On the drive as much as the Rose Bowl’s entrance door, beneath the legendary glowing signal, towards the picturesque purple mountains, there stands probably the most impactful image of the college that performs there.
It’s a statue of Jackie Robinson in a UCLA soccer uniform.
He’s cradling the ball in his left hand and fending off impending tacklers together with his proper, a putting bronze image of a college’s resilience and power. Essentially the most formidable determine in American sports activities historical past is standing the place he grew up, the place his staff lives and the place he without end will embody the epitome of the gutty Bruin.
No one represents the mission of UCLA greater than Jackie Robinson.
UCLA followers cheer through the recreation towards Penn State on the Rose Bowl on Oct. 4.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Instances)
Nothing is extra disgusting than the considered UCLA leaving him within the mud.
The Bruins try to flee the Rose Bowl, did you hear? They’re making an attempt to interrupt a long-term lease and depart Pasadena on the subsequent factor smokin’. Oh yeah, they’re all however gone, it’s all there in lawsuits and courtroom filings and piles of authorized stuff that masks the true message.
UCLA values a fast buck over enduring integrity, quick money over deep custom and {dollars} over die-hards.
The Bruins wish to depart probably the most storied stadium in America, a spot the place they’ve performed for 43 years, a residing monument to Bruins icons, a tailgating paradise with a postcard backdrop … for the shiny toy that’s SoFi Stadium, a tremendous skilled soccer palace that has no enterprise being the everlasting house of a school soccer staff.
That is no knock on SoFi. It’s Tremendous Bowl cool. However it’s an NFL stadium with NFL vibes. It doesn’t work for a struggling college program that will be a 3rd tenant considered as a final resort.
The Bruins don’t wish to transfer there for custom. In relation to faculty soccer, SoFi has none. UCLA performed there as soon as in a bowl recreation that drew what gave the impression to be a handful of followers, the quaint gathering dwarfed by the space-age environment.
They don’t wish to go there for the elevated comfort. There’s none. You may’t promote me that 14 fewer miles going south on the 405 on a Saturday afternoon could be noticeably faster than an extended trek going east on the 134. Particularly if there are also occasions occurring on the SoFi-adjacent Discussion board and Intuit Dome.
They don’t wish to go for the game-day expertise. There’s none. They’d be sacrificing lush Brookside tailgating for scarce parking zone tailgating, robbing UCLA followers of their one assured victory each recreation.
Sure, SoFi has a lot better seats and loos and facilities however, no, the Bruins wish to go for one cause solely, and we’ve recognized what that’s from the second they admitted their athletic division was in monetary smash.
UCLA offensive coordinator Jerry Neuheisel walks again to the sidelines after a timeout throughout a recreation towards Nebraska on the Rose Bowl on Nov. 8.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Instances)
That is all concerning the cash. UCLA way back agreed to a awful take care of the Rose Bowl from the outset — the college apparently signal leases prefer it hires soccer coaches — and thus the Bruins don’t obtain any reduce of suite or sponsorship offers, and get only a fraction of merchandise and parking. Some estimate they’ll make a number of multiples of their present income by shifting to SoFi, and that’s actually a respectable motivation, however it’s additionally the simple approach out.
You know the way else they may earn more money? Win extra soccer video games! Did anyone consider that?
Since Terry Donahue retired in 1995, the UCLA soccer program incessantly has dumped a steaming pile of rubbish on Pasadena’s prettiest doorstep, and the poor choices by the athletic division lastly are catching as much as it.
They’ve had shedding information in seven of the final 10 years. They’ve gone via 5 coaches and endured numerous disappointments. Not surprisingly, more and more fewer followers wish to commit their Saturdays to cheering for a staff that too typically finds itself plopping right into a Brookside bunker.
The Bruins’ 5 worst attendance figures have come within the final 5 seasons not interrupted by COVID-19. They’ve ranked across the backside of Large Ten attendance, and the opening simply retains getting deeper.
They’re averaging 37,099 this season coming into the Saturday evening’s house finale towards Washington, a tempo which might set the report for the bottom UCLA season attendance on the Rose Bowl.
And all that is the Rose Bowl’s fault? Not since Roy “Wrong Way” Riegels has somebody within the Arroyo Seco been so misguided.
The Metropolis of Pasadena and the Rose Bowl Working Co. have lived as much as their a part of the lease, which nonetheless has 19 years remaining on it. Pasadena officers say taxpayers have invested greater than $150 million in stadium renovations they usually’re prepared to jot down a examine on an extra $130 million for enhancements.
It exhibits. The Terry Donahue Pavilion is magnificent. The grounds are pristine. There are plans for a cool discipline membership past the south finish zone.
The Rose Bowl people have achieved every thing they agreed to do. That UCLA nonetheless is making an attempt to stroll out the entrance door smacks of an entitled, oafish partner who calls for their vital different enhance themselves, then leaves anyway.
I’ve been protecting UCLA video games on the Rose Bowl for almost 40 years, and I can verify there’s no higher place to observe faculty soccer on this nation. It’s the Augusta Nationwide of soccer stadiums, a spot the place they need to maintain the nationwide championship yearly, with its breathtaking skyline and deep inexperienced environment and that crisp fall breeze that sneaks via the Arroyo Seco like an outdated buddy reminding you of house.
UCLA tailback Derrick Williams celebrates with a cheerleader’s megaphone after defeating the USC 13-9 on the Rose Bowl on Dec. 2, 2006.
(Stephen Dunn / Getty Pictures)
No, it’s not on UCLA’s campus, however there’s no extra room, that ship has sailed. And, no, UCLA doesn’t make an acceptable amount of cash within the deal, however the college signed the lease, and people misplaced {dollars} can seem in different methods.
By enjoying on the Rose Bowl, the Bruins are paid in majestic magnificence, timeless custom and a way of household that their alumni and followers can’t get wherever else.
I used to be on the sidelines within the remaining seconds on that first Saturday in December 2006 for fairly probably UCLA’s biggest Rose Bowl second. You bear in mind. How may you neglect?
The John David Booty drive, the Eric McNeal interception, the beautiful 13-9 UCLA victory that denied USC a spot within the nationwide championship recreation whereas giving the Bruins their solely win over the Trojans in a 13-year span.
What stays with me from that afternoon is the deafening noise that appeared to fill each nook of Pasadena earlier than morphing into arguably the loudest Eight Clap in Bruins historical past.
“U-C-L-A! Fight! Fight! Fight!”
The Rose Bowl was magical that day. Disgrace on UCLA for not believing it nonetheless will be.
