School's Out for Summer!

Blessed release! The semester is finally over! I think I will sleep in tomorrow. But not for long. I have to finish up some designs for Doctrine & Covenants Scripture Mastery over at Latter-DayVillage.com. But tonight I am taking my wife out on a date. We are going to a concert (Thanks Hannah!) and out to eat (Thanks Tucanos!) for a day-late birthday celebration. My wife is now 26 years old. When the Primary sang to her on Sunday I almost couldn't sing along, I was so glad that we are married. I love her so much!

I also love her folks! For our birthdays they are paying for half of the cost of season tickets for BYU Football this coming season. That means no more tracking down scalpers or watching home games from the neighborhood clubhouse! Rah Rah rararaaaaahhhh! Go Cougars!

Han Solo, P.I.

I saw this on the web today. I thought it was hilarious, hope you get a kick out of it, too!

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Alternate Realities

This post may contain spoilers of the new Star Trek, so consider yourself warned.

For anyone that is upset by the direction taken in the new Star Trek, I believe it is well within the realm of possibility of what has transpired over the last 40 years of the franchise.  Every iteration has dealt with time travel, has dealt with the alteration of the timeline.  In fact, some of the best episodes and movies have dealt with these issues.  But even with all the changes, I believe the characters have been given additional layers, but at their core, they are the same individuals they have always been.  Well, at least the original crew is.  Who knows how the events in the new film will trickle down to your favorite characters on the Enterprise-D, DS9, and Voyager.  Were any of those characters ancestors on the Kelvin, or any of the other ships destroyed by the Narada (Nero's ship)?  What about Tuvok? Were his parents or grandparents on Vulcan when...? ...you know.

That drastically changes the timeline.  Some events just won't happen the same way, some won't happen at all.  How does the loss of the Vulcan Science Academy change scientific advancement?  How does this shift the balance of power over time in interstellar politics?

I would like to note that even as poorly received as Star Trek: Enterprise was, it was not jettisoned from the canon of the series.  They do make reference to Scott Bakula's character and his pet beagle.

But will the Klingons of subsequent sequels have head ridges or not?  They made a joke of it in DS9, and then attempted to actually explain it in Enterprise.  Time will tell on that one.

Thank Heavens for iTunes, ABC.com, and Netflix

So besides being a big fan of BYU Athletics, I am also a fan of movies and TV. Well, of some television programming.  However, I've gone for the past year and a half or so without cable or satellite TV.  This has made watching my favorite teams play away games.  But it hasn't impinged greatly upon catching my favorite shows.  Granted, I don't see them when everyone else does, but I do get them with little to no commercial interruption, and on my own schedule. I don't have to rearrange my daily schedule to fit when my favorite shows are airing.  

This is made possible by internet resources like the iTunes Store, Netflix, and network websites like ABC.com.  Episodes become available, generally, the day after the show is initially broadcast.  The iTunes Store is just that, a store.  But what is nice is the ability to purchase songs, and especially in this case, episodes, a la carte.  No need to wait for the boxed set to come out.  No need to find out the hard way that you are not a fan of a particular show.  Netflix is another pay site, but it has a monthly fee.  If you want to wait for the boxed set DVDs and see all the commentaries and other special features, but don't need to actually own the DVDs, this is the way to go.  And you also have access to an almost unlimited collection of movies as well. But generally, the best value on Netflix is the TV series.  And now along with the DVDs they send you in the mail, they also have select titles that are available for instant viewing on your computer.

Now if you don't want to pay to watch you favorite program, networks have begun to make their programs available for free on their websites.  The best of the networks' websites in my opinion is ABC.com.  They have most of their programming available for viewing, and in HD. To make this possible though, there are commercials at the same places as during the broadcast.  But they are usually only 30 seconds long, and just one commercial per break.  I think ABC's has the highest quality video.  NBC's is lacking in picture quality, and I haven't really tried to watch anything on CBS.com.

