Kurt's Thoughts

How is it that the Avatar Marketplace doesn’t have UCLA in it?

Big deal you say.  So UCLA’s not listed in the “University Collection” of the Avatar Marketplace on Xbox Live?  Who the hell cares?  I mean there are a lot of universities that aren’t listed, right?  There’s only 30 university logos posted so heck – why are you throwing a fit?

Well – besides the fact that I’m a UCLA alum, and besides the fact that this is supposed to be representative of major sports schools in particular, I’m having a big of a hard time understanding the conspicuous lack of a UCLA logo.

Let’s get this out of the way:  UCLA is the #1 sports college in the nation.  Yes, you USC Football fans might believe that your football program (and its questionable legality, I might add) puts you in the elite tier of athletics programs in the nation, but it’s impossible to ignore the fact that UCLA’s nation-leading 104 championships can’t be wrong.  And this list doesn’t even include the championships that we attained before the establishment of the NCAA:

• 19 Men’s Volleyball NCAA Championships
• 16 Men’s Tennis NCAA Championships
• 11 Men’s Basketball NCAA Championships
• 10 Women’s Softball NCAA Championships
• 8 Men’s Track & Field NCAA Championships
• 8 Men’s Water Polo NCAA Championships
• 7 Women’s Water Polo NCAA Championships
• 5 Women’s Gymnastics NCAA Championships
• 5 Women’s Track & Field NCAA Championships
• 4 Men’s Soccer NCAA Championships
• 3 Women’s Volleyball NCAA Championships
• 2 Men’s Golf NCAA Championships
• 2 Women’s Golf NCAA Championships
• 2 Men’s Gymnastics NCAA Championships
• 1 Women’s Tennis NCAA Championships
• 1 Men’s Swimming NCAA Championship

But the thing that really bites is that while we don’t have UCLA’s logo available to get on Xbox Live’s Avatar Marketplace, apparently it’s okay to use UCLA’s campus as a representation of the typical American university on the Unversity Collection view screen within the Avatar Marketplace.  Take a look at the background of the “University Collection” in the Avatar Marketplace:

That’s right.  Avatar Marketplace’s background photo is of UCLA’s campus.  Not USC.  Not Michigan.  Not even Washington.  Meanwhile there’s no UCLA logo or Avatar content available for purchase online, despite the fact that Cal, USC, Arizona, and USC are all available.

W… T… F?