Do you feel like the BYU v Utah game brings out the worst in you?
Yeah...me too, just ask my kids.
Do you feel like the BYU v Utah game is more than “just a game?”
Yes, me too! I know there are more of us out there. Please tell me how you coped?
I've tried to mend my ways since President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's priesthood meeting talk this last October. It's hard. After the loss, I personally had to get out of the house and go for a ride for about an hour to cool down. I can't stand the Utes! They certainly were handed this win on a silver platter. So lap it up Utes, with Jake Heaps at the BYU helm it may be a few years before you see another victory against the men in blue!
A few years ago Coach Bronco Mendenhall coined two magic words,"fully invested." I've been fully invested since conception. There is something sacred about game-day Saturday each fall in Provo that had me at hello. I feel a small depression creep into my being this time of year as the football games end.
BYU Basketball you ask? It just isn't the same. I'd rather stay home than battle the elements and traffic to watch a sport that just cannot fill the football void. Believe me I have tried.
What about our Utah Jazz you ask? Well, I cannot get into watching overpaid professional athletes not compete hard. Not to mention their season ends about the same time they start setting up the stage inside the LES for the Stadium of Fire. In other words, the NBA season never ends...nope, not fully invested. I am rambling here...so let me give you my two cents on last Saturday's rivalry game and a few things I noticed.
My random thoughts- very random.
• Utah's Brandon Burton made a big boy play by blocking the final kick. It was a spectacular football play. I can appreciate that.
• I thought Mitch Payne might redeem his older brother who missed a chip shot against Boise State in 2003 to win the game. Remember? Painful.
• I thought a penalty could have been assessed against the Utah bench for running onto the field in celebration before all four seconds had ticked off the clock...sour milk?
• Were you yelling at Brandon Bradley to “get down” as soon as he intercepted the football? Me too. I thought BYU got its fair share of reply booth calls this year so stop whining. Luke Staley fumbled on LaVell's last miracle in 2000. Ute fans can we call it even?
• I have heard a lot of complaints about the 4th down play-action fake. Most people think BYU should have kicked a field goal. I personally thought it was a gutsy call and had we converted it would have been a genius call.
• The ability to make a “U” out of both thumbs and index fingers was a brilliant invention- very Ute-esque.
• No more games on the MTN TV network. No more watching games on so called HDTV from someone's Sony Handycam. I could hardly stomach the MTN's sports analysts after the big Independence announcement. TCU to the Big East....did you hear?
• Utah left the game in a gloating heap. Rightfully so. Shaky Smithson smacking a Cougar helmet with a stick will be etched in my mind forever.
• Again, Jordan Wynn is not very good. Ute fans I am not sure what is left on your team next year to be excited about.
Win or lose, you cannot deny a good game when you see one. This was another rivalry game for the ages! The game ball goes to Bronco. He's great. September 2011 cannot come soon enough.
Photo from here.
I am Courtney Kendrick and there's nothing like a good old fashioned rivalry.
8 comments:
I was in the car so I couldn't watch but I was screaming at the radio to get down when he intercepted, I may have scared my kids a bit :). I also know the loss feeling, I HATE when BYU football season comes to an end.
I was right there Jamie, listening with you. Thanks Wrubell.
Here is what I like about this post Andrew, you take a spin on the regular complaints. 4th and 1, the booth replay blunder, the TCU to the Big East mention.
Thanks for your intelligence on this matter. It's refreshing.
Ahhh, that game!! My husband and I were both in serious, SERIOUS depression Saturday night. I'm pretty sure we both stared at the screen for a full ten minutes in shock. Oh, the pain! My husband prolonged the pain by listening to the post-game show on KSL afterwards because as he said, "I just have to hear what Bronco says about all this. Then I'll know how to act. I just have to hear Bronco." hehe. :)
Andrew, I think you and my husband could be BYU football watching friends. Reading your description at the beginning sounded like my husband was talking. Saturday game days are sacred around here - or else. :) He's in mourning now that the season is over. It is a sad time. We agree - next year can't come fast enough!
And down with the Mountain! Hooray! We can't wait to actually WATCH games on a regular basis in the future!
And cJane, I loved your post today. Really, I love all your posts. :) But, I chuckled reading about your adventures. Sometimes I eat whole batches of cookies, too. Shhh. :)
I love how BYU Football brings families together. Case in point (besides the posts above): BYU Football is the only sport and team that my wife will watch WITH me. For that, I will continue to be part of the Cougar faithful until my dying day. :)
Oh, you're so cute with your BYU football. It's nice when they let the kids play, isn't it? When you're ready for some REAL football, watch an SEC game. ;)
I debated about posting a comment....
I'm a Utah fan. Went to school there and loved it. I love my Utes. And yes I live here in "Happy Valley."
I don't hate the Y. My brother works there. My youngest daughter loves BYU and even has a BYU backpack. If my kids want to attend school there then that's where they will go....if we can afford it ;)
I don't have any problem seeing the UTAH vs BYU game as, just that, a game.
But maybe that's just me.
I was an athlete at the U of U. There are going to be players on ANY team in ANY sport who are cocky and full of themselves. Like the girl on the BYU track team who, not being a US citizen, felt that it was beneath her to stand for the national anthem and therefore lay on the high jump mats with her jacket over her face.
I'm not sure what it is about athletics that seems to bring out the worst in people when it really could bring out the best.
Imagine what we can teach our kids about being a good sport and winning OR losing with grace.
I feel for the refs in any sport. You couldn't pay me enough money to do the job that they do. To have thousands upon, thousands of people second guessing what you saw with your eyes. Nope. Couldn't pay me enough.
As for Heaps and Wynn. It should be interesting to see what comes of both of them in the coming years. I was really excited about Wynn last year. This year? Not so much. A lot can happen in a year. Heaps does look good and I'm hoping Wynn can find some of the mojo that he seems to have lost.
And I can't agree with you more about not having to worry about The Mountain. I just wish I didn't have to deal with them for the basketball season as well.
So anyhow....it was an exciting game. Well played? Not really, but exciting. And it was, and will always be just that... a game.
No matter who wins or loses life will continue to go on. There are MILLIONS of people in the world who are dealing with FAR larger problems than if their "team" won the rivalry game. KWIM?
My apologies for the rambling.
I wanted to be the antagonist, but JUST SO's writings are having me bite my tongue.
I am SO glad the game is over. I am SO glad the Utes won. I am SO glad that BYU doesn't have the win to "justify" their new independence and to downplay Utah's move to PAC.
SO maybe I didn't bite my tongue hard enough. I am tired of Cougars thinking all Utah fans throw beer and Ute fans thinking all Cougars are self-righteous Austin Collies.
RIP Mountain. RIP BYU/UTAH in November. RIP this comment.
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