I have no problem ignoring people who are passing out fliers on
Bruin Walk. In fact, I relish concocting sly declines for those who
shove fliers in my face ““ especially during USAC election
season.
Here are a few samples of my clever rejections when someone
tries to hand me a flier telling me for whom to vote: “I
don’t speak English,” “I don’t go to school
here,” “I am a communist,” and my favorite,
“I already voted.”
That last refusal is the best because the flier-people
can’t question it, whereas they can argue with me about the
merits of communism. But after lying about having already voted for
the 40th time last week, I started to get a sharp pain in my
chest.
It turns out that pain was my soul being stabbed by my lies. So
I decided to vote. But who to vote for? Well, in the all-important
race for USAC president, I came across a candidate who had an
intriguing background. Here was Doug Ludlow, a former member of the
UCLA men’s crew team, who was running for the presidency as
an independent. Whether he would win or lose, I knew I needed to
talk to him.
Well, Ludlow lost the election, although he did garner 27.39
percent of the vote. But he won an interview with me, so he’s
probably not too bummed. The third-year Ludlow and I sat down on
Tuesday to discuss the role athletics has played in his life, and
some of his presidential ideas that he feels would have improved
the state of athletics at UCLA.
The interview got off to a great start:
DM: You know I voted for you.
DL: Well, thank you very much. I appreciate that. “¦ How
come?
DM: Because I wanted to write an article about you when you
won.
DL: Well I appreciate that (laughing).
DM: But this also works.
The Modesto-native was on the crew team last year; he has since
left the team so he may ensure his timely graduation next spring
(after all, he’s majoring in economics, history and political
science). All that rowing taught Ludlow a great deal about life,
especially because he had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. for practice.
Ludlow and I discussed the intricacies of crew, but he could not
explain why the word “coxswain” (if I’m not
mistaken, the coxswain is the little guy on the boat who tells his
teammates to row faster) is pronounced like
“coxon.”
“No idea why. No one knows. Everyone asks that,”
Ludlow said.
As indicated by his campaign platform, had he been elected,
Ludlow would have sought to bridge the gap between the athletes and
the students of UCLA.
“There is an extraordinary disconnect between athletes and
the rest of campus,” Ludlow said. “There are two
different worlds at UCLA ““ everyone who shows up to the games
at Pauley and student government. I think USAC could benefit from
drawing from that crowd, that very spirited, athletics-interested
crowd.”
With talk like that, I wondered aloud whether Ludlow would have
made Cedric Bozeman his secretary of defense.
“No, but the way I was going to do my appointments was to
extend invitations to every single organization on campus,”
Ludlow said. “And I would have submitted invitations to
things like the football team, the men’s basketball team or
the women’s soccer team to see if they had anyone who was
interested and capable, so we could hear voices that were never
heard before.”
Ludlow does not plan to run for president again, although he did
leave the door open for another shot at it next year. For now he
plans to focus on training for the Los Angeles Triathlon and the
Los Angeles City Marathon, and he will make his services available
to the next USAC president, should they be desired.
Ludlow also said he’s thought about rejoining the crew
team, and he will stay involved in Bruin Democrats, which he was
president of this past year.
“Now that the election is over, I am more relaxed than I
have been in months,” Ludlow said. “Really everything
from here is the epilogue of the story. Now I’m just looking
to help out any way I can.”
Whether he’s got an oar or a gavel in his hand, Ludlow
stands to make a difference at UCLA.
This one goes out to Joey Mason.
E-mail Miller at dmiller@media.ucla.edu.