COLUMN: Don’t look now, but USU has chance to really stick it to the Y
Just to clarify one thing, I’m not a huge fan of sports smack-talk about sports other than the ones currently taking place. One example is the annual complaint of Boise State fans saying things like, “Wel still killed you in football,” right after their basketball team has been stomped out by the Aggies.
Along these same lines is the often used chant of, “Just like football,” when a team is holding current bragging rights in both football and basketball.
With that said, certain standards and restraints like these go out the window when BYU is involved, and this will be no different. For tonight, and any game against BYU, bring out all the big guns, and let them rip with reckless abandon.
Much like the case was with football, I’m not going to go one way or another in predicting a win for either team. Both teams are very talented, with a couple superstar players on each side, so much of the game will come down to who simply executes better.
My gut feeling, much like it was with football, is to cautiously predict that Utah State will win tonight. Looking at the match-ups, with USU’s defensive ability in the backcourt and the Aggies possessing two stellar big men to match up against two mediocre big men for BYU, things look promising for USU despite having to travel to a place as tough to play at as BYU.
Now if only USU can straight-up dominate the Cougars tonight like the football team did Oct. 1, the entire population of the city of Provo might find themselves on suicide watch after being on the losing end to a school like Utah State, which they often speak so low of. It’s probably bad enough for them that they have been thoroughly put in their places by USU in volleyball, hockey and football. To kick them while they are down once more would leave BYU without any bragging rights to be had for an entire calender year. That double-threat of beating BYU in both football and basketball during the same season has not happened since 1982, so it would definitely be something to enjoy to its fullest.
Imagine the sickening feeling of BYU fans if they were to be subjected to hearing a “winning team, losing team” chant against them in their own building. Then imagine the USU students following that up with a “just like football” chant, and you have got yourself a Utah State University that the high-and-mighty BYU contingency is suddenly more than just a little fearful of, especially considering BYU’s impending independence in football and whirlwind of uncertainty that will come with that.
That is of course, if the Aggies win tonight. If not, chances are there will be a small faction of BYU fans that do their own mimic performance of “winning team, losing team” to stick it to the USU fans in attendance. That’s just something that a fan base like USU’s has to come to expect. We can certainly dish it out, so we’d best be ready to take it from others, too.
If there is one thing we learned from the 2008-09 season though, it is that BYU brings out the Spectrum on Wheels like none-other, so with that being the case, let’s all make our way to Provo tonight and do our part to raise hell for what could be the first time we get to bust a “just like football” chant in our lifetimes.
Yeah, the Aggies could lose, and if they do it would not be a bad loss by any means. But if the Aggies win, it is something just about any student would forever regret missing.
Matt Sonnenberg is a senior majoring in print journalism. Matt is an avid fan of Aggie athletics and can be found on the front row of every home football and basketball game. He can also be reached at matt.sonn@aggiemail.usu.edu.