Where I come from: How we became Ute fans
by JazzyUte on Jul 5, 2010 12:20 PM MDT
in EA Sports NCAA FB 11
51 comments
This post is sponsored by NCAA Football 2011 and is part of a week-long series that will further introduce Utah football.
I don't remember the exact moment I became a Utah fan. I don't even remember why I began cheering for the Utes in the first place. It just happened. It's kind of like walking. You know you did it, you just don't remember doing it for the first time.
For me, though, my fandom is rooted in my family. We weren't typical Utahns because we weren't LDS. We never had been LDS. My family emigrated over from Ireland and somehow found their way to Salt Lake City, Utah. It was an unlikely place for a group of Irish potato famine survivors fresh off the boat - but it's where they called home.
My mom's parents were huge into sports. That's probably where I get my love for it because, outside of the occasional NFL game, my father is fairly apathetic. But grandpa and grandma loved college sports.
For grandpa, he cheered for three teams. The first was his alma mater Utah State. He was an Aggie. He proudly graduated from there shortly before marrying my grandma and never lost his love of 'em. Then there was the Notre Dame Irish. He and my grandma loved the Irish for obvious reasons. Finally, there was Utah.
Neither graduated from the U. Grandma attended St. Mary of the Wasatch Catholic College here in Salt Lake (it not longer exists) and as I mentioned, grandpa spent his college years up in Logan. But they were Salt Lakers. Grandma graduated from West and grandpa from East. So they grew up very familiar with Utah football - especially during a time of great success.
So the seeds were planted fairly early for both.
Then I came along. Like I said, I don't remember when I began cheering for them. I just remember watching old college football games with grandpa in his den. At first, it was mostly Notre Dame games and that's where I established my love of Irish football (it solidified during the 1993 Carmelite Fair when the Carmelite nuns had made up Catholics vs. Mormons t-shirts to give away for the pending Notre Dame-BYU game - Irish won! - later that year).
But it wasn't long before I began cheering for the Utes. They were the home team and it was natural. As natural as walking.
I remember my first Utah game was that same year of that Carmelite Fair - so 1993. Utah had yet to become consistently good under Ron McBride and the football program was still living in the massive shadow of BYU. But we could never, ever cheer for the Cougars. That was beaten into my brain from birth.
So grandpa and I went to the old Rice Stadium to watch Utah take on Idaho. What a great first game, right?
Well the Utes lost. That just shows you how far this program has come. My first game was a loss, at home, to Idaho. Who, at the time, was not even division one. Embarrassing.
I guess it showed me what I would be willing to endure as a Utah fan because obviously I had a blast, since I've kept coming back all these years.
Now I don't remember much from that game. Just that grandpa was visibility agitated and that led to him swearing the entire ride home.
But I believe I can trace being a fan back to that moment. It was one of the first of many Utah games I'd watch with either grandpa or grandma.
Neither are around anymore. Grandpa went in 2002 and grandma the week after the 2003 Holy War. 2003 was special because we got to watch one last Holy War together in her hospital room. The Utes won, of course.
I've got to think they're still up there watching these games with me. And I'm sure grandpa is still cursing loudly. Much to grandma's chagrin.
That's my story. What's yours? How did you become a Ute fan?
0 recs |
51 comments
|
Email
Print
Comments
I likewise don’t remember the date, but it was in Middle School. At the time, BYU was king and everyone was a zealous Cougar fan. I was (and still am) active in the LDS church and I was tired of all the Cougar-love that was surrounding me 6 days a week. It seemed to me, a young impressionable 12-year old, that you could join that group and have instant friends, or you could ally yourself with the underdog. I wasn’t rebellious, but I was independent.. And I made my stand, right then, to be a Utah Man. I endured a long, difficult adolescence as Utah struggled mightily against the Y. And even at that young age, I came to know the hubris and self-entitlement that is felt by every BYU fan.
After High School, I enrolled at the U and was there during the 1994 run. Shortly after, I served an LDS mission. When I came back, I re-enrolled to finish my studies. I had several notable athletes in my classes, including physics with Mike Doleac. I also nearly ran over Andre Miller, but that’s better left untold.
From that point on, Utah was on the rise. First basketball and then football. All those years of suffering as a Utah Man paid off when I took my dad to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. We were able to witness the moment that I believe propelled Utah into the Pac-10.
Go Utes!
Props to you!
I have a whole level of respect for LDS Ute fans. It can’t be easy, but you guys get it done!
Props? He nearly ran over Andre Miller
He almost single-handedly ruined our great 90’s run in basketball.
LOL. In 1998, my aunt almost ran over Jeff Hornacek at Westminster College...
That’s where they used to practice before they built their practice facility. Anyway, she was distracted pulling out of the back by all the media and didn’t see him until he almost stepped right in front of her car.
She slammed on her brakes and he threw his hands on her hood, giving her a death stare.
That would have brought back the Irish racial slurs:
“Drunken Mic ruins the playoff hopes of the Jazz”
Anyway, thank God that he was unharmed and the Jazz made it back to the finals that year.
Not that hard either
There is a big enough community of LDS Ute fans, that it’s not too tough. I brag that Ute fans have a better tie to the non-LDS community and as a result, help more people join the church because they know how to relate to people that haven’t been brainwashed by the Provo atmosphere.
