My game day thoughts.......

[TripletDaddy]

My thoughts on my visit into the Lion's Den....

I was with cougjunkie pre and post game and did observe the hijinks which he describes. I do attribute most of it to sauced-up fans, which is going to be unavoidable at most colleges. We bumped into some fun trash talkers on our way to the stadium, but that one guy junkie described was pretty random. I honestly just don't know if I've seen much of that stuff at other stadiums.

I sat with EPU during the game. He was gracious enough to sell me a ticket for $450, but since he was so blitzed, he didn't notice that I handed him a $10 bill and a bunch of Subway coupons. We had a great time. I was surrounded by Ute fans of all ages, shapes, sizes, and blood alcohol levels. However, I wasn't treated poorly by any of them. The guy next to me was a complete a-hole (ironically, not EPU but the guy on the other side of me), but he was just yelling stuff down onto the field...stuff that made no sense, by the way. If you are going to run smack, make it good. But again, you are going to find this type of guy at every stadium. He was annoying, but them's the breaks. I have sat by plenty of annoying BYU fans, including one undergrad that yelled at me to be Christlike and consider the handicapped several rows behind me as I stood for the 4th and 18 game. She deserved a loving f-you just as much as the idiot fan next to me Saturday.

One thing EPU and I discussed, and it was already mentioned here, is the religion aspect of this rivalry. Frankly, I don't care for it. I wish it were not an element. I do understand that the LDS culture is smothering in Utah and many Ute fans get sick of it. Hey, I got sick of it, which is why I moved back home after school. Not sure I agree that such frustration justifies calling people faggots and Mormon queers at the game, but that being said, I know that it happens at both stadiums. For every "magic underwear" blast at RES, you get a self-righteous "Ute apostate" comment at LES. I know the local fans think that they are being part of something cool....a heated rivalry between two in-state teams...and that by participating in these types of comments, they are just taking part in rivalry week. But in truth, these knuckelheads are an embarassment to everything that is great about college football and certainly do an injustice to 2 otherwise solid academic institutions. Rivalries are fantastic, but this petty personal crap is an abomination. I wish it would go away. Ironically, many of the fans probably think that these intense personal attacks legitimize the rivalry, but in reality I think it exposes both schools for being insular and small time. As someone said here, these idiots are likely an embarassment to Crimson Club members and to real Ute fans. I know I have been embarassed by stupid BYU fans, as well, to be sure.

On a general game day note, I love to check out what other schools do at their games:

1. Ute fans know how to rock their school colors. That place is a sea of red and it looks impressive. BYU fans are clueless when it comes to wearing the right color. I just don't get why it is so hard to wear the right color.
2. I liked how many Ute fans brought Ute flags. It seemed like I counted 20 or more people toting Ute flags on those long poles. I also heard horns, cowbells, etc. Stuff like that really helps make the atmosphere fun.
3. The Ute band is....er......small. I think BYU brought more band geeks than Utah. Both bands seemed to have several players with big butts, which is always the sign of a solid marching band. However, because the band is so small, you lose a lot of the in-game atmosphere. The school should seriously consider making the band bigger.
4. Whoever coordinated the audio/video for the Senior Day player announcements needs to be shot. It was a mess.
5. Time the flyover to coincide with something....the end of the National Anthem, for example. The flyover was just at some random moment before the game.
6. The stadium is a nice venue to watch football. No bad seats in the house and the fans are relatively close to the sidelines. The crowds moved into the gates quickly...always a big plus.

I didnt get there early enough to see the Ute Walk (is that what it is called? apologies if I butchered it), but would have liked to see that.

All in all, an enjoyable trip. Can't win 'em every year, but we will get at it next year. The see-saw nature of this rivalry over the past 10-15 years has made it very fun.

[il Padrino Ute]

I think both sides have idiots, in fact I would say about 10-15% of both fan bases are complete dickheads. But when you mix Caffeine Free Coke with dickheads you still have a dickhead. When you mix alcohol with dickheads you get an extreme dickhead.

