Cougar logic -- Go climb a rock...

Apparently, I'm a bad BYU fan.

Countless times over the last month I've been told how great it is that the Utes did so well this year. I've been lectured by Ute and Coogie fans alike telling me that a Ute win in the Sugar Bowl was also a win for BYU in the end.

I watched as Mark and Jonathan Craner -- previously die-hard Cougar fans -- donned Ute red shirts and ball caps and cheered for the Utes in person. Several Y friends called me up after the game to see if I'd witnessed the thrashing Utah put on Alabama -- expecting me to join in the apparent Ute euphoria.

Sorry guys... I just can't do it. I want to be able to act like a mature Cougar fan... It's just not happenin.

I want to Utes to lose every game... badly. I long for the days in the 70s and 80s when a Cougar thumping was annual, boring, yawner of an event.

It probably goes back to my days as Sports Editor of the Daily Universe when I sat in the press box and watched as the Utes beat us 34-31 for two straight years. During the second year I had the honor of writing the annual column bashing the Utes. I still treasure my awesome word play in that column. I'll see if I can dig it out.

It also goes back to my time working in the Deseret News Sports Department -- where just about every person who worked there, except for yours truly, graduated from the U. That's where I learned to sharpen my Ute hating abilities into a fined-tuned weapon. I was forced to argue Utes and Cougar with guys that got paid to write about that very thing. If anything, I made 'em think.

And while the Cougs have done a great job staying even through the years, it's readily apparrent that the Utes have enjoyed a greater level of success on the playing field as of late. They've been to two BCS bowls in the past four years. Before that, they went to a couple Final Fours... and got to the Championship game one year in hoops.

Any Cougar fan has to admit that we've fallen behind the hated guys to the north. I grudgingly respect their ability to rise to the occasion with mental toughness during the big, meaningful games. That's something that I desperately wish the Cougs could figure out.

But I'll never root for them. Sorry guys... it's in my blood to root for whichever team they're playing against. If they played against Satan's select football team, I'd probably don the horns and trident in the stands....

Logically, it makes no sense for me to do so, but in my world... it makes all the sense in the world.

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Katelyn is currently playing center for her basketball team and has been getting better every week but has yet to score a basket.

As an incentive this week, I promised that I'd buy her two Itunes songs if she scored a basket. Not only did she take the bait -- taking eight shots -- she scored two of them.

Yup, she gets four songs now. Best four dollars I've ever spent.

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Katelyn also learned this week that she was accepted into the accelerated course curriculum when she attends Timberline Junior High School next year. This is a great honor that was very difficult to get into... the district is very up front in telling parents that not a lot of students are admitted into it.

But then, not many kids are as smart as KK.

:)

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Last Friday night I went with 15 scouts to an overnighter at the Momentum Climbing Wall in Sandy. What an amazing, fun place to learn to climb rocks. We showed up at about 9:30 p.m. and got a great lesson and demonstration on how to rock climb safely and have fun while you do it.

Before long, all the scouts were scurrying up and down the 50- foot walls with ease. Even I managed to climb to the top of a pretty high wall.

We then had a few competitions before the adult leaders bedded down for the night at about 2 a.m. The scouts, however, had another two and a half hours of craziness and frivolity to get out of their systems before they fell asleep at around 4:30 p.m.

I'm still recovering from sleep deprivation. ;)

In the end, it was a great time and the boys loved it.

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While in church today, they made an announcement that all children turning 8 this year were invited to attend a fireside with their parents. It was sad to realize that our youngest would be turning 8 this year and that he needed to attend. (As a point of clarification -- It was sad because it makes me feel old).

So, we all attended with Dustin to show our support for his big decision. He had a great time, ate some cake and ice cream and is excited for his big day in December.

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No pictures this week.... deal with it. Have a great inauguration week...

Pat