The extended vacation in California following the UCLA game was pretty cool. For starters, we got to meet Adrian Grenier of Entourage fame. From left to right, that's Ben Solomon, star photographer for The Hatchet, WRGW's Paul Marmaro, Grenier, me, and Andrew Alberg, Sports Editor of The Hatchet. We're all big Entourage fans, so it was a thrill to run into him in Santa Monica.Pauley Pavilion was interesting. It's old and certainly in need of some renovations, but the sense of tradition was unlike anything I've seen in my many college basketball travels. The fan base was creative and enthusiastic throughout the game, even after GW emptied its bench midway through the second half. Despite the loss to Texas the other night, I can't see anyone beating UCLA in the NCAA Tournament if they're healthy.
We also made a trip to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the UCLA-USC football game on Saturday afternoon. Having never been to a college football game, I had no idea what to expect as we snaked our way through Los Angeles traffic. Throughout the contest, with some 90,000 fans dressed in either red or blue and going wild, I couldn't help but wish GW had some sort of football team or a serious rival.
It was interesting to see how important athletics are at UCLA. All around the campus, there are signs proclaiming that the Bruins are the first program to 100 NCAA titles. There are also a ton of mentions on the school site. At GW, aside from a few balloons on the day of a game, one would have difficulty knowing that the school even has a sports program.
I know it's difficult to compare these situations because GW and UCLA are very different schools in many ways, and it's a lot easier to draw fans when you average more than one national title per year, but it doesn't seem right that athletics struggle so mightily in Foggy Bottom. Although the fan base is small, there are certainly a number of rabid Colonials fans. It's sad that the Bruins' track and field complex seats more people than all of GW's athletic facilities combined.
I think the following question needs to be asked: how important are athletics to GW? It shouldn't be the top priority, nor should it be in the top five, but it should matter. There are plenty of good schools (Stanford, UCLA, and Michigan, just to name a few) that are able to balance athletics and academics. While GW is different for a number of reasons, it's clear that more needs to be done. Here's to hoping changes are somewhere in the near future.
