The UCLA men’s soccer team has won the national
championship, and I can’t think of a better panacea for the
athletic department’s current ailments.
After the school went without a national championship last year,
unable to capture a title even in something ridiculous like
gymnastics, this title is something to savor.
Additionally, UCLA has fired its head football coach after
another
disappointing season, and the team is playing in some bowl game
that no one can name (isn’t it the T.J. Maxx Spring
Collection Bowl, or something like that?), while the basketball
team needed its victory over Portland on Saturday to reach the .500
plateau.
Portland.
This soccer title is something to celebrate.
Sunday was a chilly day in Los Angeles; I was freshly home and
already lazily enjoying my winter break, so I decided to flip on
the tube and sample some HBO. (Up until recently my parents only
believed in basic cable, but since they started receiving the home
box office two months ago, all I hear about when I talk to my
parents are the current storylines of “Arli$$” and
“Queer as Folk.”)
Flipping through the stations trying to locate the blessed
premium channel, I stumbled across ESPN2, and the image of Bruins
in powder blue streaking across a field at Southern Methodist
University filled my heart with joy. Realizing it was the
championship match, I settled down for 90 minutes of great
soccer. The Bruins were unimpressive at times, but their play
never sunk to the level of ESPN2’s coverage of the final
match.I know this network usually televises hot-dog eating
contests, tractor pulls and extreme zero-gravity chess, but you
would think they could amass something somewhat professional for
the battle for the national title.However, even uninformative
sideline reporting and cliché-laden announcing could not dull
the excitement of the match, as the Bruins won 1-0 on a goal by
Aaron Lopez off a Ryan Futagaki
cross with 1:04 remaining. ESPN2’s best broadcasting
decision of the day was showing a sign made by a UCLA fan which
read, “Cost of going to Stanford: $$$”¦Cost of getting a
4.0 GPA at Stanford: $$$”¦UCLA winning the national
championship: priceless.”
Genius, obviously.
With the match over, and the Bruins celebrating on the field,
the
cameraman panned up to reveal a horde of cheering UCLA fans.
These weren’t just the parents of players; I actually noted
some young fellows with “UCLA” painted across their
bare chests.Who says UCLA fans don’t travel? We can only hope
and pray that as many spirited fans will turn out in Vegas for the
football team.
The championship, the program’s fourth, caps off a season
in which the Bruins won the Pac-10 Championship, and bowled over
every opponent in their path, spectacularly beating Penn State,
7-1, in the NCAA quarterfinals. UCLA now has an unmatched 87 NCAA
team titles, and 109 national championships.
So, Athletic Director Dan Guerrero gets a national championship
in the first year of his stewardship of UCLA athletics, and fans
get something to cheer about.Maybe the title will be the impetus
for change that UCLA athletics sorely needs.
Or, Guerrero could just keep firing coaches.