The Spring Tease

Good news everyone! I’ve managed somehow to pull myself out of the black and miring depression that has consumed me since my devastating injury. I am back online, and I’m up to full blogging strength. Today’s subject: Spring Scrimmage.

Yesterday I was among the 16,700 people to attend the annual Blue & White Spring Scrimmage for BYU football. I know what you Utah fans are thinking: What does 16,700 fans look like? It’s a pretty sight, my misguided brethren. Even prettier when it’s 16,700 Cougar faithful in mid-April.

Now before going any further, let me just say that it did my body good to be back in that stadium. The minute I stepped through those gates (after parking in one of the many open handicapped spots), I felt rejuvenated. The grass was green and the air was fresh. Good feelings swirled around my head.

But at the same time the feeling was kind of hollow—like the feeling you get after eating a Cadbury Egg.

It was fun while it lasted, but five minutes later you just feel sick and confused. It’s been nice to get news from the football team over the past few weeks, but all the excitement I felt about actually being able to watch football again disappeared yesterday when the final horn sounded. Now all I have to look forward to for the next four months is the Jazz’ NBA title run.

After that I’ll have to face the most grueling sports months of all: July and August. Do you have any idea how depressing it is watching SportsCenter in the month of July? When all the anchors have to talk about is the latest Tampa Bay/Baltimore baseball score? My favorite is how they invent football stories to keep our interest. “Coming up after the break—Is Brett Favre considering a comeback? We’ll tell you exactly what his sister-in-law had to say, next.” No wonder why they hype college football opening day so much. July and August are two rough months.

Wow. I’m getting distracted. Let me just say I loved being in LaVell Edwards Stadium, and I’m happy we’re one step closer to football season.

Now please allow me to mention my favorite parts of the scrimmage.

First of all, the Blue & White Scrimmage MVP was most definitely J.J. DiLuigi. When the scrimmage started I heard a lot of chirping from my buddies about how excited they were about J.J. I got on their cases for having such love for a guy whom they haven’t ever seen play one down. Well, I took all that back when I saw J.J. work his magic on the field.

J.J. had four carries for 27 yards for just a shade under 7 average yards a carry. The impressive thing, though, was how he ran. He was shifty, quick, and he was great at seeing the field. He created his own yards. He saw the holes and he hit them. This is an important skill, because our Tongan Trio of Harvey Unga, Manase Tonga and Fui Vakapuna tend not to cut through holes as much as… run people over. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Seriously, though, I was impressed with J.J. He’ll be a good change of pace back in the backfield, and he can play some mean slot receiver too.

Defensive MVP goes to linebacker Masi Tuitama. Masi played with the third team, I think, but he was all over the field. He laid some mean hits, and broke up some good plays.

I also enjoyed watching Andrew Rich, who got one interception, and Spencer Hafoka, who made some awesome catches and knew how to run after the catch.

It would have been nice to see some of the first-teamers, like Max Hall, Dennis Pitta, Austin Collie and Unga, but I actually enjoyed seeing the younger guys play. When I see guys like Sean Covey and Luke Ashworth play, I see the future. It’s cool to see them develop through the program, and I can’t wait to see them contribute.

Hats off to Bronco and the coaches for bringing in some talented, motivated guys to carry the BYU banner. 2008 is going to be a year for the ages.

Dang. Now I’m all jacked up about the football season, but where do I go from here? What do I do? I can’t even PLAY football thank you very much ACL tear!

4 more months…

PS—I haven’t forgotten about America’s Next Top Obscure Guest Author. Look for an update later this week.