This leads me to what I am really excited about this week.  The return of LOST. I have been eagerly anticipating the beginning of season five.  I've been watching clips on YouTube of scenes of the upcoming episodes, and I am geeking out.  I haven't really gotten into the fan community, that is posting on message boards, though I do read the message boards.  I just can't bring myself to interact with these other fans, though I feel like mocking some of the theories they put out.  I watched one video chat between two guys reviewing season 4 and previewing season five, and they were trying to make comments on scenes and things that they couldn't quite remember.  Everything is on DVD, and if you have enough time on your hands to make videos commenting on the show, you have enough time to do research and sound like you know what you are talking about.

If you haven't seen any of LOST, then I would highly recommend it.  Though I would add the disclaimer that you should start with season one and watch it through before trying to watch the new episodes.  The show is a serial narrative, so each episode builds upon the ones before it and affects the ones that come after it.  Also, if you end up liking it like me, you'll need a lot of restraint to keep from watching it all in one sitting.  I'd watch one disc and then want to pop the next one in, even if it was already 2 o'clock in the morning.  So just be warned.

High Anxiety

I nearly had an anxiety attack yesterday. And I had my date. My bout of anxiety had to do with BYU's narrow victory over U-Dub 28-27. The officiators' strict adherence to the rule book after Jake Locker scored the final touchdown and threw the ball up in the air pushed the PAT back 15 yards. Who knows if this would have happened at the normal position, but the kick was low and Jan Jorgensen got far enough through the line to get his hand on the ball to preserve the lead and the victory. Man, oh man was that close! Though it shouldn't have been. Again, BYU's own mistakes almost proved to be their undoing. Collie dropped a bunch of passes that he should have caught, Unga fumbled into the endzone at the end of a 97 yard drive, and Hall was intercepted on an underthrown pass. But they still won. On the road, against a PAC-10 team. That's nothing to sneeze at!

My date went well. We had a regional Stake conference broadcast today, so last night we had the adult session with our stake presidency. That meant the date started later than is customary. So I made dinner and brought it over to her place. I made Lasagna and ceasar salad. After that, we watched The Italian Job, the original with Michael Caine, not the new one with Mark Wahlberg. After the movie we had homemade ricotta gelato (italian ice cream) with blackberry sauce. All of the food turned out very good. We were undecided on the movie, I think we both liked the remake better.

We talked before, during, and after the meal and movie. It was interesting how much we have in common, it was almost cliche, although I didn't play it like the cliche: "You like that? Omigosh! ME TOO!" It was nice though. Like I said before, we have an understanding and appreciation for our different life paths we've taken. It was just really comfortable, like I could be more myself. I think there is certainly potential there. A second date is on the horizon for sure.

Football Season is Here!

OMIGOSH, OMIGOSH, OMIGOSH!

Kickoff is just over 48 hours away! At least for my favorite team it is, but opening games start tonight! It has been a long dry sports drought for me here at Risin' & Shoutin'. Last season I was working out in New York and very often missed watching any football, let alone BYU football. I did arrange to see the Las Vegas Bowl on my way home from the Big Apple, but I missed a lot of the other games. I did go to several BYU basketball games last winter, but by and large, my sports consumption has been particularly low over the last 12 months. Since moving back home, I've missed getting up on Saturdays and vegging out for hours of football on ESPN. We don't have cable or satellite here, we only watch DVDs around these parts. Any sports watching I've done is at other people's homes. I missed most of the Olympics, especially Michael Phelps amazing tour de force.

Vegging out watching football is not in the gameplan this season, but I will be better at least at seeing the Cougars of BYU. There are BYU fans in my ward here, and I got season tickets this year for the home games! I welcome my good friend Javich home from his mission in Arizona! I am glad that he was finally able to get the medical procedures done to allow him to serve, I know how important it was for him to go. But I am glad that he is back! We watched the games together during those dark years of '02-'04, and saw the first glimmers of redemption together in '05. But with everyone parting ways over the last couple of years, I didn't have anyone to share the success of the last two years with. But, at least for this season, it'll be the best of both worlds! Good friends to watch the games with, and a good team to watch.

