UCLA Bruins in the NBA - 2014-15 Edition SIXTEEN BRUINS BABY!

Complete with a cool pic of Mr. Kevin Love as a Cleveland Cavalier, the UCLA BRUINS home page has their annual article letting us know how many Bruins are on NBA Rosters at the beginning of the season.  Last season I wrote a nice article on our boys why not do it again this year!

Two Bruins who played last year are not on rosters at the beginning of this year: Malcolm Lee and Earl Watson.  Lee played 35 games for the Timberwolves over the last two years, but was traded on draft day to Phoenix, who then traded him to Washington and was released shortly thereafter.  He's had injury problems including extended outages for groin and knee issues.

Earl Watson retired after 12 seasons with six different teams.  He took a coaching position with the San Antonio Spurs after making bold statements that he'd like to be the Utah Jazz head coach.  Watson's retirement now makes Matt Barnes the last Bruin in the NBA to have played under Steve Lavin.

Jordan Adams - Memphis Grizzles
Arron Affalo - Denver Nuggets
Kyle Anderson - San Antonio Spurs
Trevor Ariza - Houston Rockets
Matt Barnes - LA Clippers
Darren Collison - Sacramento Kings
Jordan Farmar - LA Clippers
Jrue Holiday - New Orleans Pelicans
Ryan Hollins - Sacramento Kings
Zach LaVine - Minnesota Timberwolves
Kevin Love - Cleveland Cavaliers
Luc Richard Mbah-a-Moute - Philadelphia 76ers
Shabazz Muhammad - Minnesota Timberwolves
David Wear - Sacramento Kings
Travis Wear - New York Knicks
Russell Westbrook - Oklahoma City Thunder

The rookies this season are Adams, Anderson, LaVine and the Wear twins.  Only the Wear twins were undrafted.  LaVine went #13, Adams #22 and Anderson #30.

Arron Affalo started the year last season with Orlando but was traded back to the Denver Nuggets, where he played between 2009 and 2012 in June.  He can opt out of his contract at the end of this year.

Trevor Ariza begins his second decade in the NBA with a return to the Houston Rockets.  He's played for five other teams in 10 previous years.

Matt Barnes returns to the LA Clippers and is joined by former two-time Laker Jordan Farmar.

Darren Collison signed a free-agent contract with the Sacramento Kings, where he will be joined by his Clipper team-mate Ryan Hollins.

Kevin Love was probably the biggest move any Bruin made during the off-season, bring traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers where he'll play with a returning LeBron James.   The same deal saw the Prince of Cameroon Luc Richard Mbah-a-Moute from the T-Wolves to the 76ers.

Jrue Holiday returns to the Pelicans, Shabazz Muhammad returns to the T-Wolves and of course Russell Wesbrook returns to the Thunder.

The NBA Season begins October 28

Changing of the Seasons - MLB Opening Day & NCAA Tournament Thoughts

When I reminded my wife that today was opening day for the Angels she said to me "Of course it is, didn't basketball just end?"  Yes, yes it did.

I suppose I should just get this out there and out of the way.  Once my team is out of the playoffs I GENERALLY don't care about who wins the rest of the thing.  It's Monday afternoon and other than Florida and Kentucky I don't know who the other two in the Final Four are.  I should check.  Hunh, UConn and Wisconsin.  I actually picked Uflop and the Badgers in my pool, and I have the floppers winning the big game.  Not that I really care mind you.  Again, I don't.  I watched maybe five minutes of the tournament after UCLA lost on Thursday.

So yes, for me Basketball is over.  I don't care what happens in the NBA other than for the draft because I am curious as to where Kyle Anderson and Zach LaVine end up.  Kyle might have played himself into the top 5, whereas Zach may go late first round or early second.  That's what I read anyway.

Neither appear to have any trading cards available, but they will, and soon.


2014 is the second year in a row that I've not bought any Baseball cards prior to opening day, and since I didn't break a single pack of 2013 product I'm pretty sure I'm not going to suddenly get the itch to buy the same stuff only with a new date on the front.

I have to say I'm no longer optimistic that Mike Scioscia can bring another championship to Los Angeles.  Yes, I know they play in Anaheim.  I wish they didn't.  Though I still have to say I'd rather go to a game at the Big A than Dodger Stadium.  You know I haven't been back to Chavez since before I was married.  That says something I think.

Some of the names on the projected opening day lineup are unfamiliar to me.  Kole Calhoun?  Doesn't matter, it's still opening day and everyone still has a chance to win it all!

