Welcome to Vanquish The Foe!
My bio will take place after the jump. As a sidenote/challenge if we can get at least 50 comments on this story Michael McQuain (@kugrlover on twitter) has said that he will buy my wife & I BYU Football season tickets for this upcoming season. So bring on the comments. If you are just lurking, looking up at the top left corner of the screen. Click where it says "Sign Up" then follow the instructions to sign up. It is easy. It is free. It is wonderful.
p.s. That "promise" @kugrlover "made" might or might not be true. (It is probably the later)
Hi, my name is Kurtis Larson. The first thing I would like to say is that I do not like my SB Nation handle. It is obviously a "play" on my last name. Lars is a nickname I got on my mission and I kind of like it. If you don't already, follow me on twitter.I was born and raised in Sacramento, CA. I am a huge Sacramento Kings & Oakland A's fan. (I will routinely tweet about those two francises on top of BYU stuff) My father is a BYU grad and a sports fan, so I was brought up from a very young age to love all things BYU. Growing up on some of the most fertile land in the world, I loved to play sports. I played Little League, recreational soccer, school basketball, etc. My sport of choice was basketball, as it was the only real event in Sacramento with the Kings. I would take basketball any day over any other sport, that doesn't mean I'm not excited for September to get here.
I had quite a promising career path ahead of me. Tragically, one muggy & humid August afternoon I went to the local elementary school to play with some neighbor friends on a newly constructed jungle gym. I entered that playground a Seven year old with so much promise. Unfortunately they had not laid down bark yet and I fell off the half-circle monkey bars and broke my arm. It was a tragic moment that haunts me to this day. My dad rushed me to the doctor's office, where I was placed in a cast. The soccer season was to begin two weeks from then and my head coach (my dad) knew he needed me on the field so I played on with the broken arm. Now I'm saying it was a Rondo-esque performance, because my arm didn't actually break but it was still commendable. After falls that broke three or four different casts and at the behest of my doctor and my mother, I was forced to sit out until my arm healed. With all of those falls, my setting of my two forearm bones was moved out of alignment. As the break healed, the bones fused together and froze the rotation of my elbow. To this day I cannot turn my left arm/hand palm up. It is physically impossible. And thus ended my promising career at third base and running the point. I have no excuse for soccer.
I am currently attending BYU pursuing a degree in Economics. It has been a long road to get to BYU. I first attended school at Sacramento State University before serving a mission in Nicaragua. I returned from my mission and spent a year at a local JC in Sacramento. I moved out to Provo with some friends (one being nceng3, who we will hear from on Friday) but didn't have a school to go to. So I did a semester of open-enrollment at the BYU-Salt Lake Center. Then finally finishing an associate's degree at LDS Business College (Go Lions!). After getting turned down initially I was accepted to BYU after an appeal on my application. I love attending the school of my father.
I got married last summer to the lovely Ashley soon-to-be-Larson (ya, she hasn't legally changed her name yet. It is a constant issue in our household. jk.) She is great and is very supportive of my blogging here at VTF.
I have so many fond memories of watching BYU sporting events with my dad growing up. I remember waking up on New Year's Day and watching Steve Sarkisian lead the Cougs to victory over Kansas State In the 1996 Cotton Bowl Classic. However, the best BYU sports memory I have is from this past year. I would work evenings on campus as a janitor, then come home and listen to Greg Wrubell call the basketball games on KSL (we don't own a TV). My wife didn't grow up in a sports home. In fact she wouldn't even stay in the same room while I was listening to the games. However as the season went on, as Jimmer's star rose and as she heard the calls of the best play-by-play man I have ever listened to, she became a fan. She LOVES BYU basketball now and can't wait for next season. So that is my most important and special BYU Sports moment. Thanks Jimmer. Thanks Greg.
I came to Vanquish The Foe when it was absolutely dead. I was looking for a substitute for Cougarboard. (I do not like that website at all. It's just a bunch of dudes who like to find something to complain about or to share their "inside source's" information.) Football season had just ended. Their were no new posts/stories/comments, nothing. This was the FanPost (by wheatie_87) that changed everything. Now we have a full functioning website with some excellent author's and some great commenters. Let's keep it growing. As for me I will revive the weekly "Top Ten Tweets" post this fall, try to add my commentary in between classes and will be covering Jimmer's first NBA season, from workouts to the draft to the season (if there is one). Their are also some other surprises in the works so stay tuned and check back often.
Tomorrow we will hear from JustinSchille.