I've been "out of the loop" for most of the past month, so I haven't had a chance to add my comments on this interesting post.
My BYU "pedigree" started when my Mom attended in the late '40s. (I was going to say she went to the Academy, but I clarified that - she's not THAT old...
) She even attended a semester at the UofU prior to that, but transferred to BYU after a bad experience.
The reason I mention her, is because she instilled in us kids the BYU tradition. My Dad, being a convert to the church, didn't go there, but was a big college sports fan. Between the 2 of them, we were Cougar fans - my mom often singing the fight song to get us out of bed, "...Rise and shout, the Cougars are out..." when we were little.
During my youth, I remember distinctly going to another member's house to watch the BYU 1980 Holiday bowl on TV. Because we lived back east, it was quite late at night, when our host figured the game was out of reach, being down by 21(?) with about 2 1/2 minutes to go. He figured it was over and time to go to bed - and we had to leave.... Needless to say, that was a big mistake. It wasn't until years later that I got to see the ending of the game on Cougar Classic Sports...
At some point or other, all of my siblings attended BYU, including my brother-in-law. He and I attended Army ROTC together in '83-'84. We did the Color Guard duties for the Campus flag (at the Admin building), and a few basketball games. Since I was in the Marching band at this time (I join CAFB in defending the band, as well), I remember attending the home games, as well as going to the Rose Bowl, when Steve Young and Company beat UCLA. Being in the band, we also had the opportunity to attend the 1983 Holiday Bowl. Steve Young's reception/run into the corner of the endzone was right in front of where we sat. Awesome!
After my mission to Central America (Panama & Costa Rica), I transferred up to USU (for a variety of reasons - so don't stone me...), but I was still a BYU fan. I cheered for the "offenses" when BYU traveled up to Logan in that thriller game 10 years later when USU won 58-56... (Crazy game).
As some of you have surmised by my postings, I am currenty in AZ on Active Duty. I've been in the military for over 20 years, and have done a year deployment in Iraq. I am married to my wife, who coincidentally had been here with her family when I was down here for schooling 19 years ago. We have 6 kids.
As some of you also know, I'm an avid BYU football fan. I watch them on TV as much as possible - Dish better get their act together, or I'm switching. I've listened to them on the radio and on the Internet. I even listened to them over the Internet around 3am, in the heart-breaking loss to USC in 2003, while I was in Iraq. I yell at the TV, especially when we play Utah. (In fact, 2 years ago, while visiting my parents for Thanksgiving, I got chewed out for how I was responding to how the game was going - I was somewhat loud...)
I'm tickled for the progression of BYU in the last 2-3 years under the direction of Bronco and his staff. We couldn't ask for a better situation. I'm proud the Cougars are getting back in the national spotlight, even though, under the CURRENT BC$ system, they will never get a chance to play for the National Championship game. I do look forward to them playing AND winning a BCS bowl game this year AND next. If it's in Tempe, I'm there.
Are we related? 
