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UCLA Athletics history, March Madness Style: “The Most Beloved Bruin”

By Carlos Sandoval

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Since our UCLA Men’s Basketball squad has been doing terribly as of late, and since there probably won’t be much to talk about for Bruins faithful in the month of March — dammit, Ben Howland — we here at Go Joe Bruin decided it’d be fun to have a little tournament of your favorite UCLA Bruins as it pertains to athletics.

Of course, the alarming buzzing sound you hear in your brain is telling you this isn’t a good idea — relax. This is not about finding out who the best Bruin is. It’s common knowledge that all Bruins are still Bruins, and there is no varying degree of “Bruinness” between them. (Although John Wooden and Jackie Robinson are totally more Bruin than I am.)

Instead, it’s just a fun way to gauge just which one of our UCLA alum in the field of athletics is the most commonly favorite Bruin.

We’ve had a lot of UCLA athletes and coaches come and go, so it only makes sense to have a fun way to find out which of our Bruins gets love from the most people (even though we love all Bruins, as I have to keep emphasizing).

Of course, there are going to be 64 UCLA Athletics figures, and not all of them will make it.

Here are the Automatic Qualifiers, in no particular order:

  • John Wooden, greatest coach in the history of sports, be it professional or collegiate.
  • Jackie Robinson, baseball player and MLB barrier breaker.
  • Troy Aikman, arguably the best QB UCLA has ever had and NFL Hall of Famer.
  • Reggie Miller, soon-to-be NBA Hall of Famer.
  • Arthur Ashe, member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame
  • Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Olympic gold medalist many times over in track and field.
  • Michelle Kwan, world champion figure skater.
  • Bill Walton, NBA Hall of Famer
  • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor), record for most points accumulated in an NBA career.

Of course, the fact that these guys got in says nothing about the others that aren’t. Everything I do is arbitrary, because, hey, if I could do it objectively, I would.

That said, there are 55 spots left to fill this bracket. We know how lazy our readers are sometimes (because, hell, I’m a lazy blogger), but we encourage you to nominate anyone and everyone you feel belongs on this list. If you don’t, we won’t know who you love.

So what’re you waiting for? Comment. Nominate your favorite UCLA Bruins through March 1!