UCLA Unlocked: A stay bear mascot and different enjoyable options to fill Rose Bowl

Every man, girl and youngster deserves solely the very best fan expertise on the Rose Bowl.

Too few are getting it, resulting in dwindling UCLA soccer attendance during the last decade-plus.

The unhappy phenomenon is barely partly attributable to mediocre groups. In 2022, the Bruins received off to a 6-0 begin, rising to No. 9 within the nationwide rankings, and nonetheless averaged simply 41,593 followers for dwelling video games over the season.

There’s an limitless checklist of excuses for not making the drive to Pasadena. It’s too far. Traffic’s too unhealthy. Games are too costly. The climate’s too sizzling. The opponent is from the Sun Belt Conference. The Bruins are out of competition for something significant. The sport’s on a Friday. The sport time wasn’t introduced till lower than every week earlier than kickoff. The sport begins too early. The sport begins too late.

Since it’s not doable to maneuver the stadium nearer to campus or decrease the temperature in August or September, we’re providing eight methods to make a day of Bruins soccer extra engaging. Some of those options might sound as reasonable as shifting the San Gabriel Mountains, however who ever imagined that UCLA would play within the Big Ten?

Give freebies: The finest method to assist followers stretch their leisure greenback is to allow them to hold it.

Tickets are fairly priced given they often go for subsequent to nothing on the secondary market and at present may be purchased for as little as $43 for some video games by means of UCLA, however how about providing free parking? Even if it is a price the varsity has to subsidize, free parking can be an incredible lure and goodwill gesture.

Students additionally ought to get in free. While pupil attendance has been strong since athletic director Martin Jarmond and his employees applied a number of initiatives, it will make sense to have much more of the stadium full of a phase of followers who are likely to take advantage of noise and create the very best environment. It would additionally construct lifelong loyalty and assist pack the Rose Bowl with alumni in future seasons.

Eliminate six-day choice: Just inform us the kickoff occasions already. People have to plan their lives.

As of early August, the one dwelling video games with identified kickoff occasions are the opener towards Utah on Aug. 30, which begins at 8 p.m. (yikes), and a Friday sport towards New Mexico on Sept. 12 that begins at 7 p.m. (good luck attending to the Rose Bowl in weekday night visitors).

The different 4 dwelling video games — towards Penn State, Maryland, Nebraska and Washington — all include the dreaded TBD tag.

The uncertainty is, in fact, a operate of tv operating the sports activities world, ready for the very best matchups to fill prime-time slots. Fox executives don’t need to miss out on doable surprises, corresponding to undefeated Maryland coming to the Rose Bowl in mid-October to face nationally-ranked UCLA.

Some kickoff occasions will probably be introduced as soon as it turns into clear how good the Bruins are; others gained’t be identified till six days earlier than the sport. The indecisiveness hurts attendance provided that many followers wish to plan their schedules far more than every week prematurely.

No extra Friday evening lights: This is one thing else that may be blamed on grasping TV execs and convention commissioners.

Fridays must be reserved for highschool soccer, not faculty video games that appear misplaced. And the followers appear to agree.

Recent UCLA video games performed on Fridays haven’t generated huge crowds. Even a showdown between unbeatens when the Bruins confronted Washington in 2022 drew simply 41,343.

When it involves Friday faculty soccer video games, simply don’t do it.

Start each sport within the afternoon or early night: Nobody needs to be getting dwelling from the Rose Bowl after midnight.

Games that begin too late additionally miss probably the most superb websites in faculty soccer: sundown over the San Gabriel Mountains.

Ideal kickoff occasions are early to mid-afternoon, which don’t make you set an alarm clock and can help you get dwelling in time to look at some sport involving Hawaii or Boise State.

Bring in a stay bear cub mascot: How a lot enjoyable would it not be to have a child bear on the sideline on the Rose Bowl?

