True Blue Week: Day the First

Today marks the beginning of one of the most important weeks of the year, and it's all leading up to Saturday and the BYU - Utah football game. Things are normally crazy pertaining to this game, but this is no normal year. This year's game finds the teams at a combined record of 21-1, with the only loss coming when TCU thumped my Cougs. Never before has so much been on the line when these two teams have played - although one may argue that BYU had more on the line in 1984 when we were undefeated and on our way to the National Championship. If Utah wins, it will essentially lock up a BCS bowl; should BYU win, things could get very interesting. We would need Boise State to lose one of its last two games to potentially receive a BCS at-large bid, and that isn't looking to be too likely. We can still hope no. Anyhow, the BYU - Utah game is going to be nuts. I'll write more about it as the week goes on. In honor of this week, the biggest week for any Cougar or Ute fan, I am going to write a post each day this week leading up to the game. In these posts I will share some thoughts regarding the game, as well as some of my favorite BYU football memories. I am already way too pumped for the game. Shame on the doubting Cougar fans out there who are giving in to the incorrect assumption of Utah's superiority. Now, more than ever, is the time to believe in our team. Yeah, it's gonna be a good week.

BYU football memory #1:
I'm not sure when I went to my first BYU football game. Both my parents attended BYU, and my father has always been an avid BYU football fan. (It's a shame he missed the beginning of BYU's football greatness by a few years when he was a student here. I've been pretty fortunate to have attended during the rebirth of BYU football). Since my hometown of Vernal is only about three hours away from Provo and one set of grandparents lived in Utah County most of my life, my father would occasionally attend BYU football games and bring my siblings and me. Like I said, I don't have a clear recollection of when I attended my first game. I do have a memory of one game when I was pretty young, but whether that was my first or not. It was, at least in my memory, a game against UTEP. It must have been quite early in the season because it was extremely hot. We were sitting either on the second to last or very last row. I don't remember who won the game; all I really remember is the heat - probably because someone got heat stroke or exhaustion or something and there was commotion as the person was taken care of. Not much of a football memory persay, but it is my earliest BYU football memory and I like to think that braving the heat that day helped lay the foundation for the dedication and devotion to the Cougars that would come to fruition later in my life.