U-C-L-A

Some years things go well for a sports fan, but usually there are more downs than ups. The Michigan Wolverines took a thumping from Greater Sladed Family’s favorite USC Trojans. The San Diego Chargers, the only professional football team I care about, got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs and then crashed the entire team despite a 14-2 record.

Mrs. Sladed would lament more about the Padres falling apart in the playoffs than I would, but I am with her in spirit having lived through decades of mediocrity with the Pads. The only other baseball team I care about, the Detroit Tigers, didn’t fare much better.

Then, the fog seems to clear and your team does something good for a change. My Team, the UCLA Bruins, is in bollege basketball's Final Four and doing it with grit, hard-nose defense and crappy shooting. Except for the crappy shooting, I haven’t seen a team like this in Westwood since the old Wooden days.

Here’s hoping the Bruins hoist another Championship banner at Pauley Pavilion. Of course you can check back in a week to find out they didn’t get any farther. And that’s the funny thing about sports. There are hundreds of teams that only dream of being in the Final Four, and who could complain for very long about a 14-2 record? I guess it’s all about finishing the job and I suspect we fans put too much on winning it all. We’re so fickle!