The Cougars (and my family) come to Pepperdine

One of the first things I thought about when I was accepted to grad school at Pepperdine, was the fact that they were in the West Coast Conference, the very conference that BYU had just joined. I was excited that I would be able to see the Cougars in person, on a regular basis. Two weeks ago, the Cougars were in town to play at LMU. I went with Don and Gavin and really enjoyed our time at the game, which the Cougars won fairly easily.

I had been looking forward to BYU coming to Pepperdine, and that finally happened last Saturday. My family for one reason or another had not had a chance to come up to campus and see where I go to school. That was remedied when the whole family minus my dad came up for the afternoon to enjoy Malibu and see the Cougs in action.

My preparation started early when I purchased 17 tickets for the game. My family, my Pepperdine friends and two tickets that I donated to the ward service auction made for a large block of tickets. Until I had the actual tickets in my hands I was a little nervous.
 

It's a good thing I got them before game day because by tip-off the game was completely sold out. I was pretty sure that there would be a lot of Cougars in attendance.

I also had a chance to  show off my school. One of my great joys as an uncle is taking pictures with all the kids. I love them tremendously but they hate posing for pictures. It is all but impossible to get them to stand nicely for a picture, so I have to enjoy the candidness of this one. If you have never been up to campus at Pepperdine, it really is amazing. It has a picturesque location overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Firestone Field House is pretty much the antithesis of the Marriott Center, and it really more comparable to the Locke Gym at La Serna. It makes for an intimate viewing experience, where there really isn't a bad seat in the house. At Pepperdine you may even see you favorite Econ professor sitting court side. I can't be sure, but I am fairly certain that I was more excited to see Dr. Sexton, than he was to see me. He did however tell me that he would have sold me his tickets had I asked.
 Sitting across the court was President and Sister Samuelson from BYU. I made sure to say hi and shake hands. I don't think he remembered our last interaction at the Barlow Center in 2004 when he asked me about my Doc Martens but never followed up as to why. I still wonder about this.

 Jordan, Anthony, and Hannah all came to the game. Although they are not Cougars they still cheered for BYU and am sure they will be life long fans. Hannah helped me make signs for the game that I was very proud of, and got a lot of positive feedback about. I cheered loudly and consistently and chastised the Pepperdine fans that chanted "Rogaine" anytime Noah Hartsock got the ball. My brother in law Don who can also be described as follically challenged is a big Hartsock fan. Kindred spirits for sure.

I had to give some love to my all time favorite Cougar Basketball player, Mr. James Taft Fredette. Throughout the game I communicated with my friends via text message who were watching the game at home. I hadn't got on TV yet and didn't want to leave it to chance. Dan and I coordinated where to stand and I not only got on TV holding my sign (my friend and father for the third time this week Scott Nelson also saw the sign) Dave McCann mentioned it. Once I had accomplished this I felt a great sense of relief.

It turned out to be a really good game. Pepperdine started out strong but as I always say cream rises to the top and the Cougars got a hard fought road win.

After the game we had a fun but not especially delicious meal at Red Robin, where we celebrated Savannah's 8th birthday. The kids were finished behaving at this point, and I am pretty sure that he majority of our party was told "you're done" at one point or another. Still a blast though.

 This wide and glowing exception to a really horrible weekend considering the losses by Mitt, Niners, and the Lakers, was much needed as I don't know if I would have had the strength to go on without a Cougar victory. I am glad we are getting the kids started early on a desire to be Cougars someday.

RISE AND SHOUT! RAWR RAWR RAWR!