00:00What Bob Chesney is doing at UCLA is tremendous.
00:04But the reason is, and again, I tuned into the show,
00:08and I think the reason John is right, big picture,
00:12and this is going to take some time,
00:14but this is really a barometer test for how well UCLA really embraces this team.
00:21This is a very fair weather town.
00:24It is embarrassing, and I say that as someone who will say,
00:29hey, listen, Los Angeles is a fair weather town.
00:31According to Ben Bolch, my good friend of the California Post,
00:34and again, he's going off of numbers given to him by UCLA.
00:39UCLA against Wisconsin, top 10 team.
00:42Again, we kind of knew that they would be a top 10 team if they won.
00:45They didn't break 40,000 at the Rose Bowl, right?
00:49There's still tarps up.
00:51Again, it's going to take time,
00:53but the reason that if you want to keep Bob Chesney here,
00:56it's not just having to pay these players what they deserve to get paid.
01:03You've got to fill that place.
01:04I mean, it is really depressing to have one of the top 10 teams in the country,
01:09the last undefeated team in one of the top two conferences,
01:12and not, again, no one is expecting UCLA to sell out the Rose Bowl,
01:17but you've got to crack, you know, 60,000 or something along those lines.
01:21But, again, Grant, to your point, it is amazing what he has done.
01:25He's really turned around the culture with that team,
01:29and so we are really setting up for, and again,
01:31we have a long ways to go before then.
01:34That last game of the year, UCLA-USC at the Rose Bowl,
01:39the winner of that game, depending on how USC does,
01:42I have a good feeling of how UCLA will do.
01:45I think the winner of that game could find its way
01:47into the college football playoff.
01:49Yes, John.
01:52I'm so glad you said that, Arash.
01:54To me, I remember, I know it was a long time ago,
01:59so people will have to go in their way back to machine
02:01to remember this to week, I think it was zero,
02:04maybe week one of college football,
02:06when Lincoln Riley played a game at home,
02:09and nobody saw it because it was a million degrees outside.
02:13And the nation all talked about, oh, no one wants to see Lincoln Riley.
02:17You had writers, local writers, none here, none here,
02:21but going out and saying, oh, Lincoln Riley doesn't have the ear
02:26of the university.
02:27He doesn't have the students aren't on his side.
02:32UCLA, they got the ball rolling,
02:34and they still can't get people to come to their games.
02:37This is about whether or not that university wants to transition
02:41into being a basketball school.
02:43You can't tell me they ain't got the money because they do.
02:46That's laughable.
02:47Because if this was basketball,
02:49they'd have paid to have the 10 best players money can buy.
02:52So I don't want to hear nothing.
02:55UCLA has the money.
02:57UCLA has the name brand, iconic university.
03:01That name rings bells across this country.
03:03If they wanted to be good at football with this particular coach,
03:07they will find the dollars to do so.
03:09I don't think they care.
03:11Here's the thing real quickly.
03:13I mean, they've really put a good team in place.
03:15Tim Harris, who was a longtime executive with the Los Angeles Lakers,
03:19did an amazing thing.
03:20He said, if you're a student, you can come to games for free.
03:24The issue is, and again, if you live in Los Angeles, you know this,
03:28but if you don't, they play their games at the Rose Bowl,
03:31which is not close to campus.
03:33But not only that, and as someone who has traveled the world
03:36and has been so blessed to do this for 25 years,
03:38is maybe the worst parking situation in the world in terms of going to a game.
03:42So it's like tickets are free for students.
03:46You park on the golf course, don't you?
03:47You park on the golf course, Grant.
03:49So it's like, what are we doing here?
03:50Like, you're trying to figure out what team you're parking next to, right?
03:54But then it's like, it's $25.
03:56Like, you get in price.
03:58And I often talk about that on social media.
04:03So it is not expensive, right?
04:05It is free if you're a student.
04:07If you're not a student, it's $25.
04:09And so for you not to be able to crack $40,000,
04:12according to Ben Bolger of the California Post,
04:14and I say that because I'm not making up this figure,
04:18you can say what it looked like.
04:21If you're not cracking $50,000 at the Rose Bowl, it looks empty.
04:25And so we'll see how they do.
04:27Big picture, though, I just think this is so great.
04:30And I really hope as a college football and a sports fan here
04:33that they keep Bob Chesney.
04:35But again, this happened a long before we were both born.
04:39But Dick Vermeule was a diamond in the rough they had at UCLA.
04:42He was there for two years, and then he got hired somewhere else.
04:46It's just if Bob Chesney could turn around UCLA,
04:49there's going to be some other programs outside.
04:52We have a lot more money.
04:53We're going to come to him.
04:54And no knock on Bob, I would probably take the money, too.
04:57And it might be the school across town everybody's mad about.
05:00It could.
05:01I think that would be tough for Bob.
05:05I think it would be more like an SEC school or maybe another big.
05:10Yes.
05:11That is insane.
05:12These coaches take money, baby.
05:13I know.
05:13These coaches take money.
05:14It's a good point, John.
05:15And who can grow money?
05:17Yeah.
05:17I mean, here's where you've been right and have tuned into the show
05:20and I heard you talk about it.
05:21It's not about the here and now.
05:24Coaches think the reason Lane Keffins left,
05:27and this will be my last thought on this,
05:29you can say what you want about Lane.
05:31He's thinking big picture.
05:32It's not about can I win this year?
05:34Can I win for the next 10 years?
05:36And so if you go to USC or if you go to another big-time program,
05:39they're going to give you $50 million per year on your roster.
05:44That is something that UCLA cannot do right now.
