Lots of room

...And you failed to mention the fact that UCLA fans are probably the worst in the Pac10 outside of Stanford fans. So, we are expecting 60,000 for our home opener? That's how many we have for every home opener. What's the change?

We couldn't even fill the stadium when we had Oklahoma a couple years ago. Even the Notre Dame was overrun with Irish fans. You really expect us to fill the Rose Bowl for an SEC team? Nahhh...

pffffff... I can't wait to see all you "Bruin faithful" on Labor Day. I know we'll be there at 5:00am along with the other 20 or 30 dedicated tailgaters and Bruin fans. The rest of you will show up around 2 hours before game time and will tell me and my clan to "sit down" and "stop yelling so loud."

pffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff...

I agree with your statement VB. I wish people showed up two hours before the game. Some don't even show up till the second quarter.
I've also been told to sit down and have gotten nasty looks when I yell out loutd I think Dohn mentioned it last year. Most of our fans are apathetic when it comes to football. We have only a small group of die hards. I've been to games in Michigan and Texas A&M and the energy among fans there is much stronger. I don't think Aggie students ever sat down during the entire game!

Well, to be fair, most of our students do stand up for the entire game. But something happens after graduation. The older the alumni get, the less they care about the game. STAY AT HOME IF YOU DON'T CARE.

I think most UCLA fans care about football just about as much as the UCLA administration cares about football. If the Admin ever decides to get serious about the football program (i.e., pay for coaches, practice fields, gym equipment, etc.), then I think the program will improve and the fans may follow. I say "may" because even during the 20-win game streak under Toledo, the Rose Bowl was not particularly on fire.

However, it is proven that LA fans like only winners. When Hackett was driving the program across town into the ground, you could shoot a cannon in the Coliseum on game day and not hit anyone. Same with the Clippers and Kings.

in regards to Tennessee fans traveling, remember, Tennessee played a then-highly ranked Cal team last year in Berkeley. plus the economy is down. So if you're just an average Volunteer fan, do you really want to travel to California again, only this time to watch your team ranked #18 and fourth in the SEC, take on a likely middle of the pack Pac-10 team? Even if it is at the Rose Bowl? I'd rather spend my away game funds on going to see the Bulls take on preseason no. 1 Georgia, in Athens, GA.

With all the renewed excitement in the program, anything under 75,000 should be considered a disappointment. Yes it's a holiday weekend and school's not in session but that should not be an excuse. I'm cutting my weekend in Tahoe short to be at the bowl Monday morning. Besides, I read that AAA says fewer people will be traveling this weekend due to high gas costs.

Lloyd, if LA fans only liked winners than the Dodgers wouldn't be breaking their own attendance records year after year with a mediocre product. Heck, even a below .500 UCLA team averaged over 76,000 last season - w/out SC on the schedule. That was second best in the Pac-10 and 20th nationally. You can say that BYU & ND fans travel well but those were only the 3rd and 4th highest attended games.

My point is that I thought we turned a corner last year in terms of fan support, but if the projections for Monday are true then I'd say the program definitely has it's work cut out for them.

So for the few of us who await the first game of the season like it's Christmas morning, see you at the Bowl on Monday. Go Bruins!!!!!

Brian, I think you and others here are overreacting with regard to "only" 65,000 tickets being sold for this first game.

Do not forget that (1) UCLA students do not return until the end of September due to the quarter system, and (2) this game is on a holiday. I know my family and I had to make specific plans to be in town during this game.

By the way, I think the typically $C basketball fan is much more pathetic than the typical UCLA football fan.

PeterUCLA,

The student section usually only comprises 5,000 - 7,000 people. So even if you added the students to the equations, we would only have about 72,000 people attending. We should have... well... 91,500 attending.

This is an SEC foe. This is the opening game. This is the beginning of a new era for UCLA football. This should be a sellout.

"But it's a holiday." pffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

UCLA fans summed up in one sentence:

"I would go to the game.. but it's a holiday."

It really is disappointing. I don't think one can blame the lack of students because, frankly, students don't make up that large of a crowd at a typical home game. It is lack of interest from the many, many alum who live throughout Southern California. There is another game this holiday weekend ... Clemson vs. Alabama at Atlanta's Georgia Dome. Despite being several hours from both campuses, the game was sold out long ago. Oh yeah, I forgot ... there is NOTHING ELSE TO DO IN (pick your favorite Southern city) OTHER THAN GO TO COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMES. Yeah, right. Hogwash.

-Bruin '77

Man, I don't care if it's Christmas Day. VB, UB, OB, EB, DB, BB and PB will be there! Rain or shine!!!

"But.. but... It's a holiday!!"

LOL

Hahaha i didn't even think of this until i read the last sentence of peterucla's comment, but last year when i had my overnight trip to SC so i could be interviewed for potential scholarships (i ended up with half... which still was about twice as much as ucla) i stayed the night of the oregon-sc basketball game. i ended up going to the game with my host, showing the ID of my host's 6'6" hawaiian roommate to get in free, getting to Galen about 35 minutes before gametime and having amazing seats. of course it involved a lot of everyone (i was in the student section) sitting most of the time and me secretly cheering for malik hairston to posterize somebody, but all in all it was a pathetic experience.

VB, I wasn't sure what all of your fuss was about until I read a couple of the comments on questions post. I'm totally with you on this one.

