The first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem.
The issue, however, is whether or not there really is a problem on
the UCLA campus. Students have long complained about the divide
between athletes and non-athletes, pointing to the exclusive gear
and elevated social status as evidence of the separation. The
question is whether athletes really do fit the elitist stereotype
they are branded with or whether the rest of the student body
suffers from social hypochondria.
At minimum there is a visual divide. It is easy enough to tell
who plays a sport based on clothing alone. Athletes wearing their
team’s clothing attract attention whether they want to or
not.
Every student knows what an athlete backpack looks like,
including former Daily Bruin columnist Hector Leano. Leano wrote a
column on the elitism of the backpacks and team gear and was met
with a less than warm response from the UCLA athletic community
(“Clothes make the student athlete,” Feb. 3, 2005).
Soon after the column ran, a Facebook group sprung up titled,
“I wear my backpack because I am better than you!” The
group was started by Brenn Larson, a setter on the women’s
volleyball team, and now has 132 members. The description of the
group reads, “We are the elitist athletes who strategically
sport our Adidas Sport Logo Free backpacks to make the regs of UCLA
have an inferiority complex and to create a dateless environment
for Hector Leano.”
Larson declined to comment.
Now before you assume that there is journalistic nepotism going
on, let the record show that I have never met Leano, and when I
came in as a freshman, I tried to convince my athlete friend to
give me his backpack. I’m not proud of it.
Whatever divide does exist between athletes and non-athletes, it
seems to be centered around whether or not there is a divide.
Stephanie Adams, a student athletic trainer for the women’s
water polo team, thinks expectations play a big role in the
interaction. “There is a divide,” Adams said.
“But I don’t think it’s meant to be that way.
It’s perceived that way, more by the non-athletes. Athletes
don’t intentionally try to be elitist but it just comes off
that way and I think it’s a circle. People look at them a
certain way, so they feel like they have to act that way to fill
those shoes.”
Demetre Howard, captain of the men’s track and field team,
says he does not see there being a strong divide. “More focus
is put on there being a divide by non-athletes than there actually
is one,” Howard said. “But athletes don’t really
think about it.”
While many athletes don’t spend a lot of time in the
spotlight and don’t think about it, certain blue-chip
athletes appear on ESPN constantly and own an undeniable celebrity
status.
“There are obvious names that I don’t even have to
mention. Those athletes are considered “˜important
people’ within the UCLA community,” said Lindsay Ducos,
a second-year world arts and cultures student.
I’ll save the suspense. Those names are not Leano or
Gordon. Being an athlete at a school in the spotlight as much as
UCLA is a great opportunity that brings with it the burden of
constant watchful eyes. When people expect a certain swagger from
you all day long, it is only so long before you start to adopt it.
And on the image-conscious campus of UCLA near tinsel town, whether
or not there is an “in crowd” on campus, people will be
looking for it.
E-mail Gordon at bgordon@media.ucla.edu to start a bootleg
athlete backpack business.