On the car ride home from the Rose Bowl on Saturday, my roommate
said something that made me really happy to hear.
“This is the kind of year that will probably make me a
hardcore UCLA fan for the rest of my life,” he said.
For a guy who’s generally one of the biggest grumps I
know, that’s a big deal.
This is a dude who grew up cheering for USC during the good old
days of John Robinson and Paul Hackett and UCLA’s eight-game
winning streak over the Trojans.
It wasn’t the best of times to be a USC fan back then, and
after his switch of allegiances, it wasn’t the best of times
to be a UCLA fan.
That is, until now.
After the Bruins turned in a classy 51-28 romp of Oregon State
on Saturday, we’re doing things as UCLA football fans that I
never would have imagined.
We checked the schedules of the teams ranked ahead of us to see
when the Bruins are going to move up in the BCS rankings.
Next week, with No. 4 Georgia having to travel to Jacksonville
to face Florida, seems like as good a time as any.
We’ve decided the Bruins have two legitimate Heisman
Trophy candidates in Drew Olson and Maurice Drew. Olson’s
numbers are better than Matt Leinart’s when you look at them
side-by-side.
We’ve made the claim that Chris Markey is a better player
than Reggie Bush. Drew is a more dangerous all-around threat than
Bush.
It’s going to be like a home game for UCLA when Texas
visits the Rose Bowl on Jan. 4.
Claims like this have become standard fare around our apartment.
We realize how ridiculous it is to say some of these things,
because the season is still young and UCLA’s defense is still
suspect and a key injury could bring it all crashing down, but
we’re having a lot of fun.
As long as UCLA keeps winning, no one can knock us off our
pedestal.
All Bruin fans are having a lot of fun, which is such a great
thing to see.
A game such as Saturday’s is exactly what the doctor
ordered, a game that the Bruins controlled almost from the outset
while proving how legitimate this team might actually be.
This one wasn’t hard on the heart, and it was good for the
soul.
That’s because laughing is good for the soul, and I
don’t know if I’ve laughed more during a football game
than I did on Saturday.
We laugh because one of our roommates has been a USC fan his
whole life, and now that he’s taking classes at the UCLA
Extension, we encourage him to support his school. He doesn’t
like that too much.
We laugh because Drew is a ridiculous player, capable of making
a ridiculous play every time he catches the ball.
We laugh because this team has a swagger we’ve never seen
before, and we see how much fun the Bruins appear to be having.
Before Saturday, I didn’t actually believe that UCLA was a
top-10 team. Olson and this offense are making me believe.
One of my friends is always warning me not to drink the
Kool-Aid. I think he means that I’m not supposed to buy into
the hype. I think my friend is wrong.
Drink the Kool-Aid. Drink lots of it. Convince yourself that
you’d take Olson and Drew over Leinart and Bush. Decide who
you’re going to carpool with on
Jan. 4, because traffic on the way to the Rose Bowl is going to
be a bitch.
Have fun with this, because that’s what sports are
supposed to be about.
“I’m having a great time this season,” said my
other roommate, and though he’s a little difficult to take
seriously when he makes these claims while sitting at his desk in
the closet, it’s an important point to make.
We’re having a great time, and basketball season
hasn’t even started.
It’s enough to make you want to be a Bruin for life.
E-mail Regan at dregan@mail.media.ucla.edu.