Utah Wins...Just Like Old Times

 I don't attend the games anymore. I could, but the cost and moving an extra sixty miles away makes it that much more difficult. But, there was a time when I attended almost every University of Utah men's home basketball game. As a student, we got free tickets (free...). One season my friend and I were on Row 2 on the aisle. Those were great seats. The place was sold out every home game and the Utah Utes almost always won.

My, how things have changed.

I did a screen shot of tonight's U of U vs BYU game from the Utah Athletic's X account. The clip shows the final seconds of the game. The Utah player drained a free throw putting the game out of reach. Those lucky enough to have attended were given a treat, a game of rivals as passionate as any in the country. It's a feeling desperately lacking in that building, a feeling that was once a given...not anymore. Some can say things are returning to normal, but it's going to take a lot more of what happened tonight to reach "normal." 

Normal is the Utah program being one of the best men's basketball programs in the country, always making the tournament and even coming close to winning ANOTHER national championship. Normal is where teams come into Salt Lake hoping for a win, but expecting to lose. Normal is getting top international talent choosing Utah over other blue chip programs. 

Normal is a long way away.

Normal is what I saw as a twenty-something student with Rick Majerus coaching future NBA stars, NBA champions. We had it so good, so good in fact, we thought the successful Utah Ute brand would shine forever. That's not how things have gone. Many people have worked very hard since those days to return the program to its former glory, but it's difficult. It's so much easier to descend from on high than to go the other direction.

I didn't watch tonight's game. We were on the road, and because we cut cable last month so I wouldn't have been able to watch it even if we were home. I did not listen to the broadcast, either, so I didn't know the score. We did drive through SLC after the game was over and I looked at the mountain to see if the "U" was flashing, or only lit up. 

I saw neither.

I figured, no flashing U meant a loss. It wasn't until I got home that I checked the final score. Watching that clip, seeing a Utah W and a full Huntsman Center, it took me back to when that was normal...

Just like old times.

If You Want To Feel Old...Ask Gen Z If They've Ever Seen A Wind-Up Watch

 I have a side gig where I work with people of all ages. Part of my job is to speak to visitors and guests, make conversation, find out about them. Sometimes, you discover some surprising things.

Like finding out how old you are.

Case in point...I was chatting with some high school students. Part of my job is to wear a nice three-piece suit. It's a pain in the hot weeks of September, but great when things get cold in October. The teenagers commented on how dapper I looked. I then pulled out my pocket watch to see how much time was left until the show (where I work...) started.

"Wow--you even have a cool watch," one of the youngsters said.

"Thanks," I said. "It's even a wind-up watch."

Crickets.

They looked at me as if I had lobsters crawling out of my ears (classic film quote reference...). 

"What?"

"You know, a watch that doesn't have a battery."

More crickets.

The next couple of minutes I explained that before battery-powered watches were invented, watches were wound up in order to keep running and they even came in wrist watches. I didn't go into detail that this is how humanity kept time for centuries.

I know as I get older, all the things from my youth are turning into antiques. I also understand that many kids have no reason to own a watch in the first place. I've seen videos where teenagers try to figure out  rotary phones, Sony Walkmans, even being surprised when they see a car without an automatic transmission, but not having them know about or understand a wind-up watch...

That made me feel really old.

Give Thanks...All That Hard Hard Work

 I came across a video today on Facebook. Interestingly enough, today is the day which the State of Utah honors those who first settled this land 175 years ago. It's called Pioneer Day, or Days of '47. Growing up in Utah, we learned all about the pioneers that were kicked out of Illinois and Missouri and eventually the United States. They travelled west until they stopped in a desert valley by a dead lake.

The video showed craftsmen assembling a wheel. I haven't done any research on the subject but I imagine this is how wagon wheels were made back in the day. As I watched, I was amazed at how hard it was to put those wheels together. 

We live in such incredible times. We drive vehicles infinitely more complex than that wheel, mostly assembled by robots and computers, and we think nothing of it as we fly down the road at speeds unobtainable centuries ago.

Today I'm grateful for those craftsman who made it possible for people to travel across the continent. They set up communities and societies that changed the world. I am in awe of their talents, those who lived hundreds of years ago, and those who carry on those skills today.

How Can Ten Years Go By So Fast...?

 Got another "Memories" on social media today. It's strange that they're selecting things I once posted that are now more than a decade old.

How can ten years go by so fast?

I suppose that's a sign of getting older. It still blows my mind that it was only ten years after my father passed away, I graduated from high school. I lived a whole lifetime in those ten years. From eight to eighteen, it was way more than just a decade of time. 

Ten years ago, we lived in Farmington, Utah. And on March 11, 2012, our family visited the Farmington City Library where my daughter sat on the floor and picked out a book. While she was checking it out, I snapped a picture--probably used a Kodak digital camera which I took with me everywhere back then.

It's ten years later. My daughter is driving home from seeing a play in which she helped choreograph. She's earned one degree. She's a young woman making decisions that will affect the rest of her life. The building in which I took the photo is gone...bulldozed and is now a parking lot. I wonder if the book still exists. We'll probably never know what book it was so there's no way to know if it's still part of the Davis County Library system.

We now live two counties over in a place I never imagined myself living. We no longer "check out" books at the library...we download them and read them on a screen. No more sitting on the floor, no more discovering the wonder of touching a physical object that someone wrote and someone else published.

A decade has passed since that winter evening. So much has changed. I can't believe it's flown by so fast.