Arrived to my hotel in Waco just after 10pm last night. It was 102°. It’s an oven here.
Grabbed some dinner in town at Union Hall. The town seemed pretty quiet for a Friday night except for the parking lot at Chip & Joanna-Land looked packed.
First impressions of Waco: it’s like the Provo of Texas except for the prominent facade of religion goes by a different name.
Driving down from Dallas, I passed a town called Milford. Ironically, about 10 minutes prior to coming upon the Milford Lane exit, I was thinking about Milford, Utah. Why, you ask? Well you see, I lived in Milford until I was 9. My old man was the young ole’ ball coach there in the 80s. He coached all those Barnes boys (who all look like clones of each other), including Bryson’s dad. Small world.
My parents were fresh out of college in Cedar City when my dad got that job. My mom took a part time job in the Milford High library and was also the Milford Tigerettes drill team coach. If I’m being honest, I didn’t love my time there. My grandparents in Parowan were my best friends and so as soon as school let out in the summer, I got out of Milford and spent my summers in Parowan.
I do have some good core memories of Milford though. Friday Night Lights in Milford seemed special. I remember the excitement of getting those giant red licorice ropes from the concessions stand and running all over the dirt track that surrounded the football field. My dad gave me an important job of keeping stats and so the person who actually took stats had a little clipboard and paper and pencil ready for me every game night and I got to stand on the sideline and record all the tackles. That made me feel special. The entire town would come out to the football games. They’d park their cars around the home sideline of the stadium and honk their horns when Milford scored. I loved getting to ride the bus with the team to away games throughout Southern Utah. I don’t remember Milford being super great at football. Back then it seemed like nobody could beat Al Marshall’s Beaver Beavers, but my dad became good friends with him. Sometimes we’d drive over to Beaver to meet with Coach Marshall in his general store on Main Street and he’d give me a bag of jelly red raspberries (so good!).
Anyway, yes there is a Milford, Utah and also a Milford, Texas. Good omen? You decide.
Bryson Barnes is the biggest deal to come out of little ole’ Milford, Utah since Cody Wright. And personally, I completely love that the Quarteback of the University of Utah is a walk-on from one of the smallest high-schools and towns in Utah. And at times, he has been “The Quarterback.” It’s the kind of story that becomes part of a program’s history and tradition and despite being around for about 120 years, Utah Football is new money on the national scene, and Barnes is becoming a big part of Utah Football Legend. I will always root for that hometown Utah kid and you know what? He’s going to get the job done here today about 60 miles south of Milford, Texas.
Go Utes!
Utah @ 
Houston 
.
