Wow, am I ever glad I stayed up to see the end of the Fiesta Bowl! How could you not cheer for an underdog from Idaho of all places, unless you are from, uh, Oklahoma. I've always hated Oklahoma, going back to their great rivalry with Nebraska in the 1970s (Nebraska was the Good Guys, especially when they had Johnny Rogers).
You also have to like Boise State because they have a blue field. Yes, blue. They're just downright interesting.
That Fiesta Bowl is among the best games I've ever seen. When Boise threw that interception with a minute left, and it was run in for a touchdown, I thought, "Well, they played their hearts out. It was a great season for them." But with a minute left, they came back with that hook & ladder play, executed to perfection, to tie it up. And then the similarly perfect Statue of Liberty play to win the game.
And then the guy who ran it in immediately proposed to his cheerleader girlfriend. He had the ring in his room, but got caught up in the moment and proposed on the field. For the rest of his life, when he's with friends and they're swapping "How'd you propose?" stories, he'll win hands-down.
Perfect in every way.
Career-wise, I've been hanging around and writing about and cheering on churches and pastors for the past 25 years as my denomination's Communications Director.
Thank you, Thank You, Thank You. I thought I was the only one who was lucky enough to see that game. It was an amazing story of the underdog. I dislike very much to watch football on TV. I would rather be playing it. But man oh man was I enthralled by that game. I was actually cheering and yelling at the TV. I'm glad someone else saw it too.
I was with a big group of ministers on Tuesday, and most of them stayed up to see the game. Many, like me--and obviously you, Chris--were standing up in their living room cheering.