Don’t look now, UCLA sports fans, but the tide is shifting.
Correction … the tide has shifted.
And UCLA women’s sports is the new alpha male.
Although I’m a man and have been an avid UCLA men’s, not women’s, sports fan for years, it doesn’t pain me to say that the Bruin ladies have taken over as top dog in recent years.
And it’s not because I don’t enjoy or support women’s sports that I was only a UCLA men’s sports fans. It was because only the men’s sports, i.e. basketball and football, got publicity. I rarely heard anything of UCLA women’s sports prior to becoming a Bruin.
But now that I am a Bruin, and now that I’ve seen the strength of the women’s sports program here at UCLA, I can say bluntly and confidently that since the year 2000, the women have been owning the men.
Absolutely owning them.
Allow me to present you with some statistics.
UCLA has a total of 104 national championships overall, the most of any university. Men’s sports have won 71 of those national championships, while the women have won 33. But since 2000, of the 25 national championships UCLA has won, 18 of them belong to the women’s side. Men’s sports have only won seven.
The women’s water polo team itself has won seven national championships since 2001, including five straight from 2005 to 2009.
Come on, guys.
And if the assumption is that women’s sports have surpassed men simply due to the recent successes of women’s water polo, that is false. Gymnastics has won four national championships in the past decade, softball and indoor track and field have won two apiece, and golf, tennis and outdoor track and field have each won one.
So the wealth is certainly being spread across the board.
In fact, the men are actually lucky that the women haven’t won more than 18.
The UCLA women’s soccer team has made the NCAA College Cup, the soccer equivalent to the Final Four, each of the past seven years, including making the NCAA finals twice. It’s taken an insane amount of negative fortune to prevent them from winning one, two or three national championships, adding to the 18 already won by our women’s programs this decade.
Let’s look at another factor: number of sports.
UCLA currently promotes 12 women’s sports as opposed to ten for the men. But two of those women’s sports are rowing and swimming and diving, both of which aren’t necessarily strong and have never won a national championship. So essentially, the only trade-off is that the women have gymnastics and the men have football.
Let’s just say the women are winning the trade-off.
But not for long! Right, Slick Rick?
Now let’s take a look at recent championships. No men’s sport has won a national championship more recently than its female counterpart except for men’s golf and volleyball, each winning in 2008 and 2006, respectively.
Softball has won two national championships since 2000, and ten overall, while baseball has never won a national championship. Women’s water polo won the NCAA title just last year, while men’s won in 2004. Women’s track and field won in 2004, but men’s hasn’t won since 1988.
Come on, guys!
And although men’s tennis has won 16 national championships in total, dating back to 1950, their last NCAA title was in 2005. The women brought home their lone title in 2008, and I must say, the women’s field in 2010 looks a lot more conquerable than that of the men’s.
Okay, now we can talk about a sport that clearly favors the men: basketball.
Wait … clearly favors?
I’m not so sure.
UCLA basketball, as we all know, has won an unprecedented 11 national championships. But from 1963 to 1975, the almighty John Wooden won ten of those 11. There was then a 20-year drought until UCLA won another title; from 1975 until now, the Bruins have made the NCAA title game three times, winning once.
And don’t forget that miracle shot hit by Tyus Edney during that 1995 title run. That wasn’t a slam-dunk championship. It took some good fortune.
Now, although the women’s basketball team has never approached a national championship, depending on how you view the success of the men’s program in recent years, they aren’t far behind. I would never discount the legend of John Wooden, but his success was so monumental that to me, he has ascended past being a legend.
He’s almost like a myth now, because no one will ever repeat what he did. Ever. He transcends all comparison because his accomplishments were a “once in a lifetime” type deal.
So now, I choose to judge UCLA basketball by those who came after Wooden. And post-Wooden hasn’t been so great. Post-Wooden isn’t too far ahead of the women.
So Bruin men, you can keep banking on the fact that your championships mean more because honestly, they do. A football championship would be the best thing that ever happened to this school.
But in the meantime, there is nothing that points towards the Bruin women slowing down.