Life

  • Sam Merrill and Neemias Queta – Aggie Legends – But Not Done Yet 13336040_web1_utahstateweb

    “Winning team, losing team, winning team, losing team!” The epic chant rattled off the walls of the Spectrum last Saturday night, solidifying a big conference win for Utah State over Boise St. and sending the crowd into a frenzy. On a night where we celebrated Aggie legends of the past – Wayne Estes, Ladell Anderson – among others, we were able to witness the legends of the present – Sam Merrill and Neemias Queta- dawn the blue “State” across their jerseys and lead the team to victory. 

    In February of his senior year, Merrill is on the last leg of his illustrious college career. The sharp-shooting captain is 4 points away from eclipsing the 2,000 points mark. (and 6 points away from surpassing Estes as the third leading scorer). But his skills go beyond just his shooting. The 2018 Mountain West player of the year’s ability to defend opposing teams best guards, his leadership on the court, and a fierce competitive drive have made him a true star.

    By the end of his sophomore year, Merrill had already proven himself as the Aggies go-to player, but in order to push this team over the top, they had to feel in some ...

  • West Coast Football Power Rankings for Week 5 utah usc 3

    4 games into the college football season and we are starting to get a taste of who is good and who isn’t out west. This highly scientific poll based on my personal opinion ranks all the teams in the Pac-12 and Mountain West, + BYU + Weber. 

    1. Cal: The mighty Golden Bears of Berkely are the Pac 12’s only undefeated team left and possibly their final hope for making the playoffs (Good luck). They have not entirely over-powered anyone in any game, (ex: Cal 23, North Texas 17), but their victory over Ole Miss and their one-point win over Washington in Seattle puts them number one on the list.
    2. Washington: The lightning delay game against Cal was probably a fluke and the Huskies would likely win in a rematch, but we here at PMH respect head to head wins and therefore put Cal ahead. Anyways, Washington QB Jake Eason is playing well, and UW is coming off two impressive victories over BYU and Hawaii and looks like the best team in the Pac-12.
    3. Oregon: Oh ducks. Ya blew it. With the whole country watching opening weekend you let a 15-point lead slip away while Auburn Freshman Bo Nix rallied his team to victory. Oregon ...
    4. My Weekend Trip to Texas A&M 12th man

      My son and I, who are both contributors to this blog, took a trip this weekend to see one of the great programs and traditions in all of college football – Texas A&M. Though the Aggies were unfortunately outplayed and lost the game to Auburn, the weekend did not disappoint.

      Ironically enough, we flew in and out of Austin to get there (Houston is 30 minutes closer, but the flight times did not work for us). Upon arriving in College Station, our first stop after meeting up with my brother-in-law, his bro and a buddy, was to hit a place called The Warehouse, south of campus. Picture one of those empty, big box retail-type buildings you see turned into a Halloween store every October, but bigger. Then imagine that store stocked entirely with Texas A&M Aggie swag. And this place stays open year-round! It was quite impressive.

      Warehouse

       

      Friday evening we dined on some sensational BBQ from a place called C & J Barbeque. While there, none other than former Utah State Head Football Coach and shall I say legend, Matt Wells, sauntered through the same BBQ joint. These days donning Texas Tech gear, Coach ...

    5. BYU’s Win Over Tennessee Exemplifies the Cougars’ life as an Independent byu tennessee 2

      “Snap Zach, handoff Ty’son, to the five, four, three, pile is pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing, he gets to the goaline!, no signal, they mark him short but he’s in the endzone – Touchdown! They signal touchdown! He got in and the Cougars win!” -Greg Wrubell

    6. Turnovers, Trenches, and Zach Moss doom Cougars usa_today_13279188.0

      By Jacob Nielson

      Drip. Drip. Drip……

      The tears of the football gods came pouring down late Thursday night, putting the game on hold and giving the majority of the disappointed fans the opportunity to call it a night with 9:00 minutes still left to play. The unexpected downpour turned out to be the only thing different about this year’s Holy War, as the #14 Utes won the season opening game over the Cougars 30-12.

