Has the 'Holy War' Become An Unholy Mess?

You know the Holy War I am talking about... right? The yearly battle between Utah's Running Utes and the Cougars of BYU. It is one of the truly great rivalries of college football and deserves to be so. But has the whole competition situation between the two schools, state and religious just become far too uncivil and discordant? Many think so and yearn for the years where it was much more good-natured and friendly.

I think the best international rivalry is between the sports fans of Australia and New Zealand. In most instances the meeting of the fans during the game, and I mean any games, whether, rugby, league or cricket, is intense but happy. At the end, you usually find both sets in the same pub, having a beer together. That's the way it should be, a good hard-fought game, and lots of fun for both teams' followers later on.

I remember clearly, former BYU quarterback Max Hall, now playing for the Arizona Cardinals famously saying, "I don't like Utah. In fact, I hate them. I hate everything about them. I hate their program, their fans. I hate everything,". The year before apparently, Utah fans had poured beer on members of his family. Neither incident is endearing and plainly not the stuff from which legends are made. I hope it's better this year and in the many seasons to come. I also hope for a Utes win, coz I bleed red too.

Definition of Slaughter

Slaughter
–noun

1. The extensive, violent, bloody, or wanton destruction of life; carnage.
2. The act of killing cattle or other beasts for market.
3. What Texas Christian University did to the University of Utah football team on Saturday, November 6, 2010 at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The Utes on the other hand, went as lambs, to the slaughter!
   

Go Utes! My choice of shirt ruffles a few BYU feathers

I wore my bright red University of Utah Running Utes polo shirt today. Not to cause any ruckus amongst my friends and colleagues, but simply because it was the first shirt in my closet and I was getting dressed in the dark this morning so as not to awaken my sleeping sweetheart. It was certainly not my intention to broadcast a blood red statement on the current state of Ute football compared to that of Brigham Young University on a Monday morning.

However, it seems to have gotten under the skin of a couple of my colleagues who graduated from BYU. They have been telling me all day long that the Utes aren't that great, and that BYU is 1-3 due to the fact that they have the 5th hardest schedule for September in the whole country. This assumes I am interested in excuses! Hahahahaha. They forget that I vote for BYU as long as they not playing my Utes, so my perfect Mountain West season record is: University of Utah 12-0, Brigham Young University 11-1, and everyone else can go fly a kite. I'd even be perfectly happy with Utah playing BYU for the national championship.

Still, every now and then I get an evil little grin on my face. This is because I listen intently to the little red devil sitting on my shoulder who is always telling me to stir my BYU buddies. Who am I not to take a perfectly good opportunity to crank up the heat. Right? I really should be a lot more mature, shouldn't I?