Reader comments
Dick Harmon: Utah fans fuel the fire behind heated rivalry
457 comments | Read story
When was the last time a national champion beat a 6-4 team for the title? If all things equal my prediction the 84-Y does not make the BCS title game
I do you dem apples.
>>Rather than thumping their chests, the Utes should be humbly acknowledging the vagaries of good luck.<<
Shoulda, woulda, coulda, didn't, darnit.
The U's been lucky and BYU has been what?
The Mendenhalls have dodged more bullets than Keanu in the Matrix trilogy. But, I suppose it is a sign of their Righteous living? Please.
Its attitudes like this disaplyed by most if not all BYU fans that annoys Utes fan and hastens milks transition to sour cream.
I was at that game two years ago, and there wasn't complete silence. There was a team of crazed Cougars storming the field in all directions, including a coach who portrays himself as a robot with no emotion. Also a group of BYU fans running onto the field to celebrate."
Don't pretend you were there when you weren't.
There was a slice of BYU fans in the SW visitors seats that were screaming, but the sound was quickly muted by the blasting quiet of the Utah fans.
They did not storm the field.
The Ute fandom was SILENT. Looking opening their mouths as if to speak, but no sound coming out, except the loaded Ute fan next to me, red sweatshirt, cowboy boot, mullet and all who about every two minutes would yell out "You beter be careful what you wish for!!!" (yep, didn't make sense there either). Otherwise, nothing, just a blank stare and a glazed look.
I was there (not the Ute pretend there). I know what it was like. Imagine all these boards with silly Ute posts just disappearing. It was like that.
The argument of your post has been conceeded, the Utah fans were stunned and disappointed, almost as much as when a back up QB named Ratliff scorched the Cougsand the mighty Jon Beck for 41 points at LES in his first career start, but I regress.
The point being brought to attention in the article is that to your clan this game means little more than last weeks game vs. Air Force, yet means the world to the Utes. If you'll kindly grab a copy of the Harline catch from You Tube you can watch the glee and histeria as your Cougs STORM the field after winning a game that supposedly means little to them. Then again in 2007 as your crowd STORMS the field to carry off Brian Keil.
The silly posts on this board are from disillusioned Cougar fans who cannot acknowledge their reality. Come Saturday Utah will have 2 BCS trips, BYU 4 Vegas Bowl trips. Nuff said.
Sorry, no playstation (I have a life).
Reality is what it is.
The Cougars are going DOWN on Saturday. Have fun in our house where you don't have to sneak in a real Diet Coke. Enjoy.
GO UTES!
The Lord is a Utah fan this year! The Church is true and so is the U! Down with BYU!
Great, we finally agree. Reality is what it is. 12-0 equals "True Quest For Perfection Attained", 10-2 equals Vegas Bowl, again."
12-0, 10-2 is reality?
Ute logic at work.
Are the Utes 12-0 next year also?
Why not 13-0 with a NC, or even 14-0, after Utah beats the Superbowl champion and becomes King Overlords of the Universe?
Has Utah ever lost a game in the Utah Man, sir's, minds?
"I for one are soooooo glad you are pro byu and anti Utah."
I for one are sooooo.....? I for one AM sooooo glad Dick Harmon knows how to write.
Wow, imagine a BYU fan saying the same thing.
I received a BS degree from the U of U. and didn't know much about the "Y", except the vitriol I heard from students, most of whom were from Utah and lived with their parents.
I then attended the Y and received a PhD. While there I actually heard little about the U, except when we played them in football or basketball. But, for the most part, it was normal rivalry sort of stuff. There was no vitriol or venom.
After 30 years, I have just moved back to Utah. I am amazed at the real bitterness that seems to exist among U fans. I can't figure it out. Maybe most still live with their parents!
P.S. To those of you who have posted here who are over 9 years old and have IQs above single digit: Thanks. To the rest of you ... why not read a book, take a class, get a life?
2008 Football Records, 11-23-2008
Utah 12-0, after defeating the mighty Cougars. Headed for the Sugar bowl to play current #1 Alabama and earn more money for one game than BYU has earned in every bowl game in their history combined. Don't worry, we always look after our little brothers down south and will share some of that, just like in 04.
