06 January,2012 09:25 AM IST | | Agencies
As far as marriage proposals go, the efforts of one youngu00a0basketball fan at a college game in Los Angeles appeared, at the very least, sweet and well-intended.
Embarrassingly for him, however, his girlfriend didn't think so and flatly rejected his proposal in front of a stadium of booing spectators.
The pair were captured on the stadium camera during the half-time entertainment during a game between UCLA and Richmond.
The crowd watched the scene unfold as the young man knelt down to ask for his girlfriend's hand.
Initially showing great excitement at being given the chance to kiss her partner on the big screen, she affectionately reached for his face with a big smile. But as he stood up and the UCLA host came over to offer him the microphone, her smile turned into a look of mild confusion and surprise.
Her boyfriend then reached into his pocket, produced a box and said, "I knew that I was going to do this since the first day that I met you, and I figured now was as good a time as any."
When he opened the box to present the ring, the young woman's attitude appeared to change.
She asked him a barely audible question which could have been, "Is this a joke?"u00a0 To which he quite clearly replied: "No, it's serious."
The girlfriend hesitated for a moment and then picking up her bag, left the scene in a hurry.
Offering words of consolation the host said, "Sometimes we get a little camera shy," but the rejected lover departed shortly after with his head hanging low in shame.
Several blogs are now debating whether the proposal was even genuine.
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