Well Done, Utah...Well Done

 To say this college football season has been an amazing ride in the State of Utah is an understatement. I follow and root for a few local teams, but my main fandom lies with the University of Utah football team. 

I've followed the team since I was a student of the U back in 1987 and this has been a season like no other. What this team has accomplished is unparalleled, and it is, in a word, inspiring.

Yes, the season began with a rocky start. For the first time in more than a decade, the U lost to their southern neighbors. It was a good win for the boys in Blue. No loss is good, but if you can learn from those losses and improve, then good can come from it.

And good did come from it...so much good.

What's different about this team is that it appears to me--the simple fan--the players and coaches have a higher cause this year. They've been unashamedly vocal about what drives them, their purpose, their reason for playing the game.

In a world where we hear so much about how bad many in the sports community can be, their inflated egos, their selfish actions, to watch a team with a singular purpose and goal has been refreshing, It wasn't a perfect season, but I found myself connected to them on a personal level. Their goals were mine, their wins were mine. Now, I know I'm not a team member, but the team wore their hearts on their sleeves. They opened themselves up--laid everything bare for the world to see--all to honor their friends, friends who could not enjoy their success of the season.

The journey is not over. This team will play in the "Granddaddy of them all" bowl games on the first day of the new year. I have no idea what the outcome of the game will be, but I know--because I've seen it all season long--the players and coaches will give their all for their friends. 

I read a tweet that said basically, if someone were to write a story about a team that suffered through so much heartache, so much pain, and had a season like they've had, the story would be rejected because no one would believe it.

Sometimes I still can't believe it has happened. To see the men in Crimson take the field in Pasadena will be something special and because of how they got there, it means so much more. Well done, Utah...well done.