He's Rising Up

I married a sports fan.
Correction, I married a BYU sports fan.

I knew that when I married him, but I didn't understand how much of a fan he was until that first football season being newlyweds. I'd never seen someone obsess over a sport before. Pre-games, post-games, ESPN, local radio and news shows were on non-stop. I felt a little jealous of my husbands second love! It didn't help that we lived directly across the street from Cougar Stadium--he could drool over pre game preparations and the excitement of everyone convening on his beloved Cougars territory from our front porch.

Don inherited the 'talking' gene. His dad is a re known public/motivational/religious speaker in the BYU and Mormon community. He can get up and talk for hours and have you completely raptured and not once look at his notes. That is how Don is. Words come very easily to him and he has this raw talent at putting them together.

Back in highschool he DJ'd for his school's radio show KOHS. I used to listen to him and think that he needed to make this his career. He wanted to make it his career. Fast forward to college, getting married, having babies, and sports broadcasting got put on the back burner, although never far from his mind.

Don was able to intern for BYU sports marketing and held various positions with local sports team in the marketing and on field promotions. He even minored in communications. That industry is so hard to break into, and I don't think he gave himself enough credit as to just how talented he really is. The guy can recall sports from the past 30 years on command and put up a very impressive argument on pretty much any sports related topic, with charisma and charm too.
He blows my mind.

I've been saying for years that he just needs to put himself out there and one day he'll get his big break. I'm hoping that day comes sooner then later--and it's looking like it could. His tweets on twitter have garnered him almost 500 followers and that has opened the door for him to start up a website: www.riseup801.com that has gained national attention. This morning he was on the radio for about 15 minutes doing commentary for the BYU vs. Ole Miss game coming up this weekend. I got the kids up to listen and our ten year old son was just beaming with pride to hear his dad talk about their Cougars on the radio.

I am so proud of him for taking this leap and putting himself out there! I only hope the right people will hear him and recognize his talent he'll be able to move forward with this somehow. And if that doesn't happen, well he is having an absolute blast!