My parents (Utah grads) raised me to love the Cougars. My wife and I (USU grads) met at Ricks College. I have always been a gatherer and started hosting BYU watch parties while living in Michigan. We would have ward members over late (eastern time zone) to cheer on the Cougars. The ward boundaries were enormous, and many of them would travel several miles to gather. Most of the guests were only there to support the “Lord’s University”.

When we moved to Mesa we found that members of the church were now in our neighborhood and on our street. The watch parties would get larger and more frequent. The weather afforded us to gather outdoors with projectors & movie screens. Mostly ASU fans (grads) first BYU fans second. My wife’s fandom is growing. We have season tickets now. She goes mostly because she loves me and knows that I love it. It is fun for me to see her get excited! (like the final drive vs. Ok St.). The best part of that sequence was witnessing her exuberance!

My oldest and I text about the games. He’s in Hawaii, and I know he’s enjoying this special season! I’m excited to meet him in Tempe in a couple weeks. A few weeks ago I mentioned to a UU friend in the ward that I was considering going up to RES for the game. He said “Why would you want to do that! I’m a fan, and the disrespect and debauchery up there makes me uncomfortable! I wouldn’t!”

We gathered w/ my sister (Greg Wrubel is her Gospel Doctrine teacher), BIL (played HS football with KW), SIL (raised by BYU alum parents and is a Fan), daughter (Zemaiah Vaughn was her roommates boyfriend in the fall of 2020), daughter’s transplant (NM KSU grad) friend over for the watch party Saturday night. We had awesome food. Utah played out of their minds and rattled the Cougs, but the stars aligned and all remains right in the world!