college gameday with michael...

this early morning bit of national television drama played out in provo while michael and i enjoyed every minute. in fact, it was certainly more emotionally satisfying than the game later that evening.

i worked until 2 am the night before the game and had to arise at 5:40am to get michael and myself dressed and fed. when my alarm went off i definitely thought 3 or 4 times about possibly staying home in the warmth of my bed and watching the show on TV. but michael's enthusiasm played in my mind as i dragged myself upstairs to help him into the clothing he'd laid out the night before.

i painted our faces with the paint i'd purchased at smith's the day before and after some cereal we had called mom out to take our pictures with our posters before heading out.


unfortunately, the drive down was not filled with the sweetness of byu pre-game announcements on ksl. it was filled with the depressing sounds of ksl's outdoors talk and gardening talk at 6 am. i opted for some top 40 tunes to keep myself awake and functioning for the drive down. michael dozed a bit during the 40 minute drive, but was wide awake and excited when we arrived.

we parked in the flag football lot and jumped the fence to the parking lot just west of the stadium where the game-day setup was already in full swing.

the first hint that we weren't going to get super-close to the stage was when we had to park way out on the grass at the parking lot.

the next sign was the 25+ tents setup in the parking lot next to the 'gameday bus'.

we found our place in a line (45 minutes before the start of the telecast) greater than a football field in length and waited. the wait didn't hinder michael's wonder and enthusiasm however. he is seen below beaming as he did throughout our time in the line. he would scan the crowd and the newest arrivals to the line and say stuff like, "uh oh, boise state fan" or "uh oh, utah fan", or "dad, that sign says..."

here you can see two of the more inventive signs. it was pretty fun to read the many different signs people made for the event. there were a fair number of signs poking fun at obama, but unfortunately they had to be taken down for the broadcast as they would not allow political signs at the show.

so a word to AJ, if you're going and planning on taking a sign tomorrow. don't make it political. there were also quite a few negative BCS signs, and those were taken down as well.


partway through the telecast (michael had been on my shoulders for the better part of two hours at this point) michael said he was getting bored. we discussed possibly leaving, but he re-energized with a rootbeer and chocolate (from the leftover deer hunt supply in my backpack.) and was ready for more. here we are below after the show ended.

while we didn't get our faces on the telecast (however, we were interviewed by ksl tv--the footage of which seems to have been archived without seeing the light of the internet...) but we did get our sign on TV 3 or 4 times.





all in all, it was a great time with my boy. it made for a long day, but the memories will stick.

go cougars!