My friend and I drove from Oregon to Utah to compete in the BYU50 Amazing Race. We won and then drove back to Oregon in time to teach our classes on Sunday. Total trip time: 36 hours. Total time spent winning the Royal helmet: 5 hours. Totally worth it!

Met Kalani before the race started. It was shortly before practice was to start but he still spent a good 45 minutes with us; 15 or so planned, and the rest just shooting the breeze with us after he had already told us goodbye. He was fun to listen to and great to talk to. He didn't preach or try to make us feel the spirit (not that there's anything wrong with that) but he made it very clear that the gospel is what makes BYU special. He also made it clear that he is there to win football games. The best part about meeting him was how he made us feel. You could tell that talking to us wasn't just checking off an obligation on his to-do list. He was sincerely happy to be there and grateful that we were there and that we were showing our dedication to BYU. He said that we (the fans) are part of BYU football. He is a fan just like us. He wants the fans to feel ownership of the team too.

He shared some great stories about Lavell, his family, his experience at BYU compared to other places, coaching philosophy, what the team did all summer in voluntary workouts. Some pretty cool stuff, but this post is already too long. He's just a stud. His on-field Win/Loss success as HC at BYU is yet to be seen but in every other aspect as HC, I'm sold on the guy. He is 100% a BYU guy...and that is refreshing!

On my shelf at work along side my wildfire hard hat.