BYU 10-2, after losing at RES. Headed for the Vegas Bowl versus a very average Pac-10 team, but at least it should be a win. "Quest" denied, dreams crushed, delusional fans back in Vegas where the "Quest" began last year. I'd say start a new "Quest" for 2009 but that potential game versus OK sort of squashed that didn't it!
Every college fan, with the exception of a few Utah homers, knows that.
The calibre of teams that BYU competed against in 1984 are the same calibre teams that Utah competed against in 2004.
1984 Final AP Top 10
1 BYU
2 Washington
3 Florida
4 Nebraska
5 Boston College
6 Oklahoma
7 Oklahoma State
8 SMU
9 UCLA
10 USC
2004 Final AP Top 10
1 USC
2 Auburn
3 Oklahoma
4 Utah
5 Texas
6 Louisville
7 Georgia
8 Iowa
9 California
10 Virginia Tech
The same can't be said of the teams Utah faced when it won most of its conference championships from 1900 to 1962, and the teams BYU and Utah faced in the WAC and MWC conferences, when BYU won all of its conference championships.
1912 Rocky Mountain Conference - 5-1-1, 4-1
1 of 5 conference games on the road
*Wyoming
*Denver
at *Colorado Mines
Montana
at Colorado
*Colorado College
*Utah State
BYU's first conference championship:
1965 Western Athletic Conference - 6-4, 4-1
4 of 5 conference games on the road
at *Arizona St.
Kansas St.
at Oregon
San Jose St.
at *Wyoming
at Utah St.
*Utah (H)
Colorado St.
at *Arizona
at *New Mexico
Nobody could reasonably argue that Arizona and Arizona State weren't considerably more difficult opponents than Denver and Colorado Mines.
Sorry, but what exactly don't you understand? Not sure I can dumb it down any further, but I'll give it a try.
2008 Football Records, 11-23-2008
Utah 12-0, after defeating the mighty Cougars."
Try dumbing it down for me just a step further.
How do you know who wins the game this Saturday?
Teach me, master of the unknown.
How funny you will all look after the game, red sweatshirts that smell like mothballs and cheap tequilla, as you open your mouths, and no sound come out. Remember, your mommies have all of your rooms all decorated in red with a big U on your beds so you can have a nice rest.
Getting your heart torn out by your rivals is going to be tough. Especially after all of your lame trash talk. It will be sweet at 00:00 to hear the cougar fight song played.
Google it buddy, happened in 1999.
I am sure that its all hugs and high fives leading up to Michigan vs. Ohio State or Notre Dame vs. USC. Come on Dick and Jan! Football is a man's game. Man up. Deal with the chatter.
But TCU was manhandled by Okalahoma, you say. Anyone care to venture a guess how either the Utes or the Cougars would have done against the Sooners.
1984 when BYU beat a 6-6 Michigan Team. So let's not act like Michigan and Pitt are any different
I understand that money talks and that the majority of your readers are cougar fans, but when you are so ignorantly one sided it amazes the few people that aren't cougar fans and causes them to never read your stories again. At least try not to look so obviously one sided, leave that to the opinion section.
One thing I like is that once the U started to load their team up with returned LDS missionaries, like BYU, their record improved markedly--especially against BYU. That must be a real bitter-sweet thought for the many loyal U fans who hate the LDS church--and use this game as an excuse to give voice to their religious hatred....
(For those surprised to learn, or say "ah hah" when they find evidence, that Harmon has a blue bias, well, sorry, I can't help you out other than to tell you to stay out of the Cash cab-you won't do well. They don't ask questions where the answer is obvious to everyone.) I hope this is a high scoring game--more fun to watch.
I have been to Football & basketball games at both schools. Quite frankly, Fans @ the Marriott Center are the worst of all 4 venues.
When in Jr High & HS, I attended a numerous games @ LES (in the S End Zone no less) which influenced my decision where to attend college. Needless to say, I spent 4 years dodging bikers around the Olpin Union Bldg. Popcorn popping... and Rise & Shout are tied for 2nd of my all time favorite songs... everything else (Even Country) is tied for 1st.