Imagine the chances involving “Fuzzy,” our most well-liked nickname. Snuggle with Fuzzy. Get your image taken with Fuzzy. Put your fours up with Fuzzy.

Since we will really feel the outrage from animal-rights activists, let’s level out that Colorado has a large buffalo operating onto the sphere at its dwelling video games and that UCLA as soon as had its personal live-bear mascots for video games on the Coliseum into the early Nineteen Sixties.

Attacked by a bear in 1932

(Los Angeles Times)

Fuzzy may most likely solely stick round for a season or two till he received too huge and probably tempted to chomp on somebody (which truly occurred in 1932). Then it will be time to introduce Fuzzy II.

Get the towel waver again on the sideline: In greater than a century of UCLA soccer, Ed Kezirian holds the excellence of being the varsity’s solely unbeaten coach.

OK, so he coached only one sport, taking on for the Las Vegas Bowl in 2002 after the dismissal of Bob Toledo. But Kezirian is much more broadly identified for waving a white towel on the sideline to get gamers — and followers — juiced.

It was a convention that began in 1994, coinciding with a missed Stanford area objective and a Bruins win, and formally ending in 2007 with Kezirian’s retirement because the soccer crew’s director of educational companies. It’s time to get these towels flapping once more.

Wear extra alternate uniforms: Fans love these things.

Need we remind you of all of the uniform and helmet mixtures at Oregon, the place the Ducks offered out 110 consecutive video games between 1999 and 2016?

Partnering with Nike and Jordan Brand implies that there’s no scarcity of cool (and marketable) potentialities for the Bruins in terms of getting artistic. Wearing all white uniforms or Gary Beban-era throwback blues as soon as a season isn’t sufficient.

Bring again Geoffrey Strand on a restricted foundation:

Imagine the fourth quarter of a taut sport, the Bruins needing to drive 75 yards for the go-ahead rating towards Penn State.

That can be the proper time to unveil a secret, deafening weapon.

“All right, I need every man, woman and child on their feet!” Strand would yell by means of a microphone, triggering an enormous roar.

The world’s oldest cheerleader hung up his tattered blue-and-yellow sweater and newsboy cap after the 2013 season, a yr after he was briefly suspended for referencing the Taliban in cheers and allegedly utilizing a golf cart with out authorization.

But nobody loves UCLA extra, and nobody may revitalize his alma mater fairly like him.

Finding a brand new voice

Josh Lewin, UCLA’s lead radio announcer, has gone Hollywood.

Don’t fear, not in that method; he’s simply taking a cue from his setting.

“This is L.A.” Lewin stated, “and this is where creative things get made.”

Given an prolonged break in his schedule after calling his final Major League Baseball sport in 2019, Lewin has pivoted to producing a sequence of soccer documentaries in his free time between the top of the Bruins males’s basketball season and the beginning of the soccer season.

His newest challenge, a sequence on Cambridge United Football Club’s try and extricate itself from onerous occasions, will air its third and closing phase Saturday on CBS Sports Network. It’s the sixth documentary that Lewin has produced, together with others on English and American soccer.

“I’m building the airplane as I’m flying it — I mean, I never went to film school, never went to business school,” stated Lewin, who earlier this yr launched Josh Lewin Productions. “I really only trained to be a play-by-play guy and that’s been great, it’s made me a nice living and I love doing it, but this is just a really interesting way to learn how to connect with fans at kind of a deeper level.”

Lewin’s first challenge, “Five Dollar Derby,” pitted three American homeowners of English soccer groups towards each other in a way harking back to “Trading Places” — the homeowners positioned a $5 guess amongst themselves to see who would fare the very best. You can watch a trailer for “Five Dollar Derby” here.

When he began making documentaries, Lewin absolutely immersed himself in each side. He wrote, produced, directed, narrated and served as musical director — “everything but key grip,” he quipped — however has since ceded a few of these duties to others with extra expertise to boost the manufacturing high quality.