That said, the last 3 prophets, and more than half the apostles of the LDS church are all Utah grads. So we (LDS Utah fans) are in good company.
A Utah Man am I!
I remember exactly when I became a Ute. In my senior year of high school in 2004-2005 I decided to only apply to the University of Utah after my brother (who was working in SLC) told me about how great of a school it was. I visited the campus and instantly felt at home.
Growing up in Wisconsin, I had always been a Badger, but that changed during the 2005 Holy War when I attended with a friend in Provo and watched the underdog Utes stun tds beating them 41-34 in OT. Ever since, I was a die hard Ute.
I was always part of The MUSS (The Mighty Utah Student Section) but in 2007 I joined The MUSS board and became actively involved. In 2008, I became President and along with my best friend created the tradition of the “3rd Down JUMP”, which has now become a staple at U of U games. That year, I road tripped to Michigan, traveled to California, and flew and carpooled to Louisiana for the Sugar Bowl.
Now, my wife and I proudly sport our Utah apparel in Nashville, TN, along with our dog of course! I am proud of what this university of has accomplished and look forward to the Pac 10!
A Utah Man am I!
GO UTES!!!
Awesome! Do you think you'll get back to SLC for some games?
Might want to return for one last conference Holy War. ;)
Born a Ute
I was born a Ute truly. I remember my LDS ward did a fundraiser and they were selling shirts. You could pick either a red Utah shirt or a blue BYU shirt. My mom bought three different shirts for all of us kids, my brother didn’t care so his was blue with a red Utah written on it, my sisters was a BYU shirt and mine was a red Utah shirt. I couldn’t have been much older then three. My parents are both Aggies and don’t really watch sports that much so I truly must have just been born a Ute fan.
The great thing about an Aggie?
They hate BYU as much as we do! My grandpa hated BYU from two POV: USU and Utah.
So every time the Cougars lost to the Utes & Aggies in the same season, he was on top of the world.
Here's my story:
I previously stated in my profile that I’m the son of a die-hard BYU man, (someone told me a story that he proclaimed “there is a God!” when Ty Detmer won the Hiesman). Therefore, the irony that I became the yin to his yang was funny/ironic in many ways.
Up to 2002, I cared little for football period. I was a basketball man (Jazz) through and through. But I remember back in 2002 some gut named Urban Meyer was going to make his mark on Utah. Again I was very nuetral to this point, I knew nothing of the phrases “holy war” and “TDS”. Flipping through channels one day I ran across the Holy War on KJZZ. (the Snow Bowl of 03’) watching parts that game planted the seeds. I also remember looking at the newspaper and reading about the Utes victory in the Liberty Bowl. I was on the path.
Naturally I wasn’t done (or as our 04’ motto put it “I hadn’t seen nothing yet!”). The buildup to 2004 was unreal being a new Ute fan I got caught up in it. With each victory, I became more and more Red…My fandom was sealed when I witnessed Utah spank Pitt in their BCS debut.
I admit there have been some bumps on the road (2005, the UNLV shutout and 3 lost holy wars) but I have remained a true red fan ever since watching the Holy war of 03’.
Best Moment: Personally witnessing the great Utah comeback against Oregon St. in 08’. I was there and it rocked!
GO UTES!!!
Man it still hurts to talk about that one
I’ve been lucky enough to have season tickets for several years now, but was in Houston on business during that game. I did find a bar that carried the game down there, but I was definitely kicking myself that I wasn’t there… UNREAL.
I cried.
That game was the most glorious comeback I’ve ever witnessed. Pending some very big moment, Brian Johnson will forever be my favorite QB ever to play football. And, of course, Louis Sakoda, my favorite kicker, and my top 5 players ever.
I remember when we hit that field goal to win, I was crying, and seriously embarassed about it until I saw like 10 other people around me crying. Emotions were high that game, and I hugged (and quite possibly kissed) some total strangers.
And then, rushed the field.
The beginning is the end
When I was very young (five or so), I chose who to root for partly on the basis of their uniforms and partly from sheer cussedness. Both meant that I cheered for the Utes—I liked red better than blue and everyone around me was a Cougar fan (my grandpa was even a professor at the Y). As I got older I began to see that there were other reasons for cheering for teams, and as a teenager I became a BYU fan because it was fun to watch the games with my dad (himself a big BYU fan).
But, well, I’ve never liked some elements of the BYU culture, I didn’t have the money to go out-of-state, and the U was a better school for my major, so I went to the U for college. And that was it. I mean, I couldn’t go to the University of Utah and cheer for BYU. It just wouldn’t be right.
So from 1995 on I’ve been a Ute fan for good. And here I am now!
I guess?...
I am perfectly happy for BYU to do well, as long as Utah does better. ;)
I was born into a Ute family.
My first game was November 1, 1986 — a 33–13 loss to Hawaii. Those were the dog days of Utah-fandom. Utah would finish the season 2–9 in Jim Fassel’s second year as coach. It really makes me appreciate the current days.
So me and my dad would go to one or two games a year from that point forward. I wanted Utah to win, but I was only casually interested. I got really hooked in 1994 when Utah had such a great season.
