekend. I wonder what’s going on in Politics.

The Whacky Pac-10

2009-11-15T11:44:00.001-08:00

This conference is insane. Really. How can so many teams still have a shot at a trip to Pasadena on January 1st? What more insane is that all those teams sport respectable records and a Top-25 ranking. Here is a link to a post I did two weeks ago about the state of the Pac-10 after Week 9. Now, look how the conference looks right now (courtesy of ESPN):

Here is what jumps out to me with the current state of the Pac:
1. U$C is in 5th place and will probably not finish higher than 3rd.
2. 6 teams have earned bowl eligibility, with UCLA one win away, and ASU having a shot at it too.
3. While Arizona is in 4th, they still control their destiny.
4. Stanford is 2nd, and would probably not fall beyond 5th.
5. A 3 way tie, if not 4 way tie is still not out of the question.

Oh by the way, I am pretty sure that I correctly gave props to Stanford a month and a half ago, after just 5 weeks into the college football season. Furthermore, I also knew Andrew Luck was a special player (took me a game in person to do it, but still) in addition to TG. Then again, if Cal beats Stanford in Palo Alto next Saturday, it can all change once again. How can anyone NOT love this???

And So It Begins...

2009-11-14T02:17:00.000-08:00

College basketball is officially upon us! The season officially started this past Monday, as North Carolina donned some really ugly throwbacks in its rout of FIU. Today many more teams such as Georgetown, Kentucky, and Washington began their quest to reach the NCAA tournament. While all those three teams will end up with a strong seed come March, it would be unfair to overlook the way college basketball actually pans out in the 4.5 months leading up to the Madness. Remember last year's "strong" Big East? Yeah... how'd Notre Dame and the aforementioned Hoyas end up doing? So who knows. I mean, sure you have your sure bets in Michigan State, UNC, and Kansas, but who really knows what will happen? What if Cole Aldrich sprains an ankle and he's out during the meat of the Big-12 season? Or if Zeller/Davis of UNC get injured as they are tall and skinny guys and UNC drops a couple games including one to hated Duke?

The beauty of the basketball season as opposed to the football season (and I'm not even talking about a legitimate determination of a champion) is that it is longer and much more intriguing even though many of the top teams maintain their preseason position, but it is easier for teams to move up and earn strong bids, just ask Kansas circa 2009. As a UCLA student and an avid fan, it could be easy to be slightly discouraged because for the first time in my four years here we are not the favorites to win the Pac-10. However, I see no reason why a Howland coached team with so much promise (how about two top 10 recruiting classes) cannot challenge the likes of Washington and Cal for the top spot. Sure, they have heavy guard play which is exactly what UCLA will lack, but UCLA has a huge height advantage, which could be served as a positive sign. I can go on and speculate and ramble on about what could happen, but the beauty of the basketball season is that we get to see these great match ups not only once like football, but twice! Well, at least in the Pac-10 since it plays a true round robin. Oh basketball, how have I missed you...

Pac-10 Week 11 Predictions

2009-11-13T19:20:00.001-08:00

Week 11 Pac-10 Predictions
(Last week Truebluebruin 4-1, 1-4 against the spread. Blueandgold 3-2, 1-4 against the spread)
(Overall Truebluebruin 40-19, 21-32-2 against the spread. Blueandgold 40-19, 25-27-3 against the spread)

UCLA (-20) @ Washington State
(Truebluebruin) Finally, UCLA gets their first Pac-10 victory and are back in the hunt for a bowl berth. This could be a “trap game” for the bruins as this is really the only team UCLA could possibly overlook. However, WSU is so abysmal in most statistical categories and now their starting quarterback is injured. The only thing that could hamper the bruins is possibly the weather.
UCLA 31 Washington State 7
(Blueandgold) Ucla is finally looking like the team that many were anticipating then to be near the beginning of the year. The offense is clicking especially the o-line while defense still needs to improve. Wazzu is the doormat of the league and will continue to be for the rest of the season. Ucla though must be ready to contain Tardy in order to maintain their bowl prospects.
Ucla 28 washinton state 17

