Stand in line wastin' all of your time just to HATE me...

Well, folks, tonight is the BYU vs. USU football game.

And I'm going.

In a BYU t-shirt.

With the Aggies in my heart.

get. over it.

I like BYU, but good grief, it doesn't mean I've turned my back on my Aggie roots. 

People forget it's just a game, and I'd like to point out it's not just ONE SIDE who forgets that. Both are equally to blame for this total and complete ridiculousness. I don't want examples. I roll my eyes at both sides, and I love both sides. 

I moved here four years ago as a fresh Utah State graduate. I moved here smack in the middle of BYU football season. Holy crap. Honestly, I didn't care too much about football season down here because people were NUTS, and I lived just close enough to campus for it to be annoying. So I just stayed away and minded my own business.

But once basketball season rolled around, the one thing I didn't want to miss was the BYU vs. USU basketball game. My excitement was dampened, however, when everyone got their panties in a twist, and we stopped playing each other on our home courts and had to go to Salt Lake to play on "neutral ground."

But let's be honest: I've been to a basketball game at The Spectrum in Logan, and watched Utah State pound BYU into the ground. The entire stadium was on its feet. Standing next to me, in horror, was a good friend of mine who just happened to be visiting for the weekend. He was a BYU Cougar, through and through. It's hard to watch the team you love get beat like that, and surrounded by only the opposing side? Slightly intimidating. The crowd mentality is intense.

The chants: I do have to add a side note and say I don't ever love the ones about tithing, or anything derogatory toward the church as I stand on the Aggie ground I love so much. Those always were uncomfortable things to hear, although I do admit to a little smirk the first time BYU missed a shot, and the entire Utah State student section yelled, "Waste of tithing! clap, clap, clap, clap, clap: repeat." I mean, I didn't agree with it, but it was marginally hilarious BECAUSE of the never ending stream of comments like these from a few choice BYU students: "Well, not EVERYONE can get into BYU..." or "It is the Lord's university, and...." blah blah blah, I always stop listening to that one because my eyes roll to the back of my head and I want to punch whoever just slid that out of their mouth. Keep in mind, those things are said by a FEW, not the majority. 

On the other hand, I stood in the Marriot Center last year during the Utah State vs. BYU basketball game, on the Cougar's side, situations clearly reversed. Wearing that dang BYU t-shirt. If you can't remember why, go here. I actually enjoyed the game, though. My Aggies did lose that game, which was heart breaking to me as I stood, surrounded by people who didn't care my team had just lost. But...BYU did play well. The Aggie fans did have some pretty dumb cheers. Ones I probably used to participate in. But on the other hand? I found myself standing in the front rows of the BYU section, hearing comments about Utah State I'd rather not repeat. These words are coming from people who, not two hours earlier, before the game, swore they didn't have anything against Utah State and didn't understand why the Aggies think they have this big rivalry.

GoodNESS, people.

I'm not saying this to fuel the fire. 

I'm saying one side isn't more guilty than the other. 

I graduated from Utah State, I loved it there. 

But I've worked at BYU for four years now, and I love it here too. 

Not every Aggie or every Cougar says or does these things; it's just the few on both sides who seem to set the trend for everyone.  

Utah State shouldn't yell dumb chants about tithing being wasted every time somebody drops the ball...if you will. 

But BYU shouldn't go around shoving the fact that they go to "the Lord's univeristy" down everyone's throats because...well, wouldn't that make you mad? I pay tithing, but my tuition wasn't covered by it by any means...but theirs is, and whenever I heard similar sentiments coming from a BYU student, it really did always make me want to punch something. 

And I'm a nice girl. :) 

Once I moved down here, all I got was crap about Utah State and I didn't even usually bring it up. haha. It was generally good-natured, though, and let's be honest: part of the "fun" of sports is ragging on the other team. The only problem is, it usually gets taken way too far. If ever I was asked who I'd be cheering for, and I naively admitted I'd be cheering for the Aggies, I got a healthy dose of Cougar crap. :) It's all fine with me - I can take it. But I've also grown to love BYU sports since I've been here, and at tonight's game, I'll be sitting amongst great BYU friends, wearing my BYU cougars shirt. But there will always be a big part of me cheering on Utah State because...those are my roots. 

Just stop telling me BYU doesn't get bugged by Utah State just as much as Utah State gets bugged by BYU because...mostly to my entertainment...we all sit there and roll our eyes at the other side while we cheer our team on. It's what we do. 

I hope BYU plays really well tonight because I think could be a really good game. But if Utah State wins? I'll stand up for 'em in my Cougar attire. I don't hate either side, but I have BEEN on both sides of the fence, and one is not more...celestial...than the other. 

Play nice, kids. :)