And, of course, having graduated from the U really solidified everything.
It'd be hard becoming a fan in the 80s...
I guess I can see why so many Utahns began cheering for BYU. They were exciting and good. Everyone likes a winner.
A Ute Fan for Life
I’d cheered for the U since elementary school…I don’t really know why. But I attended the U in the early 80’s when wins were hard to come by and beating BYU just didn’t happen. I attended every home game and traveled to road football and basketball games when I could. I can tell you that it doesn’t matter how the team plays or how many games they win or how frustrated with them I may become, I will still be a proud Ute fan.
Having cheered through the down years makes these up years that much more sweet. I attended both Michigan games, will be in South Bend and Ames this fall and Pittsburgh next year. I’m now raising my son as a second generation Ute fan from long distance.
Sneaking in/ Streaker Game/ Etc
I was born and raised in Salt Lake City. I grew up two block away from Liberty Park, not Sandy, Midvale or Murray, so the Utes were in my backyard. My grandfather took me to my first Ute football game in the early 80’s. I’d been to basketball games and loved the Running Utes with Tom Chambers, Danny Vranes, etc. But football was a different story. Unless you consider drunk and bearded Utah fans screaming “get it in the zone” to be exhilarating, the games were horrible and as kids, we needed to create our own excitement.
Right when we got out of the car we’d tell my gramps we’d meet him at the seats, and then we’d take off. Rice Stadium was so low budget back then, that my cousin and I would sneak through a large hole in the fence right by a concession stand where the new Olympic Museum Building is located. As soon as we breached the parameter, we would hurry and mingle with the crowd. Of course, we had our tickets on hand so if security nailed us, we would simply present them with a legit ticket and then just act like innocent eight year old boys. We’d make our way to the seats and tell grandpa what we had done and he would tell us “good job” and make us feel like we were real men to have gotten away with such a feat.
One good memory from a Utah game , that a lot of you younger fans won’t remember, was the infamous streaker game in the late eighties. I was in our normal seats, on the south west 20 yard line about three rows up, awaiting a classic matchup against UTEP I believe.
As I looked down the tunnel, waiting for team to storm onto the field, I heard the crowd start roaring. Somewhat confused, I scanned around as the cheers became louder and louder, only to see some band members milling around. That’s weird, I thought. Why are people so into the band this afternoon?
Finally I turned my head toward the North end zone to see a completely nude brunette woman running with about a half dozen cops chasing after her. When she made it to the end zone she simply slowed down as the officers swarmed and put her in hand cuffs to haul her off in some back room. That was the only day in my life I have wanted to be a cop.
Sadly and ashamed I still wasn’t a good fan. My family wasn’t religious at all, but as a kid, I loved watching BYU’s powerful passing offenses and my favorite pro team was the Air Coryell San Diego Chargers because they were exciting. The Utes couldn’t compete for my interest because they were downright horrible. As a kid you don’t really understand the conflict of interests, you just go with what makes you feel something.
Sadly, the Utes made me bored. I would attend Utah games in person and then watch BYU on TV back home. Jim Mcmahon, Marc Wilson, Steve Young. They were exciting. It wasn’t until the McBride years that I started having dilemmas on who to root for, because I was a little older and couldn’t root for two hated enemies and now the Utes had something on the line.
When I finally attended the U it was a no brainer. I graduated from Utah and those dark BYU days are in my past. Of course I went to the Fiesta and Sugar Bowls but even if the ineptitude of Stobart era is revisited in my lifetime again, through thick and thin, a Utah man am I.
Good to see another REAL Salt Laker.
I grew up over by Fairmont Park. So yeah, we all were Utes. I rarely, if ever, have seen a BYU fan in any neighborhood I lived in (mostly around SugarHouse).
And I have heard about the infamous streaker.
Probably the highlight (outside of ’88) of the 80s for Ute football.
We used to walk to the games.
We lived several blocks west of Rice Stadium. If the win was blowing the right direction, we could hear the cannon if we weren’t at the game.
The walk home could be really great or awful. As we’d walk past businesses on fourth south, people would come out ans ask us what happened.
Raised Red
My dad had been a huge Ute fan his whole life and so I, along with rest of my siblings, was raise a Ute. Some of my earliest memories are being with my dad ate Utah football and basketball games. I remember sitting on the old wooden bleachers in Rice Stadium covered in snow. I remember riding the shuttle from the parking lot over to the Huntsman Center for the basketball games. One of my most vivid memories was being at the game where Scott Mitchell and company beat BYU for the first time I could remember. I was around 13 at the time. It was so exciting. I also have many great memories of the basketball games. I was a big fan of Walter Watts and was able to get my picture taken with him. When I was 14 or so I was on a county rec team that was invited to play at halftime so i actually got to play basketball in the Huntsman center in front of a crowd… I scored 4 points… I’ll never forget it! I did not attend the U (I went to a small tech school) but I always have been and I always will be a huge Utah fan. I’m LDS so i have endured many stupid comments from BYU fans but I am so glad my dad raised me a Ute! I wouldn’t have it any other way….. it’s as much a part of who I am as anything else. For the last eight years, I have lived in Southern Utah and I greatly miss going to the games as often as I used to but I still follow every minute of it and love it! The Sugar Bowl was the best day of my life! (My wife loves it when I say that) – Although I don’t get to see as many games live as I used to, I do have a consulation prize… I am a graphic designer and over the past several years have had the opportunity to design for a clothing company that is a licensed vender of Utah apparel…. when I do get a chance to make it to the games, it’s fun to see my designs all over the place. A few of my designs have been #1 on the Uof U store website….and this year I got to design the official Team/Fan shirt. It’s a great honor to be a part of it all! Go Utes!