Stanford @ USC (-10)
(Truebluebruin) USC is coming off a blowout loss to Oregon and a struggle against ASU. Stanford is coming off of a dismantling of Oregon. Stanford should win, right? I don’t think so. Stanford has been a MUCH different team at home than on the road, and while their offense is clicking, their defense got torched by the ducks. Gerhart will keep the game close, but USC wins it.
USC 28 Stanford 21
(Blueandgold) USC has defenitely fallen from it's high point but teams need to finish them off. Stanford can do it behind Toby gerhart and this is a huge game for both teams. Stanford looks good and their dline is q strong point especially against true freshman matt barkeley. I am gonna risk my credibility on Harbaugh pulling off an upset for the second time at the coliseum.
Stanford 28 Usc 24

Arizona (-2) @ Cal
(Truebluebruin) Arizona is on a hot streak, Cal is not very impressive. Over their last 5 games, Cal has lost 3 to Oregon, USC, and OSU, and beating only UCLA and WSU, the bottom two teams in the conference. Arizona is a program on the rise and should be too much for Cal to handle.
Arizona 38 Cal 20
(Blueandgold) The PAC 10 has some very good match ups this week and this one is a dandy too. Arizona has the balance at the QB, RB and WR positions. They haven't played the elite teams in the conference though. Cal lost Best past week to a nasty fall and are coming off a tough loss. I'm going with the Wildcats.
Arizona 28 Cal 17

Arizona State @ Oregon (-17)
(Truebluebruin) Oregon is facing the opposite of what they faced against Stanford: ASU presents a tough defense and a mediocre offense at best. Though Stanford beat the Ducks, they didn’t stop the ducks from pilling on the yards and points. Even if ASU holds Oregon to less than they normal produce, that should still be more than what the ASU offense can muster
Oregon 35 ASU 17
(Blueandgold) Wow Oregon had the Pac 10 in the bag if they would have beat stanford last week. But the defense let them down giving up 51 points and now have to play an Asu team that almost upset USC. I still have to go with Oregon on this one.
Oregon 35 Asu 17

Washington @ Oregon State (-10)
(Truebluebruin) I’m surprised that this line is so low. Washington is plummeting, OSU is rising and playing at home. This should be an easy win for the beavers.
OSU 37 Washington 20
(Blueandgold) Well Washington continues to lose and were never the 25th best team in the country. I don't see their defense this week from containing the Rodgers brothers. The wild beaver will produce scoring drives and the exposure of lockers weaknesses out of the pocket will cause another lost for the huskies.
Osu 28 Washington 14

The Stupidity of the Polls

2009-11-09T11:10:00.000-08:00

This past weekend in college football was an exciting one as many top teams fell to lesser opponents most notably Oregon and Iowa. The most disturbing development in the aftermath of these upsets in my opinion is how Oregon is down in the polls behind none other than, wait for it... U$C. When I first saw the polls on Sunday, I plainly responded with a "Say What?" How is it possible that both teams have the same overall record, Oregon holds the better conference record by one game, and Oregon destroyed the Trojans a week ago yet are four and six spots lower in the polls? Short term memory much? Perhaps. More disturbing is the fact is that U$C was facing a potentially winning drive by ASU, a team that is far from being bowl eligible. Earlier in the day up in Palo Alto, Oregon lost to Stanford. Stanford's record is 6-3, ASU's is 4-5. Both the Ducks and Trojans have another blemish on their record. U$C lost to lowly Washington which has a record of 3-6, and Oregon lost to Boise State, which has yet to lose a game.

To summarize: the teams that beat Oregon have a record of 15-3 while those that beat U$C have a record of 7-11. Additionally, Oregon handed U$C it's worst loss of the decade with a pounding on Halloween night only a week ago. My question is, who are the morons that are allowed to vote in these polls? I mean, it's not like national championships and millions of dollars are on the line here, right?

OMG She Pulled My Hair!

