A late championship season dreams

Thursday, November 12, 1998

A late championship season dreams

FEATURE: Ayanbadejo hopes for a triumphant end to his
journey

By Vytas Mazeika

Daily Bruin Staff

Act V of "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" represents William
Shakespeare’s stance that once a calamity is turned to joy, the
cycle will start again.

All the strife started by Oberon and Titania, King and Queen of
the Fairies, is resolved by Act IV. The comedy seems to have come
to a conclusion ­ except for the performance of the
"mechanicals’ play".

This Pyramus and Thisby play has little artistic merit, but
somehow the disastrous play turns into a success. Bottom, one of
the mechanics who is part of a rather crude joke earlier in the
play, gives a comical performance which sums up "A Midsummer
Night’s Dream" ­ a play which moved from potential calamity to
the delightful end that once seemed inevitable.

At the moment, Brendon Ayanbadejo, who is well aware of the plot
of "A Midsummer Night’s Dream", is doing his best to emulate Act
V.

The calamity was that Brendon, a senior linebacker for the UCLA
football team, wasn’t recruited out of high school. He wasn’t
always sure he’d end up in Westwood.

Not too long ago he attended Cabrillo College, a junior college
near his home, while his brother Femi was at San Diego State
University.

The developing plot in Brendon’s life is now near completion.
He’s a team leader and one of only two seniors of a UCLA defense
that is part of the No. 2 team in the country.

Brendon’s strong bond with Femi has helped him get to this
point, and in the upcoming National Football League draft, Act V
will take place.

A national championship will close Acts I-IV in Brendon’s life.
His struggle to make it to the NFL alongside brother Femi, a
practice squad running back with the Minnesota Vikings who
originally went undrafted two years ago, should be his rendition of
Act V.

The reason Brendon knows a lot about Bottom’s performance and
the conflicts in "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" is because of his
contributions to the Warner Elementary School.

Thanks to a program started by fourth-year student Mike Skolnik,
one of Brendon’s many friends, Brendon volunteers to bring theater
to elementary schools.

Brendon feels the need to give back to the community and EQOP
(Equal Opportunity Productions) was the perfect opportunity.

EQOP started last quarter and a large number of volunteers
produced "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" and had the kids of the Warner
Elementary School act it out.

Last week Brendon volunteered for the first time this quarter.
The kids are doing a version of "Huckleberry Finn."

"Mostly it’s all theater majors, so I go there and I’m like one
of the only history major and I kind of feel awkward because they
know everything to get the kids ready and open up their minds and
get ready to start acting," Brendon said. "I find that I become one
of the kids versus being one of the members out there."

Kids give no second thought to the questions they ask. During
Brendon’s exposure to the Warner Elementary School this question
must have popped up: "Excuse me mister, why do you have an eye in
the back of your head?"

Considering that Brendon is a linebacker, the obvious answer is
that he can see players coming at him from behind.

That’s not correct, though.

The eye tattooed in the back of Brendon’s head is the same eye
tattooed in between Femi’s shoulder blades.

When Femi was about to leave for San Diego St., Brendon bought
him a card with the eye on the front. Inside, the card said "The
inner self is indestructible, like the pyramids."

Soon after Femi received the card, Femi had the eye tattooed. In
a show of solidarity, Brendon decided to imprint the eye on the
back of his head.

"I was like that’s a good meaning and so I kind of relate it to
mine and my brother’s relationship," Brendon said. "Our
relationship is indestructible and no one can break us down in any
way."

Femi will call and sometimes leave about five messages after
every game. Several of those calls are even made during the game.
Messages range from criticism on Brendon’s performance to the
expression of Femi’s emotional link to the game.

During the week, these two brothers find a way to talk to each
other another four or five times.

"Sometimes we don’t talk about anything," Femi said. "We don’t
talk about football, but about life and what’s going on."

These two brothers feel like they’re living dual lives. Femi
finds himself spending money on Saturdays to watch UCLA’s football
games on Pay-Per-View.

Femi then undergoes a metamorphosis and becomes Minnesota’s
version of Brendon. If UCLA wins, Femi feels like Brendon. If UCLA
were to lose, Femi would feel just as depressed as his brother.

"Him losing is like me losing," Femi said. "We’re not only
brothers, we’re best friends. When I got to L.A. and we kick it, we
kick it. We talk all the time. If UCLA lost, I would feel like I
lost."

Against Oregon earlier in the season, the metamorphosis was most
evident.

Femi watched his brother make several plays during the game, but
the Ducks, behind contributions from quarterback Akili Smith and
flanker Damon Griffin, took the game into overtime.

This game was the biggest of the year for a UCLA team that was
vying for the national championship. Oregon was ranked 11th in the
nation and ESPN’s College Gameday came to the Rose Bowl for the
first time.

This was the time for Brendon to step up.

"Last year I was a support player," Brendon said. "Although I
led the team in tackles for losses last year, most of that stuff
went unnoticed. I was basically just a role player. Just go out
there, be consistent, hustle around and do my job."

Now he’s a senior, which makes him a leader by default. People
look to him to make a big play. Brendon says he prefers the job
this year because people look to him to get the job done.

The inability of the defense to perform to expectations is
wearing him down. Brendon has high standards and he feels the
defense hasn’t come close to meeting them yet.

When Steve Cox, his junior college coach at Cabrillo who
coincidentally played with UCLA head coach Bob Toledo a long time
ago, sent film to the Bruins displaying Brendon’s abilities, it was
for this kind of situation.

Come game time, Brendon is a player who thrives on emotion. UCLA
sophomore linebacker Tony White, who called Brendon "quiet and
mellow" off the field, characterizes his teammate’s behavior on the
field as a "leader who is kind of crazy and loud."

White sees players feed off Brendon’s intensity. He’s the first
player to burst out in celebration when the defense makes a great
play.

With the score 38-38 and the game heading into overtime, Femi
could no longer postpone a previous engagement. Therefore Femi took
his cellular phone and had Kylie Wong, a Stanford linebacker last
season and a member of the Vikings this season, relay the events of
the game over the phone.

Then Wong told Femi UCLA won the coin toss. Femi replied that
the Bruins were sure to defer and let the defense take the
field.

Brendon proceeded to sack Akili Smith two consecutive times.

Femi then listened to how UCLA intercepted a fourth-down hail
mary pass and UCLA went on to win 41-38.

"He called me, as soon as I guess he got those messages, and
said, ‘Yeah! Two back-to-back sacks!" and he didn’t even see them,"
Brendon said. "He was real excited for me."

The emotional outbursts Brendon went through after the two sacks
left him spent. He had never been as exhausted as he was after that
game.

If the Bruins had lost that game the Ayanbadejo brothers would
have both been depressed for quite a while. UCLA’s national
championship hopes no longer would exist.

That’s why Minnesota’s loss a couple of weeks ago at Tampa Bay
didn’t leave the brothers completely dejected. An undefeated NFL
season is not necessary for Femi’s Super Bowl hopes.

"They can still lose a few more games and still make it to the
Super Bowl," Brendon said. "But to do what (the Bruins) are trying
to do, we can’t lose at all. His team is trying to go to the Super
Bowl just as much as we want the national championship."

Brendon and Femi have avoided calamity and are well on their way
to joy ­ joy being a championship for the Ayanbadejo
brothers.

"We’re far from there, but it can happen," Femi said.

It can and will happen, just as long as Brendon and Femi are not
awakened from their own Midsummer Night’s Dream ­ a.k.a.
Late-Season Championship Dream.BAHMAN FARAHDEL/Daily Bruin

Senior linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo generates terror in every
opposing team.

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