I’ve been reading CB for around six or seven years, but this is my first post. I want to dedicate it to my Dad, and wish him a happy 62nd birthday today.

My dad is probably the biggest BYU fan that I know. He started going to games when he was a kid with his dad, and it is a passion that they shared together until my grandpa passed away a few years ago. My dad went to football games when the stadium was where the Richards Building is now, and would get a ticket to sit in the “knot hole” for some cheap price like 25 cents. I think he’s been going to BYU games basically nonstop ever since.

My dad went to BYU and met my mom there. He brainwashed all of his kids that BYU was basically the only place to go to school, and we all did – and all met our spouses there too. When the football stadium was expanded in 1982, my mom was working at BYU and as a full time employee was able to enter a raffle to get first dibs at season tickets for some of the new seating. Her ticket was the second one called, and they selected seats at the 50 yard line, which my dad has been purchasing every year ever since. I think those tickets are among his most cherished earthly possessions, and I can still remember how excited he’d get when they came each year and how he’d put them in his sock drawer for safe keeping.

BYU sports is basically the only hobby that my dad has. His office is littered with BYU paraphernalia, and when he moved into a new office a few years back they gave him the option to paint an “accent wall,” and he of course chose Cougar Blue. He has season tickets to football and basketball, and probably catches 10 or so baseball games a year as well. He’d always buy the preseason football magazines each year and make sure I read them to get ready for the new season. Each year in August he’d tell me that we were in the month touching the month when football began, so we could be content with that.

I have so many great memories of going to games with my dad, it is almost too hard to keep track. BYU over Oklahoma at Jerry World, BYU over Utah on the Ryan Kaneshiro “doink” kick, Lavell’s last game, Beck to Harline. Multiple trips to the Las Vegas bowl, as well as multiple road trips to Laramie, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Logan, San Diego, Albuquerque, and Las Vegas. One that will always stick out to me is the Pigskin Classic in 1996. Someone in our ward was getting married at the same time, and because of his calling my dad was supposed to go and support. I was in elementary school at the time, and I remember that I was so upset when I heard the news that he wouldn’t be coming to the game that I started to cry. My dad, good man that he is (and, in all likelihood, probably not too sad to get out of having to go to the wedding) got someone else to cover for him so that he could come to the game with me. When Sarkisian threw the TD pass to K.O. Kealaluhi to win the game, it absolutely made that day for me, with my dad right by my side.

My dad even introduced me to CB, and told me that it was a pretty good source of news and information. He checks it almost daily (to my mom’s chagrin) and I do as well (to my wife’s dismay).

Aside from being a huge Cougar fan and passing his fandom down to me, my dad is also the best man that I know, and one of my best friends. When I got a job on the east coast, my dad drove out with me (a 30 hour drive) and we didn’t turn on the radio one single time – we just talked to each other the entire way. It was hands down the best road trip of my life. My dad provided for me and supported me in all the activities I did growing up. He’d even show up to my high school sporting events in the middle of the afternoon when hardly any other parents were there – it was almost a little embarrassing at times, but I truly appreciated the support and now realize that it wasn’t some trivial thing for him to be there for me. He is an amazing family man, an incredibly fun grandpa, and a true man of God. His example and constancy have been critical for me, and I hope that I can be half as good of a dad to my kids as he was to my siblings and me.

Sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to put this up for my dad’s 62nd birthday and wish him a happy one. I love you Dad.