LA for the Day

The best way to keep from Southern California making you too soft is to go visit LA. Here is where I had my first experience of Sonic fast food; which was amazing. I had a sonic burger and an ‘ocean water’ drink which was my favorite. Then I wondered about downtown LA which I determined should only be done during the day. Nothing against LA, but just as any other major city you should not wander around its downtown late at night. Not only did I spend some time downtown, I made it to the Nokia center which is directly across the street from the Staples Center where I was attending the 24 hours of Chivas USA promotional event. Here the Chivas USA team was getting ready to begin their season and wanted people to come out and support them. Outside the Nokia center they set up a miniature soccer field where people had signed up to play on at hour intervals. The main event was when the Chivas USA cheerleaders took on the Southern California sports mascots. The game ended in a tie due to the strong determination of the mascots to win and the inability of the cheerleaders to defeat the giant-headed mascots.

Vegas Spring Break

Spring Break has come and gone and no one was ready for this week of school. I traveled to Las Vegas for the West Coast Conference tournament where USD’s men’s and women’s basketball teams competed for a spot to advance to ‘the dance’. The weekend consisted of a 7 hour bus ride from San Diego to Las Vegas on Thursday night and continued on Friday with a women’s basketball game where the Toreros upset San Francisco and later the men’s team defeated Loyola Marymount; which in turn bought us another night and day in Vegas, which no one had any complaints about. Saturday the Women defeated the Pepperdine Waves, but unfortunately the men fell to the Santa Clara Broncos. The men’s team put forth their best efforts, but could not out rebound or outscore the Broncos players. Since the women had won, another night came and went in Vegas. Nights included activities of walking the strip and a competition to have the largest group at one table in any restaurant for that night. The spirit team definitely won the competition. Sunday was the women’s game against the Portland Pilots which almost was an upset, but the women were able to pull out a victory and advanced to the WCC Championship game on Monday. By this time we had all seen Vegas for a long time and were ready to move on with our spring break. Not that Vegas is a bad spot to spring break, but when it’s mixed with work, it’s not really spring break. Monday brought the Gonzaga Bulldogs for the Torero women, and they fought until the end. The Toreros had less than a 10 point gap for ¾ of the game and were ahead sometimes. Yet at the end they sadly fell to the Bulldogs and would not be playing in the NCAA tournament. Both teams gave it their all and next year looks promising for both teams to have another shot at the Tournament.