2009-11-06T20:39:00.000-08:00

Today I got a text message from one of my dearest friends Matt, and he told me to go online and check out the video highlights of the BYU v. New Mexico game. Sure, why not? but they did not have a game yesterday in football. Odd right? Well, not so much. He was referring to the women's soccer match between the two schools. The shocking part was that he would tell me about this. Generally speaking, I am the one who follows the smaller sports and informs him about anything exciting. With that thought in mind, I realized how this must be real good, something super exciting. I was right. I have personally never seen something more ridiculous than what occurred in that game. Here is the video of what actually happened:

These actions were so unsportsmanlike that I honestly have no idea where I would even begin dissecting this girl's behavior. Furthermore, there is no reason to even refer to her by name because she does not deserve it. It is one thing to slide late one time to send a message to the opposing team. It's another to commit a hard foul up top. To do both, and worst of all pull on another girl's pony-tail in such a violent fashion is practically unheard of. When was the last time ESPN showed a women's soccer game from the collegiate level that was not a post-season match? Never. These chain of actions by the New Mexico defender were so heinous that they chose to air it on SportsCenter, and already has multiple videos on YouTube, averaging over 300,000 hits each. I'm glad the player is suspended indefinitely because what she did was probably the worst thing you could do on the grass pitch. Good for you New Mexico, MWC, NCAA, and anyone else who came up with the idea to suspend her, suspending her sends a clear message to the rest of the NCAA in all sports about how you are not supposed to conduct yourself.

Here is a picture to sum it all up:

PS. By rest of NCAA I don't include U$C and Florida (right Urban Meyer?)

Pac-10 Now and In Five Weeks

2009-11-02T19:33:00.000-08:00

Currently, the Pac-10 football standings are as follows:

Oregon	7-1 (5-0)
Arizona	5-2 (3-1)
Stanford	5-3 (4-2)
U$C	6-2 (3-2)
Cal	6-2 (3-2)
OSU	5-3 (3-2)
ASU	4-4 (2-3)
UW	3-5 (2-3)
UCLA	3-5 (0-5)
WSU	1-7 (0-5)

However, there is a long way to go, as many teams will be playing 4/9 of their conference games in the next month. Honestly, it would not shock me if the entire conference, with the exception of the top and bottom spots will change drastically in November/December. Why? Well... Stanford still has to play Cal/U$C/Oregon. Arizona too has the Ducks left on its schedule (though an upset could be in order as the game is in Tucson). Oh, it also has to go to downtown LA and Berkeley. Cal and U$C have favorable schedule since they got most of their remaining tough competition at home and have both already played Oregon. Oregon State has Cal/Oregon left in their last third of the season, both of which could be losses (though OSU owns Cal lately in Berkeley). ASU has to travel to Pasadena to take on UCLA, play Arizona, U$C, and Oregon, those could easily be spell an extension of its current losing streak by four more.

The teams that I believe can climb up from their current positions are the California teams that wear some sort of yellow/gold. U$C as mentioned has a pretty favorable schedule the rest of the way, and when was the last time they lost THREE games in a season? Cal also has a nice schedule, though it has to play the big game against Stanford on The Farm, which in 2007 meant a loss. Lastly, UCLA gets Washington at home, which should be a sure win considering UCLA has more talent, Jake Locker is slightly injured, and UW has not won in Pasadena since 1995. Then, the Bruins travel to Pullman, get ASU at home which should be a win, but is pretty even in my opinion. Finally, they have the crosstown showdown on Thanksgiving weekend against the Trojans, a game that though is at the Coliseum, could maybe be labeled a trap game? But maybe I'm just an optimistic Bruin. With that said here is what I project to be the final Pac-10 standings after the first week of December (just in order and with bowl eligibility):

Oregon-YES
U$C-YES
Cal-YES
Arizona-YES
Stanford-YES
OSU-YES
UCLA-YES
UW-NO
ASU-NO
WSU-NO

Where did they Go? World Series Edition

2009-11-01T10:45:00.000-08:00

With about half of the world series over with, there is no more appropriate time to examine which college is represented the most in this year's fall classic. If you do not know who to root for, we are RJS give you a team to choose based on your collegian allegiances, or a team to really hate. Here is the comprehensive list of colleges/players/team in alphabetical order according to college:

