*****game report at the end of this post*****
you may or may not know that byu plays ucla tomorrow in the rose bowl on national television. well, now you know. but tonight, michael and i heard from bronco mendenhall that the most important event of the players' weekend happened at a chapel in glendale california. the event was the fireside attended by cecil samuelson, bronco mendenhall and 50 or so byu players including most of the starters. i heard about these firesides last year when bronco implemented them on the eve of every game during the year. i have been wanting to take part in this very unique cultural phenomenon since their implementation...
our evening began with a drive to glendale california. michael sat in the back seat and studied up.
the fireside was really nice. it wasn't a 'bear testimony of football'-fest that i was worried it might be. two returned missionary non-starters got up and gave football anecdotes that they then paralleled with the gospel and obedience. it was really fun to hear these muscled young men bear testimony of christ and the power of his atonement in their lives. what a unique football program. what a unique cultural experience. where else in the world can you pack a church (chapel and cultural hall--we're talking more people than i've ever seen at a non-byu student stake conference) to standing room only with youth and their families on a friday night to talk about religion?
the whole team stood to sing army of helaman. four of the boys--including criddle and semanoff--sang in a quartet.
bronco's wife spoke as did bronco. his speech became very personal toward the end. he talked about how he wasn't sure he wanted to be coach again this year after last years successes. he spoke of the night before two-a-days began. he said he confronted an obstacle that night that he wasn't sure he would get past (reminiscent of joseph in the grove). he called his dad for a blessing at 5 am before heading to the first day of practice. on arrival at the office he found a package from sheri dew. it contained two books--what else? one was 'armour' by kim clark (president of byui) which gave an account of an experience he had after being made president of harvard business school and an overwhelming obstacle he confronted one night (which bronco described as very similar to his own experience) wherein he ended the struggle by crawling to his knees and calling on the lord for strength. what powerful images of these strong, dedicated men being brought to their knees by the pressure of their jobs and finding answers through prayer and the help of those around them.
the event wasn't the most spiritual event i have attended, but it was uplifting to take part in. i appreciated the feelings of confirmation i felt as testimony was born and these young boys committed publicly to live gospel principles and the importance of living as examples where ere thou art.
after the closing prayer i was trepidatious in my desire to allow michael interactions with the players. i didn't know if the players would be wanting to head straight out without being bothered or not. come to find out, a big part of the event is the chance to talk and mingle with the players afterwards. michael had been hoping max hall would speak and so i steered to him first. max is the starting quarterback, yet a first year player and may not be super well recognized by many. michael had been studying and so we found max alone in the foyer and i told him michael had been hoping to hear from him. max was really fun with him as he asked for a strong five and handshake. you can see michael's reaction below.
here is the picture michael mentioned. i'm sure you all have fui vakapuna's jersey number memorized...but just in case, he wears #1.
after speaking with fui and max we meandered back to the cultural hall and i'll let michael tell you about his interaction with the coach...
so, the event tonight brings michael's fanship full circle.
fall of 2005:
fall of 2006:
thanks for reading. and go cougars.
*****game-day*****
i ran out of time to write...so here are some pictures.
we lost.
we should have won.
the referees struggled.
blaming the referee's is never the whole answer.
there is a lot of traffic around the rose-bowl on game days.
jonny gave us play by play on the phone hanging from my shirt till we got inside the stadium...thank you jonny.
the 3rd quarter was heaven.
thanks to terry for watching our kids for so long...
i ran out of time to write...so here are some pictures.
we lost.
we should have won.
the referees struggled.
blaming the referee's is never the whole answer.
there is a lot of traffic around the rose-bowl on game days.
jonny gave us play by play on the phone hanging from my shirt till we got inside the stadium...thank you jonny.
the 3rd quarter was heaven.
thanks to terry for watching our kids for so long...
16 comments:
You and Michael are lucky young men. Love Uncle Rpn
can't wait for michael to teach our little guy about the cougars. :)
WOW! That is awesome! So I have to ask, were you lucky enough to go to the game? I can't believe how much he knows about that team...actually I can...I have brothers who literally eat, sleep, drink the stuff. We've DVR-ed the game and when Joe gets home from the ward baptism we'll watch it together. Thanks for the smile!
What a fun experience. Sounds like Jan got a full report of the fireside during Priesthood today. :) The fervor makes me laugh. Congratulations Michael!
