At a campus where football and basketball are king and prince of
the sports scene, it has been the smaller sports, the paupers of
the athletic department, that have shone the brightest this
year.
Men’s tennis and both men’s and women’s water
polo won NCAA titles this year, while men’s volleyball,
women’s soccer and women’s golf finished second. At the
time this editorial is being written, both women’s softball
and track are working on their own titles.
The masses flocked to see football meander through a break-even
season and then lose in another Obscure.com Bowl, while men’s
basketball, though they had a substantially improved record, made a
first-round exit from the NCAA Tournament.
Meanwhile, this year’s women’s water polo team went
undefeated ““ undefeated. That’s a word neither the
football nor the men’s basketball team has heard in a long
time. And men’s tennis won the national title in a
nail-biting finish over an undefeated ““ undefeated ““
Baylor team, in a match so few people cared to see that ESPN aired
it a week after it happened.
UCLA has the most national titles of any campus in the country
(97), and odds are it will shatter the 100 mark next year. When it
does, it will be because of the smaller sports.
These athletes do it without the hype, the publicity or the
name-recognition of the larger sports.
This university has a proud athletic tradition. And this year we
can say unequivocally that the lesser-known ““ and
lesser-watched ““ teams are carrying the torch.