I grew up in a home where my parents had Utah Season tix back when Rice Eccles only held around 32k ish and struggled to even fill the place.

My cousin played for Utah's first ever BCS busting team in '04.

My uncles on my Dad's side are 25 year plus Utah season ticket holders who have all faithfully tail gated for years and faithfully hated all things BYU for as long as I can remember.

Despite all of this, I gravitated towards the cougars. I was proud of my faith and loved having the honor to support the program even in the little ways I did.... My blood would boil when my dad and uncles and anyone else tried to tell me anything negative about Lavell Edwards or the program like him "sweeping honor code issues under the rug".

Transitioning to the Bronco era, I would become ultra defensive at any sort of critique of Bronco or the BYU admin...

I remember going to a TCU game in Provo, would have been '08 or '09 ish. Me a a group of about 10 ish had stayed up all night for the first ever college gameday experience in Provo... BYU went out and laid an egg with the eyes of all of college football upon them. I remember that punched in the gut feeling but I was still 100% in Bronco's corner and still viciously defending all things BYU. Afterall it didn't seem like a time to panic then.

That night when leaving the BYU beat down by TCU I remember seeing a large 4 door white ford truck pull away with 2 Y magnets on the front doors turned upside down from disappointment of the games outcome. I remember yelling at them and saying "it's just one game!"... "Get out of here!"... "You're not welcome here!"... (I'm curious which CBer that was now or which CBer knows that guy?)

And then the subsequent games and seasons ensued. The once great and infallible (in my eyes) Bronco led BYU to lay several eggs at times it really mattered. Games like Florida State (the week after they almost or did get beat by an FCS school). The rest of the TCU games and then the Utah games... At this point it was starting to become an extremely visible pattern. "It" being every time a game really mattered to the program and fans, the team looked ill prepared, uninspired and lost when it finally counted. Even with my thick blue goggles on, reality was finally penetrating my vision.

Once the realization that the program had not only stagnated but started it's descent, (around 2011 ish) I began noticing excuses being used rather than accountability. I began noticing the talk of national championships and taking the program to the highest heights was nothing but empty hype and hollow promises.

Bottom line... I understand you blue gogglers who refuse to acknowledge BYU football IS dying a slow and painful death *unless serious changes are made. I understand because I used to be one of you.

Here's a heads up, when the athletic department sends out an email that has "our program is in serious trouble and we're trying to figure out just why" written all over it, it's ok to acknowledge and sympathize with those who are frustrated and saddened by the existing issues rather than labeling them as "haters" and "whiners". You don't have to be negative or join in on the "hating" but burying your head in the sand and basking in the glory of '84 has to be getting old by now.