Hundreds Of Accidents Across The State Of Utah

When I learned that the state 4A Basketball Tournament would feature two quarterfinal games between Southern Utah rivals, I lobbied hard to have those games played in our corner of the state.

I called two principals, an athletic director, two coaches and a couple of the assistant directors at the Utah High School Activities Association.

After all, with a gigantic storm blanketing the state of Utah, why would we subject teams, fans, parents and support crew (like radio broadcasters) having to drive nearly 400 miles in a snowstorm, risking life, limb and property for some basketball games.

One principal laughed and told me that no one wants to drive in the snow, but we can't do anything about it.

Ultimately UHSAA official John Oglesby texted me this conclusive response:

"Yeah, we've made a commitment to Utah State to be there. Cache Valley schools dealt with weather coming south last year. Just feel bad this storm broke this week instead of another time. Just is how it is, unfortunately."

I'm super proud of having been a part of broadcasting local sports for the past 29 (!) years, so after figuring there was nothing I could do about the location, I determined I would make the trek myself, so I would finish up work as early as possible yesterday and then hit the road.

Thankfully, my sweet wife agreed to come with me and we left about 12:30 yesterday afternoonm.

What we saw over the next 7-plus hours of driving was something akin to carmageddon, or snowmageddon, or something like that.

According to the Utah Highway Patrol, there were more than 230 crashes in the state yesterday. I'm happy to say I wasn't in any of them, and as far as I know no one headed up to the state tournament was either.

But as you can see from the gallery below, there were plenty of crashes and snow-packed roads.