Saturday, August 30, 2008

“Who am I Sir? A Utah Man am I!”



One of my most cherished family traditions is going to University of Utah football games.

I have very early memories of dressing in my red (the reason why red is my favorite color) and heading up to the football stadium. Sometimes these could be tortuous times. Maybe we had to park a little further than planned. Maybe it was pouring buckets or just down right freezing! Even during the not so successful of seasons (there have been a few of those,) there was no question who would be standing on their feet, the McFaddens! I love the excitement in the stadium. I love the marching band and clapping and singing along to the Utah Fight song after each touchdown!



I have a lot of fun memories of times when we have shown our Utah pride! Growing up, we had the U of U swamp cooler cover, the license plate holder and personalized plate to go with it. I have been able to travel to see them play in Las Vegas and San Diego. Some of my favorite games have been 3 bowl games, including the great 2004Fiesta Bowl!


(The Zierse family ready for a game in Las Vegas.)


(Carson's first Utah game versus UNLV.)

My family is very superstitious when it comes to game day! Number one, we have to have a bag of red Twizzlers (it can never be Red Vines) ready to open on kickoff. When we are at a game, we have to be there to watch warm ups. My brother says that he can always get a feel for how the game is going to be if he witnesses this moment. My mom’s newest superstition is that whenever she opens a bag of M&M’s, she immediately separates the red ones from all other colors, most importantly the blue ones! Most of this might sound silly to you all, but I love it! I look forward to it every year. Oh, what I wouldn't give to be there this season!


(This is us at the start of today's Utah vs. Michigan game. Notice Kelly has the opened bag of Twizzlers in hand!)


(Katelyn was watching intently, for about 10 seconds!)


(I do believe she is the cutest little ute!)



(Katie and Mom. Katelyn is having a bit of a bow malfunction!)






(These are just some pictures of us enjoying the first victory of the season. It was a bit of a nail biter, but Utah came away with a 25-23 win!)

I have since passed this great tradition on to my kids. Every time we watch a game, we proudly wear our red and white, eat our bag of Twizzlers, and cheer on our Utah Utes! As of right now, they don’t have the pleasure of attending the games in person (unless Kelly would start letting us travel to Salt Lake each week they play…not a bad idea!) But we at least have the next best thing, satellite dish! This will be the first season since I can remember that I won’t be to at least one game. It makes me a lot sad not to be there with my family, participating in one of the things I love most. But know this; I am for sure the biggest Utah fan in all of Arizona!

17 comments:

The Wright's said...

Go Aggies!

The Wright's said...

Did I ever tell you that my high school mascot was the Utes? Yup, I am a Uintah Ute. I am not sure if that is something to be proud of though.

Whitney said...

Sorry But I am going to have to say " GO COUGARS"!!!!!!! We are just like your family but we cheer for the blue. Don't worry my family went to the game yesterday and don't worry we all have matching shirts. We also fly the cougar flag!! Just like you I spent my saturdays at the staduim. But the Righteous one!!! Once again Go cougs!!!!

Unknown said...

I have to agree with your friend Whitney... GO COUGS!!!!!!!!! (But Katelyn is a pretty cute little Ute....)

Tina said...

Thats awesome! How cute!! I love the twizzler, m &m's and the first kickoff story. That is so great!

Marisa said...

Okay, so we are TRUE BLUE in MN! And, I have to totally agree with your mom .... blue and red can NEVER be by each other ... although, I've always taken it to the extreme: it's not just M&Ms, it's everything!

Oh, and Jon totally admires your passion (probably because he feels it a little bit for the Y)!

Marisa said...

Oh, one other thing .... although we cheer for the Cougars, we'll be cheering for the U except for that last game when they play BYU. JOn graduated from the U, so he's glad the U won (he's also hoping for a big time show down at the end of the season between the two undefeated teams).

Anonymous said...

I've always have known your family to be big UTE fans. I'm like the rest (and as you know) my family cheer on the blue (the Y). It's funny when it comes to the college football season because my hubby and his family are big U fans and my family and I are big Y fans. But, that's really fun in what you and your family do!

The Meier Family said...

Hi Megan. I love it when people have passion for something. Our neighborhood/ward has a pretty serious rivalry going on between Utah fans & BYU fans. Wade graduated from the U so we are pretty much Utah fans. But we've never been too finatic (sp?) over it. The funny thing is that Marquie is BYU all the way. She wants to go there soooo bad! We're not sure where she got it from but I still have to admire her passion!

Anonymous said...

I'm loving the pictures. You guys really do look good in red. As for me blue, red, I like them both. Oops is that blasphemas?

Anonymous said...

I do have a blog now even though I typed it wrong. I'll try again

Darice said...

Such a great post Megan! I think that it is so fun to have that tradition that you are passing on to your kids! Great picture of you and Katie!

Kelley Rae said...

GO UTES!! I think it was instilled in me at birth too, but I am a Ute fan. Such fun family traditions, and wasn't that a great game!! (only considering the 1st half, let's just forget the 2nd half ever took place Ü)

Kelly and Megan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Diane said...

We are true blue too! We do cheer for the "U" when they play anyone else but the "Y". I'm sure you guys do the same....right?! Tradition...isn't it great!!!

Kimberly said...

Reading this made me want to go out and buy Twizzlers...yum! I love little traditions like this, it makes life so much fun!

The Harding Hive said...

You know what I'm gonna say, right Megan? Rah,Rah,Rah...Rah,Rah,Rah..GOOOOO COUGARS!