Author Archives: Andrew Finley

ANAHEIM “”mdash; Needing a healthy dose of inspiration heading into finals week, I spent Saturday afternoon at the Arrowhead Pond watching UCLA basketball. While the Bruins’ win over Nevada distracted some students from their studies, it simply reaffirmed the importance of intelligence and preparation in my mind. Ben Howland’s squad put on a clinic of […]

Freshman year, I took a cluster course that focused on the evolution of cosmos. I learned about the distances that separate planets, solar systems, and galaxies. Unfortunately, the professor never bothered explaining how far apart UCLA and USC are. MapQuest tells me the campuses are just a few miles away from each other, but the […]

It’s nearly impossible to find a column praising Drew Olson these days without the following reference: He’s not just the best quarterback on his team. He might be the best in town. Sportswriters have felt compelled to compare Olson to Matt Leinart this season, probably because they’ve been so enamored with the USC quarterback the […]

Drew Olson is officially listed at 6-foot-3, and with the season he’s had, he could just as well be 7-foot-8. Nevertheless, I always thought it strange that during my brief chats with the UCLA quarterback, I never had to lift my chin to make eye contact. You see, I’ve always considered myself to be 6-foot-1, […]

From his corner office on the third floor of the Morgan Intercollegiate Athletics Center, Dan Guerrero calmly watches over one of the most successful sports programs in the nation. But last fall, a set of numbers sitting in front of Guerrero gave the UCLA athletic director reason for concern. During the 2003-2004 academic year, UCLA’s […]

UCLA’s football team had another bye this past week, so it was awfully nice of the basketball team to volunteer to fill in. Ben Howland’s squad didn’t need helmets or shoulder pads to mimic its touchdown-scoring counterpart on its recent trip to New York. Some lackadaisical play followed by a pair of late-game flurries sufficed […]

With the game winding down to a lackluster finish and the outcome no longer in jeopardy, referees blew the whistle against Michael Fey in last week’s season opener against New Mexico State. Immediately, the displeasure in the student section became apparent, regardless of the obviousness or insignificance of the foul. “Bull@&*!, Bull@&*!,” the hackneyed voices […]