Ultimate Utah Man

Why I should be the Ultimate Utah fan: by jdart

Utah athletics is my life. Period. I am more passionate about Utah athletics than anything else in the world. We have season tickets to Football, basketball, and gymnastics. On the list of priorities in my world, I list Utah athletics and my wife as #1 and #1A, and I'm not sure anything else even registers on the list. But, the things I just mentioned can be said of some of my friends as well as I, so let me list a few reason that set me apart as the Ultimate Utah fan:

1. Utah man was really heard at my wedding. We had it as one of the four songs on my wedding video, which also included a picture of us with Coach Whittingham. I wore Utah socks with my tux. I even got engaged in the tower at Rice-Eccles Stadium the night before a home football game while overnight tailgating for the game the next day.

2. Football Travel: Sure, lots of fans travel to away games. But, I'm really poor so to travel we sleep in cars and drive all night. Literally. Last season, my wife and I and a buddy of mine went to San Diego for the football game down there. We left Friday night about six pm, drove all night. We tried to sleep in a rest stop outside of Barstow California about 3 am because we were so tired, but we were so scared of the rest area we couldn't sleep. So we kept driving. We arrived in SD about 6 am, went to the beach and to eat, then went to the 6pm game. We left straight from the game, and I fell asleep telling my friend to stop and grab a hotel and we would split the cost. I woke up Sunday morning pulled over in Payson. For that trip we were gone a little over 36 hours, 25 of them spent in the car. All to see football. We usually make about four away football games a year doing this type of travel. I haven't missed a home football game in 6 years (and I'm only 23) (attached are pictures of my wife and I in Louisville and UCLA for football games)

3. Other sports: Not only is it football, but basketball and gymnastics as well. Last season we made a road trip to Berkley, CA for gymnastics regional championships. This year we will be going to Arizona State for a regular season gymnastics meet. We threw a huge tailgate party for Gymnastics nationals in April here in Salt lake City, and had over a hundred people show up (those are the tailgating pictures I included.) We also are basketball season ticket holders and try to do a few away games for it as well. We tailgate about once or twice a season for basketball as well. We also usually attend a volleyball game, a baseball game, some women's basketball games, and even soccer every year just to support the U.

4. My hair: although my job does not allow me to do it all year long anymore, about one weekend a month I will shave a U into my hair (see attached picture taken by the Crew of ESPN's college gameday.) I will have this hair cut starting the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and all weekend for the rivalry, meaning I will have a U in my hair for the on site promotion if chosen as a finalist.

5. I take a 20' flag pole with a Utah flag into every home game, whether it is basketball, football, or gymnastics.

6. you can't not see out the back window of my car because we put a permanent Utah tint job across it. (see the car in the picture of us at UCLA) It also has Utah floor mats, seat covers, stickers on windows on both sides of the car, and a sticker on the windowshield. The car is decked out. So is our apartment. Every room in our apartment has Utah memorabilia in it.

Utah athletics means everything to me. I live and die with wins and losses. I only work to pay for my need to watch football and travel. I am the Ultimate Utah fan!! I would really love to be considered as a finalist in this contest so i can prove myself. Go Utes!!!

Ultimate Utah Man

Hello Bill,

I know that I am the ultimate Utah Man! I may not be the most vocal, but I guarantee you that nobody feels the joy or the pain when the Utes battle on the field or the court. Throughout my life I really had no choice of who I was going to support. I was conceived after a Utah Basketball game (so my parents say), and while my mother was 8 months pregnant with me they took a road trip to the game in Wyoming. My parents said with all of the death threats from the drunken farmers if Utah was going to win, she said to my dad, for her to be 8 months pregnant sitting on a bank of snow in Laramie, I damn well better be a Ute! I was born to be a Ute!

Well the first few years of life my parents would bring my sister and I to every single game. When I was too old to sit on a lap my parents could not afford to 4 tickets in their normal area, so they got the buy one get one free seats in the old Rice stadium, Lumpy's section! Imagine being 2 and in the lumpys section. Another impact in life that has molded me the Ute that I am. My fondest memories of Utah football were in 1992 at the Utah v. byWHO game in Rice Stadium, yeah Utah did lose, but on that snowy day I had slight revenge on cosmo the kitty. Yes it may have been poor form, but I was the kid in the Lumpys section that hit cosmo right on the nose with a snowball... those were the days... The following year (1993) I took my first road game to Provo for the rematch. It was a close game the whole way through and at the last second Chris Jurgenson (spelling?) hit that memorable 50+ yard field goal to give Utah their first 34-31 victory. I have not missed a Utah vs. bywho match since (home or away). In 1994 Utah was playing great, the beat CSU in Fort collins in a memorable finish to a game (Utah returned CSU's two point conversion), but yet again the UTah vs. bywho game was fantastic. Utah was down 31-27 when my father and i started the Chant "34-31", and wouldnt you believe it thats how it ended!!! in 1995 Ma'afalla had a monster game to beat the kitties 34-17. I could go on and on with all of the great memories, but to know I have stood by the Utes through thick and thin, and then getting to witness 2004, I felt like I had waited my whole life for that year and it was finally here. I even think of a Ute shirt my mom has, it says "It may take forever, but when it happens I will be there, GO UTES!." At the Fiesta bowl, the parties were great, the fans were great, and me being a student of the U of U was even greater. It was my first year at the U of U so I felt I was the lucky charm, honestly I still feel this way, I had finally made it to the U and things started to click. Well the Fiesta Bowl was amazing, we cheered, we drank, and we got tazered... yes I was one of the 20+ people that were randomly shot at. I was a student in the Muss trying to stand by the fence in Tempe when the area we were standing got so full that the fense fell. I was on the front line and my stomach got shot. I know it was wrong to be down there, but I do take some pride in that tazer shot. I never got grabbed by Phoenix police, but I did head back to the hotel with my champaigne and a small hole in my gut. The flip side of all of this was last year when bywho won in the final 3 seconds. I know the whole stadium was in shock, but me I felt like my heart was ripped out of my chest. I even get choked up thinking of it now. Anyways, I have equally as memorable moments for Basketball, from the 1998 season, to the Utah beating #1 Alabama a few years ago. The last few years have not been so great, but I still stand by my Utes. In May of 2007 I graduated from the U of U with a B.S. in Mass Communication, yeah the degree is nice, but to me the pride of saying I was raised a Ute and will die a graduated Ute is the best part of all. I have multiple photos and some video clips that I will send in from home tonight. I am at work now always checking over my shoulder for my boss to catch me doing other things rather than work! Every day when I get here the first thing I do is check all of the news websites I can to find articles on my beloved Utes. Thank you for your time, even if I am not picked I know I am the Ultimate GODZILLA UTE!!! Go Utes, and if you see Mr. Barberi "UTAH BY 5!"

Thanks,

Pete Hemingway

Ultimate Utah Man

Troy Chilton set up a page to show his dedication to the Utes. Click HERE to view his submission!