From Deseret News archives:
Family football follies
Which is longer than I should have been taking them to football games, because the oldest is 21.
But they all love football. They all want to go to games. They watch football on TV. And two of the three are girls, which should help shatter that silly stereotype. (Hey, my oldest, Amanda, had to explain what was going on on the field to members of both her high-school pep band and her college marching band.)
We've sat through everything from broiling heat to snowstorms. We've seen a lot of great wins and terrible losses. We've traveled from Logan to Provo — sometimes in the same day — with regularity, and we've traveled out of state from time to time.
It's a bonding experience. And it's also created some memories that have already become the stuff of family legend. Stories that we drag out, repeat and laugh about all over again. Stories like:
The following story is true. Only the daughter's age is in dispute. (She insists she was 4 or 5; her siblings and I maintain she was more like 9 or 10.)
In the middle of a game, sitting in the middle of lots of fans, Hillary turned to me and loudly said, "Daddy, didn't you go to college with Brigham Young?"
"No, Hillary. I did not."
"Are you sure? I think you told me you went to college with Brigham Young."
"No, Hillary. I did not. Watch the game."
Short pause ...
"I remember you told me you went to college with Brigham Young."
"No, I didn't. Be quiet."
Short pause ...
"I know we talked about it. Are you sure you didn't go to college with Brigham Young?"
"I'm sure. Be quiet. Watch the game."
But the child would NOT let go of it. And fans around us were laughing out loud at her inability to do so.
"Are you sure? I think you went to college with Brigham Young."
"HILLARY!" I said, patience gone. "Brigham Young has been dead since the 1870s. I did NOT go to college with Brigham Young!"
Short pause ...
"STEVE Young! Didn't you know STEVE Young in college?"
"Yes, Hillary. I interviewed him a couple of times." (For the college paper.)
Sheesh. The child thinks I'm 200 years old.
Amanda and I were sitting at a Utah State football game a year ago. (And Logan is a great place to see a game — you ought to try it sometime.)
But something was bothering me a bit.
"What IS that smell?" I asked — just as the answer hit me.
The wind had shifted and we were smelling the local livestock.
