There are many who probably do not know this about me, but when it comes to sports my first love has always been football. Whether it was watching Joe Montana or Steve Young throw touchdown passes to the great Jerry Rice, or watching Ty Detmer scramble out of the pocket to connect with Eric Drage, it did not matter to me because I love watching football (I think I will avoid playing it for a while though). For the past seven years I have been on hiatus from the NFL, leaving me only with college.
As I am sure that many of you are well aware, BYU has been my college football team for many years. I grew up watching their games at the stadium with my grandpa, or at home on TV. I have been able to watch their successes, and I have been able to watch their failures. From Bosco's national championship in '84 to the '96 cotton bowl victory, I have been able to watch it. I remember in recent history watching now QB coach Brandon Doman run the option with Doak walker award winner Luke Staley. I also remember how poorly it all ended under the same coach of that great team (Gary Crowton).
Then there was last year. BYU football was on top of the Mountain West Conference again. They finished the regular season 10-2 and after a convincing victory over Oregon their record stood at 11-2. They were nationally ranked in the top 15. All in all it was a great year for BYU football. John Beck reminded us all of some of the former great QB's to pass through BYU. Jonny Harline was among the best in the nation at his position. Cameron Jensen led the most solid defense to pass through BYU in the last 10 years.
And where was I through all of this? Watching the two or three games that were televised by our dish company, and listening to the rest. Why would an avid BYU fan listen to the games instead of watching them you ask? Ask Craig Thompson, the commissioner for the Mountain West Conference. I cannot believe that anyone would be dumb enough to sign a contract that would prevent the fan base from viewing their teams. And yet he signed the contract knowing that no deal was in place with the dish companies, and that the majority owner of the mountain (the channel that would cover mwc sports) was Comcast. Unbelievable!!!
And here we are, more than a year later, and still without a deal in place to allow fans to view their teams. Great leadership commissioner!!! Nice job!!!
In case you were wondering, the guy at the top of this post is my friend Jeremy. Jeremy is a U of U fan. We had a friendly bet on the outcome of the BYU-Utah game. As I am sure you can tell (or remember), BYU won (which meant that I did too). What a great game. What an even better finish. It was definitely one for the ages.
And here we are, more than a year later, and still without a deal in place to allow fans to view their teams. Great leadership commissioner!!! Nice job!!!In case you were wondering, the guy at the top of this post is my friend Jeremy. Jeremy is a U of U fan. We had a friendly bet on the outcome of the BYU-Utah game. As I am sure you can tell (or remember), BYU won (which meant that I did too). What a great game. What an even better finish. It was definitely one for the ages.
2 comments:
Ah, I remember that sweet, sweet moment. I was at my in-laws house in SLC. Despite having a pretty big cable package, we had to listen to last year's game on ESPN internet radio (I'm equally ticked off about the Mountain West deal). The suspense of the last play almost killed us. It seemed like the announcer was silent forever, then...TOUCHDOWN! Then me and three other grown men jumped up and down like little girls. It was awesome.
You know, BYU was really underrated last year. They barely lost those two games and easily could have pulled a Boise State. I'm very excited about the Bronco M. era.
That was defininely one of the best football games that I have ever seen. I was at home watching (one of the very few games I was able to watch from home) it with my brother, brother-in-law, and father-in-law. It was just as you said, four grown men jumping up and down like little girls. It was great.
I also agree that BYU was underrated last year. An OT loss at BC (they should have won) and a close loss at Arizona cost them a shot at the BCS. I think that they were as good as Boise if not better. Like always, who did Boise play during the regular season? No one. I am not saying that they did not deserve to go, I am simply saying that BYU played a tougher schedule.
I can't wait to see what Bronco does for an encore. I think that they have a shot to win around 9 games this year, and this with a new QB.
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