Hard seats make for lasting memories

There is something about sitting on a hard, metal bleacher on a hot August night watching high school football that feels right, even if it’s anything but comfortable. It doesn’t matter if the team is home or away, the absence of stadium softness is universal.

Hot or cold, cloudy or clear, we put up with the elements and the iron throne because we love the family members and neighbor kids who play the game. One thing is for certain, there is more shifting going on in the stands than with both teams down on the field — combined!

Making a quick scan of the seats at the Timpanogos High football scrimmage Friday night, it was easy to spot the planners with their blankets and portable chairs, including my brother Marc sitting right next to me. I never quite think it through that far, so it’s the bleacher and my backside for all four quarters.

Even though the 10 of us McCanns graduated from Orem High, our hind ends sit at Timpanogos because we have skin in the game. Three skins, in fact. Deven (a brother) manages the offense, while nephews Dash (senior) and Zack (sophomore) work on catching passes, except Zack is out for a few weeks while his body heals a broken nose, which he sustained in practice.

Everybody else running around the field in blue and teal uniforms are strangers to me, but they look bigger and better than they did last year, so hopes are high for the Timberwolves. I also appreciated the woman who stood up in the crowd and asked for a reliable volunteer to report each week’s score to the Deseret News. She found one — and it wasn’t me.

When Jordan High comes to play Friday in the season opener, the bleachers will be full of optimists hoping for a memory-making experience. When there is joy coming from the teenagers on the field, there is less pain for the adults in the seats. Winning offsets whining across the board — especially in the bleachers.

It doesn’t take much time reminiscing with family during Sunday dinner to realize that so many of life’s adventures have come from our willingness to sit uncomfortably.

Growing up on the hard benches of LaVell Edwards Stadium, while our parents nestled into in their Cougar Club chair seats, my brothers and I watched Jim McMahon put 83 points on UTEP on Nov. 1, 1980. It was cold enough to use licorice as a straw. We sipped our soda through the Red Vines and debated whether we might score 100. Could there possibly be a better way for kids to spend a Saturday?

The bleachers were especially uncomfortable the following year against Utah State on Oct. 2, 1981. With McMahon injured, we watched backup Steve Young make his first start. The lefty threw 19 incomplete passes and ran the ball 21 times. “What is this?” we decried. “This can’t be our future!”

Fortunately, Todd Shell returned a pick-six in the fourth quarter to win the game 32-26. In time, the eventual NFL Hall of Famer and Super Bowl MVP quarterback won us over. Interestingly, the bleachers became more comfortable as Young improved.

The seats were hot on Sept. 9, 1985, when Washington came to Provo for an afternoon game. The Huskies were still smoldering over BYU winning more votes to claim the 1984 national championship while they finished as the runner-up. Seeing the Cougars pound them 31-3 took the edge off of our sunbaked section.

Just as the herds move on the Serengeti, the seasonal change from football to basketball triggered a fan migration from LaVell Edwards Stadium to the Marriott Center. For the McCann boys, it meant leaving the hard silver bleachers behind — for the even harder mustard-colored benches waiting for us in the rafters.

Truth be told, as with LES, when the big moments came, it didn’t matter where we were sitting, so long as we could be there to see it (thanks, Dad). We were not a respecter of significant events. We welcomed them all.

A Gordon Hudson touchdown catch was celebrated just as much as when Bernie Fryer stole the ball in 1972 and raced down the court for a rebellious slam dunk. The crowd erupted!

Over the years, there have been thousands of dunks at the Marriott Center, but this one made a lasting impression because of what happened next. Fryer was whistled for a technical foul because dunking in college and high school basketball was prohibited between 1967 and 1976. Even so, the moment was electric, and I think it kept us from sitting down the rest of the game.

It was from our nose-bleed bleachers that we watched Utah center Buster Matheney punch BYU’s Jay Cheesman in the face on March 5, 1977. What made it more surprising was Cheesman was already wearing a protective mask from a broken nose and Matheney hit him anyway. There are some things you can’t unsee.

The bleacher seats of my youth have long since been replaced by a broadcaster’s chair. For the most part, they are nice and comfortable and can be adjusted up and down. But they do come with their own challenges. Sitting in those seats demands much more than a Cougar Tail and a Coke.

When BYUtv Sports Nation “GameDay” kicks off Aug. 31 at 4 p.m. on BYUtv and ESPN+, former quarterback Blaine Fowler and I will begin our 35th year covering the Cougars together and our 14th season on “GameDay” or “Countdown to Kickoff” as we used to call it.

Together, with our supporting cast of characters that have included Spencer Linton and former Cougars David Nixon, Brian Logan, Austin Collie, Harvey Langi, and newcomer Isaiah Kaufusi, the mission remains to give fans (on both sides) a front-row (soft) seat into the game day experience with camera access no one else can provide.

Just as head coach Kalani Sitake and his players are preparing for opening night, so are we. His season starts at kickoff while ours begins two hours earlier when the red light comes on the camera, and we welcome viewers around the world to “GameDay” at BYU.

From our BYUtv platform in the southwest corner of LaVell Edwards Stadium, I can see the area where the McCann boys grew up — and I’m pretty sure those bleachers are just as uncomfortable today as they were back then — but they are still full. A new group of memory seekers are sitting there having the time of their lives — just as they should.

Life has also taught that not all hard seats are exclusive to sporting events. Those painful pioneer-designed wooden benches at the Tabernacle at Temple Square can challenge even the most faithful follower.

It was there, amid my own discomfort during the Saturday morning session of the April general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1989 when then-President Howard W. Hunter lost his balance and fell backwards during his talk. Despite breaking three ribs, he was helped up and continued speaking without missing a beat. I’m pretty sure I stopped complaining after that.

Gratitude for the hard seats in our life comes with time. Thankfully, they have put us in places where we have seen so much. I’ll try to keep that perspective on Friday night when the McCann backsides touch down on those metal bleachers for another football season at Timpanogos.

I’ll also try to remember to bring a blanket or portable chair to soften the blow.

Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com .