Gone Bowling

This year I'm in the Newspaper/Journalism class at school, and I just wrote my favorite article so far about college bowl games. The paper just came out today, and here it is:

Get Out the Bowling Shoes

The regular college football season is over; it's time for the controversial, big-money Bowl Championship Series. The National Championship will be played at the home of the Miami Dolphins, and the four other BCS bowls will be spread from Pasadena to New Orleans. The Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, and the National Championship, will host the so-called "best teams" in the country to determine the final national rankings starting January 1st with the Rose and Orange Bowls. Playing in the Rose Bowl is fifth-ranked USC against number eight Penn State. 19th-ranked Virginia Tech will face 12th place Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl. The sixth ranked Utah Utes will play in the Sugar Bowl against number four Alabama, who was ranked number one for much of the season. The Fiesta Bowl will host number ten Ohio State and number three Texas. The National Championship will feature the Okalahoma Sooners and Florida Gators, number one and two in the BCS, respectively.
Senior Michelle Teng thinks BCS stands for, "Big Corrupt Stinkers! It shouldn't just be based on a bunch of computers; they should have playoffs." Senior Jeff Gassman said,"The BCS is retarded." Junior Tanner Brown said,"I don't like the BCS at all. It's not fair because it's always the same teams."
The BCS grabs special attention close to home this year, as the University of Utah went undefeated and earned an at-large bid. The whole Mountain West Conference will get a part of the millions of dollars of revenue from the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. Some Timpanogos students don't think Utah has a very good chance against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Jeff said, "I think Utah will get detroyed but I hope it's a good game." Tanner said,"Utah is going down. They have never played against a good team like that, and Alabama's defense is going to shut down Utah."
Brigham Young University also earned a chance to play in the post-season, even if it isn't a part of the BCS. The Cougars will play for the fourth-straight year in the Las Vegas Bowl. BYU will play the Arizona Wildcats for the third time in three seasons.
Michelle said,"I'm most looking forward to the Rose Bowl and the Vegas Bowl because I love USC and BYU!" Jeff said,"I'm excited for the Florida and Oklahoma game."
Many critics of the BCS feel the current system is no indicator of the best team in the country. A playoff system has been proposed, where the top 16 teams would play up to four games. Each win would move the team a step closer to becoming the real number one team. This seems like the best method, but the executives at the top make too much money to want to change the system. Until then, no team can truly claim the title of "best team in the country".

I had a lot of fun writing it, especially discovering that most people feel the same way about the Utah bowl game--they're going to get eaten alive!:)

the Lucky One

I look really awkward in this pic--but at least I'm showing my true colors! I got a lot of compliments. Yeah!

Wow wow wow wow wow sometimes I can't believe my good luck!! So two days ago, I got to go to the Little Big Town/Carrie Underwood concert with my grandparents and Alisa. I was so excited! The only concert I've ever been to besides that was Clay Walker, which was really fun, but this was my first big headliner concert. We got there and got to go watch LBT warm up(even if we weren't supposed to be there;)), since my grandparents know Kim from the band. They were SOOO good! I loved their part, and they sang a lot of songs! I loved their version of 'Life in a Northern Town' and 'Stay'. After they were done and before Carrie was on, we got to go backstage with them. It was really cool, they talked to us and we got a picture.

As we were walking out...Alisa says,"There's DAVID ARCHULETA!!!" And sure enough, I look over and he's standing almost right next to us! I couldn't believe it. He walked out a second later and, of course, we follow him out:). He was waiting for the elevator and so I went up to him, shook his hand, and told him what a huge fan I was. He was so cute! I told him I loved his new CD and he was all,"Oh you got it?" like in the cutest voice ever! Then, he signed our tickets, and we got to ride on the elevator with him! It was amazing. I'm really suprised though, cause I'm pretty sure I'm taller than him. I didn't realize he was that short! Still beautiful though. I totally would have asked him for a picture, but these 25 year olds already asked him, and then the ride was over:(. It's all good though, cause I got a few stalker pics from behind. After we got off, he walked one direction and then turned around and started walking back. When he passed us, he said hi! So yeah pretty much I'm tight with him now.

Carrie was amazing; it was very entertaining. It's still weird thinking I was in the same place as her. I love my country! Here's a video of her singing one of my favorite songs of hers, 'Just A Dream'. The quality is really crappy, but you get the idea.

Let the Rivalry Begin!

