Down Goes Number 4...Twice!

To be honest, I didn't give either the University of Utah men's basketball or their football team a chance in their upcoming games. When it comes to the basketball team, there have been so many changes with the basketball program--I hardly know any of the players, and by the lack of fans at the Huntsman Center, I wonder if many others do either. I know more about the football team. Still...

I don't know if anyone believed what would happen last week.

First, the basketball game. Unlike the football season, the college basketball season has just begun. There are ranked teams, but the rankings are based not so much on games played, but more on reputation. The 4th-ranked team in the country came to Utah to play the Runnin' Utes. Arizona's a "blue blood" college basketball program. They were undefeated and probably thought Utah would be a push-over. 

Yes, it was a push-over situation, but Arizona were the push-ees, not the push-ers. 

Great win--loved seeing it.

Then, came the "sure thing," the "safe bet." Number 11 played number 4 for the PAC-12 Championship. No one--at least, no logically-thinking sports fan--gave Utah a chance against the University of Southern California. After all, a win guaranteed a PAC-12 team in the National Championship Playoffs and an almost certain Heisman Trophy winner.

Sorry...didn't happen.

Non-Utah fans say the beat-down was due to the UCS quarterback being injured. He was, but the rest of the team didn't step up. Basically, if the team can't do better, maybe that player was #4 in the country, not the team. Either way, what's done is done, history was made, and the result can't be changed.

Yes, it was a fantastic week for be a Utah fan. I enjoyed it thoroughly, immensely, completely. Beating the 4th-ranked team in the country is fun...doing it again the next day...priceless.

 

I Wore Red Today...

Personally, I love the color red--I have most of my life. Growing up, red was fine. I probably thought my favorite color was blue. Then I moved to Denmark. I fell in love with the color red and I've never stopped. When I moved home, I attended the University of Utah which has the same colors as Denmark--technically, the U's colors are crimson and white, but red's close enough.

Everyone in the state--especially fans of local college teams--understand Red stands for The U. It just does.

Red is the color of heat, of passion, of blood, of rage, or fire. Red is action. Red is life. Today thousands of students across the state of Utah wore red, many, I'm sure loathe the color red and would rather wear blue or purple. But they wore red, not because the necessarily like red. They wore red as a tribute to Lauren McCluskey, a University of Utah student who was killed Monday night...as senseless a tragedy as is possible. 

Social media can be a sewer, but since there's opposition in all things (including social media...), it can be a place to celebrate the good in others. Today students, teachers, and administrators either dug out a red shirt, borrowed one from someone else, or bought one and wore it to support a school in mourning. Today, instead of black to show pain, they wore red.

It's too bad something so horrible can make us appreciate our similarities rather than what we believe are our differences. In a few weeks the state's biggest rivals will meet on the football field to see which team is better on that given day. It's been a one-sided affair as of late, but current trends and past victories won't matter. On the day of the game, I hope we can remember a day we were more together than apart, more unified than separate, basically, the better part of us.

I wore red today. I'd wear red everyday, if I had enough red. Today I wore red not for me, but because the light inside a beautiful woman (both inside and out according to those who knew her...) was extinguished far too early, at the hand of another, whose life ended as well. Because there's opposition in all things, a world with such incredible beauty has such horrifying evil. May we never allow the darkness to stop us from seeing the light.