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So here is my intro:
I remember the game that I became a BYU fan - It was a BYU/SDSU game, circa 1979 and Marc Wilson obliterated SDSU on ABC (wierd how I can remember those details but almost nothing of the game). Seems like the score was something like 52-0, since I don't trust my memory, I will only say that sounds pretty good?
After that, it was always a struggle to find games on TV, but watched whenever I could. Of course, these were the days before you could record, so scheduling conficts were fatal. One late December night, I had a conflict that I thought I would miss the Holiday bowl. I drove home at the speed of sound (in my Ford Pinto) with my brother and his hot girlfriend (little brother, and yes, I was very jealous) and got home in time to watch the end of the 1980 miracle bowl. A night that I will never forget.
A few months later (Edit - wait, maybe this was the previous year - sorry - can't remember...), I was betting all of my HS buddies a quarter each that BYU would beat ND in the sweet 16 game and as we all know, Danny Ainge delivered. It capped off a magical year in BYU sports. I think I made about $6 bucks that day - not bad when minimum wage was $2.35
1981 was my freshman year and more than anything, I was excited to finally see every BYU game and attend many of them. The first game we could only get by radio - BYU vs. Long Beach St. (I can't believe that we had to play that one on the road). Having not been able to watch or listen to any games, I wasn't very familiar with the players. In the middle of the game, the announcer yells, "INTERCEPTION BY HOLMOE, INTERCEPTION BY TOMMY HOLMOE!!!! Of course, all we could hear was: "INTERCEPTION BY HOMO, INTERCEPTION BY TOMMY HOMO!!!! My roomate and I couldn't stop laughing.
I was such a big fan that I joined the band, primarily driven by the fact that at that time, the band was on the 40 yard line - great seats. We went to at least two road games a year, and the biggest bonus - we got to go to bowl game. It was great fun to go to San Diego and watch Jim McMahon destroy the other cougars (that is with a small c).
That year's basketball team was a lot of fun. I really grew a liking to Steve Trumbo. Again, another great year in cougar sports.
At that point, I thought I was heading off for 2 years to Venezuela, when unexpectedly my time away was shortened to 18 months, enabling me to return home (San Jose) in time and drive down to the Holiday bowl and watch Missou lose on the halfback throw to Steve Young. What a great play!
So, of course, 1984. A magical year. A few memories:
1) Walking into the new Cougar Stadium for the first time. Wow, just Wow.
2) Crowding into the MC to watch ESPN's inaugral telecast with BYU @ Pittsburgh with about 10,000 other fans. I will never forget Adam Haysbert catch across the middle for the TD. WOW - it was a rush, especially, because Pitt was ranked #3 at gametime.
3) Watching Kyle Morrell make the perfect timing jump over the line of scrimmage in the game @ Hawaii. Seems like I was huddled around some small TV really late at night somewhere...
4) Coming out Sunday morning after the BYU/Yewt game. IIRC, a #3 was painted on the Y. Overnight, BYU fans had gone up and crossed out the #3 and replaced it with a #1. Although it was cold, my passion was burning hot that morning...
5) The Holday bowl. I went with the band again and we were sitting on bleachers in the endzone a few feet from where Kelly Smith caught the winning TD. Being on the field and rushing out amongst the players was a lot of fun.
I graduated from college and moved back to California. Many times, late at might, my brother and I would drive to the highest peak nearby and listen to scratchy KSL radio trying to get anything about any game.
Good years were when BYU was ranked highly - finding information was much easier and televised games were plentiful.
At one point, I lived in Utah and it was fantastic to see all of the games again. Of course some of those years were the Crowton years. The most miserable game ever, a 3-0 loss in freezing weather was the low point of all of my time in BYU sports. The night was definitely dark.
The next time I moved, I hesitated because my beloved Cougars were hard to leave behind. ESPN gameplan was an answer to a prayer. Finally, I could watch almost every game again. Of course, it was maddening when you would miss the first quarter because another game went long. Drove me crazy.
Two year ago I moved to St Louis and have been holding my breath for a B12 news for obvious reasons - seeing games locally among other reasons...I wait, hoping for some good news...
