BSU - BYU Football Game

Friday, Oct. 24, 2014

A little over a week ago I received a call from a man named Doug from Wish Granters of Idaho. I had been nominated by my social worker with Heart N Home Hospice to attend the Boise State – BYU football game this evening.

We parked our car in a parking garage about a quarter of a mile from the stadium. We then took a shuttle, which could accommodate my wheelchair, from the garage to the stadium.

We had been told to show up at the new football facility north of the stadium. We were directed to the wrong building and they had a hard time trying to figure out where we were supposed to be. As they were guiding us to the correct building, Annie's blood sugar dropped to 68. EMTs were called and they took her to get some food and direct her to where we would be seated. 

With cheerleaders on sideline

I was then guided to the correct facility where a black plastic bracelet was placed on my left wrist indicating I had permission to be on the sidelines. I was then directed to the sidelines where I was left on my own. I was approached by some cheerleaders to see if I needed help. (I was trying to take a photo of the field, but my fingers didn’t work very well.) I asked one of them to take a picture of me with the football field in the background. She took my phone/camera and two others joined me in the  photo.  

BYU warms up

BSU warms up

I roamed up and down the sideline watching both teams warm up. It was obvious, watching both teams warm up, which team had come ready to play. The BSU players were very intense and very motivated whereas the BYU players were lackadaisical and uninvolved. I guessed, correctly, how the game would turn out just by watching the players warm-up.  My assessment was correct as BSU immediately went up 20 – 0 before BYU ever scored. From that point on  the teams traded scores until the end when BSU won the game 50 – 35.  

Annie, BSU marching band & screen

We had excellent seats for the game. We were able to watch the BSU fans raucously cheer for their team while booing everything BYU did or anything the referees did that favored BYU.  With the screen at the end of the field, we were also able to watch replays or anything else that was happening on the field.  Even the team mascot, for BSU, came right beside us so children could have their photos taken with it.

BSU fans

All in all, we had a wonderful evening together watching the football game and all of the rest of the entertainment there for us. I would never have imagined I would have qualified to be singled out by Wish Granters, but I am certainly pleased that I was.

BSU mascot and fans