Basketball Weekend: BYU - Utah !!

For Christmas, my family usually draws names and gives gifts to that person only. This year, Holly and I had drawn my father's name. Instead of doing some cliche gift - a tie, a book, or a gift card to Home Depot - Holly and I wanted to give my dad a trip out on the town. We decided to give him two tickets to the BYU Utah basketball game on January 30 [one for him and one for his girlfriend -my mom :) ].

The game started at 7:00p, but Holly worked until 5:00p. Students have been camping out for this game since Monday morning, so naturally we were worried about getting into the game with my parents. BYU decided to only let 6,000 students into the game, so we knew we had to get there early. Luckily, that morning Adam came down to play ball with Seth and I at the RB. After playing for a few hours, we made friends with some of the other guys there. They informed us that they had been camping out at the Marriott since Wednesday. Because of how good Adam was playing, they invited us to stand in line with them to get into the game that night. Good thing Adam is a baller.

I went and stood in line at about 4:30p, and waited until my parents could drop Holly off at the stadium. But it was worth the wait. This game has probably one of the funnest BYU basketball games that I have ever been to. Jimmer played phenomenally, Abouo had the sickest dunk that I have seen from a college player in a while, and BYU won! But there is one point that I wish to dwell on for at least one blog post more.

The '09-'10 seasons have proved pretty controversial for BYU and Utah in the heat of the rivalry. There were things done by Utah fans, words said by Max Hall, and probably countless other things that we will never know about. But the one thing that I still can't comprehend is how Utah fans have taken Max's comments so seriously. Do they honestly think that they can put BYU's logo on a toilet seat, use explicit language to talk about the church, even make death threats to students and their families and it is all OK? But as soon as Max says they are 'classless' or that he hates them then the line gets drawn? It just doesn't make sense to me. But at least Max chose the last game of his last season to say what he did. He played it out smart. There are less intelligent athletes who should have thought it through a little bit better, and one of those guys is Marshall Henderson.

You could feel the hatred this kid had for the rivalry, even though he has only been associated with it for a few months. This freshman chose the first rivalry game of his freshman season to make the worst mistake possible. He put a target on his back for the BYU student section and any heckling BYU fan in attendance. Twice during the game, as the ball was flying out of bounds, Henderson jumped up, grabbed the ball, and violently hurled the ball back at Jackson Emery, causing the ball to go off of Emory, and the Utes to remain in possession. But late in the 4th quarter the situation was unfolding a third time. As the ball bounced off the rim, it was touched by a Utah player last, and was moving quickly out of bounds. The ball, consequently, hit the line - meaning it was already out of bounds and out of play. Within the same split second, Henderson jumps out of bounds grabs the ball, and hurls it back at Emory and Tavernari. That was the first mistake. Then as words are exchanged by the three players, Henderson flails his left arm towards Emory, connecting with his face, and sending him hard to the ground. That was mistake number two.

Classless Henderson made the worst mistakes of his collegiate basketball career last night. He is going to be taunted, made fun of, heckled, mocked, ridiculed, and dumped on long after he leaves the University of Utah. By taking a cheap shot at Jackson Emory during the game, BYU fans will remember his as one of the most classless Ute's, and they will not let him live that down.