GoooooooOOOOOO COUGARS!

Pseudo Play-by-Play

Byu turnover on 1st pos
Goalline stand-ucla fg good
U 3 b 0
Collie 26 he ret
Pitta 12 rec
Unga 5 run
Byu punt-ucla 11
U punt
Collie 22 rec
Pitta 8 rec
Fg byu good
U 3 b 3
U punt-byu 31
Reed 6 rec
Pitta 3 rec
Unga 5 yds 3 rd conv
Fui 6 yds
Unga 5 rec
Unga 3 yds
Byu punt byu recovers on ucla 14
Collie td xp good
U 3 b 10
Criddle pass brkup
Pop pass brkup
U punt-byu 44
Tonga 3 yds
U penalty
Unga 6 yds
Unga 9 rec
Unga 1 yd-short
Byu to downs
Ucla fg good
U 6 b 10
Collie 44 ret
Unga 13 rec
Hall 2 yds-3rd conv
Semanoff 9 rec
George 9 rec-3rd conv
U penalty 1st dn
Reed td-xp good
U 6 b 17
U punt-byu 8
Unga fumble on 4
U td-xp good
U 13 b 17
Hodgkiss 4 yrd tfl
Jorgensen 10yd sack
U punt u 44
Collie 9 rec
Byu punt u 11
Nixon 10 yard sack
U punt Y 3
Tonga 17 yds
Pitta 9 rec
Tonga 2 yds-3rd conv
Unga 7 yds
Y punt-u 32
Hodgkiss int
Semanoff 8 rec
Unga 7 yds
Tonga 1 yd
Collie 9 rec
Unga 1 yd
Hall sacked 6
Y punt-u 17
U punt-y 13
Y punt - y 46
U fg good
U 16 Y 17
Pitta 5 rec
Y punt u 29
Collie 30+ rec
George 3 rec
Collie 7 rec
Y punt down on u 2
U last second fg no good!
U 16 y 17!

Sent from my iPhone!!!!

Looking Forward

I am looking forward to several things in the near future. I look forward to getting into a new routine. When I go home, I'll again be at my mother's house, but I will take a more active role there. Money has been tight there for the last little while, and without getting into many details, I'll be helping out with that in a couple of ways. Also, I look forward to going back to school. I have taken so much time off and it hasn't gotten me much closer to financing my own education, until recently. However, the school I want to go to is a lot more expensive personally than BYU was. That is a bit intimidating but I am committing myself right now to do what it takes. I've been saying that I would go back to school now for a couple of years, and then I push my timetable back for one reason or another, but the buck is stopping here. I feel like I have held myself back long enough, and I hope that you, my friends, will hold me accountable.

I look forward to being home for the holidays, to seeing old friends and making new ones. I look forward to having a life outside of my job. I look forward to supporting my teams from the sidelines rather than from my computer. I look forward to being more involved and not falling back on old tired habits that keep me in place. I look forward to getting active and trimming down.

I look forward to getting back into a stable church setting. I have taken a step back the last six months or so from regular church activity, and I am feeling the toll of this. I have no excuse that can hold any water, all the reasons I have given myself over this span are empty. I feel myself to be at a spiritual low, and I want that to change. I have been somewhat reluctant to be open about this with anyone, for fear that those of you whose friendship I value would think less of me. But I realize that I am only doing myself a disservice trying to act like nothing is wrong. I worried that you may see that as some sort of betrayal of trust, and perhaps it is, but it only grows worse the longer the pretense continues. I have convictions and faith, I have just neglected them far too long.

Anyways, I have set down much more than I had planned when I started, and it is almost time for work. I guess these are my New Year's resolutions, but why wait till New Year's to get the ball rolling?

