Slower sports aren’t snoozers

I admit it. I was wrong.

I jumped to conclusions. And, well, that doesn’t work in a
relationship like this.

Now before you think this is an extremely public apology to a
girlfriend I still don’t have, let’s just say this
column is a result of a surprising revelation: Slow sports
aren’t boring. Neither are those I don’t
understand.

Really. They’re not. (Most of the time.)

I know, I know ““ it’s hard to believe. And Sunday
morning I would have been the first one to say faster-paced, more
popular sports get my vote for being the most engaging and
exciting.

Just ask my editors, whom I told that I planned to contrast
Saturday’s men’s basketball game against No. 12 Arizona
and Sunday’s women’s gymnastics meet against No. 19
Washington. Essentially, I thought I’d say a word or two (or
around 700) about why I like sports with relative speed more than
those that take a while to get going (or that I just don’t
understand.)

And admittedly, I thought I’d be OK in doing that:
I’d been to last year’s NCAA Championship gymnastics
meet in Pauley Pavilion, so I had something to go off of.

Turns out, oddly enough, that the championship was nothing like
Pac-10 play.

And like I said, it turns out I was wrong about that whole
“boring” thing.

There were gymnasts flipping and tumbling (and falling, mostly
in Washington’s case) all over the place. You never see stuff
like that at men’s basketball games ““ except maybe when
Michael Fey tries to get a rebound.

So this “revelation” makes me wonder what else
I’m missing out on in terms of UCLA athletics.

I haven’t been to games, meets or matches of many teams,
including women’s swim and dive, men’s and
women’s water polo, golf and tennis, softball, baseball,
cross-country, track and women’s rowing.

Even then I probably missed one or two. And I can’t help
but think so many people share my situation.

Heck, I’m sure there are those who have never even set
foot in the Rose Bowl or Pauley Pavilion.

And that’s just, well, wrong.

So much of the experience that is UCLA is not only what takes
place in the classroom or lab but what goes on in Bruin Plaza and
Schoenberg Hall. Or Pauley Pavilion, Sunset Canyon Recreation,
Student Activities and the Los Angeles Tennis centers. Or Easton,
Drake and Jackie Robinson stadiums. Or the Rose Bowl, the UCLA
Boathouse and Bel Air Country Club.

I guess now that the school year is half over, now that
I’m realizing my time is limited here ““ at least in my
undergraduate career ““ I’m getting sort of sentimental.
That, or I panicked when I realize stuff like this ““ the
things I need to do before I graduate next year.

And honestly, when I think about why I haven’t been to the
competitions of so many varsity teams on campus, I realize
it’s because of an egregious preconceived notion that
slower-paced sports aren’t as entertaining.

Or in the case of faster-paced Olympic sports that aren’t
as prevalent as football or basketball, I haven’t been too
eager to go because I know basically nothing about them. All I know
about water polo, for instance, is that there’s a yellow ball
that somehow needs to get across the pool and into a net.

More than anything, it looks like the problem here is ignorance,
a problem I’m sure I share with many.

But thankfully, it’s an ignorance that can be easily
fixed. All anyone has to do is go to a game, ask some questions,
clap a little.

As I found out Sunday, it’s not at all as daunting as it
seems.

Looper is a new man, thanks to the women’s gymnastics
team. Tell him what other sports will open his eyes by e-mailing
him at [email protected].