SB Nation Blog: Telemachus

Bru-103 and counting

Telemachus — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 20:35:28 -0000

Three 2008 NCAA championship teams from UCLA - women's water polo, women's tennis and men's golf - will be in Washington D.C. on Tuesday afternoon, June 24, to be honored at a White House ceremony featuring 2007-08 NCAA champions from schools around the country.

Win #100 by the women's water polo team was UCLA's "only" team championship in 2007. Fittingly, the Bruins' championship drought ended spectacularly when the women won their fourth consecutive water polo NCAA title, leading to UCLA's May 2008 championship trifecta as the women's tennis team and the men's golf team added #102 and #103.

Read the full story here.

All true Bruin fans know we're at #103 even though our official website hasn't been updated since #100. The presentation of the championships on the website really doesn't do justice to our accomplishments, so I decided to do some number crunching and came up with these facts:

currently on an active streak of 14 consecutive years with at least one championship (missed only one year, 1994, in the last 22 years)
if we win a championship in 2009, this will be the first decade in which we've had at least one win in every year of the decade.
with one more year to go, we have won more championships (24) in this decade than in any previous decade (23 during both 1980-1989 and 1970-1979)
since the women's first championships in 1982 (softball, track&field (outdoor)), the women have won 32 versus 31 for the men.
since 1970 we have averaged nearly 2.3 championships per year; compared to our overall average of nearly 1.8 per year.
we have double-digit championship wins in four sports: basketball-11, softball-10, men's tennis-16, and men's volleyball-19. If we combine women's and men's together, we have one more double-digit sport: water polo-14 (6-women's plus 8-men's).
we have won five championships in a single year four times: 2004, 1984, 1982, 1971.
the last time we went two consecutive years without a championship was 1962-1963; the only other time we went more than one year without a championship was 1957-1958-1959.

I also put together a pdf you can download that has charts breaking down our championships by year, sport and men's versus women's programs. Now you have no excuse not to know all about what #103 means.

Jordan Farmar in NBA Finals Game 5

Telemachus — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:01:42 -0000

Jordan Farmar has a great night, shooting 5 for 9 and playing a reserve high 22 minutes in another grind out Lakers win. It's do or die - win or go home for the Lakers and Farmar is well acquainted with that. Nice to see former Bruins in the NBA Finals.
(Click to view video)

Anyone notice Glen Davis (aka "Big Baby" ) collecting splinters on the pine for Boston? My lasting memory of him is seeing him sucking air trying to get back on defense as LSU was creamed by the Bruins in the 2006 Final Four. Ah, but I digress . . .

Not one to heap on praise, Phil Jackson does explain why Farmar was inserted in the unusual two-guard lineup with Fisher.
(Click to view video)

Let's hope the Lakers can channel some Tiger Woods-like mojo for the next two games!

Ben Ball in Transition

Telemachus — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 03:01:14 -0000

As we wait impatiently for the start of the "Neu Era," we also contemplate the impact of the new Ben Ball Warriors as the 2008-2009 roster becomes clearer. Yes, we will miss Russell Westbrook and possibly Mbah a Moute. And the hole in the middle is like losing your first Love.

The attached video segment (from a local broadcast of "Sports Stars of Tomorrow") gives us a look at Kevin Love moving on and background on Drew Gordon who is expected to help fill the void. A lot is said about Gordon's 94-foot length of the court basket as a sophomore; the fact that Gordon originally played ice hockey before turning to basketball; that he competed in Track & Field (Shotput and discus); and why he decided to come to UCLA.

(Click to view video)

Christina Perkins, UCLA-bound CIF Southern Section Farmers Scholar Athlete. Video Link

Telemachus — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 07:01:39 -0000

http://Telemachus.smugmug.com/photos/308555416_tUAiA-M.jpg

UCLA Track and Field

Telemachus — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:29:00 -0000

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

As rich87 rightly points out in his post, the UCLA men and women Track & Field teams will be represented at next week's NCAA Outdoor Championships. I hope those more in the know than I can report on it. For example, is next week's competition for individual and/or team championships?

That aside, I'm posting a couple of highlights from the Pac-10 Championships held last month in Tempe, AZ.

First up, three 1st place and one 3rd place finishes by Bruins Greg Garza , Ingrid Kantola, Boldizsar Kocsor, and Darius Savage. Great upset by Kantola and nice finish by Savage, who is also a member of the football team.

(Click to view video)

Meanwhile, 110 Meter Hurdles Pac-10 Champion Kevin Craddock runs away from the field:

(Click to view video)

Track & Field fans, I'm sowing the seeds, take it from here!
Best of luck next week Bruin Tracksters!

How many National Championships before basketball starts?

Telemachus — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 08:01:59 -0000

It was disappointing Saturday as the Women's softball team wasn't able to advance in the Women's College World Series, suffering a 2-0 loss to Florida. However, Bruins Golf collected Bru-103 in thrilling fashion as recounted by LA Seitz. Meanwhile the UCLA Baseball team stays alive with an 11-4 win over Cal State University Fullerton. Despite the softball loss, it was a another great day to be a Bruin.

And we keep having things to look forward to. A key member of the Fab Five, Jrue Holiday was featured on the EA Sports High School All America Show. Money quote: ..."most observers consider humility his greatest asset."

(Click to view video)

Are we living in a "Golden Era" of UCLA sports?

WCWS Round 1 Video Recap

Telemachus — Fri, 30 May 2008 09:07:50 -0000

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

In the first inning, UCLA scored its lone run off a solid hit by Amanda Kamekona allowing freshman Katie Schroeder to score from third.

Pro Bruins

Telemachus — Sat, 24 May 2008 08:10:41 -0000

Bumped. GO BRUINS. - N

Nestor covered the impact of Bruins in the NBA. As to emphasize the point, Jordan Farmar has broke out of his playoff funk during the first two games of the NBA Western Conference Finals. During the 30-point whipping of the Spurs last night in game two, Farmar came up with a great (*gasp*) defensive play, blocking Ime Udoka's layup: Jordan went on to score a career playoff high 14 points, looking confident and sharp: But perhaps the best news of the night was the return of Trevor Ariza, recovering from a broken foot. He played nearly all of the last six minutes of the game and scored two points on his one shot attempt and grabbed two rebounds:

Nice to see our Bruin family doing well. Let's hope these Bruins move on to a familiar place we Bruin fans are used to: a Championship game.

A Look Back: Bru-102 Video Recap

Telemachus — Fri, 23 May 2008 03:29:30 -0000

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

Here are some video clips of the great win by our Women's Tennis team over Cal for the NCAA Championship and UCLA's 102nd team Championship.

First off, after Cal took the first doubles game, #1 doubles team Riza Zalameda and Tracy Lin evened the score with an 9-7 win:

The doubles point was then secured when #3 doubles Alex McGoodwin and Yasmin Schnack came through with a 8-6 win:

With the doubles point secured, three singles points lay between the Bruins and their first National Championship. McGoodwin started things off with a 6-4, 6-1 win to put the Bruins up 2-1:

Zalameda dropped her first set on Court#1 while freshman Andrea Remynse took her first set in a tie-breaker before grabbing the third team point 7-6(5), 6-2:

Within minutes of Remynse's match, Zalameda was serving for Championship point. Rallying from one set down only served to heighten the drama and it was ironic that extending her match to three sets would fittingly set the stage for Zalameda's 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win as the clincher for the Championship:

Nice to see yet another Bruin team celebrate one more National Championship:

Go Bruins!

The Face of USC Football

Telemachus — Thu, 22 May 2008 08:06:13 -0000