The Return, Part II

I just booked my return flight to Utah. I fly from Newark to Phoenix, have an hour layover, then fly to Las Vegas. Once in Las Vegas I have a weird eight hour layover before flying to Salt Lake. So, I figure since I'm in Las Vegas anyways, maybe I can slip over and catch the bowl game against UCLA. Who knew the bowl game would just happen to be at the same time as my layover. Hopefully, this will assuage some of my guilt for not being "fully invested". I'll be back in Utah on the 23rd. Go Cougars!

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.

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.

Roll Credits

"Cause

Two (two) heads (heads) are better than one
(woo hoo hoo)
It's double the pleasure babe
It's triple the fun
I said
Two (two) heads (heads) are better than one
(better than one)
It'll make you come undone
Two heads are better than one"

-Power Tool, end credits Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

At this time I have two days to get three installs. I don't think that it's going to happen frankly. So that means staying out here a little while longer to solidify that install total and insure my pay bump. This makes me unhappy, because I really wanted to be back on Saturday for the BYU vs. AZ game. They are also retiring Ty Detmer's jersey at halftime. So to both get my installs, catch the game, and take a quick breather, I found cheap last minute plane tickets on Orbitz. Roundtrip tickets and a rental car for two days will run me about $250. That'll also give me a chance to take as much time as I need to get my car checked out, pack, and drive back instead of rushing around like a chicken with it's head cut off. My flight arrives about 10am on Saturday and leaves about 11am on Monday. I decided to go with a rental car so I can be completely free to come and go and not force anybody to be my taxi service. So I hope some of you are available for hanging out after the game and on Sunday. See you soon.

Five Golden Rings! Bada da da...

Workdays: 5
Installs: 137
Average to finish: 1.6

Well, It may be five and a half work days, at which point the average to finish would be 1.4545455. Apparently noon on the 31 is the last scheduable slot. I also should have my car serviced before heading back, there is a maintenance required indicator on my dashboardand it has gone from green-yellow to orange, and in the last week or so, to red since being out here. Probably just needs an oil change as I've gone over 180,000 miles. I was kind of hoping to have the whole day on the 31st to take care of packing up and leaving to make it back for the 3:30pm Kickoff for the BYU vs. AZ game on September 1st. Now it'll be pushing it. Oi vei!

I Am Seventeen Going On Sixteen...

do do di do di dooo...

Seventeen days and counting. I have seventeen days until my indentured servitude expires, and I become a free man once again. Well, actually my term is being measured by two sets of numbers, days and installs. I am so close to hitting 140 that I have decided to stay my full term or hit 145 installs, whatever comes second. I need to hit 140 for the next tier on the payscale. But I want to get a few more just to insure that I will get it. It could be possible that a few of my installs don't actually qualify, so instead of having 140 I end up with 137 or so and that would be a difference of approximately $2k. Thankfully, it's starting to look like I won't actually have to stay on for a few extra days to hit my goal. I have 15 workdays to get 24 more installs. If I can get three installs every two days I will be just under my goal. If I get 2 a day that'll put me comfortably at 150 or so. My renewed optimism is due to the fact that there are only 3 technicians left, and I have been scheduled out for two installs yesterday and today, which I hope will continue.

I would be very displeased if this job kept me from attending the BYU vs AZ game in Provo on September 1. I am eager to see BYU reload rather than rebuild for a change after a stellar season. In 1997, the year after BYU won more games in a season than any other team before or since ('96 record was 14-1), they went 6-5. In 2002, after going 12-2 n '01, they went 5-7. I would be thrilled to witness back-to-back double digit win seasons for the first time since '89-'90.

I would also really like to see all my friends back in Utah. It's been way too long. Though several have also spent the summer away, I can't wait to reconnect in a more personal way than just reading your blogs.

Is it the 'Year of the Cougar'?

The Lunar New Year (AKA Chinese New Year) is fast approaching. For the last 4 years, my friends and I have celebrated, in our own way, Chinese New Year. It usually means staying up all night before our celebration working on our paper mache parade dragon. Then the next night we take the dragon down to BYU campus, parade around the WSC and then go out to a local Chinese restaurant. It is always very fun. Part of our tradition is to do the dragon mixed with the animal whose year it is. This year it is the year of the boar or pig. I forsee it being done in pink.