All-Time Favorite Sports Figures Day 2 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

I am a second generation UCLA Bruin, and I'm damn proud of that fact.  My Father attended UCLA in the early 70's and graduated in 1974 with a degree in English.  My Mother worked on campus from 1972 to 1980, and I attended the UCLA Child Care Center beginning in it's second year of existence, and in fact am still Facebook friends with one of my counselors from that time period.  The Godmother of my daughter is on of my Mom's friends who she worked with in the Registrar's Office during those heady years of Walton, Wickes, Rowe, Patterson and our next subject, the former Lew Alcindor, known today and forever as the greatest Basketball Player ever, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.



So despite the fact that I never actually got to see Kareem play for the Bruins, he's still my all-time favorite Hoopster.

KAJ had such a storied career that if you don't know who he is, you can't really be a sports fan.  Kids of the 90's say that MJ was the best ever, but I disagree, KAJ CHANGED the game.  In the NCAA anyway.  His Freshman Bruin squad (remember Freshmen weren't allowed to play varsity back then) actually defeated the Varsity squad during their annual pre-season romp.  That would't have been a big deal, except that the Varsity was the DEFENDING NCAA CHAMPIONS!  They outlawed the Slam Dunk during his time at UCLA because he was the only one who could really do it!  Can you imagine a college game without a dunk?

In the NBA he only won 6 championships, 2 finals MVPs, 6 regular season MVPs, scoring champion multiple times, 19 time all-star and he STILL holds the all-time scoring title with 38,387 points in 1,560 games.  Kobe Bryant, currently 4th on the list, has 4 more seasons at an average of 16 points a game to catch him, which isn't all that assured given Kobe's injury problems lately.


During his playing career ended Kareem dabbled in acting, most notably the still hilarious "Airplane" in 1980.  Here's his best clip:
http://youtu.be/n2A194yTWoQ?t=25s

I love that movie.

Post-retirement KAJ has become a renaissance man, though really he always was.  Despite the fact that his god-given talents made him a great basketball player, I'm not sure he ever REALLY loved the game like so many of his peers.  I think for him the game was a means to an end, he got a fantastic education, the sports career that 99% of humans would kill for, and the stability that being a star-athlete brings.  But I often felt that KAJ was never as comfortable as a star as some others would be.  He seems kind of shy to be honest, and his demeanor around reporters during his career did him no favors.  He SHOULD be the head-coach somewhere in the NBA, but he burned bridges and has never really been given a chance.  Not that he cares really.  Now he's a film-maker, educator, historian and all around good guy.

I should mention that I had a chance to meet Kareem back at the old LA Times Book Festival when it was on campus at UCLA.  Now I have met a ton of celebrities over the years, I've worked with Tony Hawk on a TV shoot, met Warren Beatty and Natassja Kinski on the movie they were shooting on the property I worked on, ran into dozens and dozens of actors living in LA, and been to multiple training camps and shows where autographs were available.  THE ONLY time I was ever star-struck and just unable to communicate was when I met KAJ.

I think I mumbled something about him being my and my late-father's favorite player.  This was the same book festival where Deacon Jones slapped me on the back because I was wearing a Kings Jersey and gave me an autographed book because I reverently told him to slap me on the head!  Kareem made me nervous and self-conscience because he really is a giant of a man in more ways than just stature.

That statue of him in front of Staples was LOOOONG overdue.

Jordan Farmar (UCLA) Signed with the Lakers again

http://www.nba.com/lakers/releases/130717_jordan_farmar

Woot!  This makes me very happy.  Hope you have a great season Jordan!

Bruins in the NBA 2013-2014 Edition

I haven't really collected Basketball cards since the hey-day of 1989 Hoops and Skybox.  I once owned a 1988 Fleer set which I bought for something like $12 and sold for $90 way back in the day.  Basketball cards aren't my forte.

That said I do have quite a few virtually ALL former Bruins.  I have an entire 3 ring binder devoted to them, and at some point I'll post more pictures.

Here though, is the UCLA Bruins Alumni in the NBA for 2013-2014.  Looks like I'll be rooting for the Clips more often this season.