so there
It started with Rick
I grew up in a Catholic household with a USU alum father, so I originally had Aggie leanings. During high school I was really into basketball, and I have a distinct memory of watching Jimmy Soto and Josh Grant on TV playing for Majerus in the NCAA tournament. I thought, “Man, I could get into this…”, and I did. Fast forward a few years and my college major led me to the U over USU. I was a huge U basketball and Jazz fan at the time, but some college dorm friends got me going to football games—was never previously a football fan (NFL or college). McBride was coaching at the time, and it only took a couple of games for me to get hooked and start learning the game. MAN, those were some slugfests: stifling KWhit defense and a brusing “run, run, and run it again” time-grinding offense. A lot of years of great running backs. The team was always competitive (even against the good teams), but our offense STRUGGLED and we lost our fair share of games. My friends and I would joke that if the U could manage to consistently score two touchdowns per game, we’d be undefeated. You had to really appreciate defense in those years, and we all knew that if the U could get an offense in place they would be a force to be reckoned with. McBride’s firing was a bittersweet day—we just flat out loved the guy (still do!) and Utah football would not be where it is today if not for him. However, we knew that Urban had a reputation for offense and when we heard that KWhit was staying on board we were sold. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine the success they would have… Most of my “football friends” from college are now scattered all over the country-we use Utah away games as an excuse to get together, and we’re all Utah football junkies. The Sugar Bowl experience was seriously one of the most incredible experiences I’ve ever had. It’s been a wild ride and it just keeps getting better. PAC12, here we come!
Born and Raised in Utah
I’ve lived in Utah all my life. Both my parents graduated from the U. My dad and his brother both played football there. I remember dressing up as a Utah football player for Halloween back in the 4th grade(coincidentally there was a kid dressed up as a BYU player in my same class and his dad played there). But in the 90’s I was a huge basketball fan whether it was the runnin utes or the jazz. I attended few games but I always watched them on tv. I didn’t care for football at all in the 90’s. That was until I won a drawing at my school for free tickets to a Utes football game. My entire family went and we really enjoyed it. So the next season we ordered season tickets and we’ve been going to every game since 2000. So it’s been a full decade now of going to Utah football games and it’s been a blast!
I was raised a BYU fan
I really can’t blame my dad for it. He actually attended both schools, and in the late 70s there was only one of the two teams that actually competed. I watched games on Saturdays with him from an early age, but I remember really getting into it when Ty Detmer was making his Heisman run.
Sometime in the next few years we dropped our cable subscription, and I became much more interested in girls, music and friends than college sports. I don’t think I watched a game for years. I meant to try out for the football team in high school, but somehow never got around it. I followed basketball some, but it was Karl Malone and John Stockton rather than Mike Doleac and Andre Miller.
I went to the U because I wanted to be an engineer. I’m ashamed to say that even during my freshman year I rooted for the Y, although I didn’t actually watch a single game. I served a mission, and when I returned I seriously considered going to BYU as a lot of people from my mission were – I applied, was accepted, and was even looking into housing. But ultimately reason, fate, divine intervention or whatever prevailed, and I decided to return to the U.
Early fall semester of 2003, some of my LDS institute buddies got my to join the Utah Football Fan Club, or MUSS as it was being nicknamed. I liked football, and an assigned season ticket sounded good to me.
It only took one game for me to be hooked. I had been to games with friends at both BYU and USU in the past, but they weren’t my teams. I don’t even remember who they had played or whether they won or lost. But here I was at Utah, and this was my school, my bunch of rowdy noisy fans, my team. I lost my voice before the fourth quarter.
A year later my younger brother was there in the MUSS with me. That year my dad wore red for the rivalry game, and has ever since. Two sisters and another brother have been in the MUSS. My kids and my nephew sport the drum and feather, and like their parents and entire family, the next generation sums up their loyalties with two words: “Go Utes!”
Moved out here...
from northern California in ’96 to go to school at the U. I had some extened family out here that I was able to live with to keep the expenses down.
I’ve been hooked ever since. I actuallly wasn’t able to get into the athletic aspect of things ‘til after I graduated in ’01 (stupid quarter/semester conversion!). I had to work full time while going to school. So from ’01 on is when I really started to get into the football side of things. I followed basketball as closely as I could in the late 90’s while in school, obviously that was a very fun time.
"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates
My full story is elsewhere.
But I became a fan at the Stanford game in 1995. Funny how one can become a fan at a losing game.
