I [Use to] Agree with Bronco's Wife

"He's only a football player--I mean, really, what can he do?"

I really like Holly Mendenhall, BYU football coach Bronco Mendenhall's wife. She says it like it is. She focuses on her family and important things. She once ran her own travel agency business in Missoula, Montana, lost out big when having to sell it, but got her family out of debt within only a few years time because of her self-discipline. Bronco says that she is "the glue" in their family, and to the football team he coaches. I think she's a spectacular, down-to-earth lady.

And her first summation of her husband, after their dating break-up, is something that I used to think about many-a-college athlete, even at BYU. "He's only a football player--I mean, really, what can he do?" However, after a few years time she caught Bronco reading a book, catching her off guard, causing her to think that he had matured and should maybe give him a shot.

Tonight the BYU football team caught me off guard. I decided to go to their fireside the eve before a home game to see what all the commotion is about these things. And it was nice that it was only a block away from where I live at the stake center down the street.

Lots of kids, from very young to high school age (and my age as well--I'm still a kid) were in attendance. I thought that the evening would have some feel-good stories, a few musical numbers, and some good words of encouragement from the coaches.

And it did. But there was more to it. When Bronco says that this football team is a means to shape young men, he's definitely right. With the simple talks that were given, they were given with testimony and the Spirit, and they gave me some important things to think about tonight. As Lavell Edwards stated tonight, "We are all learners and we are all teachers, beginning at a very early age." Every single one of these speakers focused on their testimonies of Jesus Christ and the happiness it brings into their lives, the strength it gives them, and what it means to be a true disciple.

Wow, I couldn't have been more wrong. So much for judging. So much more to think about just being and doing--just like these football players.