Bruin article lacks respect for McNown’s renown

Thursday, October 15, 1998

Bruin article lacks respect for McNown’s renown

FOOTBALL: Criticism

of quarterback unfair, especially after big win

By Ashely Anderson

I’ve been a huge UCLA football fan since I was a little girl,
and I can still remember how sad I was in 1988 when UCLA’s
quarterback, Troy Aikman, so narrowly missed winning the Heisman
Trophy. I was 11 years old, and I was crushed when he came in third
place. Of all the great Bruin football players, Aikman came close
to obtaining the honor that only one Bruin in history holds.
Thirty-one years ago, Gary Beban was the first UCLA football player
ever to win the Heisman Trophy, and he still stands alone on that
pedestal today.

I’m now 21 years old and a senior here at UCLA. I am not only
privileged enough to spend my last year here in the company of a
football team on the brink of becoming national champions, but I
have a Heisman candidate as a fellow classmate. Ten years later,
after Aikman’s narrow miss, I am infected with Heismania again and,
as you might imagine, Rocky Salmon’s Oct. 12 article titled "UCLA
wins despite McNone" really upset me. I cannot believe you let that
print.

Last year, Cade McNown finished eighth in Heisman balloting
following his stellar junior season. He was backed by a great Bruin
team, and after an astonishing 1997 season and a Cotton Bowl
victory, the stage was set this year for Heismania. The top 10
ranking only helped to dramatically increase football pride and
support among fans and players alike.

Immense numbers of Bruin fans have demonstrated overwhelming
support as home games continue to pack the Rose Bowl to its full
capacity. Your own lack of school pride however, is evident in your
article on McNown’s performance against Arizona. It is easily
interpreted as saying that even though our quarterback sucks, UCLA
still beat Arizona. Somehow, his two touchdown passes and great
touchdown run were overlooked in implying such. Even the Los
Angeles Times – which is often criticized for bias in favor of USC
– spoke better of McNown’s performance in the Arizona game, calling
it a "below-average performance". At least by this, one can
interpret that his performance was weak in comparison only to his
stellar capabilities. McNown’s 1997 season boasted statistics of
189 completed passes of 312 attempted for 3,116 yards and 24
touchdowns.

I can’t tell you how awful and embarrassing I found it to be for
a sports writer of our very own UCLA newspaper to be publicly
criticizing our school’s Heisman candidate, especially after a
great win against Arizona! UCLA has spent thousands of dollars
promoting our Heisman candidate so that the anonymous Heisman
voters throughout the country will be positively influenced when
watching his game. In one short article you have demoted the one
UCLA football player whose image has been hung on banners and
posted on billboards all over Los Angeles since 1998. I’m so very
curious as to what your intent was. 52-28? McNown got the job done!
You must have been too busy studying the fraternity guys for your
other article on the game to note that.

So Cade McNown has had better games as far as personal
statistics go; but why did you find it necessary to so savagely
satirize him for it following a great win for our football
team?

McNown is a team player. In an interview he gave at the start of
the season, he asserted that the Heisman race was not nearly as
important to him as was leading his team to victory – and
ultimately national title status. With a score of 52-28 I’d say the
man got his job done … done well. We haven’t lost a game of the
last 14 we have played, so how is it that McNown is failing you?
Your negativism is totally uncalled for, as well as being an
outright act of malice against our football team.

You know, Cade McNown may win the Heisman Trophy, and he may
not. Either way, school spirit really should be maintained by a
UCLA publication. Please leave the trash-talking to our cross-town
rivals. If your job was to write a critical analysis on game
performance, something positive about the game following such an
important win – and heading into the big Oregon game – would have
been more appropriate.

This article should have been printed in the Daily Trojan!
Something is very wrong when a sports writer – in the one
publication where highly biased material about the Bruins is not
only commonplace but expected – takes the opportunity to put a
negative light on a season of Heismania that we may not see again
for years to come. Where’s your school pride, buddy?

Ashley Anderson

Anderson is a fourth-year English student.

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