I don’t like the latter half of September. It goes by in a flash. Before I know it, the fall quarter has started, a bunch of new students have swarmed the UCLA campus and I’m back to 4-hour classes and lots of reading.

The trouble with late September is baseball. In case you didn’t know, I love the Dodgers. I’ve been following since I could say “el Toro” and remember jumping up and down wildly during the 1988 World Series with my dad. I’ve been a bad fan this season, going only to two games (last year I went to about a dozen). Then again, I’m on the road almost as much as the Dodgers.

As the season winds down, the races for a berth in the playoffs come down to the wire. I love and hate the excitement. I ignore my studies as I watch late and post-season games.

This brings me to tonight’s Dodgers vs. Padres games. First, I must say that I love my roommate for ordering cable. That means I can watch the Dodgers games on cable.

I started watching tonight and then stopped. The game wasn’t going so good. Dodgers were down 4-0 at the end of the first inning. By the end of the third, they had tied it up. The game continued like that all the way until the ninth inning. At this point, San Diego was up 9-5. A lesser fan would have turned off the TV and prepared tomorrow’s lunch.

I kept watching. Bottom of the ninth, Jeff Kent comes up to bat. He hits a homerun.

J.D. Drew came next. He hit the second homerun of the inning.

At this point, I called my brother wondering, what’s happening? I didn’t want to get too excited, because no one wants to be let down. The Padres managers then brings in a new pitcher. The excitement at Chavez Ravine keeps building as the score is now 9-7.

Oh, and there are no outs.

Russell Martin came up to bat. He hits a homerun.

The Dodgers are making three homeruns in a row seem like the norm.

Marlon Anderson came up to bat. He hits a homerun, the second of the night (he went five for five!).

Okay. Did you get that? FOUR homeruns in a row. The fine fact-finders at Fox Sports inform viewers that this has only happened three other times in Major League history. The last time was in 1964.

The excitement in the 9th inning ended three batters later.

I was talking to Gabby about the game. The top of 10th inning scared us. The Padres didn’t give up so easily, got a couple of men on base and scored a run. Going in to the bottom of the 10th the score was 10-9.

Gabby gave her analysis of what needed to happen, “Lofton needs to get on base and Nomar needs to homer.”

Kenny Lofton gets walked. Vin Scully calls him a rabbit. Lofton has legs and has stolen 27 of 31 bases.

With Lofton on first, Nomar Garciaparra comes up to bat. Nomar had missed the last two games after an injury on Friday night.

Nomar must have been listening to Gabby.

He hit a homerun in to the left field bleachers.

The crowd got even crazier. Randy Newman’s I Love LA blared over the PA system as it always does when the Dodgers win.

Vin Scully stayed quiet for a minute as Nomar ran the bases with a slight limp. It was almost a replay of the Dodgers’ win in game one of the 1988 World Series when Kirk Gibson hit a game-winning homerun that no Dodger fan will ever forget.

Vin Scully ended his broadcast with a simple line, “I forgot to tell you, the Dodgers are in first place.”

I hope that doesn’t change.

ESPN recap, top photo from ESPN, and the other two photos by Malingering

For some strange reason, an editor at the LA Times gave John Ziegler, an AM radio host, space to make poorly written arguments and turn an enjoyable event like the World Cup to discuss the politics of assimilation.

Ziegler tries to draw links between watching World Cup soccer on Univision, as opposed to ABC or ESPN, and immigration from “the South” (but he really just means Mexico). He writes

THE HEART OF the debate over illegal immigration comes down to the problem of assimilation. For many of us who generally oppose the silent invasion from the south, if those who broke the law to come here acted as if their true loyalties were with the United States, then much of the fire in this highly combustible subject would be doused.

While at first glance it may seem an odd place to find enlightenment on the issue, the local TV ratings for games involving Mexico and the United States in the ongoing World Cup may provide some of the best evidence yet of where Spanish-speaking immigrants’ true loyalties lie. (for the rest)

He then goes on to make some rather lame points. First, he compares the LA broadcast ratings for the first few games Mexico and the US played. The total percentage of households that watched Mexico play in either English or Spanish was 28.1 and 19.8 for the US games. Second, the ratings for the Mexico games were much higher than those for the US games on Univision (21.7 to 11.8).