I'll be honest you guys, I thought you were U of U fans ;) We will be going to the UNLV vs BYU game in October in Vegas and will be cheering red all of the way!!! I believe one other family from the ward will be on our side...the rest will be blue. Can we still be friends after this confession?
Tringali's... I guess we never discussed this all-important part of life with you. I, too, have been deceived. Luckily, we got to know your personalities before the betrayal. Truce. Still friends.
The game was fun... I love the game atmosphere that cannot be duplicated by watching it at home. However, we watched some of the more favorite/disappointing/CONFUSING plays (and calls) on our DVR when we got home, and both agreed that there are pluses to just watching it with the kiddos in the comfort of your own home. It was a fun game, though. Our Cougars look good, and I'm excited for another winning season... and a Bowl game in Las Vegas.
Yes, Jonny... thank you for being our play-by-play commentator for the first several minutes. THAT'S what family is for. You really are quite good... remind me of Mark Lyon.
I forgot to tell ya'll that I got spit on by a UCLA fan. It was while we were leaving the stadium going through a portal and came from above.
Tacky, tacky, tacky.
I hope someone never has that experience in the Cougar stadium.
thank you uncle ron...it was a sweet experience with my boy.
jonny: i'm glad your fetus is making it to the games this year.
amy: i hope you and joe enjoyed the 3rd quarter...
christene: is it the fervor for byu football that makes you laugh? i admit that i have a hard time mustering much emotion for the padres...or any baseball team for that matter. sports fans and sports teams certainly come in all varieties.
we met a 60 something gentleman in line for the shuttle back to our car from the rose bowl who travels to many of the games during the year with his wife. he loves cougarboard.com (paloalto coug) and posts their often--he is a successful and seemingly well-off lawyer from the bay area. anyway, his wife lived in ventura before they met and dated ron rasmussen. her married name is wendy ostler.
tringalis: we still love you. good luck rooting for unlv. the last unlv byu game i attended had more byu fans than unlv fans. byu will beat them by at least 14 points this year. byu is a very good team.
my amy: i'm sorry you were spit upon. it was pretty gross. at least is was clean spit. the lineman at the byu fireside told a story of being spit on while playing for vanderbilt because he was a mormon (the bearded spitting man told him to get out of the stadium because he hates mormons) the line said the spit was tobacco filled. his said the worst part was that he made him break the word of wisdom because a little got into his mouth. it was a really funny comment and everyone was laughing. funny in a very sick way.
Family memories. Grandpa and Grandma took me to the BYU games when the stadium was where the PE building is. I came through the fence in the knothole gang where they gave us a button if we could fit through the fence--which was free--and we sat on the hill on the grass and watched the game. I don't know how old I was but probably from 5-8 years old. So, 4 generations is a long time.
BYU will win the conference. Buy your LVB tickets while they are still cheap.
I talked with Squall Dude yesterday, and I guess he got to shoot the breeze with Ty Detmer for about 10 minutes before his jersey was retired (he snuck in with Ty's family by looking important and confident). Photographic evidence should be appearing soon.
I'm excited for my cougs to come to Albuquerque. The fireside should be a great (and less crowded) experience, and I would like Max to meet Max as well.
squall dude is always workin' it.
go max..!
I'll have to see photographic evidence of that one. Sounds like a good time, though.
paul: maybe laugh was the wrong word. smile maybe? You are right, we do come in all shapes and sizes. I think the problem is that I am not as big a Padre fan as you are a BYU fan. There, I said it.
I don't want to hear the word "mom" for the rest of the day. Luckily I think Michael is on his way to sleep...
... I wonder if my mom ever felt like this...
Okay... many hours have passed since a rough evening with the kiddos, and I am again feeling blessed to be the mom of such wonderful, darling kiddos.
Here's one that has made me smile all day (well, almost). Michael has been sounding out many words, and has even been spelling some on his own. He's learned the reading rule of "when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking."
So this morning he spontaneously told me: "A-A-T!!!! That spells 8!" Pretty good, huh??
Very good Michael! I wish the English language was really that easy!
Glad you finally made it to the game. Did you see Scott and Annette? Probably not,but they were there and were also stuck in traffic.
I have a story for you to read about "Joe's Music" on our blog, but you'll have to be able to put up with the country music until you open the comments. :o)
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