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!

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.