College Football

I had a conflicted childhood. My parents were season ticket holders to BYU. My Grandpa Simons was a season ticket holder at the U. I spent equal time at both. Circa 1985 I was a BYU fan. Mark Belini gave me his chinstrap after a game and I wore it all through little league football. Looking back, that is a disgusting thing to have done. In 1988 the Utes were more my team. Grandpa joined the Crimson Club early on, heck, he probably formed the Crimson Club. He took me to many games, trying to sway my allegiance. In 90, again I cheered on the Y. I was there when Ty Detmer upset Miami. I made a paper airplane out of the program that made it all the way to the field. That was a sweet accomplishment for a 15 year old. I bought the Ty Detmer Tysman Rap, found here: http://youtu.be/30Px-z8LFac (seriously you have to watch this)

Sometime in the early 90’s, I made the complete transition to becoming a fan of the Utes. Grandpa was taking me to every game, I liked Jamal Anderson who had gone on to play for the Atlanta Falcons, I was a huge Detroit Lions fan, and Scott Mitchell was playing QB for that team, a distant cousin (Mike Anglesey) was playing great for Utah, so all the stars were lining up for me to be a fan. Besides that, I felt I had to pick a side. Utah it was, Utah it is.

When it came time to go to college, I really wanted to attend the U of U, but I also wanted to get out on my own, away from home. I knew that attending the "U" that I would be too tempted to save money and live at home, so I went to Utah State. I loved it at Utah State, but even there I cheered for the Utes. The Aggies won my secondary loyalty. It was U of U all the way.

Which is what makes lasts nights adventure all the more interesting. I went to Lavell’s house and watched the BYU versus Utah State football game. Great game. I would have liked to see USU come away with the win, but that didn’t happen. What did happen was two middle aged men rushing the field after the BYU win. Curtis Hawker and I. And my boy Eli, and a neighbor Connor. And about 15 thousand of the 60 thousand attendees. Curtis is a die hard Cougar. He told us he was going to the field and that no-one was stopping him. So there we were, celebrating the Cougar win with the rest of the 19 year old mom’s and their RM spouses and three kids. Thanks Curtis, we had a blast. Go Utes.