You know what I want to say whenever I hear someone say
“UCLA sucks” or ask, “When was the last time we
were good?”
Try being a Golden State Warriors fan.
Of course, this would only bring laughter and embarrassment upon
myself, so I usually keep my mouth shut. But today, it’s time
to vent.
The Warriors wrap up yet another miserable season today. A
season that ends at exactly the same time every year, just before
the playoffs start.
There are many parallels between being a Warriors fan and a UCLA
football or men’s basketball fan. Your team maddeningly
squanders talent, players break down the door to escape, and any
win is desperately combed through for signs of hope.
However, being a Warriors fan isn’t pure masochism. There
is a definite bright side: No amount of losing bums you out,
because your expectations are so low.
While low expectations certainly aren’t the greatest
philosophy to have in life (YES, a C+!!!), it does put things into
perspective when considering other sports teams.
Using Warriors’ fans’ logic:
UCLA football played in a game after the regular season ended,
hence it had a good year.
Basketball made the tournament two years ago, hence we should be
satiated for the next 10 years.
So what if we haven’t beaten USC in years? When the
Warriors beat the Los Angeles Lakers (our closest rival in that
they don’t know of the rivalry “¦ or our existence), we
party like it’s 1994, which was the last time we made the
playoffs. Time just sweetens the inevitable victory!
If you grew up a Golden State Warriors fan, losing is in your
blood. In fact, some losses carry solace. As in, “Did you see
how well the Warriors played last night? They only lost to the
Lakers by five!”
So when UCLA gave Stanford a slight scare in February and lost
by 13 points, that’s a moral victory. Ditto with football
leading No. 3 Oklahoma in the first half.
I would venture that most UCLA students are Lakers fans, since a
majority of this campus is from Southern California, and there are
no other NBA teams down here. None.
The Lakers are certainly a solid selection.
And as Lakers fans are bred with high expectations and have an
insatiable thirst for more glory, they tend to be less tolerable of
incompetence.
This could explain why two at-the-time mediocre NFL teams
““ the Raiders and the Rams ““ were allowed to leave.
Likewise, the high rates of cosmetic surgery. And let’s throw
in the smog and earthquakes, too.
The real point of this discourse is to illustrate how this
campus generally avoids our teams when they’re subpar. Each
loss is met with, “What’s wrong?” and it only
takes a couple strung together for most to totally write our teams
off.
This is certainly not true of everyone. And of course, this
attitude proved prescient this year. But sticking with your team as
it overcomes adversity is the strongest merit of a fan.
To me, UCLA-Lakers fans cannot tolerate losing. Having high
expectations is fine and dandy, except when you fail to consider
losing as an inevitable part of life. Not being the best does not
necessarily mean you suck. You tough it out. It makes the winning
sweeter.
Of course, as the Warriors have yet to test this philosophy by
winning, I don’t quite know this for a fact yet. But
that’s how it theoretically happens.
In the end, I’m not explicitly trying to call out this
campus. I just want to show how life sometimes can be more bearable
when you take the view from below once in a while.
Because compared to rooting for the Warriors, UCLA sports are
nothing but celebrations and highlights.
Shout out to the other six Warriors fans out there. Draft
lottery party anyone?
E-mail Peters at bpeters@media.ucla.edu.