I was walking down from Covel Commons towards campus when I saw a guy with UCLA Athletics gear heading to the same direction. I guessed it was probably ATV, and when I got closer, his bag which has "#20 ATV" printed on it confirmed my guess.

He was walking with his headphones on, and while I respect his privacy, I wasn't gonna let a Bruin Legend and NFL player just pass by without at least giving him a handshake or a pat in the back. So I tapped him on the arms, shook his hands, and had a little 1-minute chat.

He told me he has 1 more quarter to go after this Winter and with the possibility of an NFL lockout, he will spend his Spring in Westwood to finish his degree. At the end I wished him luck for his studies and career. It's a pretty cool experience.

I hope the current UCLA players can benefit from him being around the program, and take notes on what it means to be a real student-athlete and a professional.

An NFL expert's take on the Petey situation

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/01/10/mmqb/1.html

Statistics show even the most celebrated college coach make terrible NFL coaches. Or at least go to terrible situations, with players they can't reach the same way they reached in college. As Tony Dungy said on NBC Saturday night: "Most college coaches find out it's a lot harder to coach rich 25-year-olds than it is poor 19-year-olds."

Here I am holding a Den UCLA vs USC voucher to be claimed for hard tickets. I picked it up on Thursday (pickup deadline was Friday) and the priority number is 940. I don't know how many tickets we are allocated, but being the 940th student a couple days before pickup deadline, it doesn't seem that there will be lots of UCLA presence in the Coliseum.

I asked my friend who is a Den ticket holder whether he is grabbing the voucher, but his answer was inconclusive. I believe he ended up NOT getting it. So I'm just holding on to this lone voucher.

I was in the game last year when the game coincided with finals week and thought to myself that using Finals as an excuse for not attending was kind of lame. I also couldn't believe the red shirts in our student section. Watching the Trojans and their fans come into our house and calling it theirs was one of the angriest moments I've been in all my years watching sports. Sadly, this year's visit to the RB hasn't lifted my spirits about this team. Sure there were flashes of what might be in store for the future, but 4 straight losses (although to good teams) was tough.

With that said, here I am holding this claim voucher. I have never thought of putting the ticket on sale in public so that a trojan might get it; the only place I would give it away if I decide so would probably here to fellow Bruins.

I am fairly uninformed when it comes to the past UCLA v USC games, but I did watch 13-9. What I remember was a pretty good, mobile QB and #44 wreaking havoc on the trojans o-line.

I know that when the guys in Blue and Gold face the mustard n ketchup, records don't matter. Streaks don't matter. All-american accolades, the number of stars don't matter. Anything's possible. Yet I don't feel that this year's team will put a decent fight against the trojans. We're overwhelmed in the talent department.

To me, all signs point to a blowout loss in the Coliseum. I am having thoughts of giving away my ticket for a price. Can anyone convince me to hold on to it?

If you've ever been to Pauley Pavilion, on every opponent free throw attempt there would be this guy behind the basket, wearing blue UCLA jacket and blue afro wig, and he'll be hollering like crazy to distract the guy shooting. I asked Dohn about this in the in-game chat during today's game and people there told me that he already wrote a piece on him, and indeed it was already asked tons of times.

So my question is...who is he? Is he part of UCLA athletics? Or is he just a longtime season ticket holder?

This whole "oh-SC-will-beat-the-Gators" nonsense should stop.

I just found this article

It's written by Pete Fiutak, which I've never heard of, but nonetheless he puts the argument to rest and crowns Florida as no. 1. For the 'SC apologists he wrote:

If anyone out there actually bothered to watch the 17-10 win over Arizona, the 17-3 win over Cal, the 28-7 win over UCLA, the Oregon State loss, and also watched the entire Florida season, and yet still wants to make a case that USC is the best team in the country based on speed, talent, and any other measure, then again, can't help you. If you want to thump your chest over shutting down Arizona State, Washington State, Washington and Notre Dame, and you want to compare that to beating 10 bowl teams and two No. 1s including an Oklahoma offense that scored over 700 points ... yeah. You know.

Nothing new for us...