UCLA Goes For An Unprecedented Fourth Straight NCAA Title

September 16, 2009

 

 

 

 

That’s what the headline said on the cover of Sports Illustrated long ago, back in the days of John Wooden and Sidney Wicks on the basketball team. I was probably still a preteen, and I worshipped athletes, so of course I had my little subscription to the magazine. I loved UCLA basketball.

 

But I didn’t know what “unprecedented” meant. My dad was in the garage, one particular Saturday morning when the issue in question arrived, so I went over to him with the magazine and showed him the cover. “What does that mean?” I asked, pointing at the obstreperous but fascinating word. (It better be something good, if they know what’s good for them, since they were talking about UCLA basketball.)

 

His eyes lit up with rapture that I would want to know, that I was clearly interested in words even at a young age. I can still see him standing there, delighted, from 40 years ago. “It means it’s never happened before, that it’s the first time,” he answered, leaning forward over me in anticipation of my reaction. I looked silently at the magazine cover (with that deadpan, unself-conscious concentration only children have), which showed Sidney Wicks holding a basketball and smiling pleasantly, as if inviting one into that cover for a little game of Roundball. He was the very picture of youth and health. I didn’t say too much, but I understood for the moment that the word was something good. But I was too young to confirm or deny the mysterious word or the mysterious answer that went with it.

 

I walked away, satisfied, without saying thank you, glad to have a father who could clear up the various mysteries of childhood dilemmas. I think we watched the UCLA game together later on T.V. We both loved to see our guys annihilate those poor Big Ten teams.