FanPost

A Special Thanks to my Fellow Cougs

I posted this late yesterday on the cougfan forums, I felt I needed to post it here as well.  I have been very fortunate this last year to meet a number of you and to meet a number of other Cougs in person right here in Pullman that have helped me out quite a bit.  This post is for those of you that helped me out, and in a broader sense to let everyone else who frequents these sites just how special a community it is that we Cougs belong to.  I wasn't able to make the tailgate last weekend so I know I missed some of you, but I will try to catch up with as many of you as I can in person because there's nothing better than sharing a beer with a fellow Coug and swapping stories.  Anyway, this is my thanks for a season that likely meant a little more for me than it did for some, and for your help in making it happen.  Give it a read after the jump and if you have something similar to share put it in the comments.

Hi everyone.  I just wanted to take a few minutes of your time to tell all of you that helped me this season THANK YOU.  Many of you may never have read any of my posts on here, but if you have I hope you have come away with some insight as to how passionate a Cougar fan I am.  Multiple times this season my home game attendance streak was in jeopardy of coming to an end.  It is only through the efforts of a number of Cougar fans, both on this site and some here in Pullman, that I have had the good fortune to meet, that I was able to successfully keep the streak alive.  Without the help of so many people this year it would not have been possible to get to 42 home games in a row including last weekend's Apple Cup.

This year has been a damn tough year for me.  Five days from now I will have officially graduated in 1 year.  I walked with my B.A. in History after 5 1/2 years of fighting, scratching, and clawing through some early academic troubles and later some financial troubles.  I have racked up a huge amount of debt, but learned a great deal about perseverance and how to overcome the obstacles life tends to throw in our way.  At the end of August I was laid off from my first post-college job and I returned to Pullman.

My buddy here that is back in school after two years in Iraq has helped me more than I could ask, giving me a couch to sleep on and a place to hang my hat while I have pursued my greatest goal, breaking into the Washington State Athletic Department.  It has not been easy and I am not there yet, but it is a true credit to the leadership that we now have in place that they have seen fit to make time for me, talk with me, and see to it that I have been welcome as I have continued to check in and keep the fire alive so to speak.


Bill Moos was kind enough to see me when I made an appointment with him the week following my termination and he put me into contact with the man he brought back home from Oregon, Mike Marlow.  Mike is a hell of a Coug and it makes me happy to know that he and Bill as well as others I've been able to meet with are the guys running our department.  We are truly fortunate that the leadership we have wants to hear new ideas and is so committed to seeing our University represented through our sports as the truly special place that it is.  I must also thank Mike for the tickets that he has provided me.  He did not have to do it, and I don't know that he would tell anyone about it, but I am going to thank him anyway as he went above and beyond more than once to help me out when I didn't have a penny to donate, much less get into a football game.

I also need to thank a number of the regulars at the Coaches show each week.  There are too many of you that have lent support to properly name each and every one, but you helped me out with tickets and didn't ask for a thing in return, just that I fill every seat provided.  I am proud to say I did that and equally proud to be a part of this great Cougar family that stepped up for me.  Further I need to thank way too many of you guys right here on Cougfan .  Months ago before a game I posted in a thread and in passing mentioned that I might see my streak come to an end.  The response I received from an 8 word blurb in the midst of a rather lengthy post not unlike this one was immense and overwhelming.  I literally had you guys coming out of the wood work to help me keep the streak alive.  You can not honestly understand how damn much that meant considering I've maybe met 3 of my fellow users on here face to face.

When I began at WSU in the fall of 2004 I was told numerous times that this was a special place.  I can say now that it is true.  I love this place enough that just being here, campaigning for something that might not happen for awhile is enough to at least see to it that I am happy waking up every morning, even on my buddy's couch.  All of you that came forward to help me, thank you, thank you, thank you.  You guys have stepped up for a guy you've never met, and might never meet, only doing so because I'm a fellow Coug.  I can never thank you enough for that.  We may argue over what decisions are good or bad, or who is full of hot air, or just WHY we all hate the damn Huskies SO much, but in the end I didn't just receive help or emails or kind words from people that agree with me, but from all of you.  In the end we're all Cougs and that is something more special than I can adequately attempt to describe here.

I'm going to keep trying to get into the department.  It's a place where I know someone with my passion and love for this place can make a difference.  All of you have only bolstered that passion and my resolve, so thank you one last time.  You all truly made 2010 a not so bad year for me despite the troubles that have come my way, and I promise that when I get in I will work tirelessly to repay your kindness by helping build something so special here with WSU Athletics that everyone, Coug or not can see what I am talking about.

Thank You and Go Cougs!!!

This FanPost does not necessarily reflect the views of the site's writers or editors, who may not have verified its accuracy. It does, however, reflect the view of this particular fan, which is just as important as the views of our writers or editors.