Matt Barnes - LA Clippers
Ryan Hollins - LA Clippers
Darren Collison - LA Clippers
Kevin Love - Minnesota Timberwolves
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute - Minnesota Timberwolves
Shabazz Muhammad - Minnesota Timberwolves
Jrue Holiday - New Orleans Pelicans
Malcolm Lee - Phoenix Suns
Earl Watson - Portland Trailblazers
Arron Afflalo - Orlando Magic
Trevor Ariza - Washington Wizards
Russell Westbrook - Oklahoma City Thunder

Here's a decent article about them all: http://www.uclabruins.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30500&ATCLID=208702566

Obviously all of these guys have more recent Rookie Cards than say Baron Davis.  Shabazz Muhammad, the most recent draft pick won't have his RCs out for a few more weeks and they won't be licensed right away (i.e. Press-Pass, SaGE).


Here's their rookie years and what companies made their RCs.  Mostly these are all going to be under $5 unless you're looking for the serial numbers with autographs.

Barnes - 2002-2003 UD Authentics and SP offered some nice RCs in his Bruin Uni.
Hollins - 2006-2007 Lots of low end UD and Topps and cheap autos.
Collison - 2009-2010 Panini & UD pumped Collison out.
Love - 2008-2009 Topps & UD ran the presses.  Also has a McDonalds All-American in two versions $4 - 20.
The Prince - 2008-09 UD, Skybox
Jrue Holiday - 2009-10 UD & Panini Also has a McDonalds All-American in two versions.
Lee - 2011-2012 Panini & UD
Watson - 2001-2002 UD & Topps
Afflalo - 2007-2008 UD & Topps
Ariza 2004-2005 Topps, Skybox, UD
Westbrook 2008-09 Topps, UD

UCLA - Game On!

Tonight is the official opener for the UCLA Men's Basketball program. I should have written this up earlier today but I've been fairly busy the last couple of days. Busy for me anyway.

At the half it's 38 to 19 Bruins over Prairie View A&M. To say this game is over would be an understatement. However, it's a good opening contest to get the youngsters some quality game minutes.

I missed the entire first half due to a television scheduling snafu at Casa WildWill, but I should have some thoughts after the game.

Get Ready to VOTE!

I will digress from my normal pastiche posts about whatever flits into my mind that's sports related for a moment and beg, plead, and implore you to get yourselves to the polls tomorrow and VOTE! Democracy only works when citizens participate, and this is the lowest level of participation. If you don't vote, then you have no voice. Good men and women have died to give you the right to vote, don't let those sacrifices go to waste. I've already marked up my ballot and after I drop the wife off at work tomorrow morning, I'm voting, I want to get it done so that I can come home and watch returns all day. In years past I've been stuck at jobs watching the numbers roll in, not this year. I can camp in front of CNN and MSNBC all day long.

Which reminds me, I'm in LOVE with Rachel Maddow. Yes, I know she's a lesbian, which makes her that much more attractive to me. When I say LOVE I really mean that she's the latest person who I actually WANT to listen to speak. She's just so damn smart (she's got a Doctorate in Philosophy for Pete's sake), and eloquent. I love her MSNBC show, for all the reasons that I love Air America as well. Seriously though, you can learn a lot from watching her show which is on at 9 pm EST/6 PM PST.

Some Sports Content

The UCLA Men's Basketball Team has their first exhibition game tonight against...err...Cal Baptist, which is the #5 ranked team in NAIA Division I. It's not on TV or radio, but it's supposed to be streaming on CBS All Access. If you want to pony up the $60 for CSTV's season long web coverage you get the game for free, but since I'll be watching as many games as possible on television, it isn't worth it to me to buy the package as well, though if I lived anywhere else other than Southern California I'd buy the package.

Starting Point Guard and returning Senior Darren Collison was just voted onto his SECOND straight Pre-Season AP All-America team. The Bruins are just looking awesome as we head into the 08/09 season, with THREE returning Seniors in the lineup and FOUR incoming Freshmen who are the cream of the crop when it comes to recruiting. Seriously, I've been following Jrue Holliday, Malcolm Lee, Jerime Anderson, and Drew Gordon since before Kevin Love took his first shot at UCLA. We also managed to get J'Mision Morgan (just call him 'Bobo') to forgo his plans to attend LSU and come to UCLA instead! Five freshmen, two seniors (Collison and Josh Shipp) who have been to the Final Four in each of their college seasons and now want to cap their careers with a National Championship, and a healthy underclass featuring Alfred Aboya, Michael Roll, James Keefe and Nikola Dragovic give the Bruins ELEVEN scholarship players, each of which will get game time. Yes, I was excited about the Bruins last season, even knowing that K-Love was one-and-done, but this year I'm QUINTUPLY excited. FIVE FREAKING FRESHMEN!

