Welcome to VTF

Hello and welcome to Vanquish the Foe, the newest addition to SportsBlogs Nation and supreme fountain of Cougar fanaticism.  This blog was overdue.  SBN has lacked a BYU community since Provo Pride’s last gasps in 2007.  So finally we’re represented again, revitalized and (optimistically) improved.  A brief intro is assumingly required.  Suffice it to say that my Cougar knowledge is miniscule is comparison to some of you.  I might recall a Detmer to Bellini connection, but I’m certainly not going to summon up some familiarity with Gifford Nielsen’s lack of mobility or Tod Thompson’s ability to shed would-be tacklers for RAC yardage.  I do, however, have a real passion for BYU sports and, in particular, football and basketball.  I also have a thing for statistics though my degree from the Y was in in English - Professional Writing/Rhetoric.

I didn’t grow up "down South" as Urban Meyer would put it.  Maybe you were like me and watched Holly Rowe report from the sidelines on the Blue and White Sports Network via satellite, while sitting in a Relief Society room with a couple of pizzas and five men over 40 talking like Uncle Rico, as Marshall Faulk ran recklessly through BYU’s defense.  A month of my life hasn’t gone by that I haven’t heard my Dad declare how incredible the 1980 Holiday Bowl was and how he had convinced my Uncle to stay despite a 45-25 deficit.  He still has a special mug to commemorate the game.  (He had two but I broke the other one when I was eight and launched him into an early mid-life crisis.)  So I'd suspect that was his favorite moment as a Cougar fan.  My favorite BYU football moment, however, might be the 1996 Cotton Bowl. Bless you Omarr.  Of course the Harline catch is right there as well.  (I invite you to share your favorite BYU moments below as well.)

Anyhow, I’m excited!  We hope this blog can be something special and provide a much-needed platform for in-depth discussions of all things blue and white.  Special thanks to Tom Ziller, Peter Bean, Chris Haines, and everyone at SBN (technicians, designers, etc.) for their thoroughness and assistance in getting VTF launched.  Much appreciated all. 

We hope that VTF can be a place for both new Cougar fans and those that remember Virgil Carter and Eldon Fortie.  The more perspective the better.  We look forward to establishing the BYU fan community together - both at SBN and elsewhere.  Cheers and go Cougars!