BYU vs. Utah. A game of epic proportions.

So last Saturday was the game against our rival basketball team, the Utah Utes. To make sure we got seats, I went to the Marriott Center around 11 that morning and waited in line until 5:30 when the doors opened. I know, that is a ridiculous amount of time, but I was very productive and got a lot of homework done. It's amazing what one can do when one does not have access to the internet. Anyways, Sarah, J.J., and some boys from J.J.'s hall met up with me and we all went in there together. The atmosphere was crazy! The stands were packed and everyone was cheering and yelling before the game even started. The pregame show was so awesome! These huge white sheets were hung on the ceiling all around the scoreboard, and a short video was projected onto the sheets. Here's a video of it.



Of course, the game was crazy! Our team definitely played well. Tyler Haws, the freshman that everyone is really excited about, dunked a couple times, along with a few other players. The guy sitting behind me was so annoying. He kept analyzing the players and comparing them to himself. Seriously, dude. Chill. Also, your knees are digging into the thoracic region of my back and apparently you don't care. No, you do not have the right to criticize Jimmer Fredette's playing abilities. You don't even go to school here. And your half-popped collar looks ridiculous. You probably should fix that. Don't lecture the fans about the appropriate time to boo the refs. And please, please, please refrain from singing, or shrieking, the BYU fight song in my ear. It's disrespectful to this lovely institution, as well as to my eardrums. Thank you.

Anyways, one of the guys sitting in front of us was hilarious. Every time one sings the "Rah, rah, rah" part of the fight song, it is customary to punch the air with one's fist. It is not customary, though personally I think it would be a nice addition, to flex one's bicep with gusto for every 'rah' that you chant. But if you do plan on doing that, I recommend gazing intently at your bicep the entire time. That way, you can fully admire your own physical strength as you cheer on your team's.

Of course, during every BYU-Utah game, something happens that keeps people talking for weeks afterwards. The football game? Max Hall's infamous quote: "I don't like Utah. In fact, I hate them. I hate everything about them. I hate their program, I hate their fans, I hate everything. I think the whole university, their fans, and their organization is classless. They threw beer on my family and stuff last year, and they did a whole bunch of nasty things, and I don't respect them, and they deserve to lose." This caused quite a lot of attention for a while. Of course, he made a formal apology and everything, but seriously, man. No apology necessary. I bet he felt pretty justified in saying that, especially after what happened this game. For some reason or another, the starting point guard for Utah wasn't playing, so Henderson (#3 on the right) played for him. Henderson is a freshman, and this was his first game as a starter. Also, he looks like a middle schooler.

So, with 34 seconds left in the game, he struck out at Emery, hitting him in the face. Yet another example of pure testosterone taking over and causing chaos. Oh, I am glad to be a woman. Granted, it didn't look like a hard hit at all. But, as all experienced athletes do, Emery fell to the ground holding his face. The game was immediately stopped as the referees convened. The BYU fans started chanting things like, "Utah's classless!" and "Max Hall was right!" and "Kick him out! Kick him out!" Eventually, the referees ejected him from the game and everyone started singing, "Nah nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye!" Here is a video that was obviously taken by an overexcited BYU fan.



I am also impressed with the Utah coach's audacity. This video doesn't even show the worst of it. He yelled at the referees constantly, followed them around talking to them about poor calls, and walking way too far onto the court. He's lucky he only got ONE technical!

Another great thing about this game was the change in uniform. For cancer awareness week, Nike picked four teams to wear special uniforms and, since our coach recently overcame cancer, BYU was chosen as one of the teams! The uniforms were sweet, especially the shoes!

All in all, the game was just as expected. Filled with annoying fans, awesome fans, annoying coaches, awesome players, and the beautiful sport of basketball.

Degas and Life

I love everything by Degas. The flashes of color and the amazing contrast between the floor and the white, as well as the blurs in the background just make my eyes go crazy. Pieces like his make me wish I had stuck with art lessons. The thing I love about art is the unsurety of it all. You can look at a picture and just sit and wonder: what was he thinking when he did this? You can come up with a bunch of theories. You can study them and be tested on them in school and write them in a professional-sounding book. You can do all of these things, but sometimes (most of the time), you'll still be totally wrong. Sometimes the picture is the work of a moment; something the artist can never explain because it's an experience, and not a thought. Everyone can have a different experience with a piece of art. Art is personal. You can look at the same painting many times, and you will always see it slightly differently. People tend to overanalyze everything, condense it down, and force feed it to whoever will listen. Art is different. You can't do that with art.

Snow!

Utah snow is very different from Virginia snow. Virginia snow is wet, and the air is bitterly cold. Utah snow is dry, and resembles chunks of styrofoam. It is easily brushed off your coat and it forms formidable snowballs.

"It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily. "So it is." "And freezing." "Is it?"
"Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had
an earthquake lately."

Snow and adolescence are the only two problems that
disappear if you ignore them long enough.

-Earl Wilson

Westen's unsuspecting victims...

Her name is Sheila, and she is an expert at chasing snowballs.

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go
to bed in one kind of world and wake up in another one quite different, and if
this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?
-J.B. Priestley

Nature has no mercy at all. Nature says, "I'm going to snow. If you
have on a bikini and no snowshoes, that's tough. I'm going to snow
anyway."
-Maya Angelou

No more of parental rules!
We're heading for the snow!
Good riddance to
those grown up ghouls!
We're leaving! Yukon Ho!
-Bill Waterson

First we'll make snow angels for two hours, then we'll go ice
skating, then we'll eat a whole roll of Tollhouse Cookie Dough as fast as we
can, and then we'll snuggle.

-Buddy the Elf

From left to right: Me, Gabrielle, Wade, Brandon, Josiah, Sarah,
Becca, Erick, and Kelly.

I feel like this picture describes my freshman ward perfectly.

Naptime

The wonderful thing about college is how much time you spend outside of class. I got out of class today around 10:50, went straight home, and went to bed. I woke up around 11:45 to the sound of booming thunder and Karma, by Alicia Keys. The lights were on and someone was humming in my room. I sat up, confused. I wasn't quite sure where I was and whether it was actually thunder that I heard. So I turned to the person in my room, who turned out to be Sarah, and said in a groggy voice, "Is that thunder?" She turns around and squeals loudly, "I didn't know you were here!" She had been in the room for about 10 minutes without even realizing I was sleeping! It was so funny! Afterwards, she told me, "You sleep so flat, it looked just like your bed was made!"

Oh, by the way, she got a new haircut today and it is very short and I LOVE it!