Utah Tailgating (Yeah, It Happens)

Utah and tailgating may sound like an oxymoron, but let me tell you it happens and it's a whole lot of fun.

The tailgating lot "officially" sits in the parking lot of Guardsman Way and South Campus Drive. Where hundreds of fans clad in red, along with the occasional opponent defector, eat tons of food, and reminisce about the past Ute games.

Truly, however, tailgating takes place all over campus in every parking lot. Where I like to plop down is either at the Huntsman Center lot or at the Student Center lot eat a couple of sausages, and prepare to watch a butt kicking instituted by our boys in red.

Utah tailgating may not be in the same league as say USC, UCLA, Texas, Florida, or any SEC team for that matter. But we are miles ahead of the Cougars, where you sit around drink punch.

Anyway you look at it, Utes know how to have a good time. Before and after games.

My Favorite Utah Team

Let's face it. Utah has been playing football for over 110 years, and maybe only 20 of those years stand out as great teams. Of course you have to include the 2008 Sugar Bowl team and the 2004 Fiesta Bowl team. But what others stand out in that 110 year span? There was 1994, the first time Utah gained national recognition. Finished ranked in the top 10. And 2003, the year Urban Meyer turned all expectations around and made Utah a perennial threat.

To me personally there is only one great Utah football team, 2008. It may seem that this is only because it was the most recent successful team to gain national recognition, but no it is because I feel that I have a very special connection with that year's team.

After years of hard work I finally graduated with my Bachelor's Degree from the University of Utah in 2008. Add to that that I had several classes with some of that teams stars and I have more memories added to that year. I had a communications class with Brian Johnson (who by the way is not that bright of a guy) and a Economics class with Jason Boone just to name a few.

Beside my personal connection there are many other reasons that I love this team more than any other. For one Utah's 2004 team had much of a "white-collar" appeal. They steam-rolled every single opponent they faced all thanks to the Spread Offense. At the time no one had seen the spread offense and had no idea how to stop it. By 2008 the spread had lost it's schtick and had become quite normal, so what did Utah do to combat this problem? They turned to another current fashion and heavily instituted the Wildcat.

Aside from the adjusted offense, Utah returned to their tradition of having one of the toughest Defenses in the country. Anchored by tough as nails linebackers and safetys that patrolled centerfield waiting to poach an interception they were nearly unstoppable.

Add in that 2008 featured the head coaching duties of Kyle Whittingham and it gets better. Although Whittingham played for the rival Cougars in college, he learned the error of his ways and joined up with the Utes as an assistant in 1994, 14 years later he finally got his shot as Head Coach and has made it worth while. With his own recruits in the driver's seat Whitty is what made Utah who they are.

Drama was the name of the game in 2008. Starting with a squeaked out win in the Big House against Michigan to open the year and two incredible come from behind wins against Oregon State and TCU. We knew this was going to be a special year.

I vividly remember the Oregon State game down by 8 with 2:30 minutes left in the game, the Utes kicked into gear. Scoring a TD, and converting a two-point conversion to tie it up with about 1:30 left in the game. The D holds stronger than ever converting a three-and-out giving Utah the ball back with more than enough time. Then the most magical thing I could ever imagine occurred. 45,000+ fans all on their feet started chanting in unison "Louie, Louie, Louie." Everyone knew that the game was in the hands of star kicker Louie Sakoda. Sakoda had become the darling of the Utah football team and everyone knew he was going to win the game for us. Booting a easy-as-pie 35-yarder Sakoda won the game without an ounce of stress, resulting in the first of three field rushes that year.

Against TCU another field rush, Utah who dressed in their black uniforms for the first time ever marched down the field in the final minute to score the winning touchdown. Utah made TCU look like the weakest team in the country, which we later found out was in no way the case.

Top it all off with a blowout win over BYU to cap off the regular season it couldn't be beat. Then finally against all doubters, with no one in their corner Utah had nothing to lose against Alabama. Alabama had been ranked No. 1 for a good portion of the year, but Utah wasn't flinching. Scoring 21 unanswered points in a span of seven minutes to open the Sugar Bowl, Utah went on to win with no problems at all.

These are the reasons my favorite Utah team ever is the 2008 Sugar Bowl champion Utes.

How I became a Ute.

