Bar Is Being Lowered This Year in Westwood

I drove to Westwood this week to write a story about the UCLA football team.

I did not drive to a field.

I drove to a bar.

Instead of standing on the sidelines, I was sitting on a stool.

Instead of talking to a quarterback holding a football, I was chatting with a bartender who was downing a shot.

The place was Madison’s Neighborhood Grill, famous for burgers and dollar beer and UCLA football players who brawl in the parking lot.

Twice this spring, players were arrested for fighting outside here, with guard Shane Lehmann pleading no contest to a misdemeanor battery charge and Ricky Manning Jr. still facing a felony charge.

In this growing Bruin storm that seemingly emits new thunderclaps each week, Madison’s represents the booze-and-sweat-soaked center.

Or, at least, it was.

On this weeknight, during a stroll past the wooden tables and fuzzy televisions, there are no UCLA players to be found.

Coach Bob Toledo has forbidden them to return.

One unnamed bystander said they wouldn’t be welcome anyway.

“They are a bunch of guys with attitudes,” he said. “A lot of them, if they weren’t playing football, they would be on the streets. They bring us nothing but bad publicity, and we’d rather have no publicity.”

An unfair generalization, certainly. But maybe this guy is guilty only of reading the newspaper.

The Bruins have had two new arrest revelations in two weeks.

They have one defensive lineman waiting to go to jail, and another awaiting trial. They’ve had one season ruined by driving, and another ruined by parking.

You want to talk football, but the recent Bruins have affected their neighborhood in ways that have nothing to do with football.

l ended my season preview by laying five dollars on a bar and walking across a darkened, sticky floor that looked nothing like an end zone.

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The Bruins officially open their season Saturday night at the Rose Bowl against Colorado State.

But they are already 0-1.

Accumulating over three seasons, their off-field problems have finally stuck them for a loss in both their university and football worlds.

This is no longer about a couple of guys with handicapped-parking placards, or a kid who hides a drunk-driving conviction, or a neighborhood scrape.

Like two guys tumbling into a Westwood street, this has spilled over into the image of an entire university community.

“What has happened to the football team is a blemish on more than just the team and institution,” said Dr. Reef Karim, a UCLA psychiatrist and behavioral specialist. “Scandals like these, in this college environment, affect a collective identity.”

Michael Young, former Bruin and pro wide receiver who works in the Denver Broncos’ front office, said the ramifications might extend even beyond Westwood.

“In the NFL, there’s always been an underlying belief that UCLA players are pretty smart, and pretty good citizens,” he said. “I would hope that they can quickly address and repair the situation so this reputation does not change.”

Young said even losing seasons will not affect careers as much as lost honor would.

“Stuff on the field, you can remedy pretty quickly,” he said. “But a reputation is much harder to fix. Sometimes it takes years. I remember how NFL people used to talk about a place like Miami.

“For the sake of all the players who have spent years building up that good reputation at UCLA, I hope the problems are solved.”

Toledo’s mandate this season seems clear. If he can’t get to the Rose Bowl, then he must keep at least his players out of the thorns.

Controlling his team isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.

“It’s important that all our coaches understand their role as educators,” new Athletic Director Dan Guerrero said, speaking generally. “Some say sports are not academic; that does not mean they are not educational.”

Toledo’s future clearly rests on implementing this sort of education. In his six years at UCLA, he has shown nothing but good intentions. But if he’s not careful, he’s going to pave a road to hell, or at least unemployment.

“In the pros, if a guy messes up, it’s about the individual,” Karim said. “But in college, they are still in the learning process, with everything from girlfriends to homework. So you have to look at who is responsible for this learning. You have to look at who is teaching them.”

Guerrero is so concerned about the issue that he has met with the team and its veteran player council.

“There is not one person in this program who is not concerned, and everything is being done to make sure certain steps are taken,” he said.

But as most agree, nobody can take those steps like the coach, whose public summer crackdown apparently has kept his team out of trouble since the start of training camp.

For the sake of Toledo, here’s hoping that trend continues.

After six years of acting like a father to his players, it’s time he also became their teacher.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com.