BCS Evolution -- Punctuating the Equilibrium - twitter
Great Post
I think you hit on a very important piece of why becoming a U fan is so infectious – it’s the passion of the team. During those McBride years, the U teams would make a lot of dumb mental mistakes, had a sputtering predictable offense, couldnt kick a field goal to save their lives, and could just flat out be outmatched talent wise. BUT, you always felt like the team went 100% and was going to try harder than the other guy. Just like the Jazz, a very blue collar approach and that’s very easy to warm up to. No pretenses or posturing.
by la tortuga on Jul 6, 2010 1:39 PM MDT via mobile up reply actions
I agree with most of what you said
I disagree with the flat out be outmatched talent wise. Maybe in 2006 against UCLA or Boise State. Or 2007 against Oregon State. Or last year against TCU.
I saw many times under McBride, however, where a few bad breaks would string together and the team would quit. Players would stop trying, stop making the plays they normally made look easy.
I have only felt like the team went 100% since the Meyer days. It started midway through 2003, after the Air Force game to be precise.
Since then it has been a whole new team. One I saw the potential for back in 1995.
BCS Evolution -- Punctuating the Equilibrium - twitter
Let me clarify...
Re-reading my post, perhaps I put a little too much emphasis on the "lack of talent" part… let me clarify. During the McBride years, head to head with the WAC teams, I felt like our talent/athletic level was at least as high as anyone in the WAC—in fact I would say that our relative raw athleticism (a testament to McBride’s program building) and KWhit’s defensive scheme was what made us good, and allowed us to overcome a LOT of unnecessary mental breakdowns and dumb mistakes. At the same time, I think there was less parity in talent between the BCS and non-BCS conferences, and we would often run into trouble when we ran into a BCS team that could match or exceed us athlete for athlete. I don’t remember as much quit in the team as you describe, but perhaps it’s due to my fondness of those years.
The past decade has been something different all together. Compared to the 90’s, it’s my opinion that the overall quality of our 1s might be a notch better but our depth is MUCH better (and that was where the biggest gap between us and great programs was previously).
My observartions are mostly from 1995-2001
In that period Utah had a good dose of quit. They also had a good dose of a few good breaks and they were off to the races against anyone.
I understood this to be coaching, but McBride’s days were still secure. As long as he got to bowls he would have a job.
BCS Evolution -- Punctuating the Equilibrium - twitter
Slow development
I didn’t become a real Ute fan until I started going to school at the U. I always considered myself a Ute fan, but mainly because I tended to gravitate towards other Ute fans—or maybe it was away from BYU fans. Really, though, I didn’t pay attention to sports outside of the NFL as a kid. Once a student at Utah, I began going to games with a friend from Georgia who was an avid college football fan. It started with games against Air Force since he had been in the Air Force and served in Iraq during Desert Storm. Also, his brother’s childhood friend was the Falcon’s quarterback. Still, I didn’t go to every home game until Meyer showed up. I went to every home game in 2003 as a student, which was also the semester I graduated. So, no longer able to take advantage of my student status, I got season tickets the following year and haven’t looked back.
Don't fault me for my childhood errors.
I am the youngest child from a large LDS family. Both my parents were BYU graduates, but they were not fans of any sports. I learned to cheer for BYU from my oldest brother. As a young child I remember my first season I became a fan. I watched or listened on the radio to every BYU game in 1984. I had two older sisters who went to BYU and my first football game I ever attended was at BYU with my sister.
The beginning of my turning came a few years later during a post game interview after a close win against an opponent I do not remember. The player came on with his holier than thou smug comment about how they won due to divine intervention that favored the righteous. In my opinion God doesn’t rig football games, so his comments seemed absurd.
Not long after this, while I was in high school, I learned that my older brother closest to me in age came out of the closet as gay while attending the U. This was the brother who I always looked up to as a child and who always looked out for me growing up. I think factors relating to this played a large part in why I eventually left the LDS religion. Instead of going on a mission l joined the Navy and went to San Diego. Over time I lost my affinity for college football. I had years of mixed emotions on BYU that I had to deal with. Plus joining the Navy and moving out of state separated me by distance. From here I was just a casual NBA and NFL fan. I went to a BYU holiday bowl since it was close to my new home, but never really followed them at any other time.
My reactivation to college football came somewhat recently. I went back to school and got my MBA at the U. Plus I got married to a U graduate who brought cable/DVR into my life for the first time. I now knew my first loyalty was to the U, but hadn’t been active in college football in years. My second activation to college football fandom came in 2008 when I watched/listened on the radio to every single game of that season. I have not missed a game since the beginning of 2008 and thanks to my DVR have caught some of the games more than once.
Both times in my life that I decided to become an active college football fan my team went undefeated. Maybe I am a lucky fan.
I still cheer for BYU second since growing up LDS I still have a lot of ties to members. It helps bridge the gap. Plus I still have my childhood memories. BYU is a clear second though. I can cheer for BYU all year long, but when it comes to the holy war I will dance in their tears after they lose. Then I can cheer for them again in a bowl game. Now I am wavering on cheering for BYU second though. This is largely due to Dick Harmon’s comments on ESPN and the apparent inability of BYU fans to admit Utah has any redeeming qualities that would make them deserve an invite to the PAC 10. I won’t ever really hate BYU, but if they keep up with this persecution complex I don’t know if I will be able to stomach them anymore. They are definitely being replace in their #2 spot with my new PAC 12 loyalties.
