100 Championships here
We had to take one down
for screwing around,
100 Championships on the wall.
Much belated congratulations are in order for the UCLA women's water polo team, who won the Bruin's 100th NCAA championship recently. Any championship is the result of a lot of hard work and tough play, and these athletes don't have 80,000 people cheering them on. I'm not just saying that because any female water polo player could kick my ass; that kind of motivation and effort is inherently impressive.
Still, a karmic re-balancing would have been for the women's softball team to have won the 100th title, to make up for the 1995 national title that was stripped from that UCLA team as a result of violations of NCAA regulations due to a lack of institutional control. The team lost scholarships, was placed on a three year probation, and disqualified from the 1997 post-season. You can read about the details here.
That would go some way towards explaining why certain blogs have a bee in their bonnet about lack of institutional control: they know whereof they speak. Ancient history? Certainly, but long grudges are the lifeblood of any rivalry.
HT: Displaced Trojan, taking a break from his summer blogging hiatus.