I went to the BYU - Utah rivalry football game this past weekend up at the University of Utah and I just wanted to share my takeaways and experience. I learned a lot about life on Saturday night and hopefully a few of my takeaways can be helpful for future fans attending away games against their rivals.
I have been to probably 100 road games to watch a team I cheer for in my life. Just last month I sat front row in Yankee Stadium as my Indians lost games 1 and 2. After that game I said bye to my friend Cameron who drove in from Jersey and I walked 4 miles back to the hotel in Times Square. When people hear that they wonder how I stayed safe. The truth is, and this is exactly what I learned Saturday at the Utah game is, everything is determined by your attitude!
I'll explain. Saturday I had one goal and one intent going up to the game, have fun! I got there early with 5 of my other BYU friends and I was invited to join the tailgates of several of my friends and members of my coaching group that are Utah fans. We bounced from tailgate to tailgate and laughed with friends. We were invited to have some bbq from the Pig Bus and I was offered more shots than any BYU fan should probably say yes to.
As we walked into the game we were cheering and chanting and we were expecting Utah fans to give it back to us. They did. And we laughed with them, we gave them fist bumps and made our way to our seats. I happened to be sitting next to an old friend from high school and his family and we immediately started to have fun with the game.
At one point there were some Utah fans behind us yelling pretty aggressive and in all honesty they should have been. It was 21-10 Utah and frankly, I had been cheering way too much for a guy down almost 2 touchdowns. Instead of attacking him I gave him props, we high-fived, and I told him I thought we were in big trouble.
The game came down to a final drive, twice I thought we had actually lost the game only to find out the first play a timeout was called and the second time a penalty was called that kept the game alive. I had conceded the game and told my high school buddy that they deserved it only to turn back around and see the referee marching off a penalty and an automatic first down.
BYU drove the field, scored and won on a last second field goal. I celebrated with my friends and we took a few pics to remember it. I sincerely didn't have one negative interaction with Utah fans. They couldn't have been more fun to spend the night with.
When I got on Twitter I saw post after post of how many BYU fans had negative interactions and I started to think to myself, "This is how my experience used to be too." So what changed? The only difference was that I had fun with it. I expected to have them yell at me and I took it in stride. We yelled back but never made it personal. We let the jokes about us fly and we served a few back.
People that think Utah fans are bad or BYU fans are bad have never gone to Yankee Stadium in the playoffs, or seen a Chiefs playoff game live in Kansas City. I went to the "friendly confines" of Wrigley Field in 2016 for the World Series and let me just say, when the game actually matters, they aren't so friendly. Yet, these have become some of my favorite memories of my life.
It really is all about your attitude. With those Yankees fans last month they were starting to yell at me and make fun of Cleveland, like I care about that, and instead of getting mad or letting it irritate me I started making fun of them back. "Per dollar spent you are the worst team in baseball history!" "You won 1 World Series since 2001, pathetic!" At one point a Yankees fan said, "Hey kid, you are pretty brave to sit down here!" I just laughed and said, "No i'm not! This seat is right behind home plate. You guys have legit jobs like CEO and business's to run tomorrow! You're not gonna do shit to me! Hell this guy with 9 fingers has a mafia to run later this week. It's the guys up there you gotta worry about!" (pointing to the top deck.). They died laughing. We ended up all becoming friends.
My point is, if at any point it stops being fun you are probably the problem. Don't take it so serious. Your team will lose, only one team wins it all each year. You will get made fun of. My mentor used to say, "The most attractive state a man can be in is to be playful. Never forget that!"
Thanks again for the Utah fans that fed us at the tailgate, poured us some drinks to get ready for the game, and for overall just creating what was a great atmosphere for a fun game. Go Cougars.
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