Does UCLA not have many fans . . . or what?

[Mavric]

I think it's a west coast thing. I remember back when I was in college a friend of mine was dating a girl from Washington. Washington had just came off of winning a NC a year or two before, and this girl knew next to nothing about them. I guess they have better things to occupy their time than college football.

My wife is from Aurora, NE. She spent 5 years at UNL while her family lived in Lincoln. She has been married to a Husker fan for going on 7 years. She knows absolutely nothing about Husker football, and has zero interest. It's not a "West Coast" thing, it's a "not cool enough to understand" thing!

True. Not everyone is a sports fan. But there are 1.5 million people in Nebraska spread over 500 miles and they've filled the stadium every game for 50 years. There are nearly 4 million people in LA spread over 25-30 miles and they can't get half that for probably the second-highest ranked opponent they'll play all year.

[funhusker]

I think it's a west coast thing. I remember back when I was in college a friend of mine was dating a girl from Washington. Washington had just came off of winning a NC a year or two before, and this girl knew next to nothing about them. I guess they have better things to occupy their time than college football.

My wife is from Aurora, NE. She spent 5 years at UNL while her family lived in Lincoln. She has been married to a Husker fan for going on 7 years. She knows absolutely nothing about Husker football, and has zero interest. It's not a "West Coast" thing, it's a "not cool enough to understand" thing!

True. Not everyone is a sports fan. But there are 1.5 million people in Nebraska spread over 500 miles and they've filled the stadium every game for 50 years. There are nearly 4 million people in LA spread over 25-30 miles and they can't get half that for probably the second-highest ranked opponent they'll play all year.

So we can deduce that there are more cool people in Nebraska than in Los Angeles. Makes sense to me!

[akita]

Any one have any message boards for ucla. I cannot be in the right place. They are talking usc stuff and I have not found a Nebraska thread over there!

[okaive]

I think it's a west coast thing. I remember back when I was in college a friend of mine was dating a girl from Washington. Washington had just came off of winning a NC a year or two before, and this girl knew next to nothing about them. I guess they have better things to occupy their time than college football.

My wife is from Aurora, NE. She spent 5 years at UNL while her family lived in Lincoln. She has been married to a Husker fan for going on 7 years. She knows absolutely nothing about Husker football, and has zero interest. It's not a "West Coast" thing, it's a "not cool enough to understand" thing!

 

 

Time to get a divorce.

[MichiganMan]

UCLA? everyone is too busy catching waves on their surf board to care about football. games never sell out.

[strigori]

From when I lived in SoCal and the large number of relatives I still have there, the 'too much to do' line is just BS. By and large they do the same things we do in Nebraska. Stuff like beaches, amusement parks and on and on is mostly for tourists or beach bums. The only point they really have about it is there are a LOT of teams to follow if you really want to.

[akita]

There football boards Suck! 7 day free trial for one. Another I could not compute. Blah blah blah. Though one guy did predict a 48-10 ucla win.

[MLB 51]

Fair weather fans.

[Bruleif]

There's lots to do in Southern California and as opposed to the monopoly NU has on Lincoln, or Nebraska for that matter, you have to meet two requirements to have a big fan base:

 

1. You have to be a winner. Although UCLA has challenged for a football national title once a decade (until the decade of 2000 to 2010) it has not been perceived as a top-flight program compared to USC for many years since the 1990's when UCLA beat USC 8 straight years. I am hoping those days will return soon.

 

2. Not only do you have to win, you have to have STARS! If you have an efficient, well-coached team without stars you will not capture the hearts of the Southern California fans. They are used to legends such as Koufax and Drysdale, Magic and Kareem, the great USC QB's and running backs, etc. and a number of very good UCLA ones also. You have to have a real superstar to pull in the fans here.

 

3. You have to have an interesting matchup. There will be plenty of fans at the Rose Bowl today, many, perhaps most, will be Nebraska fans because both schools are considered "name" schools and Nebraska has a good reputation. Generally, the southern California fans will not show up for a mismatch. That is one reason that UCLA has never played a FBS school and in recent years has had home games with Texas, Michigan, Tennessee and Alabama.

 

I am not saying that UCLA does not have a solid and large and loyal following. It does. For better or worse it is just not like Nebraska. I for one do not mind it if people have better things do to than watch UCLA football. If the Bruins get real good again they will come. In the meantime its nice to live near the beach, the mountains, Hollywood and the most beautiful campus in the world, UCLA.

[Hammerhead]

In Reply to: Gameday atmosphere? posted by HuskerTraveler on September 05, 2012 at 09:40:36

 

Your "typical" Nebraska college game day experience won't be fulfilled for several reasons...

 

- School is not in session until September 24th. There's no student body that congregates at any one place this time of year. Evan the band will be tiny and wearing only Aloha shirts, not uniforms.

 

- UCLA is a braniac school. The student body doesn't lend itself to sports, drinking or partying. Yes, there are some like that but nothing like you're probably used to in Nebraska where partying is primary and education is secondary.

 

- It'll be 90 degrees in Pasadena on Saturday. The sand at the beach in Santa Monica will be very inviting to many.

 

- The game will be broadcast on Fox Television. Why fight traffic and sit with your knees wedged into the seat in front of you when that 70" Sharp Aquos with 7.1 Dennon surround sound is a better experience.

 

- The Rose Bowl doesn't allow noise makers. That means that noise will have to be supplied by our own vocal chords. For those of us aspiring actors and singers this could be devastating should the vocal chords be damaged. No yelling for us.

 

- The game is so far inland. For those of us on the West Side it's so hard to drive in that direction. Barney's Beanery is so much closer.

 

- It's a 4:30 game for goodness sake. That means the whole friggin' day is shot revolving around football. Who does that?

 

- We're from L.A., for goodness sake. We only go to games when there's a 90% chance of winning. This game doesn't have the right percentages.

 

- The Rose Bowl is 29 miles from campus. Makes every game seem like a road game and we all know that the Bruin fans don't travel well.

 

- This isn't a Laker's game for goodness sake, nobody important will be at the game.

 

- There's an art fair in Laguna this weekend, isn't there? Sure there is, there always is. Sorry, can't make the game.

 

- Dude, I'm still recovering from the magnificence of Michelle's speech and you can't expect me to be over such an emotional experience by Saturday, can you? I need to rest up.

 

 

Yeah, this isn't Nebraska. Sorry, I can't help you. LINK

 

Here are a dozen excuses about why Bruins fans won't be showing up tomorrow. Translation: They are LAme fans.

 

Either this is an impressive display of satire toward people who live in Los Angeles, or reason #536 why I'd only move to Los Angeles if I aspired to commit suicide shortly thereafter.