How a Cougar fan became a Ute fan...once more

I didn't always hate the Utah Utes.

 In fact, I used to cheer for them when I lived out of state...when I was younger...before I lived in Salt Lake City. You see, as a teen and through my twenties, I only cheered against Utah when they played BYU. Utah needed BYU, and BYU needed Utah. I needed Utah to be good, because a win over Utah validated BYU's success. A loss to Utah, and most other wins didn't mean much to me.

But then, in 2005, I moved to Utah. I started to experience what it was like living in enemy territory. I met and interacted with Ute fans. I saw some resentment, some anger and a lot of hostility towards BYU, and I didn't like it. The worst I saw was at the 2008 BYU-Utah game at Rice Eccles stadium, a 42-28 Utah victory. The kinds of things I heard and experienced were beyond ridiculous. They were low, immature, vulgar, absurd and offensive. They were classless. And I reacted - not to anyone's face, but inside, my wall was built. I hated Utah fans. And they were to blame.

And my wall grew. I got tired of comments about things about BYU like "elitist", "holier-than-thou", the incessant claims that one school has less class and the downright anger towards BYU. I grew sick of Utah fans. I grew sick of posts on Facebook that lambasted BYU students, fans and players.

I relished any Utah loss. I was thrilled when Utah became the doormat of the Pac-12. I almost jumped for joy when they missed out on a bowl game last year. It sucked every time BYU lost to Utah, including this year, but I watched with joy as Utah lost at home to UCLA. My smile was huge. I was thrilled!

Then on Friday night, Chuckie Keeton got hurt playing BYU. And something changed inside of me. I liked the way Chuckie Keeton played. I wanted to see if BYU could beat the best he could bring. And suddenly he was out of the game. But I watched the BYU players kneel and wait to see what had happened. They respected him. And then I remembered watching a similar scene play out a couple weeks before as Jamaal Williams got hurt playing against Utah. As he lay on the field, the Utah players and coaches didn't hoot and holler like an idiot fan. They waited respectfully, not wanting a great kid to be hurt.

That's when I was reminded of something I forgot that I knew. With a couple of rare exceptions, the players for Utah, Utah State and BYU actually like each other, and when they play each other, they like playing against their high school friends, their brothers and former high school teammates. I can understand this. I get totally amped when I'm playing a sport against friends. I try harder.

So as I watched Chuckie Keeton lay on the field, in obvious agony, I realized that these guys like each other. I like them. I actually like the Utah players. A good portion of them were recruited by BYU anyway. And I like Wittingham. It seems that half of Utah's staff is made up of former BYU players. As all this sunk in, I became ashamed that I had reacted to the few immature and stupid Utah fans in the first place. The large majority of the Ute fans I know actually have class.

So I will always cheer for BYU. I love being a BYU fan. I love all the good that BYU represents. And BYU is made up of mostly good people, just like the Utah fan base. And both have some stupid and fans that we should all be embarrassed by - fans that we too easily react to. I'm not going to be one anymore. I'm now cheering for the Utes just as I used to, because I'm not lost in the war of hateful words anymore. I'm cheering for the Utes because I like what I see on the field. I'm cheering for the Utes because they are my boss, my coworkers, my friends, my family and my wife.