The past two BYU football have had more of a winning margin, making them much easier to watch! The San Diego State game was awesome not only because it was senior day and they won by a lot, but it was the game I got to sit up in the press box with Greg Wrubell and Mark Lyons!

It was so amazing and such a great experience. While getting our food, Greg even introduced me to Kathy Aiken and said she would know me when I give her a call! I got to know the process of how he knows so much about everything. He does memorize most things, but he has an awesome statistician next to him who was crazy busy the whole game, pointing to some things for Greg to say. He also had a guy that looked through binoculars and pointed to a board of names to say who made the play, etc. After the game, Bronco Mendenhall even came up to the KSL room for the post-game show. It was so cool. Not only that, but to be watching the game right in front of me and having it accounced right next to me! I had the best time!

The Air Force game last Saturday was a little scary at times, but I knew they would pull it off. They ended up winning by 14--more than any other team has beat the Falcons at home this year! Even more than the Utards, who only barely escaped with a one-touchdown win. Oh man I can't wait for the game this Saturday! Just think of it this way...for the last two years, BYU has been clearly the better team, yet only won on a miracle both times. Nothing matters in this rivalry, both teams give their all, no matter what their season has proved. I don't even think Utah is the better team this year, like most do. Sure, they're undefeated. But that's irrelevant considering how EVERY TEAM BYU has played thus far has given the Cougars their best shot. TCU practiced with BYU-dummies since January! All they thought about was beating BYU. Well congratulations, it worked. The Utards got lucky, because TCU beat themselves at Utah. Missing two 20-yard field goals and losing by three? Ouch. In fact, Utah has such a great home schedule this year, which has made all of the difference. If they would have played TCU in Fort Worth, there's no doubt they would have lost. They also got their all-precious Oregon State game at home, which also came down to the only person who can do anything on their team--the highly over-rated Louie Sakoda. He's not that much of a hero, what kind of kicker misses an extremely short field goal? Oh yeah, the TCU kicker.

This upcoming rivalry game will be awesome, and I really think BYU will suprise a lot of people. They don't "suck" as bad as everyone thinks. They're even better than the Utes. Wait, isn't their mascot some kind of bird?

Closer

Did I mention I HATE CLOSE GAMES?!? Wow...that Colorado State game was about all I can handle! I'm perfectly happy with the 59-0 wins, even though the close ones are apperently more "satisfying", though I don't see it.
Anyways, I'm so happy with Brandon Howard's performance as well as the whole defense, and while they did allow a lot of points, they looked better. I'm so glad Austin Collie and Dennis Pitta are amazing, and Max Hall is my hero. I will even admit that I loved how he shoved one of the defenders after that "sack" where he got pushed back like 20 yards. There's some passion! I'm also so glad he ran a lot more this game; it seems like he's having fun again! Another moment of pleasure came when O'Neill Chambers caught the punt and was his EXTREMELY hard, and instead of O'Neill getting hurt, it was the guy who hit him that was laying on the ground! Too funny. O'Neill got up and clapped right in his face...it was the best.

I'm really hoping for a Utah loss today(obviously), and think it's very possible tonight. I've called that New Mexico will beat them for a long time, so we'll see...

Yesterday for Halloween me and my best friend dressed up all-out 80's and went to the BYU women's volleyball game. It's the first time I've been in a while and had an awesome time! To make it even better, BYU smashed those TCU Horned Frogs! After the game we partied it up obviously. :)

When Love Collides

I love the period of time when the BYU football and basketball seasons overlap--my two favorite things at the same time! Let's start with basketball.
After seven and a half long-awaited months of getting my only glimpses of the team watching through windows or doorways...I finally got to see them up close in the first event of the season, the Cougar Tipoff! Everytime I though of going earlier today I couldn't stop smiling! I just couldn't help myself! It's been way too long. It started at 7 and we got there around 6 to make sure we got awesome seats. How does first row front and center sound? ;)
The actual scrimmage of blue and white was awesome, I was rooting for the blue secretly; they were down by a lot at the beginning but fought hard back and only lost by a little. It was so great seeing the new players and redshirters play in an actual game setting for the first time. Everytime Charles scored, Michelle screamed her head off and everyone around us was staring and laughing at us. That only happens about every time we go to a game. We're used to it.
After the game, we got autographs of everyone on the team, and I finally got a picture with Matt and Jackson! I'm so excited about that. It was such an awesome day and I can't wait to go to every single game and sit in the front row! :)

Now for football. After the heart-breaking TCU loss, I was expecting a hammering of UNLV. I didn't expect a nail-biter, last second secured victory! I mean a win is a win, but I don't like close games at all! I hope the defense will play like they did against UCLA in the remaining games. If that can happen, winning out is no problem.
Next week against SDSU is the game I get to sit with Greg Wrubell, and I can't wait! I'm also pretty nervous, but this is the most amazing opportunity and I'm so glad I have it!

