SB Nation User Blog: islandbruin

Baseball Slow Start

islandbruin — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 05:46:30 -0000

Question for Rye and others-

The baseball team went 0 for Houston and has now lost 6 straight. My question is how many quality starters does a team realistically need to advance deep into the postseason?

In a double elimination format, it would seem like a team would need 3 quality starters, so that 1 loss would not be fatal.

I know that we are very early in the season. But so far, Rasmussen and Cole have had 2 excellent starts, and the remaining starters Brewer, Grace and Brooks have not gone past the 4th inning.

Is there a sense this early that we need somebody else to step up who is not currently in the rotation, or that at least one of Brewer, Grace or Brooks has some simple mechanics to work through and will be right in the near future. In the meantime, the short outings seem to be putting a lot of pressure on the bullpen. Bauer in particular is racking up some major innings.

It is obviously very early in the season, so hopefully this all looks like a fluke which is easily correctable. Otherwise, riding 2 starters would not seem to be a recipe for long-term success. Thoughts welcome.

Pac-10 Discipline (or lack thereof) for groin shot

islandbruin — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:55:09 -0000

Remember Leonard Washington's groin shot in the Oklahoma game? For curiosity, I went back and looked at $C's box score for the following game. Washington started and played 27 minutes.

So what?

Yesterday, Conference USA gave a 1 game suspension to the Houston player who stepped on Budinger, for violating the league's sportsmanship policy.

This is just another example (alongside the quality of our SPTR's, our bowl matchups, our TV packages) of how not to run a league. Hopefully new blood will look to hold the $C thugs (and from any other team) accountable for their actions.

Heaven knows we can't count on Timmeh or Petey to do the right thing. When the league won't step up either, we wind up with the ethical cesspool across town.

Hats off to C-USA for showing how a real league works in situations like this.

Women's Gymnastics

islandbruin — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 04:25:55 -0000

Per the official website

UCLA finished 2nd in the Southeast Regionals on Saturday, which means they will be headed to the Nationals later this month.

This sounds like a real accomplishment for a young team who fought off injuries.

Hopefully, those with more insight could provide more particulars.

Go Bruins !!

Lopez Twins Turn Pro

islandbruin — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 04:53:31 -0000

This is probably no surprise, but the Lopez twins, per AP, have decided to turn pro. They, per their mother (again per AP), intend to hire agents so there is no turning back.

It will be interesting to see what Ryan Anderson does post-Braun.

Seems like the league style may move away from the dominant inside game so ably displayed this year at UCLA and Stanford.

Gymnastics

islandbruin — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 01:44:52 -0000

Anybody with info on the gymnastics team?

Our gymnastics team, which was the dominant program in the country in the early 90's, seems to be down somewhat this year. Still ranked #9 in the country, but that is a slip from prior years. I was hoping that somebody with some knowledge could advise whether this is a one-time blip, or whether there has been some fundamental change either at UCLA or at other schools which would mean this dip is likely to continue. Thanks.

Letter to AD and Chancellor

islandbruin — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 02:42:47 -0000

Letter which was sent requesting (politely as possible) that DG stick to the standards which he initially set out at the beginning of this search

Here is what I sent- it is certainly not as eloquent as others which I have seen on this site, but hopefully, it will add to the total picture of concern- this was sent to DG with a copy to Chancellor

I am sure that you are hearing from all sides with respect to the open football head coaching position. You (DG) yourself have stated the goal (in your December 13 press release) as finding "the best head football coach for our program". This could be interpreted as a different standard than the press conference on December 3, in which you stated that "a prerequisite that's pretty important...would be head coaching experience". There should be no inconsistency in these statements, but it appears from media reports that prior head coaching experience may have moved down the list in terms of importance.

The December 13 press release could be viewed as endorsing candidate X, who is the best coach of those who have been looked at in a narrow spectrum (current member of UCLA coaching staff, former member of staff from cross-town rival, etc), rather than the best coach after an extensive review of coaches with relevant head coaching experience. We certainly should not get too anxious based on rumors in the media, but these rumors must have some initial source within the Morgan Center. As such, they are disquieting.

I graduated from UCLA in 1971. I never saw a Rose Bowl game during those four years, but that was in the context of winner take all, with the conference champion playing on January 1 and everybody else staying home. Tommy Prothro's teams were competitive, and fun to watch.

These adjectives can not be applied to the teams during the last five years. It is hard to see how we would not suffer again for another five years if the same search criteria from 2002 (give an unproven candidate a chance) were to be applied now. DeWayne Walker has no head coaching experience, and his defense, although an improvement over his predecessor, still had some very embarassing meltdowns during the past two years. Norm Chow has been a career assistant coach. If he was truly qualified to be a head coach, somebody else would have snatched him up at some point in the last two decades. He sounds like a retread at best. On the theory that two wrongs don't make a right, hiring Chow with a precondition that he keep Walker would not remedy the faults which each candidate in isolation presents.

Hopefully, this message is completely beside the point because you have not relaxed your goal to find a coach with head coaching experience, who will indeed be the best head football coach for our program. If, however, the bar is lowered so that we can define "best" as whomever is selected regardless of experience, then I will have to reconsider my level of commitment to our institution.

Regards,

Raleigh Klein
Class of 1971
Chancellors' Associate