I remember the game that I became a BYU fan - It was a BYU/SDSU game, circa 1979 and Marc Wilson obliterated SDSU on ABC (wierd how I can remember those details but almost nothing of the game). Seems like the score was something like 52-0, since I don't trust my memory, I will only say that sounds pretty good?
After that, it was always a struggle to find games on TV, but watched whenever I could. Of course, these were the days before you could record, so scheduling conficts were fatal. One late December night, I had a conflict that I thought I would miss the Holiday bowl. I drove home at the speed of sound (in my Ford Pinto) with my brother and his hot girlfriend (little brother, and yes, I was very jealous) and got home in time to watch the end of the 1980 miracle bowl. A night that I will never forget.
A few months later (Edit - wait, maybe this was the previous year - sorry - can't remember...), I was betting all of my HS buddies a quarter each that BYU would beat ND in the sweet 16 game and as we all know, Danny Ainge delivered. It capped off a magical year in BYU sports. I think I made about $6 bucks that day - not bad when minimum wage was $2.35
1981 was my freshman year and more than anything, I was excited to finally see every BYU game and attend many of them. The first game we could only get by radio - BYU vs. Long Beach St. (I can't believe that we had to play that one on the road). Having not been able to watch or listen to any games, I wasn't very familiar with the players. In the middle of the game, the announcer yells, "INTERCEPTION BY HOLMOE, INTERCEPTION BY TOMMY HOLMOE!!!! Of course, all we could hear was: "INTERCEPTION BY HOMO, INTERCEPTION BY TOMMY HOMO!!!! My roomate and I couldn't stop laughing.
I was such a big fan that I joined the band, primarily driven by the fact that at that time, the band was on the 40 yard line - great seats. We went to at least two road games a year, and the biggest bonus - we got to go to bowl game. It was great fun to go to San Diego and watch Jim McMahon destroy the other cougars (that is with a small c).
That year's basketball team was a lot of fun. I really grew a liking to Steve Trumbo. Again, another great year in cougar sports.
At that point, I thought I was heading off for 2 years to Venezuela, when unexpectedly my time away was shortened to 18 months, enabling me to return home (San Jose) in time and drive down to the Holiday bowl and watch Missou lose on the halfback throw to Steve Young. What a great play!
So, of course, 1984. A magical year. A few memories:
1) Walking into the new Cougar Stadium for the first time. Wow, just Wow.
2) Crowding into the MC to watch ESPN's inaugral telecast with BYU @ Pittsburgh with about 10,000 other fans. I will never forget Adam Haysbert catch across the middle for the TD. WOW - it was a rush, especially, because Pitt was ranked #3 at gametime.
3) Watching Kyle Morrell make the perfect timing jump over the line of scrimmage in the game @ Hawaii. Seems like I was huddled around some small TV really late at night somewhere...
4) Coming out Sunday morning after the BYU/Yewt game. IIRC, a #3 was painted on the Y. Overnight, BYU fans had gone up and crossed out the #3 and replaced it with a #1. Although it was cold, my passion was burning hot that morning...
5) The Holday bowl. I went with the band again and we were sitting on bleachers in the endzone a few feet from where Kelly Smith caught the winning TD. Being on the field and rushing out amongst the players was a lot of fun.
I graduated from college and moved back to California. Many times, late at might, my brother and I would drive to the highest peak nearby and listen to scratchy KSL radio trying to get anything about any game.
Good years were when BYU was ranked highly - finding information was much easier and televised games were plentiful.
At one point, I lived in Utah and it was fantastic to see all of the games again. Of course some of those years were the Crowton years. The most miserable game ever, a 3-0 loss in freezing weather was the low point of all of my time in BYU sports. The night was definitely dark.
The next time I moved, I hesitated because my beloved Cougars were hard to leave behind. ESPN gameplan was an answer to a prayer. Finally, I could watch almost every game again. Of course, it was maddening when you would miss the first quarter because another game went long. Drove me crazy.
Two year ago I moved to St Louis and have been holding my breath for a B12 news for obvious reasons - seeing games locally among other reasons...I wait, hoping for some good news...
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