Is this a basketball? Is that the court? Is that the loooooosing team?
For most of the 40 seasons since he created UCLA’s iconic basketball cheer, Larry “Frisbee” Davis would feel affirmation in the earsplitting response of Bruins students inside Pauley Pavilion.
Yes, that’s a basketball. Yes, that’s the court. Yes, that’s the loooooosing team.
As he watched a student perform his cheer last month during a game against Arizona, Davis experienced considerably less pleasure. He felt his raucous delight had turned into a hollow version of itself.
“I’m sitting up there and the students are doing the cheer,” Davis said this week in a telephone interview, “and it’s terrible, absolutely terrible.