BYU vs Utah Game: The Holy War

Saturday was the final installment of the infamous "holy war" for the next two years. It was a crazy day of red shirts, ridiculously long student section lines, and warm weather. But it was also the 37th year of the combined BYU and Utah marching band performance. Every year at the BYU vs. Utah game, the BYU Colorguard joins Utah's Crimson Line in pulling out the American flag. It's an act of friendship in a game full of name-calling, anger, and even violence.

Here are pictures from the game. Thank you to Nikki Merrill for being the Colorguard's unofficial photographer.

Rain or Snow

The weather here in Utah Valley has been pretty temperamental this past week. There was the crazy storm that delayed the BYU vs UT game. And then on Friday, there was a fierce downpour at practice. But we didn't let that stop us from finishing our run-through.

"We will fight, day or night, rain or snow!!"

What can I say? We bleed blue.

Love in Unlikely Places

Let's just say that the BYU Colorguard has some awesome sneaky skills. Our goal for band camp was to catch band members flirting it up. Here is the compilation of these photos. Enjoy!!

PS I promise we're not creepers, just sneaky with a camera phone.

Hike to the Y

Every year, after practice on the first Saturday of Band Camp, the colorguard hikes up to the Y.

And since last year, we blindfold the new members of the guard so they don't know where we are going.

So we loaded them in cars, drove around doing donuts and sharp turns to keep the girls guessing. And then we finally got to the base of the Y trail. This year we didn't take the blindfolds off until we reached the first switchback. So yes, the new girls hiked part of the Y blindfolded--with help of course!

Courtesy of Nikki Merrill

One member of our team has a health condition so she can't do much extended physical activity. But the colorguard that spins together, hikes together. So we got an adult stroller for her and pushed her up the mountain.

Courtesy of Nikki Merrill

At every switchback, while we rested, we told stories about our first dates, our worst dates, and our worst colorguard uniforms. And the further we climbed up the mountain, the more beautiful the view became.

courtesy of Nikki Merrill

Then we finally reached the Y!!

And the craziest thing happened while we were there. We were about to say a prayer to start our devotional when we hear a "Watch out!!" We open our eyes and turn to see a boulder about the size of a basketball rolling down the mountain at 35 mph towards us. But luckily, the boulder misses our group by about 20 feet and continued flying down the mountain. Crazy, right? But the colorguard was a little paranoid about falling rocks after that incident.

So our first day of band camp was complete with a memorable hike to Provo's iconic Y.

Courtesy of Nikki Merrill

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