But I was wondering if perhaps this isn't the year of the Cougar. Only time will tell, but the '06-'07 athletic year is shaping up quite nicely for Cougar fans old and young alike. Major sports like football and basketball are seeing a renaissance of sorts. The football team put up a year that hasn't been seen in these parts for a long time. Basketball too is on pace to one of its better years ever, but that season has yet to play out. So too have the other sports the BYU is known for including: Cross Country, Volleyball ( men's and women's), and Softball. Men's Soccer, though a club sport has improved greatly since joining the semi-professional league.

Instead of a giant pink pig-dragon, perhaps we should do a Dark Blue Cougar Dragon and bring the new lunar year in with a roar!

Go Cougars!

Vindication

Well, that was awesome! Our seats were really bad, and we had a bunch of rowdy Duck fans nearby that were getting more inebriated by the minute, but we had good time at the 2006 Las Vegas Bowl. I was kind of nervous when the Cougs kept dropping passes in the first quarter (very uncharacteristic). But I was cautiously optimistic when we had two sacks on Oregon's first offensive series. Actually, I was quite surprised that BYU routed Oregon so handily. Harline was amazing, and ended up getting the MVP award. My brother and I went out on the field after the game with everyone else, though he almost fell to his doom in the process. The only bad part about the game was that it was the last one of the season. The team has all but exorcised its demons, the final step being a continual process of winning in the coming seasons, not letting this team be a one hit wonder. But everything else that this class of seniors had failed to do, they did this year.

1. Protect Homefield: In recent years the Cougs have not protected LES, but this year BYU were the most dominant home team in the country.

2. Field a balanced team: When one thinks of BYU, scoring lots of points comes to mind, defense does not. But the best BYU teams of the past have had good defenses to go with theirpowerful offenses. In 2003, the Cougar defenders experienced a role reversal, they were one of the best units in the country, but the offense was one of the worst. Last year it flipped back, and the defense was a liability. There were too many question marks going into this season, but most thought that the defense couldn't get any worse. Well, they were radically better, and it lead to holding opponents to just over two touchdowns a game.

3. Win a conference championship: BYU had not won a conference championship in four years, a feat the Cougs accomplished almost annually in years past. In 2006 they won the outright conference championship with one more game to go, but could they...

4. Beat Utah: I didn't start watching sports until I moved to Florida, so I didn't really know anything about the rivalry with Utah until I came to school. But then I only saw wins against 'the team up north' in my first two seasons at BYU. Since then, my loathing for the Utes has only grown. And part of this is anger at the Cougars themselves, but it seemed like Utah could always get itself psyched up to play BYU, and BYU would come out flat, and not just in football. I would have liked to have seen a blowout in Salt Lake this year, but I think it is so much sweeter that the Cougs finally...

5. Won a close game: John Beck had a reputation for not being able to win the close ones. Which is kind of unfair, since he only touches the ball for part of each offensive play, and has no influence on defensive plays. Nevertheless he had the reputation, and he only added to it in the only two losses this year. In every other game the offense and defense totally dominated opponents. He didn't get many chances to dispell the reputation, but he finally put it to bed by beating the Utes after time expired on the second to last play of the game. Fire in his belly and ice in his veins.

6. Win a bowl game: BYU went back to the Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas Bowl for the second straight year, but had not won in 10 years. And they did it against a "Premier" team in the Pac-10's Oregon Ducks.

Now that is satisfaction. Keep it up Cougars!

Hitting the Road Fully Invested

I haven't been to an away game in years, but thanks to a (relatively) close locale and only slightly overpriced tickets, my brother and I are headed to Las Vegas. I'm not a betting man, but this trip is a bit of a gamble. I dropped a little more than two days wages on the tickets, not including travel expenses. The Cougars had better win, or this trip will really be all about Lost Wages!

