BCS Outburst

The answer is YES. I am an unashamed BYU football fan, and that's saying something living in the DFW Metroplex area. I usually only get to see my team play in person once every two years.

This year, as many may be aware, BYU has been ranked nationally in the top 25 since the beginning of the season. I had hopes of going undefeated, but I was under no illusions - we had to get through UCLA, TCU and Utah to make that happen. Since we accomplished the first feat with panache I was excited to be able to see them perform their next major test in person.

Now I'm sure you know how it is. You're at your job "working"; code for looking at all the team stats, replays from earlier season games, and listening to the coaching interviews. Let's don't forget searching for every article regarding that day's game; and yes, I did send out the BYU fight song to all my co-workers via email. Doesn't everyone?

I'm still convinced that Time was mocking me by moving at half-pace all day long. But, finally, the clock reached the magical hour and I had worked myself up into such a state that I was foaming at the mouth.

We arrived, I thought, in plenty of time to park - about 20 minutes early. The Boss (aka my wife) let me know that her leg was hurting and requested to be dropped off with Dagger Jr. near the stadium and we would rendezvous when I parked...

40 minutes later I'm still trying to find a space and have almost crashed twice as I listened to TCU go up 14-0 against my beloved Cougars.

Through a series of fortunate events I found a parking space right across from the stadium without having to pay. I meet up with The Boss and enter the stadium.

My son wastes no time running up to the TCU staff asking for a pair of free pom-poms. My only excuse is that he's 6. Clearly I've already failed miserably in raising a proper BYU fan. The Boss shouts at me over the crazed TCU fans that we're in section E row 34.

For those who haven't been to Amon Carter, there is a large winding ramp behind the seats to get you to the upper deck. Carrying my son on my shoulders (to try to make up for all the lost snaps I've missed so far) we rush up the ramp to section E. I look down at the row numbers - row 114. I'm elated! Row 34 is right down on the field!! As we continue our descent (with my BYU ballcap on) I realize I can't see a blue shirt or cap anywhere. We arrive at section 34 and realize that we only paid 21 bucks for the seats. I turned to The Boss and asked to see the tickets. Not section E, but section EU.

The walk of shame begins for my family as catcalls of "BYU is overrated" and "Cougars stink" float our direction. Dagger Jr. gets back on my shoulders for a whole new trip up the ramp, while The Boss is arguing with me the whole way that we had already gone as high as we possibly could and I was wrong. We get to the turnoff point, I point out the original error, and I'm now scolded because I hadn't figured this all out in the first place.

I'm still hopeful for my Cougars, so I try to ignore The Boss as best I can and race up the ramp to the proper section. I was in relatively high spirits since row 34 had been so close to the field in the lower section I just knew these would be great seats. I burst out into the seats and looked for the first row indicator I could find - Row 1.

The hurried charge up the steep stairs quickly turned into a trudge as I realized that row 34 was indeed the highest row in the highest section of the stadium. Just as my posterior hit my seat and my attention finally turned to the field for some glorious BYU football - the first quarter ended.

We all know the rest. My Cougars, with whom I'd bitten nails, shouted in glorious praise - but had yet to cry in bitter defeat (this year) laid a BIG FAT EGG. Meanwhile I discovered that my son was a closet TCU fan since I took him to several Horned Frog games when we first moved here. He fell in love with Super Frog and only puts up with my BYU cheering because he's afraid of my reaction to the fact that he likes TCU.

The Boss, seeing my dismay at Dagger Jr. and frustration at the game, tries to make Dagger Jr. feel better by cheering for TCU. Nothing like a couple turncoats to make you feels better when your team is getting the snot kicked out of them.

Now, I don't want to take away from TCU, because their defense was amazing; and they figured a way around our defense too. I just can't help but feel we would have done better had our receivers not dropped so many balls, and we stopped playing zone defense! The problem, of course, is the BCS.

The Mountain West teams have NO room for error, while the usual suspects (even PAC-10 teams this year) can have 1 or even 2 losses and still be considered for BCS games. There is no question in my mind that TCU was underrated coming into the ballgame. Now, however, MWC teams are eliminating themselves from BCS contention trying to scramble for the conference championship. What a sham.

Surely BYU, TCU, and Utah are on the same level as a Kansas, Oregon, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Ohio State (this year) or Texas Tech. Even Air Force could hang in there against some of these teams. But because we're a 'Mid Major' conference we will never get the respect we deserve.

That's IT...I have to go play NCAA football on XBOX and get the right outcome - no matter how many times I have to restart.