Ziegler reads these numbers and interprets them to mean that Spanish-speaking immigrants (codeword for Mexicans) have divided loyalties. I told Isa this and she said what I was thinking, “Our loyalties are not divided. They’re all for Mexico.”

Sort of. I ardently cheered for Mexico in all their games. My eyes got watery when I heard the national anthem. I was despondent when el Tri tied Angola, sad that they lost to Portugal but relieved that they advanced to the round of 16, even if it was de pansazo. I didn’t watch the US vs. Czech Republic match because I was at work. I didn’t cry when they lost 3-0 but still cringed. I cheered for the US against Italy and was glad that they tied. I watched Ghana beat the US and didn’t feel bad about it. In fact, I was glad Ghana won.

Can Ziegler be right? Does cheering for el Tri make me anti-assimilation? No. If you want to see my views on assimilation, you might want to look at other indicators. I’m definitely acculturated, but I’m wary of assimilation especially if it means giving up my mother tongue and connection to mis raíces. Still, I can’t deny the fact that I read Ziegler’s op/ed piece in an English language newspaper and am writing this post in English.

Did hoping for Ghana to win in their game gainst the US make me un-American? Nope. It just made me want to see the US not come in first in an important international competition. It’s nice to see an underdog win. By advancing to the round of 16, I’m sure the Ghanaian national team made their people much happier than a round of 16 berth would have made the US. Apparently, everything stopped in Ghana for the game, but people here barely care about the World Cup.

Ziegler may have had numbers, but he had no idea how to make sense of them. This is soccer, not a war. Watching games in Spanish is a simple personal preference.

1) Just because you watch the game on Univision does not mean you are an immigrant. Hell, I’ve watched almost every game on Univision and I was born in the US, am bilingual, and an upright citizen. Okay, I don’t know about the upright part, but I do take my civic duties seriously. But serioulsy, a lot of my Flickr buds agree with me.

2) This isn’t about assimilation or whether or not we’re becoming American. The definition of American should not be confined to cheering for the US team and watching the games in English. To me it is about sports, competition, cheering for the underdog and connecting with people. Cheering for el Tri just feels right.

3) As César (El Más Chingón) wrote in reply to CAD’s question, “real soccer fans know it’s Univision all the way.”

Have you actually watched the games in English? I fully understand both Univision and ABC/ESPN and choose Univision. Why? It’s not because I’m anti-assimilation or want to be more Mexican, it’s simply because the English language broadcasters are boring. They talk about the US as two other teams are playing. They also bring io politics which isn’t something you want to hear about when your mind is on soccer. My friends, Yousef and Mohammad, switched to Univision while watching Mexico vs. Iran because they got tired of the commentators talking about invading Iran. They don’t even speak Spanish, but it was better than ABC. I also noticed while watching Italy vs. US on Univision that ABC was delayed a few seconds. Finally, I had to watch Mexico’s games against Angola and Portugal in English because I don’t have cable TV.

Now, for the reasons I prefer Univision. I like to hear the commentators exuberantly call out “¡goooool!” I love the Coca Cola Borghetti/ice cube commercial and the fact that they show all the games. I can’t stand to hear Spanish names mispronounced and watching Mexico play while listening to the announcer speak Spanish just makes more sense.

Ziegler, it’s fútbol. Es la Copa Mundial. It should be enjoyed in whatever language helps to make the experience better. Para mi, esa idioma es español.

Live blogging the game

7:00
They’re chanting “culeros!” Oh, how I love Mexicans.

9:00
What’s going on here? Don’t play dirty… just play!

10:00
Rafa Márquez = swoon, but I’m not watching because the players are good looking.

Aw, Pardo had a chance… oh well.

11:00
I would do a play by play if I knew what to say. Guy in red passed it… to another guy in red.

