March Gladness

It started a 9 a.m. with me, my friend Matt, two donuts and half a jug of orange juice.

13 hours, 16 games and one fantastic buzzer-beater later, it was over.

Regrets? None whatsoever.

With the day off work, a projection screen at my disposal and my laptop ready to spring into action when I needed a new game to watch, I sat down on the couch and perfectly executed a marathon of college basketball viewing.

The best part of the day was the first game on the docket, thanks to Jimmer Fredette and this guy.

What a relief for Cougar nation.

What a shame that I'll be back on the clock for Friday's first round games.

When keepin' it real goes wrong

Boys and girls, this is Max.

Max likes to play football, and he's pretty good at it too.

But one day, in an important game, Max did not play well. He made some mistakes (six to be exact), and his team lost.

People teased Max about his poor play and said hurtful things about his family.

Max was sad, and frustrated.

The next time Max got to play in this important game, he played a little better, and his team won the game.

But instead of being a good sport, Max lost control.

"I don't like Utah. In fact, I hate them. I hate everything about them."

"I hate their program. I hate their fans. I hate everything. So, it feels good to send those guys home. They didn't deserve it. It was our time, and it was our time to win. We deserved it. We played as hard as we could tonight, and it felt really good to send them home and to get them out of here, so it is a game I'll always remember."

"I think the whole university and their fans and organization is classless. They threw beer on my family and stuff last year and did a whole bunch of nasty things. I don't respect them, and they deserve to lose."

Max learned an important lesson that day: Nobody likes people who get even, and then get mad.

Thanks for the memories Max. We'll be talking about them for years to come.

26-23. What a George-ous ending.

Rivalry week

There are certain times I miss living in Utah more than others. This week is the toughest of them all, and it has little to do with turkey, stuffing, or pumpkin pie.

It's Rivalry Week.

Cougars vs. Utes. Blue vs. Red. Team Down South vs. Team Up North. Good vs. Evil. BYU vs. Utah.

In a perfect world, all I'd have to say next is "let the smack talk games begin" and off we'd go, but I'm no longer competent in that area. Apparently there are disadvantages to distancing one's self from Ute fans. (Burn.)

I can offer up the standard "Why doesn't the University of Utah place a nativity scene on campus during the holidays?" type jokes, but those belong with my high school diploma - stuffed away in a storage box. We all deserve better.

Bringing religion into the discussion is tired and lame too (unless you're a Ute fan). See? Is it part of what makes our rivalry great? Absolutely. But does either side want to rehash the false gospel of Austin over and over? I hope not. We all know Pres. Monson was a Utah Man in his heyday, and no self-respecting Rise and Shouter would ever describe their school as "the Lord's University," so let's file that line of thought away with the diploma.

What I'm hoping for is some creative, solid, concrete, get-my-competitive-juices-flowing, bulletin-board material from my audience. Got a haiku about how Jordan Wynn must lose? Let's hear it. Photoshop mockery of Max Hall and Dennis Pitta? I wanna see it. Stats and facts about K-Whitt and Bronco? Bring it on. Legendary quotes? Actually, I can start that one out with my all-time favorite.

"Typical Utah bull (expletive). All those (Utes) think that's all there is to life. But when I'm making $50,000- $60,000 a year, they'll be pumping my gas. They're low-class losers." -Lenny Gregory aka Lenny Gomes, 1994

Nothing would make me prouder this week than to sit down the Thanksgiving table and pronounce "I'm thankful for smack talk because I'm more excited about Saturday's game because of it."

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1. There are certain advantages that come with living in Yuma. My commute to finding shorts-approved temperatures, GREEN grass and open tee times in November is roughly 5 minutes.

When I figure out what the other advantages are, I'll be sure to let you know about them too.

2. For those who don't know the difference between smack talk and trash talk, Kelly Kapoor is here to help.

3. The answer to nativity joke: because the aren't three wise men and a virgin at the U.

Texas-sized win

This wouldn't be my blog if I didn't share some thoughts about one of the biggest wins in the history of BYU football.

The good:

- Defense. Who saw that coming? The Cougs didn't look like a team in need of team speed one bit. They scared OU's line into a ton of false starts, hit hard, created confusion, and that goal-line stand was top notch. (Don't blame the Oklahoma backup QB for the delay of game either. Go back and watch. That one's on their fullback.) Oklahoma never put BYU's corners to the test with a deep route, so the jury's still out on them, but give the game ball to the new defensive coordinator for doing the lion's share of the work for Saturday's win.

- Bryan Kariya. It takes a special kind of player to step into the spotlight, make plays, avoid a big mistake and not draw added attention to yourself. Kariya may not want to be a star, but he's not going to have a choice in the post-Harvey Unga years.

- BYU's offensive line. Untested. Patchwork. Second string. Call them whatever you want, but don't call them ineffective. By the time we play TCU, this group will be solid.

- The game-winning drive. Just a thing of beauty. Great 3rd and 4th-down play calls. BYU put the game in Max Hall's hands and let him go to work with Pitta. When those two are the subjects of a Mel Kiper NFL Draft piece, the video highlights will come from that drive.

The bad:

- Mitch Payne. At some point in the season every good team needs its kicker to come through, and I'm scared for BYU when that moment comes. Not only was that second FG attempt atrocious, but all of his kickoffs were short, and hitting that last kick OB is inexcusable. 

- Hall's first three quarters. Hall said it was a long offseason, but it obviously wasn't long enough for him to learn when and where to take a risk with those two INTs. Hopefully the real Max Hall is the one who emerged when his team needed him most.

The good and the bad:

- It's the first game of the season.  No one will remember the Sam Bradford injury by next year, so this win boosts BYU's national credibility in the big picture. In the small picture, the only way to make this win count for something in 2009 is to win the next 11 games. It's TOTALLY possible, but after the "Quest for Perfection" debacle I'm trying to keep my expectations moderate and just enjoy each game as it comes.

- - - - - - - 

I can't lie. I was a little subdued about the win at first. As soon as the game was over, all I could think was "this comes with a big qualifier." Much to my surprise, BYU seems to be taking very little flack in the nation's eyes for beating Oklahoma "without Bradford," and ultimately I've decided to look at it like this:

- Injuries are part of the game. It's not like Bradford went out on a cheap shot or a personal foul or some bad-luck situation. Isn't the point of defense to hit guys as hard as you can, even to the point of knocking them out of the game (in a non-malicious way, of course)? 

- Considering the state of the game at the time of Bradford's injury, this came became less of a chance to pull of a huge upset and more of an opportunity to prove it belongs among the elite programs in the nation and can be worthy of a BCS bid. And if Sam Bradford isn't on this team to start the season, Oklahoma's still ranked ahead of BYU in the preseason poll, so in that respect its an upset win - on the road, mind you.

-The only thing to expect in season openers is the unexpected. Reporting on high school football for the past five years has given me some great perspective in this area. 

In other words, Thank you and congrats to Bronco and the boys in blue. 

(Interesting side note: One of the stories I read pointed out that Hall already had helmet stickers. I thought those were given out for in-game achievements only.)