BYU Footbal Game

Last night I took Todd and Alec to the BYU vs New Mexico State football game. I almost decided against going, but I'm glad I opted to go because the event ended up being surprisingly fun.

There were several reasons why I didn't think the game would be worth going to. The first reason was that beating New Mexico State wouldn't exactly be a memorable win. While the Aggies are having a better season than usual, for them "usual" is pretty bad. They haven't been to a bowl game in over 50 years. The other reason I was hesitant to go to the game is that it started at 8:15 in the evening. That meant that we wouldn't get home until after 1:00 a.m. Also, the forecast early in the week was calling for snow and rain during the game.

The thing that ultimately made me decide to go to the game is that Alec has never been to a football game. My parents offered us three tickets, so it would work out well for me to take both boys. This was the last home game of the season, so it was the last chance I'd have this year to take Alec.

When you get Alec excited for something, it is fun to watch. He loves to count down the days until a big event. For the football game, he started with six days to go. Each morning he told me how many days were left, and he usually followed it up by mentioning how excited he was.

To make the event a bit more special, I told Todd and Alec I would take them out to eat before the game. I said they could go to any place they wanted. I was hoping they'd choose IHOP. They chose Taco Bell. Oh, well.

The weather ended up being better than I'd feared. It was cold--lower thirties--but there wasn't any risk of precipitation and no wind at all. We ended up not using extra blankets we had taken. Todd wore shorts and never put on the coat that he took. Crazy kid.

At the game, I could tell Alec was impressed by everything. He was impressed by the size of the stadium, the lights, all the fans, the vendors selling concession, etc. He was just eating up. He started mimicking everything I did. He clapped, cheered, or fist pumped whenever I did. At one point I stood up to stretch my legs during a timeout. He stood up too. After a minute he asked "Dad, why are we standing up?" Todd played the role of big brother quite well. He explained the rules to Alec, and made sure to high-five him whenever there was a good play.

The game wasn't much of a competition. The final score was 42-7. The fans started leaving in droves during the third quarter. The boys wanted to stay to the end and I have an illogical goal to never leave early, so we were among the few fans in the seats when the time expired.

I thought for sure the boys would fall asleep in the car on the way home, but they listened to music and played the Nintendo DS the whole way. They both thanked me multiple times for taking them to the game. They are a couple of great kids and I'm glad I took them to the game.