Brandishing a wide smile and about two dozen foot-long wooden rods, UCLA women’s soccer coach Jill Ellis arrived at practice one morning last month determined to deliver a message. Gathering her team together, she snapped one stick. Then another. Finally she challenged every member of the team to break the whole lot of them at […]
Author Archives: Jeff Eisenberg
[Football Online Exclusive] Team’s “˜fresh’ start a sour performance
It’s enough to make you throw the rest of your UCLA football season ticket package on the barbecue and shut your television off with a sledgehammer. They fooled us. Again. Last winter you swore you wouldn’t get your hopes up this fall. Not after the Bruins lost five straight games, were exposed by USC, and […]
[Football Preview 2004] Perry's return a plus for Bragg
The bait was there, but Craig Bragg refused to bite. Cornered by a pack of reporters after practice one day last month, the senior wide receiver was asked who he would like to play with if he could add any current college football player to the Bruin roster. “No one,” he said. No one? Surely […]
Olson’s maturity, drive key to team’s optimism
Impatient as he has been to stake his claim to UCLA’s starting quarterback job, junior Drew Olson wasn’t ready last year. There’s reason to believe he might be now. And that’s not just because he says he is, either. Olson doesn’t act like the skittish young pup who could not command respect when he stepped […]
UCLA makes safe pick, not an inspired one
Maybe John Savage was a good hire. The former UC Irvine coach certainly was the obvious choice. But in selecting Savage to resurrect UCLA’s beleaguered baseball program, Dan Guerrero seems to have snubbed perhaps the most accomplished candidate for the position. George Horton, architect of Cal State Fullerton’s surprising national championship run last month, apparently […]
M. basketball: Thompson to stay at UCLA after NBA flirtation
Dijon Thompson confirmed that he will remain at UCLA for his senior season on June 16, withdrawing his name from consideration for the NBA Draft. The 6-foot-7 swingman’s decision came as no surprise. Even as he announced his intentions to evaluate his draft status in April, Thompson, who attended the Chicago Pre-Draft camp earlier this […]
W. track: Women’s track hurdler takes home 2nd NCAA championship
AUSTIN, Texas “”mdash; Simply defending her 400-meter hurdles title wasn’t enough for Sheena Johnson. The UCLA senior picked up her second consecutive national title Saturday at the NCAA Championships. She posted the fastest time in the world this year at 53.54 seconds, annihilating a star-studded field and claiming the second-fastest time ever run by a […]