One thing I do know is that now and forever more a Utah man am I.
I was only 11 years old
when I watched Kevin Dyson pull down the miracle pass from Mike McCoy in the 1994 Freedom Bowl. I didn’t see much from my seat at Anaheim stadium, but the feeling was like something I had never felt before.
From that day on I have been a Utah man.
Ute fan from the late 70's
I was born and raised in Parowan, Utah (70 miles north of St. George on I-15). Once I finally discovered college sports in the late 70’s (My formative teenage years) I had a choice to make, root for BYU like everybody else or choose to be different , I chose to be different, I decided that for football I was a Utah/Arizona State fan and for Basketball I was a Utah/UNLV fan (Notice something about the color schemes?). I gradually became a dedicated Utah fan during the early eighties as end of the Frank Kush era and its fallout soured me on ASU football, and due to a newfound transplant friend and his family from Las Vegas I got to see firsthand how Tarkanian ran his basketball operation, both from afar and from two rows behind the UNLV bench. I will admit though, that as wild as the Huntsman Center can get it is nothing like the the old 6,600 seat Las Vegas Convention Center could get during UNLV’s glory years. The clincher came in 1984 as I enrolled at the U. I can never forget how smug many of my BYU fan friends became and how they would belittle the Utes, which just made my resolve for the Utes that much stronger. I began to follow the Utes even more diligently after college and still remember trips from San Diego (In the Navy at the time) to Anaheim for the 93 and 94 Freedom Bowls.
Fast forward to 1998 when I was stationed in Norfolk, VA and almost getting pounded on by a bunch of local Neanderthals during the Utah/North Carolina game during the semis at the Final Four. They take their Basketball seriously in ACC country, luckily there were several Marine acquaintances at the sports bar I was in that night.
Jump again to Jan 2, 2009. How did a small town boy from southern Utah end up sitting in the middle of a whole Alabama section? Well, a scant two months after watching the runnin’ Ute (Quite the misnomer during the Majerus years isn’t it?) Bball team come up just short of a national title I was transferred to New Orleans. Cheering for the Utes here in the heart of SEC country has been interesting as there have been at least three Utah flags flying in my neighborhood since at least 2003 when I moved to my current house. 2004 put the Utes on the map and then the magical season of 2008 brought a real conundrum. Do I take the tickets in the terrace level (Nosebleed seats in the Dome) or watch at home on the glorious HD set? At 10AM on January 2, 2009 approached I got a call from a local friend saying one of his long time friends has some field level seats available and gives me a phone number. I call the phone number and the greeting is that of a southern gentlemen who is into the preparation stages of a long awaited college football game. He tells me where I can find him and I am easily able to spot him from my office window so I walk the three blocks to his tailgate setup and proceed to buy two $125 face tickets from him for $140 total. I spent the next 2.5 hours eating barbecue, drinking rum and cokes and telling stories with some of the nicest fans I can imagine. When I finally have to leave to come back to the office he insists I bring back a stack of Bama cups to the three die hard LSU fans in my office. 2.5 hours after that I find myself and my brother-in-law who is a Tennessee fan sitting smack in the middle of a section of Bama scholarship level boosters. They certainly were more gracious and friendly that any BYU fans i have ever encountered. Even after the game most of the fans within 3-4 rows congratulated me and complimented the Utes on how well they played.
Needless to say I am a Ute fan for life.
Postscript – Just to finish up, I have three acquaintances that sit on the Sugarbowl committee. They relayed to me that after the Hawaii they were very leery of inviting another non AQ school to New Orleans and had some serious reservations about it before it went down. A few days after the game I was told by all three that due to the fan showing and support, as well as the spending level of the fans that they would not hesitate to ever invite Utah back again.
Ute Fan From 1992
My Dad took me to a few games in 1990-1991. I am LDS and have a lot of BYU fan friends, but I knew my dad was cooler than them. So I cheered for both BYU and Utah. I went down to Provo for the 1992 BYU-Utah game and watched as Utah beat BYU for the first time in years. (I was 7) That was when I was unequivocally a Utah fan. No more of this BYU crap.
The next year (and many years since…), all my BYU fan friends were merciless if Utah ever lost and tried to convince me that BYU was and would forever be the better team. Utah went on to win that BYU-Utah game by the exact same score 34-31. I rushed the field and Luther Ellis lifted me up on his shoulders to help tear down the goal post.
Since 1992, I haven’t missed a Utah home game. I have been a part of the MUSS for 7 years now, since before Urban Meyer and when only 20 or so rows of students showed up to the games. My favorite game ever was TCU v. Utah in 2008. It’s probably the closest I’ve come to crying for watching Utah win a game. 1998 was my peak for Utah basketball, and I took the trip to watch the Final Four in San Antonio. I hope they can regain their prestige, but am only hopeful (not optimistic) that they can come back to form in the next 10 years.
Go Utes.
