The night a bitter rivalry forged a precious friendship

[urroner]

This is an article about a terminally ill patient who was a fanatical Ute fan and a doctor who was a fanatical BYU fan. It's a great read.

http://www.sltrib.com/collegesports/ci_14067916

Throughout the night, Call re-entered the room and talked more with Lloyd. At one point, he had taken off his physician's garb, exposing a BYU shirt, a stunt the Cougar -- Call did his undergraduate studies in Provo and came from a long line of BYU devotees -- enjoyed pulling at Utah's medical facilities. Saying the young doctor was a BYU fan was like saying water is wet. Turns out, Call, true to his family lines, was as cracked about the Cougars as Lloyd about the Utes.

When Call came in with the BYU shirt on, he found Lloyd had donned a Utah beanie.

"His friends in the room were laughing that I was lucky Rich let me in there wearing that," Call says.

The talk that changed everything » From that moment forward, the doctor, holding onto Lloyd's arm, and the patient, holding onto dear life, spent hours conversing about Bronco Mendenhall, Kyle Whittingham, Boylen and Dave Rose. They hashed through every detail of the Cougar and Ute sports programs.

Marianne, watching this whole thing unfurl, says: "Sometimes, I don't understand the way men think. Here's a guy who's dying and a doctor who's treating him talking BYU and Utah football. It was good to see Rich excited about that. There was a lot of passion."

And compassion.