12:00
Wouldn’t it have been cool if Angola beat Portugal? The colonized beats the former colonizer. The Fanon fan in me thinks soccer is better than violence for decolonizing.

Damn, 12 minutes in and this guy already has a yellow card?

13:00
That was close (free kick). The playback made it look just a few centimeters out.

15:00
Another foul? I think this is number 6. And now the third free kick. Let’s see if Pavel can make it. Damn.

19:00
I get a sense there’s going to be a lot of stoppage time.

The fans are signing “Cielito Lindo.” Lovely.

20:00
I wonder how much of all these injuries are (bad) acting and how many of them are real.

21:00
Tiro de esquina for Angola. These always ake me nervous.

22:00
The shots never look like they’re going to go that high until after the fact.

25:00
Free kick for Angola. Come on Oswaldo! Looks like he didn’t have to do much. It was way wide on the right.

26:00
Zinha shot… too far. I just noticed they’re wearing white today.

27:00
The Univision announcers say it helps to distinguish between the teams.

30:00
Damn. The two teams are even on fouls right now.

31:00
Was that a foul? Another free kick that doesn’t get close enough to really scaring anyone.

34:00
Nice block from Oswaldo.

35:00
I don’t think I can stand this being one of those games where the goal comes at the end.

37:00
Yikes. Tiro de esquina for Angola.

38:00
Do you hear trumpets? Do they have a mariachi there?

40:00
“Mexico está desconcentrado” according to the announcers.

It looks like it too… maybe they’ll have their concentration back after half time.

43:00
That foul on Rafa Márquez didn’t look good. And now the guy got a yellow card.

44:00
That was a tease (shot on goal).

45:00
Olé oleé olé chants… at least the fans are in it.

47:00
Half time.

Second half!

0:00
I really hope they’re coming out with some better plays. I need something to make not working on school stuff worth it.

2:00
You know what I miss? Jorge Campos’ dayglo uniform. Sánchez’s blue is okay, but the fluroescent colors add something else.

3:00
Mexico’s first tiro de esquina.

6:00
Aaaah! Okay, at least there is shooting now. With all these close calls there’s gotta be a goal.

Arellano comes in for Zinha.

7:00
I ate tamales today to be as Mexican as possible.

9:00
Straight shot to Sanchez. Damn.

10:00
Aaaah! I’m still mad about that lost opportunity. Mexico fans are going crazy.

11:00
Free kick.

12:00
Latest chant coming through? “¡Sí se puede!”

15:00
So, I’m following the stats online and it is noted that the Mexico is ranked 4 in the world by FIFA/Coca Cola and Angola is ranked 57. That doesn’t look good for Mexico struggling so much.

17:00
Issues passing?

20:00
I gotta admit, that one-handed catch by the Angolan goalkeeper was pretty good. Damn.

Bravo! You were supposed to get goal number three right there!

21:00
I hope I’m not annoying the neighbors with all the yelling over here.

22:00
Lavolpe seems to have that infamous Argentine ego.

24:00
Those free kicks… so many with no results.

28:0
Kikín is in!

30:00
Mendez can’t get in when it’s three against one.

31:00
I just realized we haven’t seen any action from Sanchez in a while. But that should be a good thing.

32:00
Those players look pissed.
“¡Sí se puede!” again.

33:00
Mano! Andre gets a red card. This should work to our advantage in these last ten minutes or so.

35:00
Cielito Lindo again That calms me down… just a little.

37:00
I didn’t scream and cry in the last shot by Kikín.

43:00
I missed that last two close calls by Marquez and Bravo because I needed a bathroom break.

44:00
Lavolpe looks like he’s about to pulls his hair out. I think I am too.

45:00
What can happen in three minutes?

47:00
A tie. Damn.
Mal partido para México. True story.

Dodger Stadium

I attended my first opening day game on Monday. My good friend Gabby made sure I did it right with a Phillippe’s French dip sandwich, illegal tailgating, and plenty of beer. But there were things out of our control like the rain and how well the Dodgers did. Oh well, it all can’t go as planned or hoped.

