With the end of my college days nearing, this weekend was my
last chance to attend a UCLA home basketball game as a student. As
fate would have it, this game was also Senior Appreciation Day.
That’s, like, poetic or something.
At first I thought I would have to sit this game out ““ on
the injured list, if you will ““ but then my connection came
through at the last minute and I scored a ticket. And even better,
I get to write a game wrap for the Daily Bruin.
Before tip-off, I met up with first-year student Tommy Ursano to
get his extra ticket just as he and the rest of the Bruin Den,
brought to us by SBC Wireless, were filing into the courtside
student section an hour before the game.
I admire the Bruin Den’s dedication. Even though this game
was not as important as the Lexus Gauntlet game against USC,
brought to us by our Southern California Lexus dealer, Ursano and
his fellow Den-izens had camped out the day before for the best
seats.
As the UCLA men’s basketball team, brought to us by
Adidas, warmed up, the Coca-Cola scoreboard showed the UCLA legends
in attendance: the Wizard himself, John Wooden … Bruin great
Reggie Miller …
I was waiting for my face to show up on the big screen, but
luckily my publicist got through and told them that I wanted the
focus of the game to stay on the players, not me. I was especially
relieved they didn’t put me up on Kiss Cam, seeing as I was
sitting next to my older brother, Gus. I mean, I love the big guy
and all, but … you know.
Early into the game, those Domino’s Pizza guys were
dishing pizza pies out as if they were the point guard dishing out
the basketball for a slam dunk. One lucky fan on the Fan Cam,
brought to us by Southern California Toyota, got himself a free
pizza pie.
Later on in that tough first half, American Eagle Outfitters
delivered the most empowering message when they told me to
“live my life.” That really spoke to me and the over
11,000 other fans in attendance.
At halftime, some hippie kid with no shoes on won the Bank of
the West 3-point Challenge. Some other guy missed the Subaru
half-court shot. (But he still received a month’s worth of
free Wienerschnitzel. Lucky.) Some girl in women’s gymnastics
did a handstand on a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
The second half got off to a great start when I correctly
guessed that the basketball was hidden behind the third Bruin head
in the Kinko’s Bruin Shuffle. I was really on a roll.
The tempo slowed down for a while, until Pacific Care presented
the Dance With Joe and Josephine Bruin. I totally rocked out.
While I rocked out, however, I got to thinking. There’s
something vaguely unsettling about the pair. They dance with each
other, have the same last name, and her name is a derivative of
his, yet I didn’t see a wedding band on either bear. Somebody
needs to ask these questions.
But Pacific Care was distracting the crowd with other matters.
Out of nowhere, it brought out the Pacific Care “Who Am
I?” challenge. I couldn’t guess who the mystery
basketball player was, but I still felt strong going into crunch
time.
In the end, everything revolved around me. Cingular asked me to
experience the largest all-digital network in California. State
Farm Insurance wanted to be a part of my team.
I can’t wait until the Pac-10 Tournament brought to you by
Pacific Life, I tell you that right now. Yessir. Pacific Life. And
then hopefully on to the NCAAs. The 1995 Sears Men’s
Basketball Championship Trophy presented to UCLA has been getting
lonely this past decade.
Leano was brought to you by the military industrial complex.
E-mail him at [email protected].