Being born a Canning there was no other team I could ever root for. You might say that I was born with Crimson blood coursing through my veins. Both my parents were born and raised in the Salt Lake City area (Dad in South Salt Lake, Mom in Murray), and for as long as I can remember I've been attending football games.

My parents used to buy tickets through their companies, who during the '80s would buy a block of seats at the games and sell them to their employees at a cheaper rate. Throughout the decade we watched as Utah teams got thrown around by teams, just dreaming of the day when the Utes would be big time (little did we know it would take two more decades). At the time my Dad worked for a company, Northwest Pipeline, that occupied a building in Research Park-a part of the U's property. As such we had incredible seats in the South End Zone right below the old scoreboard featuring a block U logo with a Native American's silhouette. These were the years when Rice Stadium was half full on a good day. We later were moved to the old North End Zone when my Mom got the tickets from her company National Semiconductor. This was when the North End Zone was all General Admission, and you had to get their pretty early to get a decent seat.

I've been told I was taken to Utah football games as an infant in a little red snowsuit to stay warm. Years later I would go but lost interest in the games all too quickly and by the second quarter I was either playing with my smuggled in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to keep me busy or reading the game program to learn all of the referee's hand signs. To this day I still know a large majority of the signs.

It wasn't until about third grade that I came to watch the games the whole way through. I remember Mike McCoy with a d-lineman about to tackle him throwing a bullet into the end zone to a freshman Kevin Dyson to win the Freedom Bowl. I remember Steve Smith taunting Cougar fans by stating "Even our cheerleaders are kicking your ass" when a Ute male cheerleader beat the hell out of a fan that tried to tackle him and the U flag. I remember both 34-31 wins, the first of which Chris Yergeson booted a Sakoda-like 50-yard field goal to beat BYU for the first time in years. I remember when duck calls rung throughout the stadium calling for Utah's dramatic "Duck" play. I remember when the game ball was delivered by a parachuter and when a person dressed in traditional Ute Indian garb rode across the astroturf with a flaming spear so he could stab a bail of hay on the 50 yard line.

Years later I myself finally became a true Ute in that I graduated from the University of Utah in 2008, the same year that Utah went undefeated and went to a BCS game for the second time.

My life has been filled with 25 years of Utah football memories. And I look forward to many more in the coming years.

Part of NCAA Football 11 video game's release week festivities about your favorite team.

Utah Utes to the Pac-10

It's been a while since I've posted anything on my blog. And there have been some incredible things going on in the world. Oil leaks both locally and abroad, economic woes continue, and the World Cup whipping people into a frenzy.

The biggest news, however, came about two weeks ago when the Pac-10 athletic conference invited two teams to join their ranks. The University of Colorado (at Boulder) was invited first and accepted nearly immediately, the other the greatest university in the country...THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH.

As I posted on Facebook days before the invitation was extended "Just get together already. He wants her, she wants him. Pac-10 just invite the Utes. The Utes have already rented a tux and bought the flowers."

Utah accepted the invitation just hours after it was extended, and the Utes are now set to leave the ranks of the lower tier college sports and join the prestigious ranks of the "classiest" conference in the country. It is the dream of every Ute fan to join the Pac-10, one that was thought to be far-fetched. But as is the case Dreams do come true.

So to introduce ourselves to the ranks of the Pac-10 here are the basics about our beloved Utes so that you understand, we come to party...and we won't stop partying until where handed the roses.

Name: The University of Utah

Location: Salt Lake City, Utah. Approximately 5 miles east of downtown SLC.

Founded: 1850 as the University of Deseret by Brigham Young (the irony of the fact that the former-Mormon leader founded the school and our chief rival is named after him is not lost on us).

Chief Rival: BYU, and to a lesser extent Utah State University.

Mormon?: While the majority of the state of Utah are Mormon, Salt Lake City is only about 35-40% Mormon.

Alcohol?: Oh yeah we drink, and we drink with the best of 'em. Swing by our tailgate parties and you'll see that we mean business.

Nickname: Utes, after the Native American tribe that lived in the mountains around SLC. The state's name Utah is also derived from the tribe meaning "people of the mountains."

Sensitivity?: The University of Utah has an agreement with the Ute Tribe that states the school may use the name as long as they do not disgrace it.

