This post is sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011.
Where did I come from? Well, there's the obvious answer that I am totally making my wife explain to our kids when the time is right (if the Internet doesn't beat us to it). And then there's the answer as it relates to Boise State fandom, a topic that we can never talk about enough here at OBNUG. How did you come to Bronco Nation? What glorious, predetermined series of events led you to bleed blue and orange? Did Dan Hawkins have anything to do with it because that probably doesn't count.
This week's Where I Come From series is designed to help us share our stories of Bronco fandom, or overshare as the case will probably be with me. Take off your cynical, anti-sponsored-post hats (mine is a derby with a feather) and open up on your tale of Boise State beginnings. Today: How I became a Boise State fan.
How I became a Boise State fan
I remember it like it was yesterday, which it most definitely wasn't because that would be lame. I was attending a family wedding in one of Idaho's middle-of-nowhere spots. Maybe Buhl. Maybe Arco. Maybe Ririe. They all kind of blur together after awhile. Same goes for the family member getting married. I lost track a long time ago of which aunts, uncles, and cousins were marrying and re-marrying. They should really have a Phil Steele for this type of thing.
At any rate, I was in elementary school, so I had more important things on my mind: like how I could work the Book It system to my advantage without actually reading. The wedding was kind of a hassle, I was bored, Buhl/Arco/Ririe smelled like sad, and I wanted to leave before I even got there.
I'm glad I didn't leave, though, because that's where I became a Boise State fan (and learned that I never wanted to do an open mic at my wedding).
My dad, brother, and I stole away right after the ceremony and went out to the car to flip on the radio. Seconds later, the sultry sound of Paul J. Schneider was serenading us with the exploits of Tony Hilde and the Boise State Broncos. I was transfixed. It was the most exciting thing I had ever heard in my young life - and I had just got wind of DC Talk, so that's saying something.
I lived and died with the call from Paul J. I made plans to become Tony Hilde when I grew up, at the risk of losing my lucrative firefighter/astronaut career I had planned. This Boise State thing was for real, and I was hooked.
Funny, I can't quite remember which game it was that we heard that day (I want to say it was a playoff game) or even if the Broncos won. But there is no mistaking the feeling I had. My tiny, little, Lego-filled world had changed, and I was well on my way to being a diehard, borderline stalkerish Boise State fan.
Thank you, non-descript family member wedding.
Elsewhere on SB Nation
The Where I Come From series is running across the SB Nation college sites, so feel free to surf around, especially if you are curious how someone could ever grow up to love the Oregon Ducks.
Your turn
What is your Boise State fan story? How and when did you come to love the team? Share your thoughts in the comments.