Trading Update

OK I admit it, I SUCK when it comes to checking lists and prepping trades. I always have. I'm slow. I often forget to check lists as well. It's not that I don't WANT to trade, I definitely do, it's just that my time, such as it is, is limited. When you have a toddler that you're taking care of all day you have to go by her schedule, and pulling out cards to check want lists is a recipe for disaster around a two-year old, and it's not like you can just point her at the TV and tell her to watch Dora for two hours. So I know that I owe people the courtesy of checking their lists and putting together trades, I'm just a bit slow.

The good thing is that I only have one package to send out at the moment to the U.K. for a great trade that I was offered. The bad thing is that I also sold some non-sports and wrestling card on eBay over the weekend and I have to ship those out too, and I need to get boxes. Darn it. Nice thing is that I've got a decent amount in my Paypal account, that I'll probably have to put towards house bills. I'll be lucky if I get to buy a few singles this go-around.

I'm also about half-way done with an UD Baseball Heroes set, so as I get closer to that I'll post a want-list because I've decided that will be my second set I'm going to put together this year (the first was 2008 Upper Deck Base). I'm still not sure about 2008 Topps, since even though I'm almost complete with Series 2, I still need about half of Series 1, and I just bought my first four packs of the Highlights.

Topps Town

Hey I've got about five or so Baseball codes that I won't use because I've already completed my baseball set that I'd like to trade for basketball or football codes. We DO NOT have to trade the actual cards, I'll trade code for code.

Fantasy Football

I'm going 1 - 1 this weekend, winning in my league by about 10 points, and losing in Gellman's lead. I think I've lost 3 out of the last 4 in his league dammit. Fortunately I'm still in the playoff hunt in both leagues. Yeay! I'm doing horribly in my pick 'em pools though. Bah.

Hockey

I'm still off of Hockey, and the Kings don't seem to be doing much to bring me back. They have been at .500 twice this season, and are now under 500 by something like three games. They need to start WINNING games, they're skating well, but not winning, just like the last three seasons.

Celebrity Sightings

This last week was a very strange one for me. Living in the capital of the entertainment industry I do often see celebrities in public, so many that I forget about them half the time. Last week was a feast for the eyes though. I saw Scott Ian of Anthrax leaving my local Target (with wife I guess), and he acknowledged me when I asked him about Battlestar Galactica, so that was cool. I saw Thom Christopher (soap opera actor and he played "Hawk" on the old Buck Rogers in the 25th Century TV show in my local post-office. I see b-movie actor Tracey Walter all the time in Beverly Hills now, I think he lives there.

The sighting of the week though HAS to be when I was at Toys R Us on Friday picking up a couple packs of Topps Basketball, I noticed that there was a tall good looking lady with seemed like a dozen kids checking out a HUGE basket of toys. I could hear the English accent lilt across the room, but I didn't think much of it, because she was with a HUGE blonde American guy. I got in line next to him, and noticed he had a Secret-Service type earpiece in and was talking to someone else outside. Hmm...then there was the HUGE SUV outside, not sure what type, but it was massive and brand new. Then I realized who it was I was standing next to, Mrs. Victoria Beckham, aka Posh Spice. I asked the bodyguard very slyly if it was indeed her, but he just shrugged as they all do. It was her, I recognized some of the tats on her back. You know what, not as attractive in person to be honest. Her kids were really cool though, my daughter was being rambunctious so I was really paying more attention to her than Posh. But it was something.

Good Sports Weekend So Far

It's only Saturday night, and thus far, my favorite teams have done pretty well this weekend. Last night the Los Angeles Kings won a tight game against the Hurricanes in OT on a great shot by Micheal Handzus with an assist by Alexander Frolov. The Kings won their second in a row and got back to .500, and they did it coming from behind. I've been slagging on the Kings now for several seasons because it just didn't seem like they had what it takes to be a contender, and they still might not this season, BUT they looked an awful lot better last night than against the Sharks those first two games of the season.



Might be time to dig out my Hockey card collection from storage. Yes, I used to collect Hockey cards as well, from about 1999 to roughly 2002 I was fairly hardcore with Hockey being my only sports collectable. At the time I was also collecting UDE's Versus game and WizKids Heroclix, as well as toys, so my collecting dollar was being spent all over the place. I've got a couple of 3200 count boxes in storage, that I'm thinking I should go grab one of these days, if nothing else to check my Kings collection and then get rid of everything else. I'm sure I've got some nice RCs in there, though I stopped collecting before Sid the Kid hit the sport.

