I was thinking about my general lack of excitement...
 

for the season. I think it stems from a couple things

1) 3 losing seasons, enough said.

2) I think most of the guys on cougarboard have been seeing all sorts of interviews, shows, and press conferences with the big horse. I have hardly seen him at all, so that might explain much of the divide.

3) if you have seen the British version of "Fever Pitch"--I am like the Colin Firth character. Sort of a masochistic fan, expecting the worst at any second, while desperately hoping for the best.

So it was 3 things. Sue me.

Being the eternal optimist that I am, I'm very excited for the season.

I know he hasn't won a game yet (that's just to deflect most common Cougarboard criticism of this sort of statement), but the things he is doing, and the vision he is putting out there really strike a chord with me. I truly believe it will be a successful approach, and we're going to see good results this season.

I also am a big John Beck fan. I don't know exactly what it is, but I have really seen some good things from him and I think the pieces are in place for him to have a huge, BYU-like season.

Consider this:

1. He has (finally) a solid, experienced O-line. He is going to have time to execute the plays.

2. He has the best receiving corps I can ever remember BYU having - especially if Luke Ashworth is 3/4 of what Austin Collie was. And if he's not, the buzz I've been hearing about Reed and Griffin and even Morris is encouraging. I remember when we were excited about the dimension that Tyler Anderson's speed was going to give the receiving corps - something BYU had not really had before. Kozlowski was great, but I don't think he could have made that one-handed grab Watkins made against Notre Dame to seal the win.

3. He is healthy. What a lot of people didn't realize during last season was that even when he returned from his separated shoulder, he was not even close to 100% - I had a few boardmail exchanges with his dad telling me about some of the physical problems he (and some of the others, such as Todd Watkins) was having. That stupid option where he took the hit against Notre Dame killed the season. I hope we never see an option run again at BYU.

Last season was a huge disappointment, but as has been hashed over again and again, it was a few field goals and turnovers away from 8-3 with a bowl game, which we all would have been thrilled with.

The last three years, we underachieved. How do you keep from underachieving? Discipline and attitude. Bronco's bringing both of them this year.

I'm finally starting to get excited...
 

This is the first year in the past four or five that I haven't read every single article related to BYU football and listened to every radio show available on the Internet. Now that the season is almost upon us, I'm excited. I'm not as optimistic as some but I do think BYU will play well enough that I won't feel embarassed. I hope for an 8-4 ending including a bowl game.

The other reason I'm excited is that I'm going to the season opener. I haven't been to a game in a few years. Win or lose it will be fun to be back at LES.

I think you guys should be optimistic.
 

If I were a BYU fan, I'd be looking at Bronco and thinking, OK, he's unproven, but so was LaVell. He might just be great and if he is, he's here for 25 years, probably. Let's see what this group can do!

So I hope you have fun, except in your game against Utah and any game Utah needs you to lose. :twisted:

What I'd really like is to see a long rivalry between Bronco and Kyle.

It's a tough one for me, because the Whittinghams lived across the street from me for several years when I was younger, and I was friends with his younger brothers, so naturally I want to see him succeed. But at the U? I'm really torn. :?

My most vivid memory of Kyle was when he and Cary got my brother and me to come into their family room. One of them (I think it was Kyle) had a gun of some sort, and he pretended to shoot the other in the stomach - they had actually put ketchup on his stomach, so we thought it was really blood (we were only about 4 and 5 then). We both ran screaming from the house.

This brings back other Whittingham memories:

Nancy (his mom) was my Sunbeam teacher.

Freddie and I were playing pirates in my backyard (oh, the irony there), and we were digging for buried treasure. I leaned on my shovel to rest, when Freddie accidentally hit me in the head - I had to get stitches just over my eye.

Brady (younger than Freddie) once peed on the entry door at church during primary.