For some at UCLA, March Madness is a year-round mentality regarding men’s basketball. And when the opponent is USC, obsessive fandom gets even more obsessive than usual.
Maybe that’s why Bruin basketball fans lined up in front of Pauley Pavilion literally days before the No. 2 Bruins take on the No. 19 USC squad tonight at 7:30.
Although camping out the night before a home game to ensure a prime spot on the floor in the student section is fairly commonplace, veteran campers said this was one of the biggest turnouts they have seen, especially for a two-night-long affair.
Throughout the night, students walking by the camping area gave campers puzzled looks and asked, “Wait ““ the game’s not until Wednesday, right?”
“Most people look at us like, “˜Are you kidding me?'” said first-year math student Jamie Arneson, who was the first to arrive, along with first-year business student Jon Scherer, 48 hours before tip-off.
Second-year Design | Media Arts student Emerson Taymor has seen his fair share of campout antics, having attended nearly every game and been an active member of The Den since he started at UCLA.
“This is one of the craziest (campouts)” Taymor said. “I’ve never done a two-nighter before, so it’s pretty wild.”
By 10:30 p.m. on Monday, there were already well over a dozen overnight campers chatting about the latest rankings, junior Arron Afflalo’s status for next year, memories of past home games, and, appropriately, hatred of USC.
But by far the most popular means of entertainment was a Nintendo Wii, which, according to Taymor, a first-time Wii player, “made the night go by a little faster.”
There were many new faces present at Pauley on Monday night, but most of the campers belonged to the dedicated group of Den members who always camp out for the home games.
Christo Rose, a fourth-year computer science student and prominent member of The Den (aka The Blue Hair Guy), has only missed six or seven games in his entire UCLA career. Rose’s campout trademark is sleeping on newspaper.
“It’s better than sleeping on the cold stone,” Rose said. “It’s sort of my thing.”
Although many students cited camping out with friends and fellow fans as a good bonding experience, the point is to be closer to the action of the game.
“You feel like you’re part of the game,” said Taymor. “It’s just a wild atmosphere, everyone cheering like crazy, jumping up and down. … You really feel like you’re helping the team out.”
By early Tuesday morning, the crowd had more than doubled, and things got exciting when players Lorenzo Mata, Alfred Aboya and Luc Richard Mbah A Moute tried to get into the locked gym while sleeping campers blocked their paths.
“Alfred Aboya came down and talked to me about how tight my sleeping bag was,” Taymor said. “And then the guys told Luc to step on me. It was a little embarrassing, but it was good fun.”