Rush the court? Yes we will!

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.

UEFA Champions League Predictions

Today the groups were drawn for the UEFA Champions League. The 2009-2010 edition has many familiar faces (i.e the Brits and Spaniards) but some new faces are here such as Maccabi Haifa, Apoel Nicosa, and Wulfburg. What will happen? no clue. I can take the easy road here but I will go crazy with these? why? so I can rightfully say to any "hater" that I was going by heart, on a limb, and somewhat based on facts. Let's begin!

Group A: Maccabi Haifa, Juventus, Bordeaux, and Bayern Munich

Surprise Team: Maccabi Haifa because they will be hard to beat in Israel and feel like they have something to prove (and gain monetarily). I still doubt they will advance, but they could ruin some dreams.
Set to Disappoint: Bayern Munich because they have had their worst start in 43 years domestically.
Best Match-up: Bayern v. Juventus due to the tradition and each team knows they have something to prove this year.
Teams to Advance: Juventus and Bordeaux

Group B: Man U, CSKA Moscow, Wolfburg, Basiktas

Surprise Team: Basiktas since they Turkish league champs know they have a little bit to prove.
Set to Disappoint: Not to keep with the German theme, but... Wolfsburg is most likely to not advance out of the three domestic champs (Moscow is not).
Best Match-Up: Wolfsburg v. Basiktas because they are two champions that a lot of people might not give the respect they ought to get.
Teams to Advance: Man U and Basiktas

Group C: AC Milan, Real Madrid, FC Zurich, Marseille

Surprise Team: FC Zurich just because people give no respect to the Swiss league and they have to be hungry to prove themselves.
Set to Disappoint: Real Madrid but only because I feel like they will not finish first, they still have so much talent that even if Ronaldo can't play with Kaka too well, they are still going to be good.
Best Match-Up: AC Milan v. Real Madrid well, duh.
Teams to Advance: Milan and Real

Group D: Chelsea, Porto, Atletico Madrid, APOEL

Surprise Team: Atletico because they are for real and are not regulars nor are they from Cypress, so it seems like the obvious choice.
Set to Disappoint: Porto, while they won the Cup a few years ago, I feel like with this group they might get trapped. I could be totally wrong though.
Best Match-Up: Atletico v. Porto not only because this is an Iberian Peninsula bragging rights match-up but also will determine who advances.
Teams to Advance: Chelsea and Porto (again, I can be wrong)

Group E: Liverpool, Lyon, Fiorentina, Debrecen

Surprise Team: Fiorentina (see Atletico)
Set to Disappoint: Lyon. If this was the EPL, it'd be Liverpool. However, Rafa's club loves the Champions League
Best Match-Up: Liverpool v. Lyon the English hate the French and visa versa. Also, this is going to directly affect the pecking order and teams who will advance.
Teams to Advance: Liverpool and Fiorentina(again, I can be wrong)

Group F: FC Barcelona, Inter Milan, Dynamo Kiev, FC Rubin (who?)

Surprise Team: Dynamo (your welcome Kvyat) because they could do serious damage to the top dogs.
Set to Disappoint: Inter, who did not perform too well in the US (though they did not play all their guys) but Barca is better, so they have to be the choice.
Best Match-Up: Barca v. Inter... iBrah v. Eto'o, should be good.
Teams to Advance: Barca and Inter

Group G: Seville, Rangers, Stuttgart, Unirea (wtf?)

Surprise Team: Stuttgart (see Atletico)
Set to Disappoint: Seville (eh) There is not a clear choice here since Seville and Stuttgart are a toss up.
Best Match-Up: Seville v. Stuttgart... probably will decide who advances.
Teams to Advance: Rangers and Stuttgart

Group H: Arsenal, Standard Liege, Olympiakos, AZ Alkmaar

Surprise Team: Liege, because you have no idea what to expect. I would pick Olympiakos, but I despise them (thank you basketball)
Set to Disappoint: Arsenal, they have not been as good as before, though they dominated Celctic.
Best Match-Up: Alkmaar v. Liege... the Belgians are always second fidle to the Dutch in soccer, and they share a border, regional rivalries are always fun.
Teams to Advance: Arsenal and Alkmaar