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Photo by Reed Hutchinson
Jim Brunet, left, and David Cohen check out the team on the first day of football practice. The pair are "Bros," an acronym for BruinReportOnline.com, the fan Web site where they hang out. |
Rabid Bruin football fans gather for opening-day peek at the team
BY ANNE BURKE
Today Staff Writer
To death and taxes, you can add a third inevitability in life: On the first day of Bruin football practice, diehard fan Jim Brunet will show up wearing a blue-mesh UCLA cap with a furry bear’s head on the visor.
It’s just one of the quirky sights you will see on opening day of Bruin football practice, the first chance for the public to preview the might of this season’s team. On Aug. 7, the Santa Monica real estate agent was on the sidelines of the Intramural Field with his sweat-stained, grime-caked cap.
“My wife says it’s something that only drunks and rowdies wear. But when I go to games, people are always saying to me, ‘Hey, nice hat, where’dya get it?’ ” said Brunet, who was watching the action alongside players’ parents and other rabid fans eager for a first look at the players.
Brunet is one of the Bros, a group of Bruin football fans who take their name from BruinReport-Online (www.ucla.scout.com), the Web site where they all hang out. While the Bros were there ostensibly to collect insider intelligence for the Web site, opening day was just as much about the blue sky, the freshly mowed grass and the fun of just being around others who bleed blue and gold.
The Bros are regulars at Bruin football practice and go by their logins. There’s JimBru (that’s Brunet), Pacificpal (music agent Mike Rosen), ChazChiccoa (Reseda retiree Charles Chiccoa), BigLemur (John Schoenkopf, a newsweekly columnist) and RADean (Robbie Dean, whose son, Jake, plays center).
The Bruins went 10-2 last year, so there’s a lot of excitement about the new season. Unfortunately for opening-day spectators, players were practicing on the far side of the field, apparently at Coach Karl Dorrell’s orders. (“First-day rust is best viewed at a distance,” Rosen later opined online). But that didn’t faze Oscar Williams of Bellflower, who was watching his son, Derrick. With the ability to bench-press 400 pounds, the running back is in “excellent shape,” his dad boasted.
Fans know there will be plenty of opportunities to see more action. Rosen, who represents the rock groups Kansas and Asia, said if the guys in the band want to find him, they’ll know where to look.
“I’m going to be out here every afternoon I can,” he said.
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