BYU/Utah: Better Late Than Never

[The Big Game] OK. So The Game is history. Utah 48; BYU 24. Just feels good to rub it in.

Anyway, I discovered this parody video by my stepson, Joey Wilson, just today. Since Utah has busted the BCS again, for the second time since 2004-05, it still works even two days late.

(Holly Mullen)

Utes-Cougs: metaphor for Utah life

Seems everyone's gettin' in on Saturday's holy war.

First, we have Salt Lake Chamber's Lane Beattie and Provo/Orem Chamber's Steve Densley agreeing to fly the flag of the winning team for a full business day and in a prominent place if "their" team loses.

Then we have the Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker and Provo City Mayor Lewis K. Billings agreeing to a"fitness challenge," whereby the mayor of the losing team will bike approximately 50 miles to the winning team’s mayor's city hall to deliver a donation for Utah Food Bank.

Even though BYU and Utah have waged this war since 1896, the stakes have never been higher than they are for Nov. 22's game, starting at 4 p.m. at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The unbeaten eighth-ranked Utah team will learn if a BCS bowl is in their future and 16th-ranked BYU will learn if they have a chance to share the Mountain West title.

And someone will have to fly a flag they despise or pedal 50 miles.

What's your wager? (Jerre Wroble)

Peeping Toms in Guess Where?

[Perv Watch] Dateline: Provo. Why doesn't this story surprise me? (Holly Mullen)

Why not ask: R U a Member?

[Housing Hell] The search for housing in Provo is an extreme bitch.

I have been house and/or apartment hunting for over a month now in the Utah County bubble and have been disappointed by the lack of housing that is up to standard, not for married couples, and isn’t significantly overpriced.

Now the possibility of a whole new restriction on renters in Happy Valley should just about seal Utah County’s reputation as a conservative bubble of religious bias against non-members of the LDS Church.

The Provo City Council has stepped in with its own solution to opening up Provo/Orem area housing to the "right" kinds of tenants. The prescription? According to the Associated Press in The Daily Herald, criminal background checks could be mandated for all students and anyone else who rents a place in Provo…unless the perspective tenant is a registered student at BYU.

Some landlords do practice this activity by screening possible candidates with background checks before living in their properties. The Provo City Council is making an exception based on the fact that BYU has an honor code which students are “required” to follow on and off campus (and all BYU students do follow the honor code, 100 percent of the time, right?).

City Council attorney Neil Lindberg says the ordinance doesn't favor BYU because students at other schools could avoid the background check if their schools implemented a code of conduct.

I guess Mr. Lindberg forgot that not everyone wants to go to a school that keeps you thinking inside of the box. (Jennie Nicholls)

To Your Credit

[Blog Propriety] One good thing about City Weekly: We are all about giving people credit for their original sourcing and hard work.

A post I had written earlier in the week referenced a hot rumor mill about what KSL radio honchos intend to do with the Nightside Project after the first of the year. While news that the once-inventive nightly talk show is sputtering to an end is something anyone with two ears and a brain stem could figure out (and I have at least that much going for me), the good people at this blog notified me they deserve credit in ruminating over Nightside's coming replacement. So noted, and thanks for letting me know. (Holly Mullen)