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It's amazing how long words can go on haunting a man.

Austin Collie spoke his "magic happens" remarks three seasons back, after BYU beat Utah in 2007 -- in large part due to the fourth-and-18 pass caught by Collie, keeping the drive alive that ultimately beat the Utes, 17-10, at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

But the words have taken on a presence of their own. They've been remembered and repeated hundreds of times this past week, living on in their infamy.

The phrase uttered that Saturday evening in November went along these lines: Magic happens when you do the right things on and off the field .

The implication wittingly or unwittingly carried by Collie there was that the Cougars didn't just outplay the Utes, they were living more righteously, and that's why they won.

They were the one true football team.

All hell broke loose.

Collie subsequently insisted that implication was unintended, and absolutely not what he meant. He told me: "I was just saying that hard work pays off."

Unfortunately for him, that's not how it came across.

And ill will still exists.

A lot of people recalled those remarks Sunday night, when Collie and the Colts lost to the Saints in Super Bowl 44 by the unholy score of 31-17. Even less holy were Collie's numbers: 6 catches for 66 yards. That's a stat line already marked by somebody else: Beelsebub himself.

Six, six, six. Oh, my.

I received an astounding number of e-mails from readers underscoring and driving home the point in one manner or another: Collie must not be living right. Or, as one woman put it back on the former Cougar: "You were dead right that God favors the righteous and noble and clean-living with success, and it was proven to me on Sunday -- because the Saints won!"

During my radio show on the Friday before the Super Bowl, caller after caller said they could not and would not root for Collie during the game because of his remarks, regardless that some 27 months had passed, and that the receiver no longer was a part of BYU football. Many of them were Utah fans, but more than a few were Colt fans and even Cougar fans.

"I love the Colts, but I hope every pass thrown to Collie is dropped," said one caller.

"I'm a BYU guy, but I can't stand Collie," said another.

"Magic happens. Yeah, right. Collie's an arrogant jerk," said still another.

There were only a few dissenting views.

No matter that the receiver appears to have matured over time, and that he had a fantastic rookie season and played an important role in getting the Colts to the Super Bowl. No matter that before he left BYU, he tried to distance himself from the too-righteous interpretation of his words by so many eager haters here.

It was, indeed, a stupid thing for him to say.

Still, isn't it time maybe to ease off the hate and let it be?

Regardless, Collie said what he said.

And the debris, whether he cares or not, still surrounds him, at least in the minds of a lot of people in this state.

And he didn't even say he hated the University of Utah, or that he hated everything about the Utes. He just implied that he lived better than them.

Oops.

Abracadabra.

In that moment, the real magic that happened was this: He turned a lot of otherwise ambivalent football fans here into something three seasons later they never knew they would be:

Saints fans.

GORDON MONSON hosts the "Monson and Graham Show" weekdays from 2-6 p.m. on 1280 AM The Zone. He can be reached at gmonson@sltrib.com" Target="_BLANK">gmonson@sltrib.com .