The Confederate Flag And The NCAA Tournament

Even before I went to UCLA, I was a huge college basketball fan. After a national championship during my freshman year 1995 and covering the basketball team for the Daily Bruin, I became a diehard college hoops junkie. Every March, it's brackets, basketball, and the Bruins for me.
Some of the wildest times I've had as a fan occurred at regular season and NCAA tourney games, and every year I have the choice to attend regional tournament games somewhere nearby where I live. I've also always taken note of where the other regional games are played and watched those fans go completely ballistic as well.
I never noticed that, since 2002, none of these games, or any NCAA championship tournament or game, has been played in South Carolina. The Bi-Lo Center, with 16,000 seats, and the Colonial Center, which was built in large part to host such events with its 18,000 seat capacity, have been banned from hosting the NCAA college basketball tournament by the NCAA.
The reason behind this ban, and a similar one in Mississippi is because these states continue to fly the Confederate flag on state grounds. All that publicity and all of that revenue are off the table.
I couldn't have asked for a better issue to serve as a teaser trailer for our upcoming discussion of the Confederate flag. I'm nearly done with John Coski's book, and a good debate should be in the offing soon.

What A Weekend!

I can't remember the last time I've had such an exciting 48 hours as a sports fan! It started yesterday when my UCLA Bruins put a 28-3 beating on Washington State, which was promptly followed by my long-beleaguered Dodgers (yes, I've been living on Hershiser, Gibson, Guerrero, and Valenzuela memories for quite some time) steamroll the Cubs to advance to the NLCS. If that wasn't enough, this morning my resurgent Dolphins played a near-perfect game, including a 4th-and-goal-from-the-one-yard-line-stand to beat the San Diego Chargers. Viva the Tony Sparano era!
Now imagine all that, AND having The Jess sitting next to me, smiling and holding my hand, with my folks in town as well. I am one happy and lucky man! Oh, and the sports stuff was cool, too.

UCLA Football Triumphant! (Nadal Too, But Barely)

Wow! Wow! Wow! What a victory for the UCLA Bruins tonight! Honestly, I'm just reeling at the size of this last-second, come from behind overtime 27-24 win over 18th ranked Tennessee. I mean, we were supposed to be terrible; no quarterback, no O-line, an overhauled coaching staff. This wasn't supposed to be close!
In true gutty Bruin spirit, this team came together under new coach Rick Neuheisel and put together an effort for the ages. How many teams could lose three starters in the first quarter and still win? How many quarterbacks could throw 4 interceptions in one half in their first start and come back with a Montana-esque second half? How many defenses could keep their much maligned offense in the game for so long without a drop in morale or confidence.
One. Your 2008 UCLA Bruins football team.
I wish I was still writing for the Daily Bruin after a game like this one, the storylines just overflow the keyboard: Neuheisel's homecoming, Kevin Craft's unbelievable second half performance, the touchdown drive followed by Tennessee's field goal at the final gun to tie, the game-winning field goal, the genius of coordinators DeWayne Walker and Norm Chow, that unreal defense!
What a boost to the team's confidence, what a shot in the arm for recruiting, what a way to start the year! Think the team doesn't feel it? Check out Coach Neuheisel celebrating with the fans after the game.
OK, I've caught my breath, so on to today's US Open action, and we'll start with the women. My pick to win, Dinara Safina, stormed into the quarters in two easy sets, as did the Williams sisters. Older sister Venus gave a serious beating to Agnieszka Radwanska and will face her sister in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
On the men's side, I caught the last set of Mardy Fish's easy win over Gael Monfils, and I'm not sure what to make of it. Not that Fish didn't deserve to win, but Monfils had clearly thrown in the towel and was pretty much goofing off in the third set. I wish players wouldn't do that, just have the integrity to play hard regardless or get off the court.
Monfils could take a lesson from top-seeded Rafa Nadal in the effort category, and Nadal needed every ounce he could muster in a brutal 6-2, 5-7, 7-6, 6-3 win over Sam Querrey. This one I watched from beginning to end, and Querrey gave the number one player in the world all he could handle. There was a stretch from late in the second set to just before the 3rd set tiebreak where Querrey had Nadal pretty well befuddled, and his forehand was just tremendous; it's effort like today's that will push Querrey into the top 20 if he keeps it up.
Just as he can build on the positive, he needs to see where the next step in his game is, and we go back to the central dogma of tournament tennis: big players play big on big points. Querrey basically got out of Nadal's way in the 3rd set tiebreaker after brawling his way into it, and after going down a break at 4-2 in the fourth set, he had a total of seven break point chances on Nadal's serve, but couldn't convert. Still, a fantastic effort.
Tomorrow we'll see the rest of the quarterfinal brackets filled out, but in the meantime, click here for all the UCLA football coverage you need while you listen to the mighty Bruins roar!

