LOVE AT FIRST BYE

Best Bye:  As the Bruins bye time before probably bye-ing the farm in Niketown, put on your bye-focals and enjoy this bye-nary tribute to some UCLA beauties, many of whom you said good-bye to last year

The hurting UCLA Bruin Football Team gets to take this week off, enabling them to rest up and get healthy for their Thursday night date with the Oregon Ducks.  BUT… They’re going to need more than health.  The Ducks have scored more than any team in the Nation, and if Ohio State loses today at Wisconsin, the Ducks would be #1 in the Polls when the Bruins come to town.

No one will expect UCLA to be competitive, and that’s the only edge that the Bruins will have.  Coming off of a blowout loss to Cal, the Bruins will be heavy underdogs, so maybe the Ducks will be overconfident… just like Texas was a few weeks ago when UCLA kicked their butts.

However, it’s hard to imagine the UCLA Defense being able to slow down the Duck attack, or the UCLA Offense being able to keep pace.  The Cal game was 28-0 at Halftime — If the Bruins are within 4 TD’s at Halftime on Thursday, some people would consider that a good showing.  However, with the game on National TV, maybe the Ducks will come out stiff, and a little nervous while trying to make their case for being #1 over Boise State.  And if it rains, which it does often in Autzen Stadium, that could also be a bit of an equalizer.

Therefore, it’s not Mission Impossible, just Mission Highly Improbable.  The only upside is that at least it won’t be SHOCKINGLY depressing if they lose.  As it is often said, pessimists can never suffer disappointment.  If their expectations don’t come to pass, they’ll be ecstatic to be wrong.

And speaking of ecstasy, I know that many of you really miss some of the girls from the UCLA Spirit Squad who graduated last year, so here is a bye-week blast from the past — a 30-photo celebration of the ’09 Squad.  And BYE the way, all of these shots are “brand new,” meaning that none of them have ever been published before right now.  [And don’t forget:  Click on the pics to ENLARGE THEM AND ZOOM IN, so that you can become completely immersed.]