Give Thanks...Knowing How The Other Side Feels

 For my team, the season is over. It ended Friday night in Florida. To call the U of U's 2024 football season a disappointment doesn't come close to reality.

It was much worse than that.

And our disappointment is mostly our fault. We thought it would be so much better. For years...heck, even decades, we've had it good, and this year was supposed to be the best yet. It started strong and then it went downhill, and by downhill, seven losses in a row. As a fan base, we went enjoying a Top 10 team, then we watched out ream fall out of the college football playoff picture, then it kept going down, and down...

And down.

Until, the team saw a winning record vanish and a shot at a bowl game--any bowl game--disappear.

Even thought it's been more than thirty years since I attended the University of Utah, I know something about how Utah fans think--not all fans, mind you--but many. They're fixated and fascinated on their rivals, the Brigham Young University Cougars. And even though I'm not a fan of that school (for the most part...), many of their fans are as fixated and fascinated on the U as well. They had to watch as their most-hated rivals built a national brand, a team talked about on the sports shows and podcasts. Man, that must have sucked. 

Now we, as Utah fans, know how that feels. We've watched as the men in blue win game after game and took the place on the sport shows and podcasts. When projections of the college football playoff were discussed, the big red U became a big blue Y. BYU was were having the season Utah fans felt like they deserved. For years, BYU played hard and battled week after week, having big wins, but not having the seasons Utah had.

Now, we know how they feel.

Now, they know how we feel.

I'm old enough to remember the dominant BYU teams of the 70s and 80s. As a Utah fan, it was brutal. Younger fans can't understand seeing the roles reversed, seeing Utah being (and winning...) BCS games, having undefeated seasons, a constant place in the Top 25. Utah will probably never reach the level BYU did because I believe the sport is rigged that no one but the Blue Bloods will ever win another national championship, but hey...that's just me.

It's been a tough year for local football teams. The U saw that college playoff as a real possibility. After a couple of losses, that dream died. Then, the Y became as close as a team can come to reaching the playoffs, before losing two key games. Like the U, the Y's dream came to an end.

In nine months, the teams will again don their uniforms and try and win as many games as possible. Changes on both sides will create interesting storylines and fodder for sports shows, podcasts, and banter around the water cooler. All I know is both sides--both teams--want their players to advance, to have a better season than the one that just ended. I'm thankful to be a fan. I've toned things down in my own life so the games don't affect me as much as they once did. I'm thankful that, as a fan, I can see how happy our rivals are. Their team had a great season, one they should be proud of. I'm thankful I got to enjoy so many successful Utah Utes years, and hopefully, they can return to their winning ways in 2025.

Funny, how things work out sometimes.

Vanity Plates And Fancy Cars...

Last week I drove home from Salt Lake. Around 21st South heading north, I noticed a low sports traveling in the same direction.

It was a Ferrari.

It was red.

It was beautiful.

I'd like to be a fan of the most expensive and exotic cars in the world. I know I have friends who can identify this car and know exactly the model, and possibly the year it was made. There was a time, back in high school, I could identify a few of the Lamborghini models and a few of the Ferraris, especially the one Tom Selleck drove in Glen L. Larson's Magnum P.I.

Those days are long gone. Now there's hundreds of amazing cars out there and more and more produced all the time. There's no way I can keep up with them all. My level of interest is satisfied by watching Top Gear and Grand Tour episodes, but I've even stopped watching those lately.

My little Pontiac sped up (but was still obeying traffic laws, kind of...). I thought it would be cool to see it up close. It got boxed in by slower vehicles and I caught up. I just wanted to drive by it. You know, make it look even better by comparison.

But when I got close, I noticed something, something interesting. The Ferrari had a vanity plate, not a special word or number plate, but it had a University of Utah sticker on the plate.

Would I have thought less of the car if it weren't red, or a Ferrari, or had a Y sticker on the plate? I guess I'll never know.

If You Are On Twitter And A Ute Fan...You Should Follow Andrew Zaugg!