Double-Zero

Since the past two BYU games--shutouts to be exact, the Cougars have rocketed to #7 in the country. They moved up four spots in a bye week! Four teams that were ahead: Florida, Georgia, USC, and Wisconsin all lost this past week moving the Cougs up with much-deserved respect. The UClA game(59-0) was the funnest, loudest game I have ever been to! Fumble after fumble, touchdown after touchdown, you gotta love it! I don't understand why some people think those kind of games are boring! The Wyoming game was much of the same(44-0), just as fun while proving the Cougar defense is much better than everyone has been saying.

Now to my major dilemma of the moment--to cheer for Utah or not to cheer? Everyone says that two undefeated teams possibly both in the top 10 on Nov. 22 when the Utes and Cougars meet would help BYU even more when they win. But, Utah faces Oregon St. this week who also just beat the former number one USC. A win over the Beavers would make Utah look really good, possibly better than BYU even if a third-straight shutout of Utah St. comes in to the picture this Friday. I however, have come to the conclusion that BYU does not need Utah, never has, never will. I am on a strict no-rooting-for-Utah to win policy unless their victory directly helps BYU win a conference championship(ex. Utah's win over UNLV in basketball last season, when the score was announced in the Marriott Center the whole place erupted in cheers.)

On a last note, I met Greg Wrubell at BYU last Friday at my internship( I know, what are the chances?!) I started talking to him and told him how I have an internship at BYU broadcasting and love sports. He told me that I could email him if I want the opportunity to sit in the press box with him at one of the remaining football games. Are you kidding me?! IF I want to go? I was all over that one and emailed him as soon as I could. I got a reply the same night saying SDSU it is! I am supposed to eamil him that week to get press credentials and everything! I can't wait! How do I get so lucky? :)

Block Party Part II...

I know it's been forever, and I even missed writing about the first BYU football game of the season--I know it's a shocker. Northern Iowa was a great game where BYU could afford to make mistakes to learn from and yet still win easily. As for Washington yesterday, I don't know why but for the longest time I've been so excited for that game cause I just thought it would be a really good one! Turns out I was right. The whole game was intense, starting on the opening drive where the Cougars marched it down to score an Austin Collie touchdown on their first posession. After that, however, the Huskies scored the next 14 points, and we then got another touchdown and ended up tied 14 all at halftime.
Touchdowns were traded again in the 3rd quarter, and the game would have been a lot less stressful if it wasn't for a Harvey Unga fumble in the endzone in the 4th. Not to take anything away from the star running back, because he had well over 100 yards rushing throughout the game, it was just very bad timing. Max Hall did connect with the tight end Dennis Pitta(my new hero and savior of all that is BYU football) who had another stellar game, and put the Cougars up 28-21. That left a little over three minutes on the game clock for Washington to try and score again. They ended up scoring with two seconds left, and their quarterback, Jake Locker, who ran it in was flagged for excessive celebration for throwing the ball about 25 feet into the air. That specific act is mentioned SPECIFICALLY in the rule book, so the refs had no choice but to call it, and it was a good call. All it did was move their extra point attempt 15 yards back, on the 25. So, it was the same as a 35 yard field goal, and for a kicker that's worth anything should almost be automatic. But thanks to the "Janimal" Jan Jorgensen, it was BLOCKED!!! The Washington fans cried and cried about how stupid of a call it was, but it wasn't the penalty that lost the game for them, the Cougars played better the whole time. The only reason it was so close anyway is because BYU brought it on themselves with the fumble and a near pick six. BYU beat them in total yards, pass completion, and heart. So cry all you want, but check off another "W" in the Quest for Perfection!

Other than BYU, I started school three weeks ago, and just started and internship at BYU Broadcasting. I'm not sure what I'm going to be doing yet, since I've only been two days so far, but I'm really excited for it. The best part is after I'm done each day, I can go straight over to the Richards Building or Marriot Center to watch my BYU basketball team practice! Less than two months until the tipoff! Timpanogos football is going great, where I'm the manager/watergirl again this year. That has to be the funnest thing there is at high school. Yeah.

Well, it's time to bring on the Bruins!! Can't wait for Saturday!