For my first two years at UCLA, I was part of the marching band. For most of the fall quarter, it was all about football. By November, we were back in Pauley Pavilion. Rather than play in full uniform with a couple hundred musicians, we had a small pep band dressed in khakis and UCLA Hawaiian print shirts.

Every time I was in Pauley — whether it be for men or women’s basketball or men’s volleyball — I was amazed by the banners hanging around showing all the national championships teams had won in that building.

There were the 11 basketball championships, 10 under Coach John Wooden, the Wizard of Westwood, and one with Jim Harrick. From 1964 to 1973 the UCLA Bruins won 10 basketball titles. There were 18 men’s volleyball titles from 1970 to 2000. Banners for women’s gymnastics showed 5 recent national titles from 1997 to 2004.

Even though it’s cool to have all kinds of volleyball and gymnastics titles, everyone knew that UCLA was and is a basketball school. The greatness in the air from the days of Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton was always part of the excitement.

When I filled out my bracket, I had UCLA winning the whole thing. I’ve watched every UCLA game (except Belmont, I was at the Mexico/US baseball game) in the NCAA tournament. I have to admit I didn’t follow too much during the regular season. I wouldn’t call myself a fairweather fan because I’ve loved UCLA basketball since I remember hearing about the 1995 win and went to my first game in the fall of 1998.

Tomorrow will be all about two of my favorite teams, UCLA and the Dodgers. I’ll be at Chavez Ravine for the Dodgers’ opening day game against the Atlanta Braves and then I’ll nervously watch the champioship game with good friends on Monday night.

Twelve national basketball championship titles sounds really nice, doesn’t it?

Go Bruins.

I’m not a nail biter, but if I was, I wouldn’t have fingers.

I’ve spent the last few hours watching basketball. I didn’t care much about Duke losing to LSU, but was glad to see Texas win over West Virginia. Neither one of those games made me feel like I did during UCLA’s game. They started off bad. Not, it was beyond bad. I found it hard to watch as Gonzaga’s lead went from 5 to 10 to 17. But that was the first half, and as I saw on Saturday UCLA plays with more fire in the second half.

My Bruins didn’t fail me this time.

Adam Morrison might still be crying in a locker room in Oakland. Perhaps he should blame Joel (see his comment to this post).

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute provided a shocking ending to Adam Morrison’s amazing season. Mbah a Moute scored underneath with 10 seconds left and the second-seeded Bruins scored the final 11 points of the game to knock out Morrison and third-seeded Gonzaga 73-71 Thursday night to advance to the regional final.

Morrison, Gonzaga’s shaggy-haired star, made two free throws with 3:26 to go, giving him 24 on the night and the Bulldogs (29-4) a 71-62 lead. But the Bruins (30-6) didn’t wilt.

Mbah a Moute scored six of the final 11 points and got a key steal in the final seconds to seal the win and send UCLA to its first regional final since 1997. The Bruins will play Saturday against Memphis (33-3), which beat Bradley 80-64 in the first semifinal of the Oakland regional. The Tigers beat the Bruins 88-80 in November.

Morrison put his hands on his head and leaned over, overcome with emotion, Mbah a Moute stole the ball from Derek Raivio with 2.6 seconds left, fighting tears in what was probably his final game in a Zags uniform. He is expected to turn pro.

J.P. Batista missed a desperation 15-footer at the buzzer and fell into the Zags’ bench, where coach Mark Few helped him up.

When the buzzer sounded, UCLA senior Cedric Bozeman ran around the court with the ball in his hands — Ryan Hollins right with him.

Hollins and Afflalo went to help up Morrison, who was spread on the floor at midcourt. Few then came to hug the crying Morrison. (Yahoo! Sports)

I told Adrian that we would have to leave around 3:30 from Hacienda Heights in order to make it to Anaheim in time for the 4:30 start time of the Mexico vs. US game in round 2 of the World Baseball Classic.

Adrian and I have been to many games together. He’s my brother. He knows I’m not on time.

“Ay, si tú. Showing up on time? What kind of Mexican are you?” he wrote over instant messenger.

I responded, “We need to show up on time. Who is going to stand up when they play the Mexican national anthem? You know all the Mexicans are going to be late.”