I know this might sound dumb but the fact that RES no longer sells alcohol contributes to this. Knowing they cant get beer in the stadium people tend to get completely lit up before the game and they go overboard. If they could buy beer in the stadium they would pace themselves.

RES has never sold alcohol.

The true problem is that fans around the drunks need to rat them out and security needs to be increased for the rivalry game. Security needs to do a better job of searching for alcohol at the gate.

There should probably be a rule that someone who is visibly drunk should not be allowed into the stadium as well.

I have no problem if folks want to imbibe, but when their behavior affects others, I believe in zero tolerance when it comes to alcohol.

[SeattleUte]

UNLV sells alcohol in fact they have a full bar and they cut off sales in the 4th quarter.

Like I said, I don't know how a university can do it.

[cougjunkie]

I think you are correct about that. But I don't know how a university can sell alcohol at games. Most the student body isn't of age. They don't do it anywhere here.

By the way I know you dont watch the games so you have no idea what is actually happening, but you may want to wait to add that last line to your sig until next week. Oregon State and Oregon havent played yet.

[cougjunkie]

I think you are correct about that. But I don't know how a university can sell alcohol at games. They don't do it anywhere here.

UNLV sells alcohol in fact they have a full bar and they cut off sales in the 4th quarter.

[SeattleUte]

I think both sides have idiots, in fact I would say about 10-15% of both fan bases are complete dickheads. But when you mix Caffeine Coke with dickheads you still have a dickhead. When you mix alcohol with dickheads you get an extreme dickhead.

I know this might sound dumb but the fact that RES no longer sells alcohol contributes to this. Knowing they cant get beer in the stadium people tend to get completely lit up before the game and they go overboard. If they could buy beer in the stadium they would pace themselves.

I think you are correct about that. But I don't know how a university can sell alcohol at games. Most the student body isn't of age. They don't do it anywhere here.

[cougjunkie]

To read BYU fans' reports, going into Ute stadium was like entering one of those steel cage matches. I think that's the whole point; to generate this kind of absurd outrage. The truth is 99% of Ute fans are pretty milquetoast.

I think both sides have idiots, in fact I would say about 10-15% of both fan bases are complete dickheads. But when you mix Caffeine Free Coke with dickheads you still have a dickhead. When you mix alcohol with dickheads you get an extreme dickhead.

I know this might sound dumb but the fact that RES no longer sells alcohol contributes to this. Knowing they cant get beer in the stadium people tend to get completely lit up before the game and they go overboard. If they could buy beer in the stadium they would pace themselves.

[BigPiney]

Wow. that is soooo believable.

Wow, you are suuuuch a douche.

[RockyBalboa]

To read BYU fans' reports, going into Ute stadium was like entering one of those steel cage matches. I think that's the whole point; to generate this kind of absurd outrage. The truth is 99% of Ute fans are pretty milquetoast.

I'm fine if you don't believe what happened.

Shasta61 and a few other Ufn'ers were there and saw the incident at the tailgate lot.

[ERCougar]

I've never taken any bad treatment at RES, but I am a bigger guy (6'4) and it sounds like that might have something to do with it. I just think that the stereotypical Ute fan looks ridiculous and is an all too common sight there. You could probably say the same thing about Cougar fans at LES but I grew up there, so it just doesn't bug me as much.

I've razzed Utah fans at LES in pretty friendly ways, but there's no way I can imagine calling them an f-ing fag (from cougjunkie's "mild" example), nor can I imagine anyone with any sort of self-respect doing that. If you're blowing that off as something minor and everyday, there's something wrong with you. Maybe I'm sitting in the wrong sections, but I've been to qiute a few away games and have never heard that from other fans.