Because DAMN, I really like that OPC card design, reminds me of some great 80's hockey cards.

UCLA squeaks out victory against the Cardinal 23-20

I started off listening to this game on the radio while I was coming back from the grocery store with my daughter. One thing I knew was going to happen did during the first quarter, Stanford broke their scoreless streak in the Rose Bowl which had been going since 2002. What I didn't know was going to happen was that Kevin Craft would play a phenomenal game yet again.



This was pretty much a "must-win" game for the Bruins, though honestly I think they're all must-wins at this point if they're going to make a bowl game, and even then, that's iffy. I had the chance to actually go to this game, and I turned down tickets because I couldn't convince the wife that sitting in the hot Pasadena sun for four hours on one of her two days off was a good use of her time. She spent the time making a Halloween costume for our daughter instead, and I can't really complain about that. (Click the link to see it).

At one point in the 2nd quarter the Bruins were down 14-3, but they never gave up and never lost sight of a victory. The half ended at 14-6 after Forbath's second field goal. Stanford opened the 3rd quarter with a long drive that ended with UCLA's Ward picking off a Pritchard pass on the Bruins 42. Craft took over on offense but went three plays for -11 yards and the Bruins punted. Fortunately the Cardinal fumbled and the Bruins took over at the Stanford 30. Six plays later the Bruins scored and the game was 14-13.

Forbath kicked a third FG at the start of the 4th quarter and the Bruins led 16-14. Stanford kicked FGs on consecutive possessions and it was 20-16 with about 2:23 remaining and the Bruins started on their own 13 yard line.

On the final series of the game the third-string QB went 6-8 for 60 yards and a TD, but get this, he had completions to FIVE different receivers. Oh and he rushed for a couple of yards too. In the end he was 23 out of 41 for 284 yards, 2 TDs and 1 pick. He did get sacked 7 times though for 44 yards lost, and that's never good, but with UCLA's offensive line being what it is, at least Craft is still healthy.

A little rain must always fall somewhere, sometime

Unfortunately the Red Sox are leading the Rays 2-1 in the top of the 4th at the moment. This does not make me happy at all, because I feel like if the Sox win tonight they'll take the series tomorrow, and then who knows in the World Series. It scares me because IF the Sox make it to the Series, they'll probably go back-to-back, and I would just hate that. Yes, I hate the Sox officially, they've been added to my list of hated teams.

Just because I can, here's that list:

WildWill's Hated Sports Teams

IN order of level of despisedness

Baseball:

1. New York Yankees
   
2. Boston Red Sox
   
3. Los Angeles Dodgers (though not NEARLY as much as #1 and #2)
   

Basketball:

1. Boston Celtics
   
2. New York Knicks
   

Football:

1. San Francsico 49ers
   
2. Denver Broncos
   
3. Washington Redskins
   
4. Pittsburgh Steelers
   

Hockey:

1. Colorado Rockies
   
2. Detroit Red Wings
   
3. Montreal Canadians
   
4. Toronto Maple Leafs
   
5. New York Rangers

Colleges:

1. Univer$ity of $poiled Children
   
2. Notre Dame
   
3. BYU
   

Yeah, that's about it. I can't stand any of those teams. In fantasy sports I won't have anyone from those teams on my team. Seriously. Unless I'm collecting a full set, I'll trade those teams away faster than any other.

Heh...

It's odd, I really want to see a Philadelphia/Tampa Bay World Series just because it would really, really upset Fox Sports. Here they were champing at the bit to air a Boston/Los Angeles matchup and piggyback on the ratings of the last NBA Championships, but NOOOOOOOO....the Phillies had to kill that dream. I'd also like to see the Rays win it all to be honest, I like Joe Maddon (ex-Angel) and they play just like the Halos should be playing.

UCLA Basketball Practice Starts!

The Bruins started practice yesterday, coach Howland choosing to eschew a "midnight madness" type of event, rather he made it a point of having a locked and serious practice saying this in the LA TImes: "There's not much time until the first game, I don't want to waste a practice." Okay, we getcha coach, you're serious about this stuff. Good, we are too. See in Westwood NOTHING is acceptable for our Men's BBall program except a National Championship. Sucks doesn't it? It's especially bad now that Howland has taken the Bruins to three straight final-fours and has three starters returning AND four freshmen pheonoms coming in. As much fun as I had last season following Kevin Love's one and done year, this year could be even better. Though improving on a 35-4 season is going to be difficult, I have no doubt that this is the year we hang #12