My plan didn’t work so well. We were late. Gabby, Adrian, Steve (Adrian’s friend) and I arrived at Angel Stadium around 5 p.m. I think it was one of those things you see because that’s what you expect to see, but I only noticed raza walking toward the parking lot inside the gates of Angel Stadium.

We made our way to the will call window. On the way there we saw dozens of people crowding around to get into the gates. The Mexican fans wore the green caps with a red M, Mexican baseball jerseys, ponchos, huge straw hats, and tied Mexican flags around their necks so it would flow like a cape. Some people had their faces painted in red, white and green.

On the way to our seats, we passed a couple of concession stands. The TV screens showed a replay of what looked like a go-ahead home run off the right field pole. Rather than call it a homerun, the umpires said it was a ground rule double. By the time we got to our seats, Jorge Cantú had hit in Mario Valenzuela for the first of Mexico’s two runs.

In the next inning, the US anwered back with a run of its own when Vernon Wells hit a sacrifice fly and allowed Chipper Jones to score.

Mexico didn’t let the empate (tie) last too long and in the bottom of the fifth inning, they scored once again. Cantú hit another RBI and brought in Valenzuela a second time. The US took out Roger “the Rocket” Clemens soon after. Gabby and I yelled out “didn’t you retire?” as most other fans gave him a standing ovation. It might be Clemens’ last start. I don’t care, I’ve never been a fan.

The next three innings went by kind of quickly. Mexico’s pitchers made it look easy and would get out the US batters out one-two-three.

Meanwhile, fans chanted. Me-xi-co! U-S-A! Culeeeeroooooos! Gabby and I even counted how many times the culeros chant would come up.

By the top of the ninth, Team USA fans were hoping for something to keep their hopes in the tournament alive, and it got close.

With a the pro-Mexico portion of the crowd trying in vain to drown out chants of “USA,” lefty Jorge De La Rosa took over for the ninth and struck out Ken Griffey Jr. before walking Jones and being replaced by righty Luis Ayala, who walked Alex Rodriguez to move the tying run into scoring position. [Johnny Damon pinch ran for Alex Rodriguez after he was walked.]

That brought righty David Cortes out of the bullpen to face Wells, who grounded into a 6-4-3 double play on the first pitch he saw, setting off a wild celebration that featured Team Mexico saying good-bye to its fans with a flag-waving victory lap.

Gabby and I chanted “double play!” and we got it.

It was cool to see Mexico win, even if they only had a tiny chance of advancing in the tournament. The US pretty much needed to win in order to advance over Japan. South Korea was a definite because they won three games.

Mexico eliminated the US from contention in the WBC. I think it’s pretty cool that Mexico eliminated the team from the country that invented the sport. Maybe baseball is no longer “America’s pastime.” Perhaps, it has become “the Americas’ (plus Asia) pastime.” The LA Times writes, “in six games, the U.S. of Jeter, Junior and A-Rod, of Clemens, Damon and Chipper, lost to Canada, Korea and Mexico.”

Powell (College) Libary, UCLA

No matter the outcome of Saturday’s big game between UCLA (9-1) and USC (11-0), I’ll be satistifed.

There will be no kicking and screaming or a desire to inflict pain on anyone who wears the colors red and gold. I may still cringe everytime I hear that poor excuse for a fight song and hiss at the mere mention of the letters U and S and C in succession.

I also might randomly break into the Eight Clap or songs like “We are the Mighty Bruins,” “Hail to the Hills of Westwood” or “Rover.”

Even though I’m hoping la Tía Macaria will make her ánimas work in favor of a UCLA’s first victory since 1999 (she never heeded any of my requests for miraculous wins in baseball, I don’t think she was a fan), I’m also undeniably realistic and a bit of a pessimist. ‘SC has a 33-game win streak and is ranked 1 in the nation. We’re ranked 12. Still good, but the odds are against us.

Still, at the end of this season I may not have bragging rights for best football team in LA, but I sure will have memories of some exciting fourth quarters.

Go Bruins!

