Upon my arrival at UCLA two autumns ago (trumpets, fanfare, palm branches, etc.), I half-expected to begin a sequence of fandom in which I would be attending Final Fours, College Cups and BCS title games (OK, well, maybe not the last one as much).
As a UCLA fan growing up, it became easy for me to identify with the big money sports like basketball and football, and to a lesser extent, baseball and soccer. What helped in securing my passionate loyalty to these Bruin teams was the fact that I was an active practitioner of said sports myself, whether it be recreationally or officially.
Basketball team making it to the national semifinals? Yeah, MY basketball teams advanced deep into the playoffs. I could relate to that. Bruin pitchers piling up the strikeouts? Yeah, I posted a few K’s in my day (sure, I was a second-baseman, but that’s not relevant). I could relate to that, too. I kicked enough household objects at my sister and played enough EA Sports NCAA Football to understand soccer and football pretty well, too, when those Bruin squads experienced varying measures of success.
But things have certainly changed since I first planted my fanny on a Westwood bleacher. The two championships that UCLA has won since my arrival have come in women’s water polo and gymnastics, sports that rank just above “Swallow My Own Ear” and just below “Swim Naked Through Volcanic Ash With My Wrists Tied To My Ankles” on the list of things I’m physically capable of doing. Tread water for an hour while being legally assaulted? I don’t think so. Perform a series of backflips and land perfectly on a 10-centimeter-wide beam? Fat chance. And I have been lucky enough to witness UCLA pull off these feats at a higher level than anybody else.
It used to make sense to me that I would have a better appreciation for championships if they occurred in sports that I could easily relate to, such as basketball and baseball. That seems like a natural state of mind: If you have invested so much time in something, it should be inspiring and exhilarating to see elite athletes do the same.
In reality, that mindset has been turned on its head faster than Brittani McCullough in her floor exercise routine. The more completely incapable I am at executing something athletic, the more impressed I am when those actions are carried out at a championship standard. In winning titles in their respective sports the last couple of years, the women’s water polo and gymnastics teams have solidified UCLA’s status as the deepest and most versatile sports program in the country.
With the millions of people in this country, and the world, playing basketball, football, baseball and soccer, it should not come as a surprise that a number of different universities can boast strong programs in those sports. But both water polo and gymnastics require particular athletes with unique skill sets, and it should speak to the prestige of the UCLA sports program that they can consistently come out on top in those arenas.
Granted, water polo for one necessitates a specific environment that is conducive to Southern California and contributes to UCLA’s success. It’s the same reason why our ski jumping team and biathlon teams are still searching for their first championship. Still, every championship that a UCLA water polo team wins resonates strongly with me.
Meanwhile, last week’s NCAA gymnastics championship signified that UCLA is back to being the team to beat in the world of collegiate body-twisting/vaulting/how-does-she-do-that moments.
Suffice it to say, I have come away with a newfound appreciation for Bruin sports, and it has nothing to do with the 12th basketball championship or the Rose Bowl. Rather, it’s a result of jaw-dropping, wince-inducing (in a good way) observations of those sports that to my untrained physiology might as well be Herculean tasks. I have been given a new perspective, and I cannot wait for what’s next.
Fire-eating championships? Deep-sea skeet shooting titles? The ball is in our court. And that’s an axiom I can comprehend.
If you’re a champion jouster, verbal or otherwise, e-mail Eshoff at reshoff@media.ucla.edu.