I should begin this article with a confession: I am 31 years old and have never even attended UCLA.
Yet I am a lifelong Bruin fan.
No, it’s worse than that. Worse than you can possibly imagine.
Why?
Because my parents met at UCLA, and they weren’t just any UCLA couple: My father threw the javelin on the national-championship UCLA track team of 1966.
My parents not only met on campus, but my father has one of those precious “life-long-membership” cards that gets him a free entrance into absolutely any Bruin sporting event (except for the UCLA-USC football game).
Sound good?
Yeah, you better believe it.
I was raised in Pasadena with two-for-one tickets that enabled us to go to almost every home football game. We naturally went to about a million basketball games. Then there was volleyball.
Why?
Because after his track career my father became one of the best over-50-years-old volleyball players in the world.
So good in fact that he played masters tournaments with no one else than Butch May, father of Misty May-Treanor (of double gold-medal fame, in case you missed it).
Of course, it didn’t stop there. There was soccer and softball and, of course, track and field.
Why?
Why not?
After 100 national championships UCLA is the best sports university ever.
But right now I am more excited than I have ever been.
I saw the 1995 basketball championship when Cameron Dollar replaced Tyus Edney and we won the whole thing. I’ve been watching the Ben Howland domination of the Pac-10 over the last three years.
But I’m more excited than I’ve ever been for UCLA.
Why?
Because I just watched the most exciting football game EVER.
And how unexpected was it, you ask?
Not unexpected at all.
Why?
The trifecta.
27-24?
Sure, the score is nice, but that’s not the story of the game.
The trifecta is the story of the game, it’s the most important thing in football: coaches. And we have three of them.
Neuheisel?
He’s No. 1.
He’s the main man, and that makes sense. The prodigal son has come home and we are happy.
DeWayne Walker?
That also makes sense.
He won all of our 12 games over the last two years and, quite honestly, deserves to be a head coach himself.
How many times did Karl Dorrell leave him hanging out to dry because of bad offensive coaching?
How many times did he come through? Yes, DeWayne Walker, you are still underrated. But please, don’t leave town yet.
Why?
The trifecta.
Over at the University of Spoiled Children, they have Pete Carroll and his recruiting scandals.
But over here we have three head coaches. How it happened, I will never know, but it did.
Norm Chow?
How that happened I still don’t understand, but I love it. And I believe in it. He’s the one who completes the trifecta.
Of course, USC looks good but I tell you what, UCLA is back in town.
And from the tried-and-true blue I’m here to say that we’ve got more than you.
Not because of recruiting.
Because of coaching.
We’ve got three, USC has one.
And that’s what matters.
Sure, you might still have enough to squeak by this year.
But we’ve got the mix.
We’ve got three, each of whom should be a head coach.
We’ve got the trifecta.
We’ve got three coaches, each of whom is a powerhouse in his own right. Each of whom deserves to coach his own team.
I want a football championship.
Bring it home to me.
Go Bruins!
Selby is a doctorate student at the University of California, San Diego. He is also a Bruin fan “by birth.”