Why I love the Cougs

Lately at work I haven't been myself. I always feel on the verge of tears. And I'm kind of a grouch. I'm usually known as easy going and a trash talker at work. I'm always trash talking the boys in our dept. about sports. We're always talking about college football and the Jazz. But lately I've been silent. All I've even been interested in is my family.

A couple of weeks ago my co-worker Gentry and I placed $5.00 on the TCU vs. BYU game. I obviously was betting that the Cougs would win and he was betting against us. Well, the outcome was that we got spanked by TCU and I had to pay up. Jr. had an idea to pay him in pennies. So that's what I did. We went to the bank a week and a half ago and turned in a $5.00 bill and asked for 500 pennies in return. I put the pennies in a empty water bottle and placed it on his desk and walked away. As I walked away I just heard him laugh so loud. A couple of minutes later he comes over and asks what other games I'd like to bet on because he likes getting free money. Little punk! :-)

Then everyone started to ask me why I loved BYU so much. I've never really thought of it, so I sat there for a while. I'm usually the type of person that talks first and thinks later. But I've been working on that weakness lately, so I was really concentrating and thinking hard of the many reasons I love the Y. Then someone asks "what was the first game you attended". My memory is not what it once was so I sat there for even longer. Then the 'aha' moment comes and so do the flood gates of tears. The first game I attended was in 2001 when Jr. and I just recently got married. It was when Naki still played for the Y. I've had nothing else on my mind but Naki, Abby and the girls. I've wanted to blog about him for sometime but I've been hesitant fearing that something I write would cause Abby and the girls more pain. Which they do not need anymore of. But tonight reading Abby's blog about mourners rights I felt it would be ok. I hope it is.

I remember at that game I attended with Jr. and his parents, Baby RayRay, Abby, Ginny, and some of Naki's girls. I believe Malia was only 1 year old. I also remember Jr. wearing Naki's blue BYU jump suit and being so proud and cheering when Naki was playing. I don't even know who they played but I remember loving the atmosphere there and being amazed hearing 65,000 people singing the fight song every time the Cougars scored. I remember wishing that I knew the words to the song. I know that was the game that truly converted me and I've bled blue ever since.

Poor boys in my dept. when they saw me having flash backs and tears filling my eyes they totally backed off. The word AWKWARD kept coming into my mind as I was trying to answer their questions and fight back tears. A lot of people I work with, Gentry included play softball with our family so they know Naki and love and respect him just as much as I do. During the BYU/TCU game our family got to go onto the field while they honored Naki by having a moment of silence for him. It was so awesome it just added to the many reasons I love BYU. Here are a couple of pictures from the game.

As for being a grouch at work....... I think it's that I cant shake this feeling that my family has been totally ripped off and there is nothing I can do about it. I cant file a complaint to the BBB or to the Attorney Generals office. So when I hear that from customers about their accounts I think...yeah, well suck it up! I wonder if there will ever be a time when I don't feel this way. I am thankful that I came to the realization (granted that it was at work) the true reason I love the Cougs. Because of Naki. As we watched our team get beat by TCU we started to see many fans leave. Jr. and I kept looking at each other and silently wondering if we should leave too. Then Jr. said to me...Naki would be so mad if we left and call us fair weather fans. I never want to be considered a fair weather fan. Naki is the truest BYU fan I know. So we stayed the entire game and enjoyed every minute of it. Go Cougs!