Stadiums: Football: Rice-Eccles Stadium-seats 45,000; Basketball: Jon M. Huntsman Center-seats 15,000; Baseball: Spring Mobile Ballpark-seats 15,000.

Famous Alumi: NFL - Alex Smith, Scott Mitchell, Steve Smith, & Jamal Anderson. NBA - Andrew Bogut, Keith Van Horn, Andre Miller, Tom Chambers, Michael Doleac, & Hanno Mottola.

The Way Too Early Utah Football Notes

Today the Utes held the annual Red-White spring football game up at ol' RES. A chance for fans to get a glimpse of this years boys in red, and a chance for the seldom played boys to strut their stuff on the field. If was a good day, other than starting QB Jordan Wynn going down on the second play with a suspected separated shoulder.

I've been going to the spring games pretty regularly for the last few years and they have never been this popular. Only the chair seats on the west side of the stadium were available to sit at but the entire section was full of fans. There were spring game in the past where only 100 fans (if that) showed up. I was quite impressed with Utah Fans' enthusiasm for this team.

While very few of the stars played much, the backups made their time count. The coaches son, Tyler Whittingham, even got his named called a handful of times. I was impressed with the showings of Freshman QB Griff Robles who threw a couple of bombs for touchdowns, as well as the new corp of linebackers who are looking to fill some big shoes.

I'm now officially excited for the real season to kickoff on Sept. 2. My worries, while still there, are less severe. Utah will once again have a strong football team. One that will challenge for supremacy in the Mountain West Conference.

So for the first time in 2010...GO UTES!!! I know this won't be the last time.

Stay Classy Utah!

In an age where it seems that people are all about themselves it's extremely nice to know that there are some classy people out there still.

At November 7's University of Utah football game I saw several instances of class, before during and after the game. After the traditional national anthem and the band lining the sidelines awaiting the Utes' entrance hundreds of young football players from around the Salt Lake Valley gathered on the field. The problem was there were far too many kids and the line started at about midfield and wound it's way through the north end zone and nearly exiting the stadium through the northwest exit.

Eventually the Utes ran onto the field in traditional fashion, pumping up the crowd capacity crowd. The team then lined up and high-fived all of the kids in line waiting to greet them. However, with the line being so long the team greeted the kids leading up to the end zone as far as they could leaving a large line still wanting to greet them. As soon as starting safety Robert Johnson saw the other kids being left out he quickly ran the entire length greeting each and every one of them. He was followed by running back Eddie Wide, and Stephenson Sylvester. These three Utes made those kids' day by just taking the time to high-five them. While they knew they had a game to play, the players acknowledged their fans.

These are the same players that as the rush the field before every game they sprint to the north end zone and raise their U's to the crowd, a favor that we are glad to return.

During the game, Utah was thoroughly beating New Mexico with their new starting freshman at quarterback, Jordan Wynn. With a sound lead the Coach Wittingham pulled his starters and inserted the entire second string, including Terrence Cain the team's starting quarterback every other game this season. Although Cain is no longer the starter for the team he is more than willing to help out his team by rooting them on from the sidelines and signaling in plays.

As the score tallied higher for the Utes, they did the classy thing and did not pile on the points (something Bronco and the Cougars could learn). They understood the Lobos are a team that is struggling and didn't humiliate them like BYU tends to do to their opponents.

Classy and Utes, two words that belong together and rightfully so. Keep up the good work boys!

Bang The Gong, Let's Get It On!

Who am I, Sir? A UTAH MAN AM I.

It has been well documented by now that I bleed Red and White. I am what many people would call a Utah Fanatic. I can name hundreds of players that have donned the crimson jersey, I can remember the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. I've been known to shed a tear when the team loses, and I've been known to feel great pride when they win.

I've been to far too many football games to count. Since infancy I have been going with my family. When I was 5 I would lug in a backpack of Ninja Turtles to play with at the game, little did I know but my dad would hide a six-pack of beer under the Turtles and let me sneak it in.

I used to sit in the stands and practice the referee hand signals, to this day I know them all even the very obscure signals that you never see used.

As I write this we are only 22 hours away from the kick-off of the season. A season of hope, a season of rebuilding, and most importantly a season of definition.