[SeattleUte]

I was at the portal (E32) where you guys were coming in. When he left people were yelling at him but it wasnt too bad. He was standing at the portal raising his hands as if to say "Let me have it"

To read BYU fans' reports, going into Ute stadium was like entering one of those steel cage matches. I think that's the whole point; to generate this kind of absurd outrage. The truth is 99% of Ute fans are pretty milquetoast.

[Mormon Red Death]

MRD ask Nick your brother in law about what happened to him, he was who we walked in to the game with and who was getting the worst treatment. In fact he said when they walked through the tunnel that everyone started throwing stuff at him.

I was at the portal (E32) where you guys were coming in. When he left people were yelling at him but it wasnt too bad. He was standing at the portal raising his hands as if to say "Let me have it"

[cougjunkie]

I believe Rocky... I spent most of the 1st half doing the same thing... except I was only doing it to old fans in wheelchairs. I would dump them over then dump beer on them and then drop fbombs in front of their 7 year olds.

obviously I kid... My family has season tickets and the people behind them are always drunk and dropping fbombs like crazy. Of course Utah is hardly alone in unruly fan behavior.

MRD ask Nick your brother in law about what happened to him, he was who we walked in to the game with and who was getting the worst treatment. In fact he said when they walked through the tunnel that everyone started throwing stuff at him.

[SeattleUte]

First of all I scored some tickets at the last minute for 50 bucks each, listen to the all mighty DDD when says that tickets are always available.

1. I dont think I am being to much of a homer when I say that Austin Collie was the best player on the field last night. Good thing for Utah is that it takes all 11.

2. Brice Mccain would have a hard time starting for BYU, he is that bad. BYU picked on him all night long.

3. Utahs defense is fast and I thought their D-ends did a great job of trying to make that initial pass rush and when they got stuffed they dropped in to semi-coverage and batted balls.

4. Krugers pick was as good of a play call as I have seen by a D-coordinator. As soon as Harvey motioned out you could see what play was coming. Anderson dialed up a great call.

5. Utahs offense did exactly what I said they would do and believe it or not exactly what BYU wanted them to do. Dink and dunk down the field. In fact had it not been for 6 turnovers I think our D would have made just enough stops to win. However Bronco said it best: "Just because the offense turns the ball over and puts the defense inside their own 10, does not mean that we dont expect them to get a stop"

6. BJ was very accurate tonight, and that crossing pattern killed BYU. BYU even when they blitzed got zero pressure on him.

7. Give some credit to BYUs O-line, they ran block very well and they were also very good pass blocking tonight.

8. Sean Smith is a stud, big and fast exactly what you want from a corner. I could watch him and Collie go 1 on 1 for 3 hours.

9. I understand UTah punching in that last TD you have to make a statement to the BCS that is fine by me, but the fake knee and then handoff by BJ is just bad karma waiting to bite Utah in the ass.

10. Robert Anae completely abandoned the run for a quarter and a half, it made no sense at all, in fact we were down 3 and we did not run the ball on 3 straight drives that could have taken the lead.

11. The first half I did think Anae called a nice game.

12. Ute fans were a lot more respectful this year than 2 years ago, however (and DDD can attest to this as he was with us walking in) we had one guy lose his mind and start calling a friend of mine a F***ing faggot/homo about 100 times for no reason at all. He was going off. We had a few guys sitting by us that were lame as well, but nothing to awful.

13. Finally I think the better team won and that is why I am not taking this loss real hard, but I will say that game was closer than the score indicated (not that it matters) and I am so pumped for BYU hoops! 5-0 baby!

Junky, nice summary. In the end you were right about it being about Utah's defense against BYU's offense. Defense won, as usual in these types of matchups. It was a tale of two secondaries. BYU's made BJ look like Tom Brady in his prime, Utah's humiliated Hall, even though he led some nice drives.

[RockyBalboa]

The only obnoxious thing I did was dress my family in red. I get to pick what my family wears once a year so.....

I'm a dork.

Cute family Fuegote.

By the way, does your wife have any hot single sisters?