Never In My Wildest Dreams

By Karen Nguyen '08, Bay Cities Bruins

Karen Nguyen ’08, first from left.

Just like 13-9, 45-44 will stand out in my memory for the rest of my life. This was UCLA's opening game versus Texas A&M on Sunday, Sept. 3. My friends are well seasoned, having been UCLA Football season ticket holders for five years and counting. We've lived through the ups and downs of our beloved team, but nothing could have prepared us for this.

After a delicious tailgate, we walked into the stadium and to our seats in 15L and introduced ourselves to our season ticket seat mates. Let me tell you, the people around you can make or break the season. Sometimes you're in a section that only wants to sit and gives you grief if you stand up on 3rd downs. Sometimes you're in a section that would rather sell their tickets to the opposing team. But sometimes you get lucky and end up with a rowdy, cheering, sunflower seed-sharing, 8-clap loving group. We were strangers then, but we're Bruin family now! 

The game started horribly. Nothing was going right - the defense couldn't get a stop, stupid penalties, receivers dropping balls, two back-to-back fumbles on UCLA possessions, more defensive break downs. The PTSD is raging with flashbacks of last year’s terrible 4-8 season. The score is 44-10 with four minutes left in the third quarter. At this point, I'm too sick to my stomach to even think of walking out of the stadium. Oddly enough, most of us decided to stay. Mr. Positive (my favorite person in our section) shouts "It's not over, just five touchdowns! Let's go Bruins!" We all laugh but he meant it.

And then a touchdown, a glimmer of hope. We're seasoned enough to know not to dream of the impossible but at least we can avoid a blow out. Then a defensive stop, the first one in a long while. Then another touchdown, it's 44-24! Jubilation but again, let's not get ahead of ourselves. But then we do it again, 44-31! Dare we dream?

The half filled stadium is on their feet making noise as our defense holds them to a field goal. Then Keisean Lucier-South gets a finger tip on the ball for a blocked kick! The stadium is deafening, high-fiving, jumping and yelling, as our team rattles off a list of miracles: a ball nearly intercepted but lands in the waiting hands of Darren Andrews; Rosen tries to throw it away but it somehow finds Theo Howard in the end zone; a FAKE SPIKE!

Final score 45-44. This was the greatest game I have ever witnessed and my friends and our season ticket mates were bonded for life. GO BRUINS!

A Bruin Optimist

By John Hatch ’75, Reno/Tahoe Alumni Network

John Hatch ’75, second from left.

As the 2017 Bruin Football team prepared for their season opening game, a rematch with Texas A&M Aggies at the historic Rose Bowl, I volunteered to help our local Reno/Tahoe chapter of the Bruin Alumni Association organize game watch parties.

The Bruins had suffered a bitter loss to the Aggies in the previous season’s opening game at College Station, TX, losing in the final minutes when Josh Rosen and the Bruin offense could not score with four downs at the Aggie 7 yard line.

We Reno/Tahoe Bruins are a small, but loyal group with high hopes for the new season. Twelve of us gathered to watch at our local hangout only to be greeted with an Aggie runaway. At halftime, our “Gutty Little Bruins” trailed A&M by 28 points and it appeared that the route was on. All twelve of my colleagues left the game watch, leaving me there alone to cry in my beer.

I was so upset with the team that I wanted to watch the second half just to gather ammunition against Coach Mora. That didn’t work out so well for me (but I’m sure Coach Mora was as happy as I with the outcome), as our Bruins quickly began to slice away at the lead.

I imagine most of you know the outcome of that game. After we overcame that huge deficit to win the game in the closing minutes, one of my fellow Reno/Tahoe Bruin alums, Jack Tung ’86, wrote me this note on our Facebook page: “John Hatch! Bruins came back and won the game! Wow! They had never given up!!! Lesson learned!”

That game taught us all a lesson. No place here for pessimists, we Bruins are optimists!

CHAMPIONS MADE HERE!