How Kyle Whittingham Got Trapped

Shower Thought - October 15, 2025

Do you know any grandparents who have gotten trapped? They are retirement age. They got their 401K loaded up and their pension and their fishing gear and RV camper ready to go. Then one of their kids asks if they can babysit their grandkids every day from nine to three. The grandparents are like oh son of a gun they are trapped. They cannot go to Yosemite until their grandkid goes off to the first grade.

That reminds me of Kyle Whittingham. He is ready to stop doing all of this stuff. Have you seen him lately? He does not care. He is in flip flops drinking Diet Coke. His hair and beard make him look like the Big Lebowski. Press conference time is alright let us get this over with. He hates the portal. He hates the NIL. He hates that he is in the Big 12. He wanted to retire a couple years ago. He was all packed up and ready to go but then BYU showed up on his porch and said we are not going to let you leave yet. This is the only game he cares about slaying BYU so he can ride his Harley to Jackson Hole. He has earned it.

Shower Thought - October 14, 2025

Red Auerbach once lit his cigar with ten seconds left and told his team to let the opponent score two points, but not to foul. Tom Heinsohn fouled the opponent while they were shooting, and the game went to overtime. Auerbach's celebrated cigar tradition was almost ruined.

Lakers fans hated Auerbach. Lighting a cigar sometimes with several minutes left in a game was the ultimate slap in the face. Auburn fans hated the smug "god of football" posture that Nick Saban had; they hated Bear Bryant even more because he refused to play them. North Carolina fans hated Coach K for his "holier than thou, we do it the right way" private school routine in Durham. Jazz fans hated Phil Jackson's "zen master" rhetoric. Jets fans hated Bill Belichick for twenty years. All of these great rivalries were fueled by hatred for the opposing team's leader.

I don't think there's a single Utah fan who hates Kalani Sitake. For all the talk about the rivalry and how there's so much hate, and how it needs to be "toned down" and "rival-right," as the two schools' presidents have put it, one of the biggest parts of any rivalry is despising the other team's coach. Not in this one!

Shower Thought - October 13, 2025

There are strict rules in broadcasting this time of year, specifically during election season. There has to be equal opportunity for all candidates to access the airwaves. If the mayor wants to come on, that is good, but whoever is running against the mayor gets equal time on the radio or on TV. That started in the Communications Act of 1934. Legislators did not want Herbert Hoover getting all of the air time on the late night talk shows. There was supposed to be evenness, even if one of the candidates is the sitting mayor or president. Equal time.

Whoever wrote that law needs to write to College Gameday. College Gameday has been to the following places this year: Columbus, Ohio; Norman, Oklahoma; Knoxville, Tennessee; Miami, Florida; State College, Pennsylvania (where we struggle at playing football); Tuscaloosa, Alabama; and Eugene, Oregon. That is six of seven SEC or Big Ten sites. There was one ACC site, but they were playing an SEC opponent. What is the deal? This week, they will be in Athens, Georgia, for the historic rivalry between Georgia and Ole Miss. 'It just means more.' Give me a break. There is nothing that means more in college football this week than Utah versus BYU. There will be no better atmosphere in college football this week than in Provo, Utah. Fox has it right, bringing 'Big Noon' to the Beehive State for the second time this year. ESECPN is missing the boat and they don't realize it!