Provo Girl; I dare you to go into your Husbands Priesthood meeting in say February and see if you can differentiate between Red & Blue. I'll bet ya you can't.
Simply put, There are fools clad in both red & blue. Its all a matter of perception & what you will not tolerate.
It'd be one of these Bay area schools that is the Harvard of the West not the Y as some repressed people here in Zion erroneously believe.
The best part about this article trying to paint BYU fans as non-haters, is all the hateful comments that their fans have posted after it :)
As a Utah fan living in Provo, I've seen way more "hate" then you could handle Dick, ever since BYU took that fateful trip to Texas. Somehow every coug fan I know made that game about Utah.
Passion? Animosity? You think these don't exist in both valleys?
It's a rivalry Dick. That's what makes it so dang fun. Sometimes it gets taken a little to far, like when a coug fan jumps the fence to attack a Ute cheerleader maybe ;) but it goes both ways, and smart football fans on both sides know this.
I looked around (I was in the Y section thinking that I might go there) at about 65,000 fans with their eyes glazed over in shame. The Y players stopped playing and lost after the beat down. I also made my decision.
Weak sauce. Keep living in the past
Add your comment
Comments are monitored. Any comments found to be abusive, offensive, off-topic, misrepresentative, more than 200 words or containing URLs will not be posted.
E-mail address: For internal use only. We may want to contact you to publish your comment (not your e-mail address) in the newspaper or for a separate story idea.
- Orlando forward Matt Barnes fined 2:26 p.m.
- Black Friday store spending up 2:13 p.m.
- Man dies in dirt bike crash 2:06 p.m.
- Gamecocks top No. 15 Clemson 1:51 p.m.
- A naturally 'green' Christmas 1:42 p.m.
- AP: Iverson retirement may be brief 1:26 p.m.
- Case made for strong Fed role 1:15 p.m.
- Vonn fails to qualify for 2nd run 1:00 p.m.
- 911 tapes of Woods' crash on Sun. 12:53 p.m.
- Zardari turns over nuclear authority 12:30 p.m.
- Cave to be sealed with body inside
- Predicting the unpredictable: BYU wins
- Vegas, Poinsettia bowls or bust
- Glover gives Utes last-second upset
- Cougars turn back Wildcats'
- BYU football: 5 keys to victory
- Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
- Rivalry Week is highly profane
- Efforts to save a life praised
- BYU's old uniforms?
- BYU would like friendlier rivalry
271 - Protests against Phoenix LDS temple
214 - Thunder rolls by Jazz
136 - Letters: Rushing to judge Palin
134 - Boys basketball rankings
132 - Editorial: Poor welcome for Palin
113 - Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
111 - Cave to be sealed with body inside
109 - Letters: Trump card for believers
98 - Rivalry Week is highly profane
88
It's finally time for the game that everyone has been waiting for all...
Its finally here, the big game. No matter what the circumstances are, it...
Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. - Thomas Jefferson
"We talkin bout practice..... practice.... come on man... we talkin bout...
I agree 12:48 but I don't think we need some kind of global regulatory body...
for once in my life I actually agree with Roland Kayser. The dollar is not on...
How about we take away all the government "grant money" for a period of 3...
I think the "trade" or shopping of Boozer to other teams is dead. He's...
I don't know the family, but I will keep you in my prayers. God loves us all...
I am incredibly sorry for this family's loss, but destroying a cave to...
Utah 45 BYU 35
I like coach Whittingham. Whenever he speaks he is frotright and sensible....
What's the truth here Cougs? Do you really cherish the rivaly with Utah, hate their fans and players, and are "Fully Invested" with complete "Position Mastery" into this rivaly? Or do these games really just mean another game for you as Dick "Cougar Club Lifer" Harmon is saying? I think recent actions from your team and fans, including on this blog, have completely discredited Mr. Harmon and his attempts to downplay Saturday's matchup. Could that be a twisted plot by him to lessen the pain of defeat upcoming!!