I've admitted before that I don't fully understand Twitter. What's there to understand? You ask. I mean, how hard can a site be that restricts all posts to 140 characters or less?

Good point.

Twitter is an interesting site. I don't spend a lot of time on it. I do post a link to each of my daily blog posts, so I've tweeted at least 2393 times. Actually, I've tweeted a few more times than that, but not much. There are people with millions of followers--I've got just over 1800. And there are people who have posted tens of thousands of tweets, some hundreds of thousands of times. That I don't understand.

I'm not following a lot of people, but not surprisingly, many of those do I follow are University of Utah fans. Utah fans are like fans of other sports franchises. Some are cool, some are goobers, most are passionate, hence "fanatic." There's one Utah fan who I follow that I actually know, Andrew Zaugg, teacher, friend, fellow thespian. I've known Andrew for at least ten years. We've even done a few shows together and he's a good guy.

Last Christmas we found ourselves sharing the stage once again. I talked to him about Twitter. He loves it, and it shows. He's witty, snarky, and bright when it comes to his tweets. He seems to save his best stuff for all things U of U. And, thankfully he's not a jerk fan.

Because the football season hasn't yet begun, and because Andrew's a teacher, he has time to tweet to his heart's content. There's something hypnotic about pre-college football season hype. And Mr. Zaugg dishes it out with the best of them. So, if you're a Utah fan and you're on twitter, You'll mostly likely enjoy his tweets as much as I do.

Sebastian's Ossuary...Yeah, We Went This Time

Each year we get the invite, and each year we've found a reason to miss it--not that we don't want to go, mind you. It seems we always want to go, but something comes up, some little (or big...) excuse causes us to not attend.

This year, we went.

And we're glad we did.

We used to go every year. Sebastian and Valori's party was an event we looked forward to, we planned our costumes and even took our kids. We'd gather at their home, always outside around a fire, and eat good food and catch up. Sebastian is a fraternity brother, and the party is for the brothers of ∆X and their wives--and years ago, for their children because none had kids old enough to tend the others.

Now, however, almost all of us have kids not only old enough to tend, but also to drive, vote, get married, go on missions and pretty much take care of themselves. Yes, we're old. It's been decades since we would gather once a week at the Institute building at the University of Utah. A lot has happened to all of us, but as I looked around the room, it made me realize what quality people I was fortunate enough to associate with while at college.

I wonder if many people can say that they can sit in a room with follow university classmates and not be ashamed of the things they did as students, not regret decisions made. And as the years have passed these men and their wonderful spouses have done little to tarnish the image I once held.

We're older, hopefully wiser, definitely changed, but tonight I sat in a packed room (it was the first Ossuary held inside due to the potential for bad weather...) and I felt honored to be a part of ∆X and glad Greg Pearson asked me those many years ago if I'd like to check it out.

Hopefully it won't be several years before we return to Sebastian and Valori's house. After all, next Halloween is only 364 days away.

On Saturday Night On The Hill...Balance Was Restored!

I saw progress for the past couple of years, and yet, they could not get over the hump...the boys in blue were just too darn good. Last year they came close, but it was not meant to be.

This year, however, things were different and last Saturday night, balance was restored! When I attended the University of Utah Rick Majerus had just been hired and he put the school on the map. I remember a student could attend football games by just showing your student I.D. We had to buy basketball tickets. Fast forward a couple of decades and things have changed.

 

Back when I was in school, I remember attending games at the Huntsman Center when the U of U had some of the best college basketball teams, not just in the state, but in the entire country. Those were good times. It's been tough watching the boys in red compete since then, but on Saturday night, some of those painful memories were swept away.

I'll bet it was fun being in the building as well. Just like old times. The team has some tough challenges ahead, but thoroughly dominating your rivals is a great way to start. Hopefully we'll see more of this on the hill.

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* Photo used without permission from:  http://cleancomedypodcast.com/literally-the-ramen-noodle-162/