Go, Mighty Cougars!

For nearly every important home game over the past 10 years, Kulani and I have had seats in Cougar Stadium. Last Saturday, we again took our seats in Cougar Stadium to watch them retire number 14--Gifford Nielsen's and Ty Detmer's number. Ty is my favorite BYU quarterback of all time. Me and my friends Jana Baily and Keri Anderson were in attendance when BYU beat Miami in 1990. They passed out paper ties that said "Tysman for Heisman." Later that season Ty won the Heisman trophy. And now we are continuing the tradition (or brainwashing if you're with the other teams) of watching Cougar football with our daughters, as we are now a family of season ticket holders. Kulani helps teach a class at the law school, so we qualify for faculty tickets. Our tickets aren't too far away from my sister Amy's family or from Uncle Fred's tickets. Uncle Fred is the one who instigated our love for Cougar football. He's been getting at least a dozen season tickets for BYU football since the early 80s. His family is small, so he gives the other tickets away each game, and occassionally he sells some. Growing up, we were able to go to at least one game a year thanks to Uncle Fred.

The team looked great on Saturday when they beat Arizona. Kulani didn't get to sit with us because he had the difficult task of sitting in the Legacy seats and eating the prime rib lunch, chocolate-fountain-dipped fruit, BYU ice cream, and other goodies. A friend of his gave him the ticket. So we took my nephew Hekili to the game in Kulani's spot. Hekili is 11 years old and loves playing football. He hadn't been to a game since he was five. It was a complete joy to take him. Not only did he help me with the girls, but he was just entertaining to watch. Some of the things Hekili said:

"I can't miss the haka. Yes, that is so cool!"

"Oh, I want to play here someday so bad!"

"Can I keep this souvenir cup? Thanks!"

"I'm going to have this fight song memorized by the end of this game."

Hekili even printed out the lyrics of the fight song so he could sing it after every touchdown. He didn't know they flashed the words up on the scoreboard for people to sing along. It's easy to treat young kids to those kinds of activities when they're so appreciative. Here's a picture of Hekili at the game.

Here's a picture of Lissy having a meltdown at the game. It was quite hot.

Here's a picture of Nohea being sweet at the game:

And here's a picture of Hekili and Lilia on the Cougar.

Can't wait for the next game!