I don't get why it being a holiday would mean less fans in attendance. Especially fans that live in LA. Are these people going to be sitting at home eating burgers instead of going to the game? I don't live in LA, so i'm taking a day off on Tuesday in order to be at the game, which is a decision I didn't hesitate even one second to make. I've been waiting 8 months for UCLA football. Even if I knew we were going to lose every game for the next 20 years and they moved the games to Wednesdays i'd still be there at the rose bowl.

I hate the UCLA football vs SC basketball comparisons. UCLA has far more tradition in football than SC will ever have in basketball. It wasn't too long ago we were one (ok, maybe 10) missed tackles away from playing for the national championship. And since the Bruins moved to the Rose Bowl, they actually have a better head-to-head winning percentage in the 26 games vs SC.

PeterUCLA, great....our football fans are better than SC's basketball fans. I didn't know that was the measuring stick for collegiate fan support. Where do we rate vs Fullerton baseball and LMU volleyball fans?

Great point HomeBru,

I was stoked when I found out the game was moved to Labor Day. I mean, isn't Labor Day about being outside in the sun, firing up the grill, sucking down copious amounts of beer, and watching sports? Combine that with a nationally televised game against an SEC powerhouse - where else would you rather be?

In the famous words of the guy with the funny hat and cowbell, "Every man, woman, and child" should get out to the bowl on Monday.

Unless the USC fans are great carpoolers and make a ton more money the economy and traffic excuses are pathetic.

But hey, at least it's not like 2006. I remember going to either the Rice or Utah game where the announced 22,000 in attendance was about 10,000 too high... great, now I sound pathetic.

To make matters worse, the loudest our stadium ever gets is when there is an announcement that USC lost to someone. Place roars about that, but can't seem to roar the rest of the time for OUR game.

Traffic? Holiday weekends are my favorite time to be in LA because of the lack of traffic. And to the posters in Q&A who complain about having to go to work the next day, an average 3.5 hour game will be over by 8:30 which means if you live anywhere in SoCal you'll most likely be home before 10.

VB, I guess we need to give some credit to those behind us telling us to sit down. At least they show up!

Good point, but I wish they would stop complaining. Unfortunately, I'm in row 72 of Tunnel 19. So only 5 or 6 rows have to stand up behind me when I stand up. I wish I was in Row 30 so that the entire tunnel would be forced to stand up when I stand up.

As for the "traffic" argument, and the "staying up late" arguments. GIVE ME A BREAK!!! Are you guys that soft that you are afraid of being out late on Monday night?!! Sure, the game will end at 8:30, I'll probably get out to my car in Lot H around 9:15, leave the Rose Bowl around 9:30, get home around 11:00, and then go to work the next morning. BUT IT IS WORTH EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!!!!!!!! Do I prefer Monday night games? No. But it is what it is. Nothing is going to hold me back from going.

Is there an obligation to spend a holiday watching a team with no QB or offensive line get humbled.

To be hones Brian is the reason I am not going. At first I was thinking of attending but after hearing all day how bad our situation is on offense I decided I rather take a beating from home.

Yeah, the stay up late argument is pathetic at best. MNF games start at 8:30 eastern, I don't think you'll ever hear Giants or Patriots fans complain, instead they'll pack every seat in the house - even on a frigid December night. It's a treat that we're getting this kind of national exposure for the program - win or lose. Too bad most here see it as some kind of burden on their lives.

Calling all high school band geeks and cheerleaders.....

Anon 3:51,

Way to support the team. Sounds like Brian's doom and gloom assessment of the team has you believing the worst. This is the time of year where there should optimism and hope. How big of an underdog were we to SC two years ago? I'm sure you stayed home for that and missed one of the greatest endings in Bruin history.

Yes we have a patchwork O-line, but our O-line has been dismal for the last 10 years. Yes we're breaking in a new QB but Tenn's QB actually has less D1 experience than Craft. Our D-line and linebackers should be better than last year. Our skill positions (receivers, running backs, tight ends) are better and deeper than last year. Our kicking game is solid. Our coaching staff is among the best in the nation. At DB, where we lost the most seniors, we recruited some of the top players in their class.

See, there is reason to be optimistic. I'm not necessarily predicting a BCS appearance this season, but the cupboard is not as bare as some would like you to believe.

Anon 3:51,

You are the perfect of example of the soft, fairweathered, chicken crap little UCLA fan who doesn't support your team rain or shine. So Dohn reports the truth; that our offensive line is putrid and our QB is inexperienced. You decide to stay at home and "support" your team from the television set. But I bet when we start winning you will be the first to buy tickets. We don't need fans like you. You are equivalent to the USC "fans" who work at the carwash across the street from the Colliseum. They were never there for the Hackett era, but now they are full fledged Trojan fans because of their recent success.

STAY HOME! WE DON'T NEED HORIBBLE FANS LIKE YOU!

Well, as Brian mentioned in the article, it could be worse. We could be starting with 45,000 at home, like USC did in 2001.

VB agree with your point about the loud cheers when they announce the USC score. The entire Rose Bowl erupted last year during the Notre Dame game when they announced the final score that USC had lost to Stanford. Both Domers and Bruins cheered.

We erupted so loud that we forgot that we were currently getting pounded by a 0-6 Notre Dame team.

USC has always drawn well in football, its basketball they don't care about. Probably not a good idea to start comparing sc attendance to UCLA, unless your talking about Pauley.