Alabama:
David Robertson - Yankees

Arkansas:
Eric Hinske - Yankees
Cliff Lee - Phillies

Calhoun (CC):
Jorge Posada - Yankees

College of Charlseton:
Brett Gradner - Yankees

Georgia Tech:
Mark Teixeira - Yankees

Kentucky:
Joe Blanton - Phillies

Miami-Date (CC):
Raul Ibanez - Phillies

Nebraska:
Joba Chamberlain - Yankees

Notre Dame:
Brad Lidge

Northwestern:
J.A Happ

Ohio State:
Nick Swisher - Yankees

Oklahoma:
Gregg Dobbs - Phillies

San Joaquin College (JC):
Phil Coke - Yankees

San Jacinto North (CC):
Andy Pettite - Yankees

Southern Idaho (JC):
Scott Eyre - Phillies

Southern Illinois:
Jerry Hairston Jr - Yankees

Southwestern Louisiana:
Paul Bako - Phillies

Southwest Missouri State:
Ryan Howard - Phillies

Stanford:
Eric Bruntlett - Phillies

UCLA:
Chase Utley - Phillies
Ben Francisco - Phillies

Conclusion: UCLA and Arkansas both lead colleges represented with two each.

Halloween=Duck Time

2009-10-31T20:52:00.000-07:00

With four games left on the Pac-10 schedule, it might be a bit premature to declare Oregon the king of the conference. However, with the thrashing, well destruction of U$C tonight, things are looking really good up in Eugene. I was just reading Ted Miller's blog over at ESPN.com and he gave a very cool stat: The 47 points given up by the Trojan defense were the most since giving up 48 to UCLA in 1996. That is pure insanity. I saw Oregon beat UCLA in person three weeks ago and they did not look this good. The last few weeks though they have been unstoppable on offense, and the defense has been really really good. It honestly is amazing how things change so fast in the world of college football.

Remember Thursday Sept 3rd? Boise State does. That game was a giant embarrassment to Oregon, the Pac 10, and Nike wearing people et al. Oh, how badly Oregon looked. Things change quickly huh? Oregon has not lost since, having taken down such powers as Cal, Utah, and U$C in the process. Add to that a couple nice road wins against the Bruins and rival Huskies, and you got yourself a legitimate case for why Oregon should be playing in the "other" game in Pasadena in January. Unfortunately for Oregon, the road to Pasadena is not so easy. They have to play tough games at Arizona and Stanford, both of which sit at #2 and #3 in the conference respectively. Add to that the Civil War game against the Beavers, and you got yourself a recipe for disaster. Personally, I feel that the Ducks can pull it off, maybe dropping one game in the process and make it to the Rose Bowl. However, as Oregon has shown us, things change a lot from week to week in college football. I guess that that is why you play the games right?

Week 9 Pac-10 Picks

2009-10-31T11:09:00.000-07:00

Week 9 Pac-10 Predictions
(Last week Truebluebruin 5-0, 4-1 against the spread. Blueandgold 5-0, 5-0 against the spread)
(Overall Truebluebruin 33-17, 19-25-2 against the spread. Blueandgold 33-17, 22-21-3 against the spread)

UCLA @ Oregon State (-8.5)
(Truebluebruin) It’s getting very weary and depressing to not finding a reasonable argument for why UCLA can win a particular match up. Just as Arizona’s offense gave UCLA’s defense fits (look at that 3rd down conversion rate), the OSU offense will be just another nightmare, while the UCLA offense won’t be able to keep up.
Oregon State 38 UCLA 13
(Blueandgold) Well UCLA is sputtering and needs something to send them in the right direction and OSU is coming off a loss to USC that they were in the game right up to the end. OSU is good and this should be an easy win given the recent four game skid the Bruins are on. It will be a scary Halloween for the Bruins (literally since OSU is wearing Black and Orange). I want to pick the upset though, but just can't.
OSU: 28 UCLA: 13

Cal (-6.5) @ ASU
(Truebluebruin) It seems that Cal has cracked into the top 25 again and people are starting to believe in them after two huge victories. Only problem is those two wins were against the two winless teams in conference. Luckily for Cal, ASU is another one of the bottom half teams in the conference and should be able to get a win, though in a much more contested game than their past two were.
Cal 35 ASU 21
(Blueandgold) Cal seems to be back on track after sputtering to Oregon and USC in back to back weeks. Although their prospects for a Rose Bowl seem dim, they can still have a successful season by taking care of business with the bottom end of the Pac 10. ASU is coming off a tought loss to Stanford, however they still have a decent team to put up a fight, especially at home in Arizona. However I like Cal in this one, and plan on them beating the spread.
Cal: 28 ASU: 17

