Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

Looks like Elise and Brianna will have some extra cheering to do!

UCLABruin920 has now stepped up to put together a BN team for Tyler. Follow the link below.

Tyler's BN Team

Everyone here has blown away all of our expectations in terms of stepping up as a community. The spirit of Bruin community is at a fever pitch around here. Why not take it another step further.

Show Tyler our love and support offline. So let's get this team going. Full details with another link after the jump. GO BRUINS. -N

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K Love was on the Dan Patrick Show again this morning and was asked about the situation at u$c.  Specifically, he was asked what he thought about agents and runners.  I was hoping he would take a bit of a stab at $c, but instead he said, "it's tough" because a lot of these kids come from less fortunate backgrounds.  He said OJ Mayo came from a single-parent family and was surrounded by a bad group of people.  He said that he understood that athletes want to be taken care of.  I was waiting for him to say, "but no matter your circumstances, you have to play by the rules" or something to that effect.  But he didn't. 

Then he said, that his "COMpassion bucket is dripping" for the u$c basketball program.  At first, that really irked me because I don't have compassion for a program that does what usc has done. 

But I'm not sure what else he could've said.  I think it's well known that amateurism is somewhat commonplace and he's not going to blast his colleagues on a national radio show.  He also wasn't about to pass moral judgment on those that accept benefits, simply because he didn't.  But what he could've done, is pass judgment on an administration that lets this stuff go.  Perhaps it was a bit premature because the investigation is still ongoing and he didn't want to take a position on the issue. 

Anyway, I have mixed feelings on this.  What do you all think?  She he have taken a stronger position on this rather than just saying he has compassion for usc?

Yesterday I received a last minute invite to an API event honoring community leaders and when I heard that Norm Chow was the keynote I quickly accepted.  It was a relatively short speech because he said he had to leave and get back to recruiting.  I won't attempt to recount his speech from memory, but I just wanted to recognize him for his continuing commitment to the community.

It was also great to hear him speak about UCLA with some passion.  In a conference hall filled with Bruins and trojies, he did not hesitate to make it know that he is a Bruin.  He started off by taking a crack at u$c. 

 "You know how they say you're a trojan forever?  That's because it takes forever to graduate."

It was an interesting dynamic because his sons were with him at the event and both (or at least one of them?) goes to USC.  Gotta love it. 

I just came back from Dribble for the Cure, an event someone posted here a few weeks ago.  It was a great event.  I had the chance to meet all the players and get autographs.  Ben Howland introduced the team, talked about training, and injury updates.  He didn't mention much that we haven't already discussed here on BN, but it was a nice recap nonetheless. 

J'mison Morgan is a great kid.  Some of the other players seemed a little bored signing autographs (understandably), but Bobo was just having fun with it.  He's so full of life and CBH says he's developing at a very fast pace.

Importantly, it was for a really great cause: raising money for pediatric cancer research.  USC has been sponsoring this event for three years now, and guess what... in UCLA's first year, we quadrupled the amount of money raised by USC.  Now, I won't knock the trojies here because I think it's great that they've been participating in this cause for a few years now, but I point it out to show what a big impact we can have in just our first year.  This is great and I will definitely be doing this again next year!