In the last decade the Utes have rewritten the definition of who the University of Utah is. Before 2000, few people knew about the diamond in the rough that is the U of U. Sure Utah had a few brushes with greatness prior to the new millennium but nothing substantial. That has all changed. Utah is now a powerhouse known around the country as a team to not take lightly.

No matter what the next few months tell us about this year's Utes team, I will be there cheering them on. I will forever be waiting for the day when Utah is mentioned in the same breath as other National Champions.

Because after all a Utah Man Am I....GO UTES!

The Fountain, The Boot, and The Bell

The football season is now a mere month away, and everything is starting to charge up for the University of Utah. For months now I have been eagerly awaiting the start of the new season, pondering the questions that were left unanswered from last year's epic season.

Who will quarterback the Utes? Junior College-transfer Terrence Cain or semi-proven two-year backup Corbin Louks.

How long will the longest winning streak in the country last for Utah? Currently sitting at 14.

I'm sure the answers to these and many more will be answered in the coming weeks and months. But in my search to quench my thirst of red I turned to a Google search. I simply typed in University of Utah Drum and Feather hoping to find a little information about the famed logo of the athletic program.

After sifting through pages of useless information I learned a little about the logo as well as more interesting things about Utah Athletics through the years.

The Bell.

Apparently the winner of an annual battle between Utah and Denver University was awarded an old Rio Grande Railroad bell.

For many years the bell was lost thought to be the victim of a forgotten time. A year ago it was found at a LDS church camp near Eden, Utah. According to the article it is not known how the bell ended up in Eden.

The bell is weathered and beat up thanks to years of abuse (I'll make the guess it was Utah haters), but it rightfully belongs at the U as the winner of the final Utah-Denver game. Utah Athletic Director Chris Hill needs to claim the bell and bring it home.

Think about it how awesome would it be to hear the old bell ringing after a win, while it hung from the top of Rice-Eccles Stadium.

The Boot.

As any true college football fan knows The Beehive Boot is a traveling trophy awarded annually to the football team that holds the best record among the other in-state colleges. For years I thought this only included Utah and BYU, a while ago I learned that Utah State is included in the fray. But today I learned that Weber State and Southern Utah are also eligible to win the old Boot.

Now I like that all five schools are included in the great rivalry, even though Weber and SUU have never won the trophy due to rarely playing the other schools, but I think it takes something away from the Utah-BYU rivalry.

Major rivalries across the country have their own often strange trophies. Ranging from Paul Bunyon's Axe to The Old Iron Skillet they are all icons of their respective rivalries. I think it is time for Utah and BYU to have their own traveling trophy that only they can win.

My suggestion: The bell from the U.S.S. Utah. The ship was sunk during the attack on Pearl Harbor and the bell is one of the only things recovered from the ship. It would add a necessary historical connection that is sorely needed in the rivalry.

The Fountain of Ute.

If you've ever driven past Rice-Eccles Stadium I'm sure you've noticed the old brick building sitting just off of 500 South in the stadium parking lot, this is the Fountain of Ute.

Originally it was a water well used to wet the whistles of those on campus, but over the course of 40 years it has taken on a great mystique. The story goes that in the '50s and '60s the small building was used as a laboratory for the U's biology department. The lucky students that used the lab were also some of Utah's best student athletes.

The decade of the '60s was possible the best ever for athletics at the U (not counting the current decade). Men's Basketball took two trips to the NCAA Final Four, Baseball advanced to the national tournament, and Football enjoyed a Liberty Bowl win and a #14 ranking.

Rumor has it that coaches from the various sports would use the Fountain to fill up the team water coolers for game days. When the students, known as the "Rad Red Scientists," graduated it was said the students locked the building and hid the key somewhere on campus in hopes that someday the athletic department would find it and become great again. Former basketball coach Jack Gardner sent everyone he could out looking for the key only to come up empty.

Now here is the really good part of the story.

When Urban Meyer was hired on as head coach of the football team he was told the legend of the Fountain of Ute. Meyer himself with the help of his staff and team supposedly spent the Summer of 2004 searching the campus for the key, the story never said if Meyer found it. However, the story said that an invoice for a locksmith was found in his desk when he left Utah in 2005. If the legend of the Fountain is true then Meyer either found the key or picked the lock and got to the water. As we all know, 2004 was the year Utah first went undefeated and broke into the BCS.