“It’s been a really interesting side hustle, I guess you could call it,” Lewin stated. “I’ve learned so much about soccer, England and filmmaking, three things that I really didn’t have on my plate before all this happened.”

After calling the Rams’ sport towards Dallas on Saturday at SoFi Stadium for Compass Media Network, Lewin will savor the airing of his soccer documentary earlier than making ready to shift again into his regular work move.

“That’s the perfect time to hit the pause button,” Lewin stated, “because Bruins season begins exactly two weeks later and there are 19 new starters to learn about, so it’s time to shift back into Bruins mode.”

Olympic sport highlight: Women’s soccer

UCLA ladies’s soccer coach Margueritte Aozasa will get water dumped on her after profitable the Division I title in 2022.

(Eakin Howard / Getty Images)

Curt Cignetti, Indiana’s soccer coach, as soon as stated that he wins, simply Google him.

Well, Margueritte Aozasa can prime that.

She solely wins championships, simply test her assortment of trophies.

In her three seasons guiding UCLA’s ladies’s soccer crew, Aozasa has gained one NCAA championship and two convention titles, together with a Big Ten event championship final season that made her crew the primary in UCLA historical past to take dwelling a Big Ten title. The Bruins went on to achieve the second spherical of the NCAA event.

UCLA must be again in competition for an additional nationwide championship this season thanks partly to the return of expert midfielder Emma Egizii and ahead Lexi Wright, members of the 2022 nationwide title crew who had been misplaced for a lot of final season due to accidents. Also returning are defender Nicki Fraser, the reigning Big Ten freshman of the yr, and midfielder Val Vargas, who was a third-team all-conference choice a yr in the past.

Pulling all of it collectively will probably be Aozasa, one in all Jarmond’s finest hires. Her crew would be the first on campus to open the 2025-26 UCLA sports activities calendar when it travels to face Georgia in Athens, Ga., on Thursday.

Mount Rushmore outcomes

Jonathan Ogden along with his bust through the induction ceremony on the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013.

(David Richard / Associated Press)

A mountain of a person could be the preeminent face of UCLA soccer.

Jonathan Ogden was the main vote-getter in our Mount Rushmore of UCLA soccer survey, the 6-foot-9, 345-pound offensive deal with named on 282 of 417 ballots. The others who made the reduce had been coach Terry Donahue (named on 227 ballots) and quarterbacks Troy Aikman (191) and Gary Beban (182).

The subsequent 4 had been security Kenny Easley (136), linebacker Jerry Robinson (100), coach Red Sanders (93) and halfback Jackie Robinson (82).

Others named on at the very least 5 ballots: Maurice Jones-Drew, DeShaun Foster, John Lee, Marcedes Lewis, Cade McNown, Jim Mora, Ken Norton Jr., Tommy Prothro, John Sciarra, JJ Stokes, Bob Toledo, Wendell Tyler and Dick Vermeil.

Opinion time

Which UCLA soccer participant not named Nico Iamaleava would be the crew’s most necessary in 2025? Is it offensive deal with Courtland Ford, a part of an offensive line that should shield its new quarterback? How about operating again Jaivian Thomas? Wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer? Defensive deal with Gary Smith III? Linebacker Isaiah Chisom?

You can vote in our survey here.

Remember when?

The final time UCLA confronted Utah in a season opener, the Bruins featured a extremely touted quarterback making his first begin with this system.

Sound acquainted?

It was 2006, and Ben Olson, who had not began a sport since his senior yr at Thousand Oaks High in 2001 after making a Mormon mission, lived as much as the five-star hype in shredding the Utes for 318 yards and three touchdowns. You can watch highlights from the game here. UCLA went on to complete 7-6, the season spotlight coming in a 13-9 upset of second-ranked USC on the Rose Bowl.

In case you missed it

No man of thriller, UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava dazzles at coaching camp

Bringing the juice, UCLA security Key Lawrence infuses a brand new protection with ardour

Have one thing Bruin?

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