Excitement’s Bruin

By 6 p.m. today, you may be able to see the proverbial tumbleweeds blowing through the streets of Newport-Mesa.

During football season this is Trojan country, but today it’s Bruinville, where every basketball fan will be glued to a TV to see whether UCLA will beat Louisiana State University and get a shot at the NCAA title.

Some local fans will have to go to greater lengths to watch the big game.

Roger Tomalas, a Newport Beach attorney who lives on Lido Isle, will be in Los Angeles today for his wife’s 40th high school reunion, but he’ll watch the game at the hotel, he said.

A Bruins football season ticket holder for 35 years, Tomalas said he watches any and all UCLA sports on TV, and he’s made plans to view the final game of the basketball tournament on Monday.

“If we win, Monday night we’ve already invited friends to our home,” he said. “I did not expect them to go this far, and now I expect them to go all the way.”

John Ursini, a 1986 UCLA graduate, will be working today. He runs the Newport Rib Co. in Costa Mesa, and he’s called in extra staff to help cater basketball parties. But once they get all the ribs ready, Ursini is hosting a neighborhood gathering at his house to watch the game.

He’s catered dinners in Los Angeles for the UCLA basketball team ? he fed them before they went to San Diego Wednesday and before they left for Oakland last week. Of course, they won those games.

“What makes me nervous is they didn’t do it [eat Newport ribs] before they went to Indianapolis,” Ursini said. “I’m hoping it’s not too much karma.”

Some Bruin fans can’t help but feel the karma is on their side. Everyone says Newport-Mesa is USC territory, and they’ve been taunted plenty by Trojan fans in other years.

Tomalas thinks there are actually more UCLA than USC alumni in Orange County ? he said on a recent visit to Hoag Hospital, he got to talking with other people in the waiting room.

“There were six of us. Five were UCLA grads,” he said.

Each fan has his own way of handling the pressure of success. For Mariners Church pastor Jeff Pries, the method is to stay negative.

“I’ve been pessimistic throughout the tournament, so maybe I’ll just keep my same pessimistic attitude and they’ll continue to surprise me,” he said.

Pries is a former Corona del Mar High School athlete who played baseball at UCLA before turning pro in 1984.

This weekend he drove to Las Vegas to see his son play in an all-star basketball game.

“I’ve got my fingers crossed that his game and the Bruins game aren’t at the same time,” he said.

He’s waiting until the Bruins win, but if they do, Pries said he’ll have something to hold over his brother’s head. His brother went to USC.

Is Ursini rubbing Trojan fans’ noses in it?

“Any chance I get,” he said, “[Former USC football player] Paul Salata in particular.”

Really, what UCLA fans are feeling today can be summed up in two words. As Newport Beach Rep. John Campbell said by phone from Washington, D.C., and Costa Mesa City Councilwoman Katrina Foley text-messaged from her Blackberry, “Go Bruins!”dpt.01-ucla-1-dl-CPhotoInfoA51PHP9220060401ix0z66knDON LEACH / DAILY PILOT(LA)UCLA alum John Ursini of Newport Rib Co. treasures his John Wooden basketball. He’ll watch the game at home with friends.