The story also said Meyer took the key with him to Florida but made a copy for his successor, Kyle Whittingham. My thought is there is every possibility in the world that the story is true, but then again it could be just one incredible legend.

Top 10 Moments in University of Utah Sports History

10. I apologize for not remembering this player's name but a Utah runningback high stepping across the 50-yard line avoiding Wyoming DB's enroute to a 70-something yard touchdown in the late 1980's.

9. Mike McCoy's last second touchdown to then-Freshman Kevin Dyson to win the Freedom Bowl.

8. The Duck. It hasn't been used in about 10 years, but it is the most epic play ever used on a football field. Consisting of a Center and a Quarterback on one end of the field with eight linemen offset on the opposite hashmark and one reciever/runningback behind them. Back in the day in "Rice" Stadium you would hear fans squealing duck calls to urge on the play.

7. 34 - 31, Does more need to be said?

6. Perennial Mountain West doormat, the Utes' 2009 baseball team drops the opening game of the conference tournament to powerhouse TCU then subsequently beats all three of the conference's top teams, (BYU, San Diego State, and TCU twice) to capture the school's first conference baseball crown and first trip to the NCAA baseball tournament in 40 years.

5. BYU's Max Hall completely falls apart and turns the ball over six times in the second half the 2008 Holy War game.

4. The Hook and Ladder. The originally BCS Busters, the 2004 Utes, put the exclamation point on a perfect season in the Fiesta Bowl.

3. 2008 Utes drop 21 unanswered points on the highly ranked Alabama Crimson Tide in the Sugar Bowl.

2. With star Michael Doleac fouled out, Junior Andre Miller steps up and beats a North Carolina squad with several future NBA All-Stars in overtime to send the Utes to the NCAA Championship Game.

1. Trailing nearly the entire game Utah scores 11 point in just over two minutes to beat Oregon State in 2008. A drive that included a Freddie Brown touchdown, a Brian Johnson bootleg for the two-point conversion, the biggest defensive four-and-out ever, and the most epic of all a 35-yard Louie Sakoda game winning field goal with two seconds left all the while 46,000 rabid fans chant "LOUIE, LOUIE."

Honorable Mention: More funny than great. Large defensive end Paul Kruger picks up a fumble and sees nothing but end zone in front of him, but stumbles over his own feet enroute.

Honorable Mention #2: Moments before the 2008 Holy War, BYU attempts to start the "Haka." Brian Johnson and the rest of the team gets in the kitty's faces and stops them cold, while the stadium chants "NOT IN OUR HOUSE!"

University of Utah National Champions (Originally Posted on January 3, 2009)

As you obviously know by now, the University of Utah football team completed their season on Friday evening by soundly beating a highly touted Alabama team. Currently ranked No. 6 in the country, Utah rightly deserves at shot at the National Title.

With the winner of the "BCS Championship Game" guaranteed the top spot in the Coach's Poll that leaves one open spot atop the Associated Press' completely independent poll.

This season Utah has:
1 - Most notably went 13-0.
2 - Became the first and only team in the BCS era (1998-present) to complete two undefeated season, 2004 and 2008.
3 - Beat five nationally ranked teams (Alabama, BYU, TCU, Oregon State, and Michigan, albeit before we knew how bad the Wolverines were).
4 - Beat two Top 10 teams (Alabama and TCU).
5 - Beat the only team able to defeat Southern California (Oregon State).
6 - Won outright the third best football conference in the country.
7 - Held and ran the table on the eighth most difficult schedule in the country.
8 - Beat an Alabama team that held the No. 1 ranking for five consecutive weeks.
AND
9 - IS THE ONLY UNDEFEATED TEAM OF THE 2008 SEASON

College football has been thirsty for an outsider to win the national title and all Utah fans realize it will take a perfect storm for our team to garner the top spot. Utah deserves the No. 1 ranking and show the country that you don't have to play in the SEC or Pac-10 to be a champion.

To all Associated Press voters, do this country and the world of college football a favor and watch all 13 of Utah's games this year. They will show you that this team plays with more heart and more desire than any other college team. Watch all 13 games and cast your ballot for Utah as your No. 1.

As President-elect Barak Obama has stated, it is a time for change.
THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH UTES, 2008 NCAA FOOTBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONS.

-Jeren W. Canning
a life long Ute fan.