"Be a philosopher. A man can compromise to gain a point. It has become apparent that a man can, within limits, follow his inclinations within the arms of the Church if he does so discreetly." - The Walking Drum
"And here’s what life comes down to—not how many years you live, but how many of those years are filled with bullshit that doesn’t amount to anything to satisfy the requirements of some dickhead you’ll never get the pleasure of punching in the face." – Adam Carolla
Sometimes there are game chats going on here, but it's a little clunky since you have to refresh. If you want to use the Discord site, it was really made for that kind of live chat (it's a lot like slack if you're familiar with that). I won't be on because I stream, so I'm 30-60 seconds behind live, but I do think it's a good place for a game chat if you want. There's just about no one else there, so it would just be utahby5 folks.
https://discord.gg/NX8Yec
In the last 16 openers Utah’s defense has given up an average of 17 points per game (granted some of those were against FCS opponents, but a couple of those were against PAC-12 teams and Michigan twice). I suspect BYU will get around 17 points against this defense, but probably not much more.
I’m really intrigued by Utah’s offense versus BYU’s D. I think this highly favors Utah.
I'm not watching live (the game kicks-off at 4:00 am on the East Coast, about the time my younger son is waking up these days). I'm going to attempt the impossible task of (1) ignoring the game while it's on (easy since I plan on being asleep), (2) waking up and resisting the urge to check my phone for anything (texts, emails, insta, etc), (3) go to the gym and fend off all of the talk about how Utah looked unstoppable and Lee Corso's prediction of a championship game loss for the Utes underestimate the Utes and (4) go into work, log into espn WITHOUT seeing the score, and watch a replay of the game.
This seems doable, right?
Wear your lucky socks.
I hope you can navigate the ESPN app/website and not see a score.
I've been in a 3-week administrative hearing that goes until 9:00 p.m. Pacific time, and we are finishing tonight. So I can't watch, for the first time since I-can't-remember-when, but my kids will be texting me scores. I'll try not to jump out of my chair while a witness is testifying.
I'm nervous about this game.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Let's think about this from a different angle:
If you're A-Rod, who do you attack on defense? I gotta think it will be the linebackers since that is where we are the least seasoned.
“To me there is no dishonor in being wrong and learning. There is dishonor in willful ignorance and there is dishonor in disrespect.” James Hatch, former Navy Seal and current Yale student.
Listening to a podcast the other day. One of the hosts who is a Florida Gators fan talked about how they (Florida fans) all hate playing Miami. They hate it not because they are afraid they are going to lose the game, but he compared it to having the sewer line backed up. No matter the outcome (win or lose), it is just an unpleasant, stupid experience.
That is about how I feel about this game for Utah. Instead of being excited that football is here I'm just anxious about the game and burned out from all of the talk. It's not fun for me. I may not even watch the game tonight. I feel like an idiot that this stupid game affects me like this, I try to keep telling myself it's just a game, the outcome isn't going to impact my life in any material way, etc. I'm still a wreck, have been all week.
Anyway, I had to get that off my chest. I hate this game and that it makes me this way. I'm just looking forward to putting it behind us. I kind of feel like even if the unthinkable happens (and let's face it, the streak is going to end sometime--it could be this year) I will still feel better on Friday than I do now. I guess I have more confidence in my ability to deal with disappointment than I do anxious anticipation.
I like Utah's chances . . . if they can just keep from getting in their own way . . . like they failed to do in 2017 (When your QB has almost 400 all purpose yards and you only score 19 points, that's a problem).
"It'd be nice to please everyone but I thought it would be more interesting to have a point of view." -- Oscar Levant
I had an unusual experience with this year‘s game. Because of work, I was almost 24/7 busy pretty much every day for the three weeks prior to the game and during game week. I was in a hearing from 4 PM to 9 PM every day, including game day. My days from early morning until the 4 PM start time we spent preparing for that day‘s hearing session.. It was hellish, but there was an unexpected benefit. I didn’t have much time for message boards or reading newspapers or listening to sports radio. I didn’t get to watch or listen to the game’s first half, although my sons sent me texts with the score.
What surprised me was that I didn’t really care that I couldn’t watch the game. I listened to part of the second half in the car on the way home and caught the last six or seven minutes on ESPN. I then realized how little I missed the annual pregame hype. I watched the final plays and was happy, but winning the game did not make my day, and I moved on to finishing a church assignment.
This event feels a lot better when it’s just a game. And I think from now on that’s all it will ever be to me. I’m 100% OK with that.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
So, my plan worked to perfection. I shut my phone off last night, went to bed, woke up, got swole at the gym, took my kids to school, got into work, did some stuff that needed to be done, and then sat down to enjoy the Holy War.
And then I find out that there is a new policy about streaming videos at work that won't let me see the game!?!?!?!!? Are you kidding? What a stupid policy! Is this designed to make us actually work instead of stream march madness? Ruined my morning.
And then I find out we won easily. Of course.