Washington State @ Notre Dame (-31)
(Truebluebruin) Just like most games Washington State plays, the question isn’t are they going to lose, but will they cover the spread. Notre Dame’s passing attack must be chomping at the bit to go up against this defense. If there is one strength WSU has it’s its passing game, and ND’s weakness would be in the passing defense. WSU will lose, but cover the spread.
Notre Dame 45 WSU 17
(Blueandgold) Easy call here. Washington State still doesn't have the talent to beat a team like Notre Dame, although I think the spread is very high (31) and don't see Notre Dame being that dominating although it is at home.
Notre Dame: 35 Washington State: 13

USC (-4.5) @ Oregon
(Truebluebruin) In easily the pac-10 game of the year, Oregon has a major chance to not only move one step closer to being the conference champions, but for USC to FINALLY not win the pac-10. Both teams have offenses that can move the ball, and questionable defenses. Oregon has been playing smoke and mirrors with all of the injuries on their defense, while USC just gave up over 30 points to Oregon State. This could be a high scoring game, but I regrettably have to pick the Trojans, who still have not lost a major game in years
USC 38 Oregon 30
(Blueandgold) Ok, this is the one USC loses. I'm tired of seeing their success at big games even when they aren't stellar this year. Ohio State, Cal, OSU, they came out on top when it mattered, however Oregon's Boise State loss is totally behind them and they are revved up to go. Someone needs to deliver the knockout punch to USC and I don't want to have to rely on a mediocre team to pull off an amazing upset. That said, I'm going to pick Oregon, because I think they can do it, especially with the game in Eugene. Go Ducks!
Oregon: 35 USC: 28

Damn Israeli Names!

2009-10-28T17:13:00.000-07:00

Browsing around Yahoo! Sports earlier, I saw a blog post on The Dagger. This was no ordinary post. It was about an incoming freshman set to play on a D-I basketball team. Yes, he is going to play for the Florida Gators, but so what? Tens of freshmen have been doing that for decades now. What's so special about this new guy? His first name is Nimrod. You heard right, Nimrod. The word that in slang English means "a simpleton; a nerd." according to Dictionary.com. Poor kid. Not only is he going to live in a completely different country, 7 time zones from his native of Israel, but he has to deal with the heckling of drunken college students (and alumni) every game about his odd name.
Having an odd name by American standards is nothing new. Trust me. I have one too. It means running in the past tense. Not only that, but it gets mispronounced daily because its pronunciation is closer to "Ron" but because of the different accents in Hebrew and English my parents along with many other ones, spelled it Ran. But back to Nimrod. My advice would be this: embrace your name, background, and culture. So what if some dumb drunk SEC folks are going to try and abuse you? They will find other reasons to do it anyways because your their opponent. Just remember, their American names are just as odd to you as yours is to them. You just happen to live amongst them for the next four years or so. If anything, you will get a lot of support from the Israeli and Jewish community down in Florida, just like how other Israeli athletes get when they come to compete in the states. I've seen it here in person at UCLA and in the media for other schools.
I know it must be odd to a UCLA student and fan to give any sort of positive advice or feel sympathetic towards a player at a school that prevented UCLA from getting numbers 12 and 13, but sometimes we have to put aside our differences and find our similarities. However, if UCLA does play Florida at any point in the tournament, you can be sure I will try to be at the game to heckle Nimrod Tishman in Hebrew all game long, it just won't really about about his name, that'd be hypocritical.