Title#103 for UCLA

NCAA title #103 was claimed by the UCLA men's golf team, and, just to make title number ONE HUNDRED THREE that much sweeter, the team bested both Stanford and USC to take the title.

Daily Bruin Coverage of Women's Tennis

Here is a link to the article in today's Daily Bruin about the NCAA champion women's tennis team. Two reasons for this: there's a nice photo gallery, and I'll always have an allegiance to the Bruin since I worked there for 3 1/2 years while an undergrad (I think I still have the record for most total stories published, 400 something). Anyway, enjoy, it's a really solid article and great pics.

Make That 102 National Championships!

The UCLA Women's tennis team just dispatched Cal 4-0 in the championship to claim the NCAA title. This is team championship #102 for UCLA, and the first for the women's tennis team. Big congrats to coach Stella Sampras and her crew! The match just ended, so I'll addend a link to a recap tomorrow.

But the UCLA Women's Tennis Team...

is in the NCAA finals tomorrow against Cal. Neither team has ever won a women's tennis title, but that's about to change. The last two of UCLA's 101 NCAA championships (yes, that's one hundred and one championships! Suck it, USC!) have been won by the women's water polo team, here's hoping the tennis team can pick up the mantle. Stay tuned, will get back at you tomorrow with results. Or you can follow along yourself.

Bruins Out

UCLA fell to Texas 4-2 today at the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships. A disappointment, but certainly not for a team that coach Billy Martin said he was afraid might be the worst he's had in his tenure. Lots of good young players returning next year, including Holden Seguso. Seguso was also featured in a fantastic movie called "Unstrung". Produced by former world #1 Jim Courier, it focused on several American juniors on their way to the USTA championships at Kalamazoo. Sam Querrey and Donald Young are two others prominently presented in the movie, which is a fascinating look at the rigors of junior tennis both physically and emotionally. When the movie was finished, I was thanking my lucky stars (yet again) that I decided early on that my future would be determined by using my brain, not my racket.

UCLA Tennis, Live Online!

What a find, what a find, what a find! So I'm perusing the Internet sports world, finding some excellent tennis blogs, and reading other people's opinions on today's match, when I remember that the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships are coming down the stretch. So I decide to take a look and see if I can find out how my beloved UCLA Bruins are doing.
For those who don't know, I spent the bulk of my undergraduate time as a Bruin working as a sportwriter for the Daily Bruin, covering men's soccer and men's tennis for two years, then covering men's basketball. I also had a weekly column. Anyway, loved the job and, in getting to know the players and coach Billy Martin quite well, it certainly gave me a lifelong affinity for the Bruin tennis team.
So imagine my joy to see that the Bruins are in the quarterfinals against the hated Trojans! Then, imagine my excitement to find out that these matches are being streamed live, for free online. All you have to do is click here, and scroll down to find men's tennis quarterfinals.
Having done that, I proceeded to find the UCLA-USC match happening live with score streaming. So I clicked on court one, because the overall score was UCLA 3, USC 2, the first team to four match wins advancing, and the match on court one was in a tiebreaker, with UCLA's Holden Seguso having taken the first set.
You probably can't imagine my happiness when the screen (finally) picked up the action just as the UCLA players ran onto the court in celebration of their victory, and I got to watch it live! I haven't seen them play live since my senior year in 1998, so this was a brilliant way to find them again. The semis are tomorrow against Texas, probably won't be able to watch that, but if the Bruins advance, I'll definitely be watching (and posting) about the final. As always and faithfully, Go Bruins!

UCLA hoops

OK, 4-0 in the Pac-10, wins over Stanford and Wazzoo, a (finally) healthy Josh Shipp, Kevin "Double-Double" Love, and the fastest point guard since Tyus. Oh yeah, the Bruins also closed out a game against a team that hits 7 three pointers in 90 seconds by going 17-21 from the free throw line. Those are the pieces that add up to a team that's going to be really tough in March. They play lock-down defense, shoot the three well, can run with anybody, and have big men to bang around the middle. They also have an X-factor, one of those things that's hard to put a finger on but absolutely essential to any championship team: Kevin Love's outlet passing. It's been talked about before he came to school, but actually seeing him snap the ball out to Collison or Westbrook when they are already past half-court is pretty incredible. That ability is giving the Bruins at least 2-3 free baskets a game, which will be a huge difference maker down the stretch.
I have the 1995 team locked into my memory forever, and I have to say, this team looks like it's got the same set of tools. If a leader steps up a la Ed O'Bannon (I hope you're reading this, Josh Shipp), this team is going to be cutting down the nets April 7th in San Antonio. For now, time to beat up USC on the 19th