      Since the gut-wrenching loss in Salt Lake last November, last night’s game had been the #1 priority of the BYU football team for the entire off-season, with every practice and workout session geared towards the opener. But last night, the aspirations of the team faded away about as quickly as one can say, “beat Utah” in a post practice huddle. It was a familiar formula for the Utes, taking advantage of BYU mistakes, establishing the run game, and wearing the Cougs down in the trenches.

      Everybody in the state of Utah understood that Kalani’s squad had a 0% chance of winning if they lost the turnover battle and spotted the U free points. And well, that’s exactly what happened. At about the 10 minute mark in the second quarter with the game ...

    7. BYU Football will be on the National Stage this Weekend – Ready or Not Mizzou-boycott

      I wrote in my season preview post that I thought the Missouri game would end up being the biggest game of the year for BYU football. I figured they’d have two or three losses already, be out of New Year’s 6 Bowl contention and have nothing left to play for except improving their national brand against the two-time defending SEC East champs – Missouri. I think this still holds true for the most part. BYU only has two losses but they really don’t have a shot at a big bowl game. Missouri is still the two time defending SEC East champs but they’ve turned out to be a very mediocre football team this year. What’s obviously going to make this game so important and watched is the recent racial unrest at Missouri and the interest in the protests that resulted in the resignation of Missouri’s President and Chancellor.

      The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network at 6:30 Central time. The game is being played at the home of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs – Arrowhead Stadium. So it’s basically a home game for Mizzou. It’s really not a big game but folks are sure gonna tune in because the ...

    8. One of the most unique high school sporting events takes place today cross country 2

      When you have your own sports blog you can pretty much write about anything you want. That said, one of the coolest high school sports championships you’ve likely never heard of takes place today at Sugar House Park in Salt Lake City. Today is the Utah High School state-wide cross country championship and I’ve got two kids that love cross country. The race is a one-day championship event that is the culmination of practically year round training in a sport that is considered very much off the mainstream radar.

      The races are divided into girls and boys of course and then by school size classification 1A, 2A…….5A, etc. Each race will feature 75-125 kids who all qualified from their region, as a team, or individually. So there are literally thousands of high school runners, parents, coaches, administrators and yes – even spectators. Sugar House Park is one of the coolest places in all of Salt Lake and when it gets overtaken by cross country on this particular day, it makes for a fun scene.

      cross countryWhat makes watching cross country unique (and even different from distance events in track) is that to be a ...

    9. Country Singer Blake Shelton Saves Man From Flooded Road truck in the mud

      By now you know I’m kind of a sucker for the feel good stories. I am also a sucker for stories with awesome quotes from normal, everyday people. Check out this link to a story I saw on KSL.com. There has been a lot of flooding in Oklahoma and country singer Blake Shelton saved a man who’s car got stuck in the water. I’m not much of a country fan but I believe Blake Shelton is also on the TV show, The Voice. The best part of the story is the reaction from the man. Make sure you read or listen all the way to the end. He has a great line about Facebook. Enjoy!

       

      Blake Shelton comes to the rescue, gives man a ride home

    10. Powerful Father-Son Video – Happy Father’s Day!

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZlXWp6vFdE

    11. The Greatest Sports Announcer Calls of All Time cal stanford

      We’re still a month or so away from the open of Fall camp for BYU and Utah Football. The NBA finals just ended. Most sports fans are probably watching a little baseball or hitting the beach or the lake for vacation. During this relatively mild time of the sports year, I thought it would be cool to post some of the greatest sports calls of all time. Of course these calls generally coincide with the greatest sports moments of all time. You’ll recognize many of them.

      My personal favorite is Kirk Gibson’s home run in game one of the 1988 World Series since I grew up in So. California as a Dodger fan. I remember sitting around the TV watching that game with my family. Vin Scully was the TV announcer. In addition to doing Dodger games, I think he worked for NBC and did all the big games. However, his call of the home run was actually not as dramatic as the late Jack Buck, who I believe was doing the game on radio. Jack Buck’s call is on the Youtube clip. (And I believe Jack Buck was also the announcer on the Ozzie Smith home run)

      That said, the best ...