Five long years

I meant to get back to this post and edit, but forgot all about it, and now I don't want to bother, so here it is in it's raw form:

Its been a long time in coming, and man it feels good. I didn't grow up loving sports. I didn't even grow up loving BYU sports. I guess that happens when you grow up in a single parent home, and the parent happens to be your mother. And you live on the other side of the country from BYU. I knew about BYU of course, both my parents went there. I even went to a couple of football games with my dad. I don't think I was there for the Miami game in '90, but I was there during the Detmer years. I remember my mom talking about the Miracle bowl though I had no idea of its signifigance. I stopped playing sports when we moved to Florida, but I took up the trumpet and lasted through four years of Marching band. I went to all those games and never really knew what was going on. Didn't help that my high school team was inept. We always claimed that the crowds came out to see us perform rather than the football team. So when I enrolled at BYU myself in '98 and joined the band, I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. '98 was an ok year by BYU standards, but it was pretty exciting for me considering the only winning teams I ever witnessed were on the other sideline. BYU didn't lose at home that whole season. I liked to think that they needed the band to win. And that theory held through the Utah game. RES was pretty rowdy and the Utah fans heckled us most of the game. So it was pretty sweet when Utah drove the ball within kicking range at the end of the game to win it. Well, that wasn't sweet, but what happened next was. LaVell called the last two of BYU's timeouts to 'ice' the kicker, and it worked perfectly. Doink! It was so nice to see the worst of the Ute fans leave sulking after they thought they were going to win for sure. My theory of the band supporting to team to victory faded in the WAC championship game in Las Vegas, and then at the Liberty Bowl. I saw first hand what losing star players to Honor Code violations could do to the team. I later went on my mission and missed the whole 'bib' phase in the evolution of BYU's uniforms. I also was gone for LaVell's final season, for the most part not a tragedy, but it would have been nice to be there for the last two games. When I came back I considered rejoining the band, but financial needs ruled it out and I started watching the games as just a regular fan for the first time. What a time to come back to! I listened to nearly the entire Tulane game on KSL on the way up to Yellowstone, and I didn't know what to think of the 70-35 final score, but it was amazing. I watched and listened as the season progressed and got more and more emotionally invested. I wonder what would have been if the season hadn't been interuppted by the events of September 11th. Things would have been different, and maybe BYU would have ended undefeated and had a chance to play in a BCS game, who knows. It was a special season, but like in '98, BYU lost the last two games. One of the things to come out of that season, was that I started watching the games with my friends the Henrichsens. I got my season passes with various members of that family over the next four years. We endured a lot of bad football over that span. And they endured alot of misery for sitting with me during all the losing. I was not any fun to be around. I don't know what happened. I don't know where my school spirit came from, but somewhere on the road I picked it up and I haven't let go. In recent years I have tried to tone down my rage when the team is playing poorly, but I still get very emotionally involved in the games. Right before the season starts, if I hear the fight song, I can choke up. When BYU ended last season with a .500 record I could tell change was in the air. The new coach Bronco Mendenhall brought something that had been missing during the years the Crowton was the coach. One of the best things was reverting to a classic style for the football uniforms. Another was reconnecting the team to its past. And most important was a focus on accountability for the team. 2006 was going to be different, for alot of reasons. I had to get a job that required me to work Saturdays. All of my Henrichsen connections left Provo, or got married, or both. On days when I could see the games, I no longer had my usual group to cheer with. So of course the team starts winning. And not just winning, but winning big. This has been a season of purging. After losing two close games at the beginning of the season, the team lead the rest of the way. Blowing out teams both decent and otherwise.

Trying this out

I just wanted to give a shout out to all my fellow Risers and Shouters out there. I am a pretty happy Cougar fan right now, as are you all. I just wanted to try this out to see how it works. I'll share some of my thoughts on the season and the upcoming bowl game against the Ducks of Oregon later on.