Pride Cometh Before the Fall

So BYU has shot itself in the foot for the second week in a row. Turnovers and penalties have been the downfall of the team for the last two weeks. The team has the skills to dominate, but not the mental toughness. Anyone who watched a game with me from 2002-04, knows how passionate I can get in regards to BYU football. The thing that was so frustrating during those years were the mistakes, the boneheaded penalties. More so than ineptitude, although that is no good either. This team is not inept, they were in it until the end, they had a chance the last two weeks. But critical miscues throughout the game and especially on the last drive kept BYU from leaving with a W. Over 200 yards in penalties the last two games, that is 2 football field lengths of going backwards.

Another thing that gets me is that during the weeks preceding the first two games against Arizona and UCLA, PAC-10 fans gloated about how much better their teams were, because of size, speed, and by virtue of playing in a tougher conference. The team showed that they were just as good as those others. But then this last week, I heard so many BYU fans start giving the exact same reasons that had been used against our team, as reasons why the team was going to dominate Tulsa. Bigger, faster athletes. Tougher conference opponents. There was talk of going undefeated for the rest of the season. While I think that it is possible, it just felt like fans, as well as some players on the team, lost sight of the fact that the season only goes by one game at a time, and that there is no room for being unprepared for any opponent, because on any given saturday, the amazing can happen. Appalachian State sure taught us that against Michigan. The team just has to prepare to be the one doing the amazing, and not allowing the other team.

I have mellowed greatly since those hard to watch games of a few years ago, but all the mistakes were still getting to me. I can accept when an opponent is clearly better through their play on the field. But I have a hard time when my thoughts start going through the woulda, coulda, shouldas.

The Return

Houston, the Eagle has landed!

Made it back without too much trouble. Now the trouble is figuring out what to do until January. Hmmm....

Signing Off

Just for the night, though. I need to pack the computer up for the trip to Utah, which I am starting before dawn tomorrow. I'll post again when I am safe and sound in Utah.

Done... Well Not Just Yet

I have completed my final installation! It is great. But I can't leave just yet. I felt I needed to get my car checked out before taking off. It's a good thing I did, because I might have gotten majorly stuck in the mountains if I hadn't. The passenger front tire was just about to burst when I took it in. They showed me where this nasty bulge was on the inside wall of the tire. It wouldn't have just gone flat, it would have blown out. Part of my axle needs to be replaced as well. If I had taken it in earlier, I might have been able to get it taken care of, but they couldn't get the part until tomorrow morning. I should also get the seals replaced on the transmission and have my suspension looked at, but that is not as dire a need as the other repairs. But it leaves a empty feeling in my gut knowing that so much money is being spent on my car, something I have already paid for. Oh well, better safe than sorry, and better here than out in the boondocks where I would be at the mercy of some remote mechanic.

Rise a Little Higher, Shout a Little Louder

I am majorly ticked off right now! I just checked the company site and found out that there have been 8 installs this week and that I am responsible for only one of them! I have sat here all week thinking that things were just being slow. But apparently the powers that be seemed to have forgotten that I was around, desperately waiting for a couple more jobs, and gave the work to others that are here for the rest of the month! I told people that I was going to stay until I hit my level. I told the office manager here in Denver, I told the Vice President of the company, I talked to a person in scheduling, I had a job yesterday that cancelled, it's not like it wasn't known that I was here. And yet, somebody got two installs yesterday and one today! If I don't get paid for this week I will be outraged! And if I hadn't checked the company site, how long would it have gone on for? Argh! The company is so disorganized, it's right hand doesn't know what its left hand is doing! And it has been this way the whole time! I tried to calm the other techs down when they started complaining, but its finally getting to me. I could have been long gone by now! But I should not have been naieve enough to think that the company would try to help me out here, even though that is one of it's stated missions. I should have been pestering them this whole time.

Slow Days

It looks like I am staying in Denver even longer than I thought. I needed to come back to get a few more installs to reach my level. I thought it would happen pretty fast once I got back, like I would be packing up and heading out today. But I have spent the last two days waiting for an install to come up and nothing. My install today is not 'til 5pm, and that only because I talked to someone in Scheduling and had them take it from someone else and give it to me. I don't feel bad about this as he will be staying all of September, and the sooner I can leave, the less competition he'll have for his own installs. I just don't know how long it will take for me to get the number of installs I want. But if Northstar continues to pay me a weekly salary, I guess I can live with that.

The biggest thing is that I'll probably have to be here over the weekend again, ugh.

BYU 20, UofA 7

I just got back to Denver from my 'vacation' in Utah. It was an expensive little trip, But I'm glad I went. I would have been bored to tears out here. As it is, I totally forgot about Labor Day and should have extended my stay another day, as I don't think there will be any installs to do today.

The game was fun. It was really hot, but I went prepared with sunscreen and lipbalm, so I wasn't totally fried. There were alot of questions going into this game. How well would Max Hall step into John Beck's shoes? Who would replace Curtis Brown at runningback? What about the tight ends without Johnny Harline and Daniel Coats? How much rust does Austin Collie have after two years in Argentina? How would BYU handle Arizona's new offense?

Hall went 26-39 for 288 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no interceptions. Not bad for not playing in an actual game in four years.
Harvey Unga made a strong case for himself filling the role Brown left, running for 68 yards on 15 carries, and catching 9 passes for 127 yards. He scored two touchdowns on the day. Tight end play was solid with Vic So'oto and Dennis Pitta combining for 66 yards and 1 touchdown. While he didn't have a huge game compared with his freshman year, Collie showed some moves on his 4 catches for 41 yards. BYU's defense was up for what turned out to be not much of a challenge. Arizona had implemented an offense very similar to BYU's over the off-season. It was somewhat reminiscent of BYU's first game with their offense two years ago against Boston College. The only score came when there was less than a minute in the game. Arizona's O will get better as the season progresses, but no one should have expected very much in it's first game.

BYU faces a bigger challenge in UCLA next week in Pasadena, CA. They will be facing former Cougar and star recruit Ben Olson, who transferred to UCLA after serving his mission. Olson threw five TDs against a weak Stanford team in a 45-17 blowout. I just need to find someone with the cable station Versus so I can watch the game.