BCS era clinched my loyalty
I was born into a family that didn’t care for sports at all. I converted my father to pro football when I was probably 8 years old. We bonded every Sunday while watching the NFL. When it became apparent that I wasn’t interested in going to the races or climbing the widow-maker, my father decided he would take me to Utah games for outside bonding experiences. I attended one or two home games every year throughout the ’80s. The biggest game of my childhood was the ’88 victory over BYU. However, I also loved Alabama. I wanted to be a linebacker, and dreamed of attending “linebacker U”. Cornelius Bennett and Derrick Thomas were my idols. So I always claimed Utah as my local Team, and Alabama as my favorite team.
About the turn of the century there were several factors that changed my attitude. First, and foremost I started attending the U. Second, I began loathing the BCS system. And Third, my first love…the Buffalo Bills…stank. Since 2000 there has been no question where my loyalty stands. Ki Ki.
by Drum and Feathers on Jul 6, 2010 4:52 PM MDT reply actions
Utah football simply clicked with me
My first Utes fball game was when my Deaf grandfather (I’m Deaf, too and proud of it :) took me to the old Rice stadium in late 70’s. Back then the Utah team would flock out of a tunnel on the southeast side and my gramps took me down there to greet the Coach Wayne Howard and team as they getting hyped up for the game. After meeting the coach I briefly held on the arm of OT #78 (not sure if that’s the correct number) Jack Campbell before they rushed out screaming onto the field. Certainly today’s security wouldn’t allow that, but I think I was more than lucky to have this experience firsthand. Gramps had a knack with telling me all football stuff in American Sign Language (ASL) like he would with basketball and baseball where the Running Utes, Utah Jazz, and all the SLC minor baseball teams were concerned. My father (who grew up merely 2 blocks away) would also take my brother and me to the stadium once or twice a year. Utah football wasn’t always so good, but the memories of going there stuck in my memory cells. I could remember observing the mixture of fans and crowds- families, kids, teenagers, students, elderly, and of course, drunks that Max Hall would hate to sit next to. There was always an excitement whenever the Utes made an amazing drive or a touchdown. The stadium didn’t have to be big to be seen, felt and heard (no pun intended to me :). It was just the awesome atmosphere where you were often the underdogs but were always cheered on for a great play. Damn, I wonder if the splinters from sitting on the wooden benches in the northwest section still exist in my butt. The uphill and downhill walks to and from the stadium provided everyone a great deal of cardio exercise…we didn’t and still don’t mind that at all!! :)
Admittingly I have been to the Cougar Stadium in Provo, only a couple times. The atmosphere is totally different and perhaps too…bright (considering the maj of their fanbase is Caucasian). And get this…the worst they can serve is Caffiene-free soda! Throughout the game everyone would stomp and stomp which sends rumbling on the benches. It’s a massive stadium size-wise compared to RES; however, the feeling I got sitting there wasn’t real or even natural. I guess growing up in the SL Valley and being more conformed to the ‘U’ climate I couldn’t see myself being a Cougar lover. When I was in middle and high school I would bet against good buddies and several teachers who were helplessly rabid ‘Y’ fans. I lost some but I certainly won some big time (remember the 80’s when BYU dominated the football rivalry). I do admire the quality of the athletic programs at BYU. It’s the crowd over there that I don’t quickly jump into and socialize with. What’s interesting is that while I’m LDS and remain in that faith I’m for diversity and unity that is seen in the Utah football team, the fanbase and on the campus.
I became more grativated on Utah football when they won the Freedom Bowl against one of the nation’s best defenses, U. of Arizona. That was when I was living on the east coast as a student in D.C. and my pride as an outside-of-Utah fan bolstered when Coach Meyer brought the football program to the top caliber level in the eyes of the nation. No more the easterners thought I was a crazy Mormon from Utah and I believe I gained some of their respect :) Now I’m back in Utah and continue to savor in the blossoming legend of Utah football with my own family, kins, friends, and fellow Ute fans. Now my older son understands why I have faith in Utah football after watching the games versus Oregon St, TCU, Alabama, and our dear ol’ foes, TDS (the Coogs). I’m excited to see this tradition grow, even into the Pac-10 territory, in the years to come.
I also wanted to add that the Deaf Winter Olympics were held in SLC in 2007 and University of Utah provided some of the best facilities for the Deaf athletes and fans to use. The Huntsman Center (basketball arena) hosted the Opening Ceremonies. Everyone was impressed with the avenues and location as it was close to everything downtown SLC. This made me prouder to be a Utah man I am.
My dad was a PhD student at the U when I was born, and it kinda went from there.
I always felt some loyalty to the school for that, even when we moved to Nephi and EVERYONE else there was a BYU fan. We moved back to SLC, I started attending the U and yeah… the love has never died.
RIP Nick Adenhart. 4/9/09
SLC Dunk
I'm on Twitter
Also raised as BYU fan
I was raised blue (strange how many of us were…good sign though!), but I decided to go to school at Utah instead of BYU because I just wasn’t a BYU mormon. BYU student culture is gay beyond description. My sister was a zoob, and every one of her friends had the craziest obsession with baby stuff. I guess it’s supposed to be a way to stay pure or something…I’m sure I’m not the only one who has seen this. So her and her friends sucked on binkies, watched Barnie, and wore Sesame Street gear (I’m really not kidding). I went to a BYU party in my college years and the zoobs spent an hour watching Veggie Tales…
Going to collge at the U rocked. When I started attending games I was hooked. I was a member of the MUSS for the last 2 years of my degree and I’ve had season tickets ever since. Having been both a BYU and Utah fan, I know how much better it is to be a ute. Utes fo’ life!
by GodisBrianJohnson on Jul 7, 2010 12:49 AM MDT reply actions
It started when I wa sveyr young . . .
