Amid The Peaks And Beside A Salty Lake

Reporting from Salt Lake City, Utah

The Los Angeles Coliseum holds the honor of being the only edifice in the world that has hosted two Olympic opening ceremonies. But USC is not the only college football team to play in an Olympic stadium. They're not even the only team in their league to do so!

I am here today in Salt Lake City for the Trojan's first visit to Utah since the Utes* joined the conference last year (and first visit since 1915!) The game will be played in Rice-Eccles stadium, which hosted the opening and closing ceremonies for the Salt Lake City games of 2002. I arrived at the airport and took a short cab ride into downtown, starting my tour at Temple Square. Upon arriving in the Salt Lake valley in 1847, this plot of land was selected by Brigham Young to be the site for the Mormon temple and remains today as the world headquarters for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The gardens are beautiful and the central crystal-like temple soars into the air (at night it is brightly lit and is even more impressive). The square held a smattering of tourists, most wearing USC jerseys like myself. I toured one of the visitor centers, featuring interesting yet slightly creepy dioramas of bible stories and Church history. The most impressive piece was this statue of Christ (Christus by Bertel Thorvaldsen) surrounded by a celestial mural on the walls and ceiling, imparting a heavenly, extra-terrestrial ambiance.

From there, I walked the several miles from downtown to campus. If you visit here, I recommend using Trax, the local light rail system that runs from central downtown (where the Temple is located) right to the football stadium (I needed the exercise). The fun part of wandering through a new town is the unexpected discoveries. I passed this violin making school, full of students laboriously carving their virgin instruments from the native wood. Another surprise was the prevalence of Nepalese restaurants. A rare sight in even the largest cities, I passed no less than three in about a mile. I wonder if there is a connection between Nepalese food and the abundance of outdoor enthusiasts in this state. That, or the Mormon church has a significant presence in Nepal.

The Utah campus is beautiful; reminds me a bit like Arizona State: set nestled against a mountain and featuring modern design buildings set widely apart to make room for quads and parks between them. I passed a newspaper dispenser and did a double take on the name of the local paper- The Deseret. Some funny play on words for a paper for the desert? No, this refers to the original proposal for a new territory made by Brigham Young's government in 1849 at the conclusion of the Mexican- American war ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Deseret) They printed a plan for a state carved out of the newly enlarged United States that stretched from the Sierra Nevada in the west to the Rockies in the east and from the Sawtooth mountains in the north to the new border with Mexico (incidentally, the plan was printed in Iowa because no printing presses existed yet in the Salt Lake Valley!). The name for this huge land was Deseret. Although President Zachary Taylor supported the idea (to reduce the number of new free states and to avoid pissing off the South), such a large state was not acceptable to congress and the territory of Utah was established at about half the size.

After seeing the stadium, my other goal for this trip was to visit the famous Pie Pizzeria, a Utah institution. The Pie is an underground pizza joint adjacent to campus and a pre-game ritual. The line was out the door and led directly to the ordering counter: no table service, no waiting room; the counter is a few steps inside the door. I placed my order for an artichoke/ spinach / chicken calzone (definitely NOT on my diet) and found a small table in the corner amid the sea of red. The coeds were wearing shirts proclaiming they were members of "The MUSS". What the heck is the MUSS? I later learned that it is the name for the Utah Alumni organization and comes from a line in their fight song, "... No other college men [sic] dare meet us in the muss." Ok- so it's an archaic name for a fight. But in the context of football, it has taken on another meeting: the student section at Rice-Eccles stadium. The feisty, boisterous nature of the section resembles a chaotic "muss", particularly their famous "3rd down jump" (God help the engineers who designed the grandstands). In this setting MUSS is described as an acronym for "Might Utah Student Section."

The MUSS was certainly rocking tonight, even more so after Utah recovered consecutive fumbles and scored 14 points in the first three minutes. But as the game wore on USC's physical defense and speed at the receivers was too much for the Utes. It was not a perfect game for the Trojans but any means but at least they responded to a really crappy start and were able to pull away.

The peaks that nestle Salt Lake City are painted with lovely fall color- broad streaks of bright yellow from the groves of aspen. But upon landing in Denver for the second leg of this week's trip I was assaulted by an icy wind blowing down from the Rockies complete with light snow. A stark reminder to enjoy Autumn while you have it- winter is coming.

38 days, 5 hours, and 43 minutes until Hawaii.

Fight on,

Hans

*PS: The NCAA has banned the use of tribes as sports nicknames. Utah is one of the few Division 1-A (FBS) schools to receive permission from the appropriate tribe to retain the use of the name. Others that I am aware of include the Central Michigan Chippewa's and the Florida St Seminoles. Of note, the North Dakota Fighting Sioux obtained permission from one Sioux nation but not from the other and their nickname remains under sanction from the NCAA. Also, the Illinois Illini were allowed to keep their name simply because there is no such thing as the Illini tribe- it just refers to any person from Illinois.