Blogger: Derek Hart
I am pursuing a career as a writer/blogger after spending roughly 20 years in education as a P.E. teacher, coach, and a tutor. As a UCLA grad (class of '91) and a longtime passionate supporter of Bruin football - and everything else - I feel this is an excellent opportunity to get my articles and opinions about Bruin football/athletics out there. By the way, I also have a baseball background, having played it and coached it for over twenty years at the youth level as well as being a lifelong Dodger fan.
Website: Derek Hart
UCLA Basketball 2009-2010 Review: Bruins Season Mercifully Ends (or it will after this weekend)
I know, I know, technically their season is not over just yet, as they face Arizona in the Pac-10 Tournament at Staples Center today, but... After all the futility that the UCLA Bruins have gone through in basketball this season, the most positive thing that I can say about this hoops squad can be summed up in three words: It is over. Bruin ... 11Mar2010 | Derek Hart | 0 comments | ContinuedUCLA – USC Baseball: Bruins Beat Trojans at Dodger Stadium, 6-1
This past Sunday I saw a real treat. The baseball teams from UCLA and USC clashed in the first Dodgertown Classic at Dodger Stadium, a college baseball round robin tournament sponsored by the Dodgers. To say that it was a huge success would be a pronounced understatement, as not only did 14,588 show up when a crowd of about three or four thousand was ... 2Mar2010 | Derek Hart | 2 comments | ContinuedUCLA Football: Bruins Do Well On Signing Day
Going into this off-season, I knew right away that among the UCLA Bruins' most pressing neesds were at linebacker and on the defensive line, as five players out of the defensive front seven had moved on. The running back position needed a bit of shoring up as well. After watching Fox Sports Prime Ticket's Signing Day Special last night, it's safe to say that ... 4Feb2010 | Derek Hart | 0 comments | ContinuedThe All-Time UCLA Bruins Basketball Team
I've been wanting to write this article for a long time. And in light of the sub-par season that the UCLA basketball program has had this year - though they have been playing better as of late - this should serve as something to cheer up members of Bruin Nation. Considering the illustrious history that this Bruin hoops program in Westwood has had, with ... 3Feb2010 | Derek Hart | 1 comment | ContinuedUCLA Women’s Gymnastics: Westwood’s Best Kept Secret
Recently I visited the house that John Wooden built, UCLA's Pauley Pavilion, as I've done several times a year for the past few years. However, it was not to watch a basketball game - shockingly enough, considering that with its 11 national championships, hoops are to Bruins the way football is to crosstown enemy USC - iconic in UCLA lore. And although ... 27Jan2010 | Derek Hart | 1 comment | ContinuedUCLA – USC: Trojans Embarrass Bruins At Pauley, 67-46
I was afraid this might happen, the way the basketball teams from UCLA and the University of Southern California have been playing of late. I was afraid that the edge that the Trojans' guards and forwards had over their Bruin counterparts would lead to a convincing USC victory in Pauley Pavilion this past Saturday. I was proved to be right, as the ... 18Jan2010 | Derek Hart | 0 comments | ContinuedUCLA Basketball: A Mid-Season Report
Now that the mid-way point in the basketball season has arrived for the UCLA Bruins, three words best describes coach Ben Howland's team: Youth. Inexperience. Mediocrity. After starting the year 2-6 with losses to Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State (of all people!), the Bruins have gone 5-3 since that horrendous beginning, including 2-2 in the Pac-10 conference. It was a foregone ... 11Jan2010 | Derek Hart | 0 comments | ContinuedUCLA Football: The Six Greatest Victories Of This Decade
Let us be honest and face facts: The first decade of the 21st century was a mediocre one for the UCLA Bruins football program. Being a loyal alumnus and a dedicated member of Bruin Nation, that was a difficult thing to say. But it's also the truth. This program has had three coaches over these past ten years, including the current one, ... 6Jan2010 | Derek Hart | 0 comments | Continuedhttp://bleacherreport.com/articles/319484-a-2009-analysis-of-ucla-football-progress-made
Hey folks, here's the link of my analysis of the 2009 Bruin football team that I just published on Bleacher Report.com. Feel free to check it out and tell me what you think. Oh, and Happy New Year! 4Jan2010 | Derek Hart | 0 comments | ContinuedEagle Bank Bowl: UCLA Overcomes Cold Weather And Temple Determination In 30-21 Win
It was not looking good for the UCLA Bruins in our nation's capitol yesterday. The temperature at Washington D.C's RFK Stadium was 32 degrees with a wind chill factor of 19 and 20 mile-an-hour winds; plus the field was frozen, making it difficult to get footing. And on top of everything else, the Temple Owls, playing in their first bowl game since ... 30Dec2009 | Derek Hart | 0 comments | ContinuedBruin Woes: UCLA’s Two Lost Weekends
It all started the Saturday after Thanksgiving... First, the UCLA Bruin football team commenced in their crosstown war with their enemies from USC. Though the game was competitive and the defense played well, not only did the Trojans pull away at the end, but they scored an unneeded touchdown in the last minute and proceeded to taunt the Bruins afterward, provoking a ... 9Dec2009 | Derek Hart | 3 comments | Continued
UCLA-Kansas: Bruins Give Good Effort, but Jayhawks Prevail, 73-61
This has been a Murphy's Law kind of year for the UCLA Bruins' basketball program thus far. They had lost four of their first six games, including three straight to finish last at the 76 Classic in Anaheim during Thanksgiving weekend. Included in those defeats were losses to Cal State ... 7Dec2009 | Derek Hart | 0 comments | Continued
UCLA-USC: Turnovers And Bad Blood Kill Bruins In 28-7 Loss
Now the UCLA Bruins know how Arizona State felt on November 21. Wearing their 1967 throwback jerseys for the second time this month, UCLA's defense played well for most of the night, shutting down the USC Trojans' offense. However, The Bruin offense was flat-out terrible. Not only did they not run the ball well, not ... 30Nov2009 | Derek Hart | 0 comments | Continued
UCLA-USC Preview: A Crosstown War Renewed
For many football fans in America's second largest city, this is the only game that matters. This Saturday at the Coliseum, the UCLA Bruins will meet their crosstown enemies, the USC Trojans, for the 79th time in a clash that may not have Rose Bowl implications but will still mean much to everyone ... 26Nov2009 | Derek Hart | 0 comments | Continued
USC Football: The Five Worst Losses Of The Pete Carroll Era
Very few college football programs have been as dominant as the USC Trojans this decade. Among the accomplishments of Pete Carroll's cardinal and gold bunch: Seven straight Pac-10 Conference titles. Seven straight seasons with at least 11 wins. Four straight Rose Bowls. One and a half national championships (the 2003 crown was shared with LSU). Losses tend to ... 25Nov2009 | Derek Hart | 0 comments | Continued
The UCLA and USC Bands: A Tale of Crosstown Hatred
For over 80 years, UCLA and the University of Southern California have had one of the most storied rivalries in sports. Being that the schools are just over 10 miles apart, it's inevitable that they would be intense foes, and not just on the gridiron or the basketball court. The real animosity in this ... 24Nov2009 | Derek Hart | 4 comments | Continued
Excellent analysis of Dodgers roster for 2010: http://yallkiltit.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/dodgerblast-spring-training-roster-analysis/ 
I was with the UCLA Alumni Band; I sat in the 4th row of the box seats, a few rows ...
Joey, your right, but what were you thinking was going to happen? whats your point here? you called every UCLA ...
I was at that game as well. Where'd you sit? 
Murshed Zaheed aka Nestor is a government employee and if you google his name you will find it is many ...