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| I am a true blue through and through Cougar fan!! And I thought I would tell you all why. |
My mom attended and graduated from BYU. My dad attended and graduated from BYU although not at the same time as my mom. As a matter of fact, my parents met at BYU. My dad wasn't attending at the time as he was in the Navy. One of my mom's roommates was engaged to my uncle, my dad's younger brother. It was Homecoming weekend and my mom's birthday. My dad came with my uncle to BYU so my uncle could go to the Field House Frolics. They asked my mom if she wouldn't mind hanging out with him, my dad before he was my dad. It was her birthday and he told her jokes all night long. If you know my dad, you know just how true that is. He still amazes me at the amount of jokes he can remember. My mom, since that day calls her birthday the anniversary of when she met my dad and no longer counts her age.
Naturally, I grew up being raised as a Cougar fan but that's not THE reason why I bleed blue. My mom is an avid football fan. She is a member of Cougar Club and has season tickets to the games. That is the way it has always been.
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| Game day selfie. |
I grew up in Tooele, Utah, Tooele is about a two hour drive from Provo. Being a member of Cougar Club meant that we would get to go into the Cougar Room for the Pre-game briefing and lunch. That meant we had to get to the stadium an hour before kick-off. When I turned eight, I got to start going to the games. It was an all day affair.
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| "White out at the BYU vs. Boise St. game |
This was back in the day when the games were at a reasonable time of day, aka noon. This was also back when you were allowed to bring your own food and drink into the stadium. We would have our snacks, candy and drinks packed in a little cooler. We would hit the road extra early as to avoid game traffic and generally we would go the "back" way to Provo through Stockton and Lehi, nothing but empty desert. It was pure one on one time with mom. We would talk about anything and everything. It was an entire day with just me and mom. And THAT is why I bleed blue. It's the memories of time spent with mom. It is the time spent bonding as mother and daughter.
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| Happy Campers because we WON!! |
I figure that I am an introverted extrovert, I love being IN the crowd but not OF the crowd, except when it comes to football, I LOVE going to the games!! I love being in the stands!! I love the yelling and screaming!! I love the energy of the crowd!! I love the chants!! I love the wave!! I love singing the fight song after we score!! I love screaming until my throat doesn't work!! I LOVE going to the games with my mom! I LOVE IT ALL!! There is nothing quite as exhilarating as being AT the game!!
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| Y mountain is the perfect backdrop for the stadium. BYU vs. ECU |
My birthday just happens to be in September so as an added bonus I always got the home game that was closest to my birthday!! Yay me!! See I have two brothers and so I had to share all of the other home games with them. But that home game closest to my birthday was always and uncontestedly (I know it's not a word! But for my purposes I am making it one!) MY game!! And oh how I looked forward to it every year.
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| So exhilarating walking up this ramp on game day!! |
I've been to some pretty epic games over the years. One particular game stands out vividly in my mind. It was September 8, 1990, the first home game closest to my birthday....MY GAME!! Number 1 ranked Miami came to the then called Cougar stadium and BYU was the underdog. It was the start of my senior year. I remember it was a hot summer day (because technically I can call it summer, so there). I was wearing my Royal Blue BYU shirt and black cut off shorts. My cousin Charles was in the marching band (he played the Tuba), I enjoyed looking for him on the field and we would meet up with him after games. It was a close, tight game....a nail biter.....my FAVORITE KIND OF GAME!! (only when we win though). The crowd was IN the game, we got penalized for crowd noise!! We had the wave going in slow motion, both directions, fast....you name it we were waving it!!. The feeling was intense!! Miami was down on the 1 yard line when Kozlowski did this flip over the line, grabbing the quarterback and thwarting the touchdown. It was a wild game in which BYU upset #1 ranked Miami 28-21 leaving it as a game that I will definitely NEVER forget. On a whole, over the course of my birthday BYU games, BYU has won more of them for me than they've lost. Thank you COUGS for making my birthday's great, spectacular, and memorable.
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| Homecoming 2015. Light the "Y" |
Since having children and way too many back surgeries, it's been hard getting to the games and I have missed it. This year I was able to make it to MY "birthday game", BYU vs. Boise St. I remembered just how much I love going to the games. It was my kind of game, intense and down to the wire with a win to cap it all off. I couldn't talk right for days. I figured that was the only game I would get to. I don't handle the cold well and as the season goes on, the games get colder. But two weeks ago on Homecoming, when BYU met up with ECU, neither of my nieces could make it to the game and it was supposed to be a nice 75 degrees outside. I jumped on the chance to go to another game and was not disappointed. Well, tomorrow's game is at 1 and it's supposed to be a nice day and my nieces can't go........so I'M GOING TO ANOTHER GAME!!
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| My birthday game 2015. |
Where I am looking forward to a great game and another win from my Cougs (go Cougs, you had better win), I am looking forward to spending the day with my mom!! Rise and Shout!!
