Not sure if philisophical thoughts was the best approach for my first post, but hey, I've got to start somewhere.

As the grandson of a long ago Bronco field goal kicker, and also one who has yet to find the one thing I can profess to have mastered in this life, I wish to vomit some thoughts on the matter of Expectation without Experience.

It's amazing how far a people can progress, or digress for that matter in just about 100 years.  Because of the recent experiences that the supposed "Bronco Nation" which is primarily from south-western Idaho is experiencing, I am forced to ponder a few things (mostly intrinsic) about the world in which I reside. 

To save my computer the agony of hearing it, I won’t expound upon my own misery, but will discuss the hot topic that is Kyle Brotzman.  Actually, I will let Theodore Roosevelt do most of the talking, and supplement it with a challenge of warning to the few who choose to stand outside the arena….

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

"Citizenship in a Republic,"Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

I would suggest to those of you who wear overpriced officially licensed apparel with logos, who pay high prices to be the world’s biggest football "want-to" know it alls, who are more concerned with a number line from Vegas, than the good time you could have with those you watch the game with....

I would suggest to all the timid season ticket holding souls, that you think first before you discredit the accomplishments of a young man.  Before you cast the first stone, think to yourself...

Have i any faults?

Because of my flesh, and/or visibly apparent weaknesses, (which at times are so closely linked to my strengths have the outcome of my life ever had to conform to a plan "b"?

Am i a member of a team that needs my best performance?  If so, do I ever let them down?  If I do, or if I have, what was learned by the overall experience? 

 So, BRONCO NATION....

We have a choice…

We can collectively decide that this is about football and football only.  Something that the average, but populous increasing fan knows very little about anyways.

OR

We can own up to our citizenship in BRONCO NATION, be grateful for those who played the game before our time, for they began what we enjoy now.  Be honored to part of a movement, which is revolutionizing the college football world.  And be the kind of fan base who foster awareness of the deeper reason that the game is played....which is....

“It is a reality of life that men are competitive and the most competitive games draw the most competitive men. That’s why they are there – to compete. To know the rules and objectives when they get in the game. The object is to win fairly, squarely, by the rules – but to win.  And in truth, I’ve never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn’t appreciate the grind, the discipline. There is something in good men that really yearns for discipline and the harsh reality of head to head combat.  I don’t say these things because I believe in the “brute” nature of man or that men must be brutalized to be combative. I believe in God, and I believe in human decency. But I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour – his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear – is that moment when he has to work his heart out in a good cause and he’s exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.”

 Vince Lombardi

…to win, of course.  No, the Broncos, didn’t WIN on Friday versus the Wolfpack of Nevada.

This is truth. But another battle lies shortly ahead.

I strongly suggest that a greater loss from that game will occur;

If when introduced on Saturday afternoon for appreciation of his time on the field, the BRONCO NATION does not rise to the occasion and applaud the victory of a young man who has, in our day and age, "beaten the odds". 

Of so many of us who spend the time, money and energy to cheer, converse, and curse, for and against these boys of fall... there are still so few of us who realize the strength and dedication to accomplish even going to college, let alone trying to kick a geometrically incorrect ball in a straight line over and past 11 angry near-flesh eating opponents. 

I challenge anyone who may even attempt to emulate what it means to "BE A BRONCO" to do the right thing as Kyle Brotzman is presented on Saturday, maybe even with his loved ones in tow:

Applaud what he has become, that is a quality individual, and a hopeful asset to an otherwise morally declining society.  I don’t personally know if my valuation of him is correct, i have never met him.  But to define his character by the accuracy of his foot, or define him by one moment in time, would be a clear understanding of my purpose of it all, in which i would be of the greater sin.   BRONCO NATION, as it affectionately calls itself, has a moment coming this Saturday in which it's "finest hour" will be placed in its lap.

How will the “NATION” respond?

Will it be the missing of three points that defines the program?

OR

Will it be the missing of the mark by 32,000+ that defines who we of the southwest Idaho corridor are, what we value, and what we are willing to lie "exhausted on the field of battle for"?



The character of a fine young man?

Or,

A football game win?