Since the 1998 UCLA football season, I’ve been pretty successful at keeping my hopes in check. This season poses greater difficulty. After I quit the band, I barely followed the games, rarely watched, and never actually attended. Despite the difficulty, I still think 1998 a lot and this morning picked out an old 1999 Rose Bowl tshirt with “’98 PAC-10 Conference Champs” and the Tournament of Roses emblem.

Watching today’s game against the University of Arizona Wildcats feels almost like the infamous Miami game 7 years ago. I’m not even really watching. I’m following the online updates. That might be better. I’d be yelling at the TV wondering why the hell UCLA’s offense can’t get a f****n’ first down and why the defense seems to let Arizona score on every single possession.

Yikes.

I have to admit, watching listening to all the fourth quarter comebacks this season has been pretty exciting, but I’m over the excitement. That was cool when I was 18 and at every home game and we thought we were on track for a national championship. Now, I don’t really care for the kind of game you talk to your kids about and never forget.

You know what games I remeber? The losses. The ones that crushed my hopes — and my trombone.

There’s 6:43 left in the 3rd quarter. Arizona has possession, 1st and 10 on their own 37. UCLA has scored one touchdown. Arizona has six… and a field goal. If you don’t know football, that makes the score 7-45.

I wonder if any UCLA team has ever come from behind from a deficit of 38 points. Probably not.

You know what makes this feel even worse? Arizona is 2-6 and thus far UCLA is undefeated.

With 2:19 left in the game, the score is now 7-52.

I feel sick.

Edit: Final score was 14-52. After re-thinking this, I figure that even if UCLA loses the next two games (Arizona State and USC), we’ll still have an 8-3 season, or even better. It’s not the end of the world. I guess.

On Thursday evenings while I try to pay attention to my qualitative methods class, I get a bit nostalgic as I listen to the UCLA marching band practice the upcoming field show, pre-game show, fight songs and pop tunes. Instead of being in class discussing ethnographies and researchers’ subjectivity, I’d much rather be on the IM field playing my trombone with all the other band geeks.

It’s been years since I’ve played my trombone and even longer since I’ve been to a UCLA football game. I quit the band mainly because I no longer had the time and because the football games (which take the most time) were no longer fun because the team was losing and embroiled in the infamous disabled placard scandal of 1999.

See, my first year in the band 1998 UCLA football was ranked number 1 in the nation and undefeated until the very end of the season. The quarterback, Cade McNown, was a prime contender for the the Heisman Trophy and UCLA was enjoying an 8 game win streak over our rivals, USC. It was a great time to be in the band, until the end.

Sunday, December 6, 1998

The reason I feel so utterly depressed is because yesterday the UCLA football team lost to Miami. We were previously unbeaten in 20 straight games and were basically 60 minutes away from a trip to Tempe, Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl [for the national championship game]. But the dream season ended in a nightmare as the Bruin defense fell a part in the 4th quarter giving up a lead of 17 points (I think). There were some questionable (or controversial) calls that I think caused us to lose heart and subsequently lose the game. I know that college football isn’t everything in the world, but it feels like it right now.

I was really upset after that game. Our “consolation prize” — normally a great bowl game — was the Rose Bowl. That game sucked too and it was personally tragic. The next season wasn’t much better and the ones after were all quite mediocre. I lost interest and just prayed that basketball season would be better.

Today, I listened on the radio to the last quarter of the UCLA (20) vs. UC Berkeley (10) game. I don’t have a TV right now and the game was only on cable so I was checking online for scores until I found the game on the radio. The Bruins were down 40-35 with only a few minutes to play in the 4th quarter. But then they scored, and when Cal got the ball again they turned it over when the quarterback, Joe Ayoob, threw an interception with 1:19 to play. The Bruins scored another 2-yard touchdown and sealed the upset 47-41.

It’s been 6 years since I’ve been to the Rose Bowl and seriously excited about UCLA football. Hopefully I can take some time out of my busy schedule and head back to the Rose Bowl to relive old times and sing “Rover” (a song we play after every victory) with the band after another exciting win.