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I finally got to see Matthew play basketball! Last Wednesday was the Cougar Tipoff...it's pretty much a scrimage, they split up the BYU team and they play each other, it's the first time for the fans and the media to see how the players are doing. I was pretty anxious for the game...Matthew wasn't sure what kind of playing time he'd get and really what to expect at all. We had a player's wives luncheon and they talked a lot about supporting our husbands, especially when they have a bad game, or when things are especially stressful...so, with Matthew being unsure about how the game would go I was feeling an intense mix of emotionsI told my Mom that all day I felt like I was going to wet my pants! (I think I get that from her)...and what I would say if things didn't go well. Luckily, that was not the case! He played great, the best part was seeing how intensely he played, he was SO into the game! We had a little (well not little, it was huge!) cheer section for Matthew. Chelsea and Dan came with Logan (and they were all wearing their BYU shirts, it was so cute!) Jon and Emma came, Emma was of course wearing her BYU cheerleading uniform and then a lot of Matthew's family came. His Dad and Mom were there, all his little sibblings and Breanna and Todd with their kids. When Matthew was introduced on to the court Chelsea started crying, which was pretty funny, but very sweet...and just so like Chelsea! When I saw that Matthew was about to go into the game my heart was beating SO fast! Not that long after he went in he scored his first 3 pointer...I jumped out of my seat and started cheering (luckily it wasn't just me who jumped up!) It was awesome, I could tell he was getting more and more confident being out there. He ended up playing a huge portion of the game. In the second half he scored two more 3 pointers in a row and had an awesome steal. He played defense really well (his Dad told me that, I'm not good enough to tell that yet) and was aggressive with his offense. He wasn't fouled at all, thank heavens, because I would have had to go find whoever fouled him after the game to chat with him about playing nicer (oh my gosh, Matthew would KILL me if I did that!). His family was so happy to see him play again...it has been like 4 years since he played in a game...we're very lucky to have our families so close and so supportive. It was great hearing about what the media had to say about Matthew the next day, my favorite quote was in a newspaper (I can't remember which one!) who said the surprise performance of the evening was Pinegar, who did awesome...or something like that. There were even some posts on a website about people liking his hair...Chels, you could get some business out of this! It was great to see him play...for the last year it's been such a huge part of our life, but I haven't actually gotten to see it...I was very proud of him, he has worked hard to get where he is, and it definitely shows! We both came home pretty beat, but we stayed up until almost midnight, we were a little wound up! His next game is Thursday at 7pm at the Marriot Center. Let me know if you want to come, we can try to get you a ticket to sit next to everyone!
These are some pictures of the game...Matthew runs around so fast it's hard to take a good picture of him!
