So I know that at UCLA we only care about "natti’s". That’s national championships, of which we have the most by far. But, yesterday's game against Texas deserves some kind of summation after the Bruins victory. It was an amazing game to witness. I got to watch the game with Becca's cousin Nate, a UT alum. He gave great insight into the Longhorns, Austin and the stadium which made the game that much more fun.
A few of my observations from the game: This was the most attended game in Austin history (101,700). Hearing them sing the Alma Mater “the eyes of Texas are upon you all the live long day” is one thing to experience in your life. When you're at an event like this and things are going well it's not surprising to receive 50+ texts from friends. Any seat facing east in Texas Stadium is a good seat – the heat and humidity are offset by a nice breeze, upper deck middle was perfect. You could hear the UCLA fans who composed three small sections throughout the game, because UCLA was ahead throughout. UCLA won the game in the third quarter when Norm Chow wisely decided to not let Kevin Prince throw the ball deep in UCLA territory and simply ran 7x before punting; when Texas didn’t return Locke’s 46yard punt it felt like the game was in hand – and tons of fans started leaving the stadium. I don’t get fans that leave in the third quarter, first tickets are really expensive, second if you bleed burnt orange for your school you should be able to cheer them through tough times. That old-guy UCLA cheer dude, who exhorts the crowd with his “I need every man woman and child…" chants is priceless and one of the best things about UCLA football – which says a lot about how bad we’ve been. It’s hilarious that the Texas flag is more highly regarded at the game than the American flag. You can diffuse any possible altercations by talking about how bad UCLA’s quarterback sucks. UT fans and UCLA fans can get together for a rousing “take off that red shirt” when required. Though all the talk radio and fans in San Antonio and Austin were looking passed this game to Oklahoma – they should have concentrated on this game. 66-3 and 34-12 will be numbers that this generation of Texas fans don’t forget. The pistol just might work. Imagine if we had a good quarterback - same story for the eighth consecutive year. Tortured UCLA fans deserve to have a good QB. It’s Westwood – you’d think we could recruit someone. We will probably get annihilated in the home and home series next year in the Rose Bowl, but this was one of the most fun sporting events I’ve ever been too. It’s definitely tops in my 4 years in Texas which have some really good moments, it looks like this: 1) UCLA beats Texas 2010, 2) Final Four with UCLA 2008 – we lose to Memphis who it turns out was loaded with cheaters and ended up forfeiting all their wins from that season. 3) Lakers over Spurs with Kobe hitting game winner 2009 4) Missions v Frisco – seeing a bunch of the current playoff bound Padres in Double A ball. I’m out.
-Toby
