Sports Bucket List
Due to the fact that I saw the movie, “The Bucket List” for the first time this week, I decided to make my very own bucket list; sports style. These are some of the things that I would like to do before I die. I’m not going to put them in any certain order. Keep in mind that they are things I would personally like to do, not necessarily things that I suggest everyone else do. Enjoy!
1-Attend an Olympic men’s volleyball match
Volleyball is a lot of fun, it’s fast, and very exciting. Very underrated sport
2-Attend the NCAA football national championship
3-Attend the 3 games of the men’s basketball Final Four
4-Go to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field
5- Go to a Red Sox vs. Yankees game at Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium, and cheer for the Red Sox
6-Go to an LSU football game in Death Valley
Any stadium that can cause a minor earthquake when their team scores a touchdown, is definitely worth seeing. Plus LSU is my favorite SEC team.
7-Go to a Men’s Basketball game at Cameron Indoor Stadium
I’ve always liked Duke, and any arena that only holds 8,000 people and still scares the heck out of opponents has got to be a good time.
8-Go to a Utah vs. USC football game in the Coliseum
I don’t like USC, but there is a lot of history there. Utah is going to be playing there every other year now as well.
9-Get courtside tickets to a Utah Jazz playoff game
10-Get sideline passes to a University of Utah vs. BYU football game at Rice Eccles Stadium
11-Attend a Flamengo game in Rio de Janeiro in Maracana.
Brazilian soccer fans are NUTS, plus that stadium holds 120,000 screaming fans
12-Go to a Brazil national team soccer game at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil
Everything you hear about Brazil during the world cup is true. The place stops. I’ve never seen a place as depressed and sad as when they lost against Holland this last year. I’ve also never seen a place get as passionate for a team as the Brazilians did
13-Go to a World Series game
14- Go to a Super Bowl
15-Go to ANY Boise State game and cheer against them
I’ve never liked them and I think it would be crazy fun to cheer against them. I went to their game against Utah State in 2007 in E.L. Romney Stadium, but I don’t think you could really call that a game. USU lost 59-0.
17-Go to a game of the Dream team in the Olympics
I saw them once in ’96 when Stockton and Malone were still on the team against Australia in what is formerly known as the Delta Center. I wasn’t old enough to appreciate it though.
18-Go to every University of Utah football game 1 year, home and away
19-Go to a UCLA basketball game at Pauley Pavilion
20-Drive a Zambonie at an intermission of a hockey game.
This week has been dubbed around the country as, “Rivalry Week”. Most of the traditional big rivals will be playing this week in college football. There will be the Bedlam Game in Oklahoma (between OU, and OSU. Should be interesting considering that both teams are ranked in the top 15 for the first time since who knows when.), Michigan vs. Ohio State (shouldn’t be nearly as fun, because Michigan’s defense is horrible, and they aren’t playing very good football), The Iron Bowl between Bama and Auburn (always a classic. A lot of hate in this one. Auburn is trying to keep it’s N.C. appearance hopes alive, and Bama is arguably the best 2 loss team in the nation), Texas vs. Texas A&M, the Battle for the Golden Boot between LSU and Arkansas as well (both teams in top 12, LSU is playing for the chance at an appearance in Atlanta for the SEC championship game); however the big game this week for me, is the “Holy War” between the Runnin’ Utes, and BYU.
1st off I’d like to say that this game isn’t a “Holy War”. BYU vs. TCU, SMU, or Notre Dame is a Holy War. In my opinion, the game should just be called the “Battle for the Beehive Boot” or somewhere along those lines. The U. isn’t a religious institution, therefore it doesn’t make sense to dub the rivalry a “holy” one. BYU fans would definitely agree that Utah fans aren’t holy as well. Just ask Max Hall or Austin Collie
Something that also bugs me about this rivalry, is the lack of national attention and respect that it gets. I recently read on a respected sports website that this is the best in-state rivalry there is. He wrote that the rivalry is huge, it just doesn’t get any respect from outside the state of Utah, which I would have to agree with. There is a lot of passion, energy, emotion, and (sadly enough) hate in this rivalry. People from around the nation just don’t care though for a couple of reasons. They don’t care because (for now) both teams are playing in the cupcake Mountain West conference. They also don’t care because Utah isn’t a traditional football state. Utah for a long time was known for putting up great basketball teams, and mediocre football teams. Now the tides have turned a bit, it just seems like the national tide is not recognizing it.
