This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Losses come in different varieties, as basketball fans of Utah and BYU were reminded Saturday.
The same is true of schadenfreude, karma or whatever description best applies to the sequence of events that played out as Utah fell to No. 4 UCLA at home and BYU was upset by a poor San Diego team on the road.
The day's outcomes and the responses to them from each fan base are best captured by former BYU star Jackson Emery's Twitter feed. A brother of Cougar guard Nick Emery, Jackson Emery retweeted a video clip of Ute fans celebrating when Lorenzo Bonam hit a buzzer-beating shot — before they remembered that the two-basket was insufficient to pull the Utes even in an 83-82 defeat. "That moment when you realize you were down three," Emery wrote.
But the episode of rejoicing in the Utes' misery came back to bite Emery. His brother's team lost 88-75 at San Diego later Saturday, in one of those inexplicable defeats that seem to happen to the Cougars every season in the West Coast Conference.
Emery's only choice was to invite the inevitable comebacks. He was good-naturedly proactive. "Well, Ute fans. Bring it on. Here's my response," he wrote, while tweeting a drawing of a man holding a knife and fork and a plate of crow in front of him. He went on to address the tweet to a half-dozen fans, individually.
Jackson Emery, one of my favorite players to interview during the Cougars' Sweet 16 run of 2011, probably shouldn't be doing anything to antagonize Ute fans, barely a year after his brother was suspended for one game after punching a Utah player. But I'll give him credit for standing up to the criticism he brought upon himself for making fun of Utah fans Saturday.
It was a weird moment in the Huntsman Center, I'll sat that. Amid the cheering of Bonam's shot, I found myself quickly doing the math to make sure I wasn't imagining UCLA's having clinched the victory.
Two other thoughts came to mind over the weekend as I processed that ending: UCLA coach Steve Alford should have ordered Thomas Welsh to miss his second free-throw attempt with one second remaining, rather than allow Utah to have any shot at a tying 3-pointer. And as the last play unfolded, with Utah's Kyle Kuzma heaving a full-court pass — perfectly thrown, except it was way too long in that situation — Ute coach Larry Krystkowiak thought Bonam was fouled. Could you imagine? If a foul had been called on UCLA, it would have become one of the stupidest plays in basketball history.
But no call was made, and the Bruins escaped. And then the social media fun began.
Twitter: @tribkurt