In Reply to: Yes but what does that mean? posted by Cachorro on March 24, 2025 at 14:17:53
for being competitive in all the other sports.
That's what I was saying. It seemed responsive to the topic at hand.
If you want to talk about being competitive within the P4, that's a new topic, but I'm procrastinating.
"I don't want to hear there's too much to do in LA." Then cover your ears. There's a lot to do in LA. I totally agree about marketing the game to students. Not sure where the student section for women's games is. But, the bleachers behind the basket to the right of me (I was in section 101), were basically empty. There were 30 young people in those bleachers, tops. 30. (they were making a hell of a ruckus, good on them). I think UCLA does a horrible job of marketing to the students, and marketing UCLA sports in general.
Pauley holds 13,800 people (according to wikipedia). You don't need 18 million people to fill it. You just need 13,800 who give a damn. It didn't look remotely close to a sell out last night. The whole upper tier was empty.
Imo, if UCLA made a commitment to having a big time football program, it would help all the sports wrt student attendance. But, that's just my wild ass theory. Wife was doing rehab at a place with a UCLA Women's soccer player. Wife said "oh, do you go to football games"? Soccer player "hell no, those guys are losers. They suck." Yes, she called them losers. I think that negativity carries over to the perception of all UCLA sports. JMO.
Last question - how would Arkansas draw if they were in the same city as sc? Yes, LA is huge, there is room for 2 teams. But, to some extent, you're either "it" or you ain't "it." And, sc is "it." Much more effort into producing a winning football team, muuuuuch better marketing, and probably much better marketing to the students.
I just did a college tour back east and was reminded of how wildly cynical I found UCLA students to be when I was there. Penn State, regular school day, everyone is decked out in PSU gear and the school spirit is palpable. BC, not so much school gear, but the school spirit was palpable. UCLA, from my impression, was populated by some very cynical mf'ers. That's gotta be partly due to marketing. Now, someone is going to chime in "cynicism is good!" "blind allegiance results in the JoPa scandal" Fair enough, but cynicism doesn't engender school spirit, and it didn't keep UCLA from having it's own sexual assault scandal, which probably involved 100's of times more victims than PSU's did.