1. Had a great time (other than the outcome).
2. Being from the area we saw many friends (ASU fans) and had really positive, fun interactions with them before and after the game including spending some time in their tailgating area just northeast of the stadium where we didn’t get any negative comments from ASU fans.
3. We had many positive interactions with random ASU fans sitting around us or that we walked past during and after the game. Complimenting our team, saying they enjoyed the game, and few who said they’d see us in Arlington.
4. There was one drunk dude who was getting in ous and other BYU fans’ faces as we were leaving 20 mins after the game had already ended saying something about Skattebo and heisman and remember his name. Even the ASU fans around us were shaking their heads and saying he was an idiot.
5. There were a lot of birds in the stands today
6. Their students were, well, non-byu students. They have earned their status as a big party school for a reason and that was on full display with its warts and ugly parts for everyone to see. It was bad. My kids even noticed it and couldn’t believe it. The cream on top was seeing one of them get arrested right in front of us on the field (we were only a few rows up from the field on the BYU side right where the hailmary happened). The kid kept trying to escape and finally 3 police took him down and with a knee to the head made sure his nose wasn’t in the grass but was seeing how the worms were doing below it. Having said that I chalked that up to students being students at a non byu school. It also made it so that while my interactions with their fans was generally great, I can see how others may have had different experiences today and I believe them too.
7. I think it’s just not in the culture of Mountain/West coast fans to be courteous and have respectful banter rivalry or whatever you want to call it. Why can we have this with most fanbase east of BYU—there is competition and both teams want to win, but there isn’t personal hatred and fans of both teams could go break bread together after a game and enjoy their time—and yet every school in Utah or west of Utah seems to find a hatred and mean spirited way to approach their fanning? Even if it is religious-based (which may or may not be the case), Baptist and other Bible Belt schools could find equal amounts of religious disagreement but it doesn’t get brought into the way they fan against us like the west coast schools do. It’s just odd.
8. There is a good chance the ASU fanbase is similar to the Utah fanbase of the 90’s where most of their fans are not lds, but they have a lot of ALSDF’s (ALUF but ASU fans) and the ALSDF’s will likely just shake their heads but not bother to try nicely correcting anti-lds fan behavior within their own fanbase. Having said that, a part of me feels like this would be true of many (most?) schools, and certainly any pro sports teams fans probably wouldn’t be ‘classy’ towards BYU, but I still cheer for them (49ers, SF Giants, etc.).
9. I’m sure the players were disappointed, but when they came out to greet family and friends they were still willing to sign some autographs for my kids (and others) and that experience really helped take the sting out of the loss for the kids—it was a highlight of their day. Retzlaff, Glasker, Kelly, Lassiter, and others were all out there.
10. I’d love another shot at ASU in the CCG—make it happen KSU!