And I lived in Salt Lake. I simply rooted for them because they weren’t BYU at first.
Then, in 1972, Van Gelder, playing sick, scored with ten seconds left ot complete a fourth quarter comeback that knocked Arizona for a loop—their worst comeback defeat in history—28-27.
The following year, I was working as a busboy at the Golden Spike Restaraunt in the Tri-Arc travelodge on 6th South, the Arizona State Sun Devils came in, nationally ranked, and they all talked about how they were going to beat the hell out of us, and wasn’t it terrible to be a Utah fan and boy did our team suck. The players, coaches, fans, they all sneered, mouthed off, and complained about having to play such a crappy team.
Well, the coffee shop was deserted duringt he game so we got to listen in and man, oh man! Utah laid the wood to them, leading 30-10 at halftime and holding on to win the game as Arizona State scored late.
I got to serve them all coffee the next morning and baby, it was sweeeeeet.
Then, BYU became very, very good and started taking us apart and I went to school at the university. Going to school there cemented it, no way I would ever be a fan of any other team—win or lose, these were my guys. During my time there i managed restaraunts and was fortunate enough to get ot know some of the payers and that only made it more enjoyable for me. The Howard years and the excitement as we were coming back, the promise of Stobart’s greta rushing game thwarted by his being such an interminable asshole that no one would play for him, the exciting Fassel years that, alas, left defense soemhting to be desired. I wa sone of those guys who used ot say ‘Gee, we always seem to have extremely fine offensive linemen when McBride is teh O-line coach. It all starts on the line so . . .’ . . .knowing he was a player’s coach, I hoped he’d geta shot. When he did I was ecstatic and we’ve never looked back since.
It’s been a great, humbling ride, but they’ve always been my real love. When I moved down here to Tallahassee, everyone made fun of my team, said “Who are they” etc., but I never cared. I wasn’t one of those “live here, good team, I’m a fan” guys—Utah has always been, and will always be my team.
It was a round, bald, red-faced, angry, fat man who converted me.
I was bred a cougar bluegar fan. It was during the late 70s early 80s and my best friends and I were die-hards. But after 1984 BYU fans started getting on my nerves.
It bugged me that everyone was so cocky. It didn’t make sense. We were supposed to be humble, full of gratitude, gracious. I even graduated from high school and went to BYU my freshman year. I had fun but the attitude on campus was much the same. So after serving a mission I came home and enrolled at the U and in 1991 started attending Utah basketball games as a student.
That year BYU was supposed to be the team to beat . . . they were loaded with talent. Utah was picked to finish 7th in the WAC and BYU 1st. It was also Utah’s first full season with a new head coach: a rotund, sweater wearing bald guy, with great comedic timing, who called a local hotel ‘home’.
Utah’s center was this tall skinny kid named Larry Cain who wouldn’t have played for most teams in the league. Jimmy Soto was at point, Byron Wilson played the 2. The round mound Walter Watts and golden boy Josh Grant rounded out the front line. The rest of the team was made up of walk-ons and such.
Well the Fat Man and that rag-tag bunch worked over the WAC that year The Utes went on to finish 15-1 in conference and made it to the Sweet 16. It was pure basketball genius at work.
I remember the Utah/TDS home basketball game vividly that year; I wasn’t sure how I would feel seeing both teams on the floor. Could I actually cheer against the Blue and White? The guys I’d watched win that Miracle Bowl as a kid? All those great quarterbacks? Man, I’d seen Danny Ainge make that basket against Nortre Dame. I’d gotten to know Ainge, Fred Roberts, Gregg Kite and Trevor Mattich on my mission and hooped it up with them a number of times. The first few years of my life I lived on BYU campus in married student housing with my family as my dad finished a masters degree. Would I actually be able to cheer for the U without feeling guilty about it?
Well I did, and though it was a little strange at first, I didn’t. And after that cold February night in 1991 I have NEVER looked back. Watching coach Majerus’ team disect the bluegars and all the talent they had that year (in addition to the rest of the conference) was amazing. It was a thing of beauty to watch.
And it was a ride for the rest of the decade.
Football was also gaining respectability under coach McBride. And the year I graduated — I was there when (I wish I could remember his name) kicked the 55 yard field goal to win the Holy War in the final seconds at BYU in 93. First win there since 71. Me and a Ute buddy in a sea of blue. It was AWESOME. And the years since have been fantastic and even unbelievable had you told us what would happen then..
But basketball did it for me. I loved the red faced, angry, fat, bald, man who was magic with the x’s and o’s. It was time for him to go when he did . . . but I sure as hell miss him.
GO UTES!
Yergensen!
And it WAS that game we tore down their goal post . . . nice. I couldn’t remember for sure. Thanks!
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanShots on Block U
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2010 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