Beaver Football History: The Good, the Bad, and Really Ugly

2009-10-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

With the Bruins flying up to Corvallis to take on the Beavers, it is time to once again examine the history of our opponents. Unlike the Bruins, the Beavers have enjoyed a rather successful decade in the 21st century. They have reached seven bowl games in the last eight years (since 2001), with the one miss in 2005. What makes OSU football even more impressive is that they have won six of those games, with five of the wins coming against BCS competition. This goes to show what a great job Mike Riley has done in the northwest, even though it seems like every year they come in with less talent than half of the Pac-10 and yet seem to surprise everyone. Don't believe me? just ask U$C (to be fair, they still have yet to win at the LA Memorial).
Just like I did in the comprehensive review of Cal's football history, I will traverse the decades before this century to find out the core of the Oregon State football tradition because looking at the past 10 years is simply not enough. To spare too much embarrassment for any Oregon State fans who might be reading this, I will summarize the 1980s-1990s in one word: horrible. They had 14 seasons in 9/10 places in the conference, in a span of 20 years... ouch. They do have a 5th place finish in those two decades, but that came in 1999. The 1970's were slightly better than their successive years, but still nothing to be too excited about. The 1950's and 1960's were pretty successful (relatively speaking) with two appearances in the Rose Bowl, the last one coming in 1965 in a Rose Bowl blow-out to Michigan State. Honestly, I would keep digging further, but there is nothing too pretty about OSU's football history so it is time to stop.
Throughout the Beaver's history since they started playing football in 1893, they have made it to 15 bowl games, and have won 10 of them. They even won the Fiesta Bowl in 2001 and have a Rose Bowl victory to their record too from 1942. As the 2005 Daddy Yankee song goes, "Lo Que Paso Paso", what happened happened and it is time to move on. Beaver fans have lots of positive things to look forward to if the last five years is any indication. Also, it helps that your team wears Halloween colors (below) and plays at home on Halloween, right?

Musings from Arizona

2009-10-25T13:22:00.001-07:00

As I am sitting here in the Phoenix airport, awaiting my flight back to LAX, I finally get to reflect on what took place at Arizona Stadium yesterday. It was my first time in a UCLA football game without the marching band so I got to have a slightly different view of the game than I normally do. Our defense was not too bad, considering the fact that we scored our only touchdown with the D, and we also got key turnovers. However, we still got our butts kicked. Our offense took like 10 steps back yesterday. Maybe 11, but I'll be nice. In all honesty though, it was fun doing 8-claps, singing mighty three times, and donning the Blue and Gold. Sure, our football team is struggling and cannot seem to be doing anything too well, but life goes on. Here are some pictures I took from the game:

Pac-10 Predictions Week 8

2009-10-23T23:01:00.000-07:00

Week 8 Pac-10 Predictions
(Last week Truebluebruin 3-1, 2-2 against the spread. Blueandgold 1-3, 2-2 against the spread)
(Overall Truebluebruin 28-17, 15-24-2 against the spread. Blueandgold 28-17, 17-21-3 against the spread)

Oregon (-5.5) @ Washington
(Truebluebruin) Washington has a chance to pull off a second stunning upset at home against the conference elite. It is clear that Washington is a much different team at home than they are on the road. It is clear that Oregon is a much different team without Masoli, as their offense 2 weeks ago only put up 1 touchdown against the Bruins, the other two coming on defense and special teams. Still, I feel like Oregon should have enough to pull out a win in a tough game for 3 quarters.
Oregon 35 Washington 21
(Blueandgold) Oregon looks like the best team in the PAC 10 both offensively and defensively. Washington is coming off a tough loss to ASU. However in this northwest rivalry I like the potent offense that Oregon has and think they will beat the spread on this game.
Oregon 31 Washington 17

UCLA @ Arizona (-8)
(Truebluebruin) UCLA’s offense woke up last week against Cal, with Prince throwing for over 300 yards. While the bruins were able to move the chains, they couldn’t punch the ball into the end zone, settling for too many field goals. They can’t afford to do that against an Arizona team that puts yards and points up in bunches, but uncharacteristically gives them up as well. This could be the highest scoring game the Bruins are in this season, but probably will not be able to keep pace.
Arizona 42 UCLA 30
(Blueandgold) Arizona comes in with being ranked in the BCS top 25 against a UCLA team that is very streaky (although they are currently on a 3 game losing streak). Arizona has a potent offense with a defense thy handed Stanford their first PAC 10 loss a few weeks ago. This is a must win for UCLA, but on the road, I'm going with Arizona.
Arizona 24 Ucla 13

