Favorite Pastime...

It's Saturday... and there is nothing I love more about Saturday's in the fall than BYU football. The Cougars have a bye this week so instead of watching them play, I thought I'd post another entry on this blog.

I have so many memories of watching the Cougars while growing up. In some ways, I feel like I had some of my most trying, growing experiences in what use to be known as Cougar Stadium. One of the greatest games I ever watched there was the BYU - Utah game in 2001. I went with my Grandma to the game. Those were the days of Luke Staley, Brandon Doman, and Reno Mahe. The Cougars were down with not much time left and pulled off a miracle victory of 24-21. I remember being so down during that game as I saw my favorite team losing. I thought for sure it was over. My grandma kept saying "you've got to have faith, Amanda. Just have faith." I don't know what is was that enabled the Cougs to come back... maybe it was my grandma's faith... but the point was that they did it. They were 12-0 after that game. They were denied the chance to play in a BCS bowl. After learning the BCS didn't want them, they still had one more regular season game. They lost to Hawaii and lost their bowl game as well finishing the season at 12-2.

One of the worst games I've ever attended at Lavell Edwards Stadium was the 2003 BYU-Utah game. The Cougars had one of their worst seasons, finishing 4-8 that year. The end of the season, playing Utah, was just a fitting element of the their terrible season. It was a cold miserable game. It snowed for much of it. I went with my brother and Alaris. It was a game with only defense, no offense. BYU was shut out... 3-0. BYU's NCAA record for most consecutive games without being shutout ended at 361 games. This streak extended over 28 years. I wouldn't have cared if BYU had lost 90-2... as long as they scored points. It took me weeks to get over that game. Thinking about it now, I'm not sure if I'm over it yet.

For every bad memory I have of BYU football, I have at least 5 or 6 good ones. The #11 Cougars are off to a terrific start and really, need to run the table to get the respect necessary in order to play in a BCS bowl game. This means that they have to take it one game at a time. I've enjoyed going to the games with Trent this season and all of last season. As much as he pretends not to really care about the games, he gets excited when the game gets exciting. I know, I saw him at the nail-biter against Utah last year. We even rushed the field after they won. Our favorite game this year was the UCLA - BYU game. Of course, it wasn't even close but people were still extremely energized. No one left early because they wanted to see if the Cougs could secure the shutout... which they did.

Here's to you BYU... keep winning!