It's all about who you know

This past weekend marked the kick off of football season. Oh BYU football, how I loathe thee! Not the players of course. I am sure that they are very nice young men. I meet each football season with a sense of total dread. I know that our Saturday's will now be planned around when the game starts. I know that moods might be affected by the outcome of the game. I know that I need to keep the blue sheets on our bed. The red ones are strictly outlawed due to red being Utah's colors. Trying to look on the bright side, at least I know what I will be wearing every Saturday until November. A BYU football t-shirt is almost a requirement on game days. So, no standing in the closet trying to figure out what to wear. Now, you might be thinking, get to the point, so I will. I have a really smart older brother. We're talking REALLY smart. He has invented a seat belt for Audi. The NFL has hired him to invent new thigh pads and shoes for the players. He receives phone calls to go talk all over the world on how to be cool like him. Well, this same brother has a pretty sweet set up and connections at UVA. BYU's first game just happened to be against Virginia. This same brother was able to get tickets to the game that included pregame access to the field and locker rooms. When we went to Utah this summer he was there and told B that he could get all of these things and invited him to go up for the weekend to accompany him to the football game. I'm pretty sure B cried he was so excited. As he was leaving on Friday morning to make the drive he tried to pull off that he wasn't so excited that that's the reason he hadn't been able to sleep for three nights, but I knew better! He was like a fat kid in a candy store, just real excited!

 When he showed me this picture I'm pretty sure I peed a little. I was laughing so hard. I'm little Johnny rain cloud, Or maybe the only one in our family not in denial, but BYU football just isn't that great. This is where my confusion comes in. I ask B a lot,"If you know they're going to lose, why do you keep watching?" He just shakes his head, gives a heavy sigh and walks away. There is no limit to his devotion to this team. If garments came with the BYU insignia, B would wear them proudly. We have gone to games where it is so cold that I can't feel body parts. There was one game where I was so cold that I thought we were trying to emulate the Willie and Martin handcart companies. I got enough courage to ask if we could leave early. He looked at me and asked if I was cold. I thought the frostbite settling on my cheeks was a dead give away. I was only able to nod. He said we could leave early, and we did! There was still 4 seconds left on the clock when we left. He just loves his team! Anyway, so I thought the sign was funny and he did too until they lost to Virginia, then the sign wasn't so funny.

Being able to go into Virginia's locker room was cool. But being able to go into BYU"s was like a dream come true! I am actually really surprised that he didn't take Taysom Hill's jersey off the hanger and put it on. It must have taken a whole lot of self control. I can just imagine that when they walked in that he had tears in his eyes. He probably felt like an Olympian walking into the opening ceremonies, humbled and so excited to be there!

Once they left the locker room they were able to go to the field. Thankfully B had grabbed his football at the last minute before he left home. My older brother told B to go long, so he did!

 The equipment manager saw them throwing B's little BYU football around. He walked over to them and handed them this ball. This is one of the balls that the team warms up with. He told them that they could throw this one around for a little while. The reason B has his sunny's on for this picture is to hide his happy tears! Ok probably not, but he was to excited to hold this ball in his hands!

Here's the crew in the end zone. My younger brother is on the end with one of his son's. Then there's the brother that hooked them up with his two boys, and then there's B. He said being on the field and in the end zone was so cool. One security guy said they had to be off the field at three. But then that guy left and another guy said they could stay as long as they were off the field by kickoff. So...

Stay on the field he did! You can only imagine his joy when the Cougs came on the field to warm up! If he hadn't cried yet, which I'm sure he had, he started crying now! Him being this close to them is almost enough to make his heart burst with joy! All he could do was stand a stare at them. If you can't imagine his life getting any better, just wait! Just picture yourself standing there being so excited you know you have a ridiculously huge cheesy smile on your face, you can hear your heart beat in your own ears and then...

...You see Taysom Hill! The quarterback walk onto the field! He said he wanted to stop him and get a picture with him and throw the ball back a forth with him, but he didn't think that would go over very well. He said he knew football players were big, but in real life,"They're huge!"

Watching his team warm up was just almost more than his proud heart could handle! When he showed me the pictures when he got home his whole face was excited. He didn't mind that there was a 2 hour 9 minute lightning delay. He didn't mind that during the third quarter it started to pour rain. He sat through it like a champ. He didn't mind that his socks didn't dry from the rain and that his white BYU shorts got brown. He just loves that he was able to go. I'm not gonna lie, I'm so glad I didn't have to go. The drive alone would have been enough to push me over the edge, let alone getting to the stadium at 12:30 when the game didn't start until 3:30. Having a delay for lightning, getting poured on and then not even winning. Not to mention staying there until 9:30. It just sounds awful and I am so happy that I was able to happily bow out and let him go and enjoy the weekend with people that enjoy watching a game where someone gets the ball and runs into the biggest pack of guys they can find. Why don't they run around the pack of guys or throw the ball over the pack of guys? It's maddening to me that they go right into the middle of the pack. it's not like they can't see them, they're right in front of them! Anyway, I'm so glad that he was able to go and that he had such a great time!