Washington State @ Cal (-35)
(Truebluebruin) Let’s be honest here. Cal is going to win this game, the only question is by how much. Their offense came alive against a better than average UCLA defense, and WSU is going to look like a sieve compared to the last 3 defenses they’ve had to face. I think Cal has the weapons to cover the spread
Cal 56 WSU 10
(Blueandgold) California is coming off a big confidence win against in state rival Ucla. Washington state is stillthe doormatt of the PAC 10 so I don't see an upset. But I don't think Cal will beat the spread of 35.
Cal 35 Washington state 13

Oregon State @ USC (-20)
(Truebluebruin) USC has hit their stride, and return home for a revenge game against the beavers after their loss in Corvallis last year. OSU still has the same weapons that gave USC fits last year, but that should only be enough to stay within the spread, but not win the game.
USC 30 OSU 17
(Blueandgold) As much as I have bashed USC and picked them to lose big games in the PAC 10, they continue to win and yes with a true freshman. I still don't think this is USCs golden year but they should win this one at home against an up and down OSU team. I don't think they will be the 20 point spread though.
USC 28 OSU 17

Arizona State @ Stanford (-7.5)
(Truebluebruin) I bet Stanford is certainly glad to return to home after dropping a pair of conference games on the road. Stanford is a much better team at home, and still has a power running game that should dominate the game. Expect Stanford to get back into the win column.
Stanford 31 ASU 20
(Blueandgold) I still like Stanford and they didn't let me down last week so I'm gonna stuck with them, especially at home.
Stanford 27 ASU 17

Where Are They Now? ... Israel

2009-10-20T00:00:00.001-07:00

As some of you may remember, I did a piece a couple months back when this blog was starting up about the The Dumbest Frontline in Basketball. The reason that I am bringing this up is because every year there is a slew of new American players who flee to Europe to find fame and fortunes in the world of basketball. To try and keep up with this crazy migration, I have decided out of the kindness of my heart to find out which Pac-10 players are playing in my homeland of Israel. The list will have it all, from Trojans to Bruins to Huskies and everything in between (perhaps). While the fact that I know of three players who played in the Pac-10 and are now in the Holy Land honing their skillz (yes, with a "z") is not enough, it is a good place to start. Below is a comprehensive list of all former Pac-10 heroes playing in Israel (listed by alma mater):

Stanford:
Matt Haryasz (Bnei-Hasharon)

UCLA:
Dijon Thompson (Hapoel Jerusalem)

U$C:
David Bluthental (Maccabi TA)
Davon Jefferson (Maccabi Haifa)

Washington:
Tre Simmons (Hapoel Jerusalem)
Justin Dentmon (Hapoel Afula)

Well, only four out of the ten teams are represented. However, the groups is pretty diverse because a lot of the players did not compete against each other, though some had small overlaps.

Trouble in the Bluegrass State

2009-10-19T23:06:00.000-07:00

There’s an odd duality of sorts materializing in the oddly shaped and slightly irrelevant state of Kentucky. And of course by the state of Kentucky I of course mean the University of Kentucky, and by that I’m really just referring to their basketball team. It’s important to have your priorities straight.

As newly appointed coach and savior of the once vaunted collegiate basketball program at U of K, John Calipari spent last Friday night strutting around a stage in front of Wildcat fans as if God himself had picked Memphis in his bracket for the 2010 tournament. You’d have thunk he’d actually won a game yet.

Meanwhile, across town, former Kentucky Coach Billy Gillispie came to the unsavory conclusion that his $3 million buyout settlement with the school wasn’t going to cut it. He has since filed lawsuit with the University who promptly countersued for some ungodly reason that I have zero interest in figuring out. Law is boring. The odd part is I can sympathize with this move granted his coaching options have been far more limited since the basketball community realized he couldn’t even bring a program as legendary as Kentucky’s to the big dance. If anyone needs the financial security right now...

To be honest the real duality here is my equal loathing of and yet pity for these southern gents. Each has to face the unfortunate realities of wanting something they haven’t earned and of having lived in Kentucky. It’s a cruel world for basketball coaches.