You should ask when you don’t know the answer,” my
fourth-grade teacher Mrs. Haberkern told me. “Even smart
people have to ask questions.”
As a stubborn 9-year-old, I did not find this idea comforting.
And, while I did master long-division, it took me 12 years to
realize she was right.
I finally understood Mrs. Haberkern’s words of wisdom when
I stepped on to Spaulding Field almost two years ago to start
covering football. I was afraid someone would ask me about a play
action pass, and without my trusty “Football For
Dummies” (thank you, Howie Long), I would be exposed as a
fraud. So I started asking questions.
Two weeks into the season, I asked DeShaun Foster if he was
scared of the vaunted Ohio State defense.
Stupid question.
But I did not stop. Because I wanted to know about player
matchups and why a certain play was called. If I had stopped, I
wouldn’t know what a cover three defense is, or a bootleg or
a stunt.
The corollary, of course, to asking questions is that you have
to listen to the answers. Everyone has something to teach you, and
not just about the game. There are 85 people on a football team and
every one of them has a story. Whether it was Bryan
Fletcher’s perspective on Africa or a player explaining why
he cries before games, everyone had something to say worth
hearing.
As I leave UCLA, I appreciate what I learned in the classroom,
but I am more grateful for all the lessons learned on the field and
in stadiums, locker rooms and clinics. Sociology is fine to read
about in a book, but much more interesting when applied to life. I
will never forget the zenith of covering a team that was No. 3 in
the Bowl Championship Series going into Stanford in 2001. And I
probably learned more about people from watching things fall apart
over the next four weeks, reaching their nadir in that 27-0 loss to
USC. Sports is just human drama played out on a smaller stage.
Watching Coach K’s Cinderella story of being head coach for a
few weeks and winning the Vegas bowl ““ after that
gossip-filled saga of a season ““ teaches you as much about
people as about football.
As they say, no man is an island (except a cornerback!). So go
learn.
Thank you for answering when I asked: Coach Dorrell, Coach
Toledo, the entire new and old coaching staffs, the players, and
everyone in the sports information office. Thank you Josh, Adam and
Scott ““ my partners in crime in 2001; Bruce and Diamond
““ my team in 2002; and Stella Sampras Webster and the ladies
of the 2000 tennis team. And thank you to my past and present
editors who gave me the job I love, Donald for my Sports
Illustrated, and of course, my family for believing in me.
Gordon was a Daily Bruin Sports staff writer.