Fake Dan Guerrero’s Gab from Gayley: March Madness!

F. Dan Guerrero is back for his weekly “Gab from Gayley” feature! 

Fellow Bruins,

We are now proud to announce that March Madness has officially begun! We are grateful that our Bruins once again have the luxury of being able to watch an exciting event without dealing with the stress associated with watching your team having the possibility of losing. Coach Ben Howland has his men at home resting for the 2012-13 season. After a long, successful campaign which saw us go five games above .500, our Bruins needed a break.

I want to thank all Bruins fans, students and alumni who have supported our UCLA basketball program during seemingly trying times. The university appreciates your support for our prestigious UCLA Athletics Department. We hope to bring you more of the success that we’ve brought to you in the past decade here in Westwood.

Moving on to our wildly successful sports week since last Friday.

UCLA beats USC at Dodger Stadium

Somehow, our Bruins rallied together to overcome a seemingly insurmountable 1-0 lead by USC early on in the game. Although I cannot stress enough how much we all felt the odds were against us going up against the Trojans, easily one of the greatest athletics programs this country has ever seen, we were a resilient group and edged out the Trojans 7-2 at Dodger Stadium. This game was a defining moment for us all as Bruins and we want to emphasize that baseball is just as important a sport as football and basketball.

UCLA Men’s Volleyball loses to USC

The mantra I live by is, “You win some, you lose some.” Although our Bruins managed to miraculously beat USC at baseball, it was only expected that we lost to USC in Men’s Volleyball, despite the fact that we were at home. USC boasts one of the most important, significant volleyball programs in the country. Thankfully, we still have Al Scates.

F. Dan Guerrero’s Mailbag

Here are an assortment of more completely random questions that you, our readers, who  have no affiliation with UCLA Athletics whatsoever, have submitted to us.

Hi Dan. I was just wondering what you thought of our baseball team. We’ve won 11 straight and are one of the top 10 teams in the nation. I really think this is a testament to the amount of work that’s put in to maintain the image and prestige that the Morgan Center has brought upon UCLA. Thoughts?

D. Gerro

Thanks for the kind words, D. We are very appreciative of all compliments and the fact that we had chosen these questions at random are indicative to me that the sentiments are shared by many UCLA fans.

I believe that we, here at the UCLA Athletic Department, have done a fantastic job of building up UCLA’s prestige in terms of athletics. When I first got here at UCLA, our athletics program was a mess. Needless to say, over the past ten years, we have restored the image that UCLA once held when Coach John Wooden suited up to lead our Bruins to victory. UCLA fans have a bright future ahead of them with nothing negative to look forward to at all.

Hey there Dan. I’m very glad to see Spring Practice coming up around the corner! I’m also glad that all events are free for UCLA fans. Would you say this is indicative of how much you care about the students at UCLA?

Daniel G.

Hi Daniel. I am also very excited about Spring Practice for football. We have done a remarkable job of rebuilding the program back to its prestigious roots. The restoration process has gone smoothly in my tenure and I feel as if we’ve done a great job of keeping it that way.

To answer your question, yes, I think it is just one small example of how we care for our own. We feel that providing free services to students is a part of our goal, and when we charge students a little extra, it is usually a nominal amount. Our ticket prices and season football tickets recently were hired slightly, but this is done to ensure that the main events, Spring Practice for example, are kept entirely free to the UCLA community. It would be unfair for you to see the finished product but not able to see the process that goes into building such a polished ending!

Thank you for all the questions. Please remember to send your questions to F.DanGuerrero@gmail.com

GO BRUINS!

F. Dan Guerrero,

Athletic Director of Athletic Direction of UCLA