When I was young, maybe 10 or so, I apparently became enamored with the UCLA Bruin cartoon mascot. I remember having the light blue t-shirt with the gold lettering and the cartoon bear, probably the only kid in suburban Chicago with such a shirt who had no connection to the school, and had determined that this is where I was going to go for college. What that actually meant, I’m sure I had no idea, but that was my goal. Unfortunately, my mom made sure to extinguish those dreams pretty quickly, letting me know in no uncertain terms that it was too far away and there was no way I would be going there.
I mean, what was the harm in letting a young kid dream? Who even knew if it would have lasted or, if it did, if I would have even gotten in? Anyway, by the time I hit high school and it was time to start seriously thinking about where I was going to go to school, UCLA never even entered the picture. I visited four schools, applied to three, and ended up going to the only one outside the Illinois state borders: Purdue University.
Those childhood dreams were a distant memory by the time I graduated and made my first ever trip to California in 1998. Still, the closest I came to Los Angeles was San Diego until 2014. I’ve made a number of return trips to LA since then and occasionally thought of maybe adding in a trip to Westwood to at least see the campus, but it never got past that point. It didn’t seem likely that I would ever see what I had missed out on, and that was ok.
In 2022, however, things changed. In a surprise announcement, UCLA and USC were going to be joining the Big Ten, which opened up the possibility of heading west for a football or basketball game. While UCLA football plays at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, nearly 30 miles from campus, Pauley Pavilion was smack dab in the middle of the action. This past January, with realistic national title contention hopes still alive, Purdue basketball made their first trip to California for conference play. And I was joining them.
After an early afternoon tour of Dodger Stadium on a Tuesday in late January, we headed west towards the UCLA campus. After finding an overpriced parking spot, we started walking towards the arena, which is on the campus, passing students, faculty, and buildings along the way. We were early, so we had the opportunity to just sit and take it all in for a bit, before getting in line for the game. Decked out in gold and black instead of blue and gold, I was finally in Westwood and 10-year-old me was thrilled! Sadly, the Bruins outlasted the Boilermakers that night and their souvenir cup game was lacking, but I came home with a John Wooden bobblehead, a legend at both schools, and a 40-year-old itch finally scratched.
