Fireside report

When we arrived at the stake center in Kent, having followed the BYU team buses, the parking lot was full and people were taking pictures of the buses pulling in. The place was packed. It took longer than expected to arrive — nearly an hour — even with a police escort. For that reason, the fireside started about 10 minutes late.
The chapel and the overflow area were packed, so I ended up watching the fireside from the Primary room via closed circuit TV.
Freshman linebacker Iona Pritchard offered the invocation and freshman linebacker Spencer Hadley spoke. David Tafuna, Kellen Fowler, Scott Johnson and Matt Bauman sang “Abide With Me,” which was followed by a talk by running back Bryan Kariya.
Holly Mendenhall spoke next. She told a story about her six-year-old son playing in front of their house this week when some older kids said to him, “Tell your dad to ‘Tell your dad to do something about those fumbles.’
That was in reference to BYU’s four fumbles in its 41-17 victory over Northern Iowa last Saturday.
‘You laugh,’ Holly said told the audience, ‘but I didn’t think it was funny. I asked my son, ‘Where are they? I wanted to tackle them.”
Her son then told his mom, ‘I wanted to tell (the boys) my daddy’s doing the best he can.’
Said Holly: ‘That choked me up. That’s what we’re all trying to do as members of the Church (of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), to do the best we can.’
The theme of the fireside, as always, was about being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Coach Bronco Mendenhall said that the outcome of the contest wasn’t the most important aspect of this weekend for him.
‘It might be fourth or fifth,’ Mendenhall said.
He explained that being a part of the fireside ‘ which the team does the night before every game, home and away ‘ and the chance to spend time with his wife and his children rank higher on his list than a football game.
‘I won’t back down from that,’ Mendenhall said.
As usual, the theme of the fireside put on by the players and coaches, was about being a disciple of Jesus Christ. ‘For those of you who can’t come to the game tomorrow, you’re here for the most important part of the weekend for us,’ Mendenhall said. He added that some remarkable things have happened in his program since he took the helm nearly four years ago, but, he said, ‘I’m not talking about our win-loss record.’
He added, ‘The only reason to have a football program at BYU is to bring people unto Christ.’
Holly revealed that Bronco has a bad habit that drives her crazy: He likes to drink milk right out of the jug. She started labeling one jug with his name because the boys wouldn’t drink the one Bronco used because he had “backwashed” in it.
Joked Bronco later: “Sometimes going home is like going to an away game.”