I’ve wrote about this game before, various times actually. I always love when “Rivalry Week” rolls around. This time it’s coming around on Thanksgiving weekend. I’m very excited to be home for the big game this weekend. My house truly becomes a house divided on Rivalry Week, and even more so this week. There will be the heated Madden Bowl against A-Town; a turkey day tradition between my older brother and I. Also, there is the huge BYU vs. Utah game. The winner will get a bid to the not-so-important Las Vegas bowl this year against the 5th place team from the Pac-10. I’m very excited for this game this year because it seems like the fans (mostly from one side of the rivalry which I will not name) have been exceptionally obnoxious this year. I’ve been saying for weeks now that neither team should, or even could trash talk, because they are both beating up on the same teams that have losing records. After this weekend, let the trash talk start.
Some of my best sporting memories, great moments and traditions have come from this game. 34-31, Utah using BYU for its launching pad into the BCS two times, Kaneshiro goes off the upright, Harline breaks Utah’s heart in the endzone, overtime wins, backup quarterbacks stepping in to win the game, 4th quarter comebacks, Max Hall throwing 5 interceptions in 1 game, and lots of trash talk. 7 of the last 10 games have been decided by a touchdown or less, and 2 of them in Overtime This time around, there is no doubt as to who has had the better season. BYU has just gotten hot at the right time. An announcer for the Mtn. said that he thinks that BYU is playing as well as anyone in the conference, INCLUDING TCU. 1st off, I agree BYU is playing a lot better than they were before, 2nd off BYU is nowhere NEAR TCU. Not even close! BYU fans are now hallucinating that their team is one of the best in the nation, just as Utah fans were when they played, and smashed all these 1 or 2 win bo didilee schools. BYU has a longer winning streak, and Utah is coming off 2 huge letdowns, and 1 emotional (and classic) come from behind victory in San Diego where Jordan Wynn finally re-hit his stride.
When I think of this game, there are a couple of huge elements that are going to play against BYU. The crowd at Rice-Eccles stadium in my opinion is one of the best in the nation. That place is one of the most underrated stadiums, and home-field advantages in the western half of the U.S. That being said, home-field hasn’t mattered a whole lot in this rivalry. BYU has won quite a bit in Salt Lake recently. But we also have to take into consideration that BYU will be playing with Jake Heaps at quarterback. Jake Heaps hasn’t played in, or even thought of a game of this stature in his life. It will be interesting to see how he does with the crowd noise, and with his poise. If he can keep his composure BYU will have a much better chance. If.
Utah also has a couple of things going against them. Utah’s pass defense has been horrible lately. It’s been one of the worst in the nation. BYU’s passing offense has been almost impeccable recently too. Jake Heaps looked like a 10 year old Pop Warner quarterback earlier this season. In the first 6 games of the season he had only 1 touchdown pass, and 4 picks. In the last 3 he is yet to throw an interception.
Both teams has a lot going for them, and have a lot going against them. Utah was definitely overrated earlier this season, and in all honesty, I think that BYU is overrated now. Which teams will show up this Saturday at Rice Eccles? I can’t gurantee anything. But my prediction is Jake Heaps getting really messed up with his communication, and the noise at R.E.S., Utah’s defense making some big plays, and Utah pulls out the victory 34 BYU 27.
WE’LL FIGHT FOR DEAR OLE CRIMSON FOR A U-TAH MAN AM I!!!!!!!!! GO UTES!!!!!
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