A Tucsonan since the age of three, I grew up following Arizona Football just as much as any other kid with a father who actively cheered on the team. I was just four years old when Arizona upset ASU in 1986 and it is one of my earliest sports memories. I recall Arizona’s incredible upset of top-ranked Washington in 1992 and the domination of Miami in the 1994 Fiesta Bowl.

The majority of my childhood memories of Arizona Football are extremely positive. Guys like Tedy Bruschi, Richard Dice, Brandon Sanders, Trung Canidate, Chuck Cecil, Chris McAlister, Dennis Northcutt, Marcus Bell and Joe Salave’a are players that I’ll never forget cheering for while growing up.

Like many other fans of Arizona Football throughout the 90’s, I began to grow tired of head coach Dick Tomey’s miserable offense. We all loved the ‘Desert Swarm’ reputation, but the third-down punts and constant up-the-middle runs were enough to drive any football fan crazy.

I attended – and still have all of the ticket stubs for – several Arizona games growing up, but the majority of them I watched from home. The only game I recall missing live for several years was Arizona’s 1998 game at Washington, in which Ortege Jenkins flipped into the end zone to give Arizona the remarkable victory.

I was in high school at the time and some friends and I were throwing a big party that night. I made sure that no one told me the score of the game and when I got home at 3:00AM, I watched the whole tape. When the clock struck 5:00AM and the tape finally reached the part where Jenkins flipped into the end zone, I stayed up a few more hours because I was so excited I couldn’t sleep, even at that hour.

That moment was the pinnacle of my elation with Arizona Football. One week later had to be the low point. When I got home from Arizona’s heart-breaking 52-28 loss to UCLA – a game that had Arizona’s National Championship hopes on the line – I realized my car was broken into and thousands of dollars of stereo equipment was stolen.

Arizona eventually went on to win the Holiday Bowl in 1998 and we all know how disappointing the 1999 season went. Way to schedule that Penn State game and ruin the season, Tomey.

When I arrived on campus as an Arizona freshman in the fall of 2000, I couldn’t have been more excited about the upcoming year of athletics. The football team had Jenkins as a senior, Leo Mills, Joe Tafoya and what I thought was the talent to win the Pac-10. The basketball team was ranked number one in the country.

I thought that it was the perfect time to become a student. Little did I know at the time that the second Arizona admitted me as a student, the football program had an irremovable cursed placed upon it, one that won’t be going anywhere until I graduate in May.

My first game in Arizona’s student section was against Ohio State, a game that Arizona competed in but lost 27-17. Four weeks later, Arizona was 4-1 and had a game against Washington State at home. Not much was expected from the Cougars that year, but over 50,000 people showed up to Arizona Stadium for one of the most exciting football games that I’ve ever seen.

Towards the end of the triple overtime game, some sorority girl who had tickets right next to my buddy Scott and I in the student section (before they made it general admission) continuously complained about how “this is the most boring football game I’ve ever been to in my life.” How I withstood the urge to dump my soda on her, I’ll never know.

In triple overtime, when Antonio Pierce picked off a Jason Gesser pass and ran out of bounds, the entire student section ran on the field in celebration. The football team was 5-1 and tied for first in the Pac-10 and had a legitimate chance at making the Rose Bowl.

One week later Arizona played Oregon, a team that was also tied for first at the time. A local sports writer called the match up “the most important game in Arizona history.” A win and Arizona would be in the driver’s seat to make its first Rose Bowl ever. Even with a loss, many Arizona fans thought the worst the Wildcats could do was to make the Holiday Bowl.

Down 14-10 in the fourth quarter against Oregon, Arizona had possession and was driving towards the end zone. With about 45 seconds remaining, Arizona had the ball on Oregon’s 30 yard-line. Instead of running any plays to get closer to the goal line, always the offensive genius, Dick Tomey called for four straight throws into Oregon’s end zone. All four were incomplete and from that moment forward, Arizona went from a respectable football program to the laughing stock of the Pac-10.

After the Oregon game, I was one of the many students who chanted “Fire Tomey” while watching UCLA, Oregon State and ASU defeat the Wildcats in Arizona Stadium. We got our wish, as Tomey “resigned” immediately after Arizona’s 30-17 loss to ASU in November of 2000.

When John Mackovic was named head coach, most Arizona fans were pretty happy. He was a proven name and had the background as an offensive coach who had won Coach of the Year awards in three different conferences. I won’t talk too much about the Mackovic era – we all know how that went.

In the second semester of my freshman year, I had a class with ex-Wildcat Clarence Farmer and we’d often talk football. I asked him how he felt about John Mackovic and he told me that he was never around and had barely spoken with members of the team, even months after the coaching change was made.

Talking to several other players besides Farmer, it was quite obvious that no one cared much for Mackovic, way before the highly publicized revolt. The writing was on the wall early and it only took two years for him to completely devastate the football program with a wretched personality and even worse coaching skills.

The best move Jim Livengood ever made was firing John Mackovic when he did, giving the program the chance to move in early on Mike Stoops, who was eventually named Arizona’s head football coach. However, even Stoops on the sidelines couldn’t stop Arizona from losing – not with me in the stands.

From the 2000 Oregon game forward, Arizona has gone 13-37 overall and a miserable 5-31 in Pac-10 play. All games included, Arizona’s record while I’ve been in college is 18-38. Looking through Arizona’s media guide – which shows football records all the way back to 1899 – Arizona’s program has never seen a stretch even close to as bad as it has been the last five years.

I’ve seen Arizona lose in every way possibly imaginable. Up 25-13 after three quarters against seventh ranked Washington in 2000, Arizona gave up 22 points in the fourth quarter to lose the game. Washington running back Willie Hurst had two touchdowns to go along with over 100 yards rushing in the fourth quarter to help beat the Wildcats 35-32.

In 2001, Arizona came back after being down 31-13 at halftime against USC. With the game tied 34-34 with less two minutes remaining, Arizona forced USC to punt. Bobby Wade caught the ball and ran sixty yards down the side of the field for a touchdown to give Arizona a 41-34 lead.

The only problem was that a referee called Wade out of bounds, despite the fact that replays showed that Wade’s feet were never even close to the sideline. The very next play, Jason Johnson threw an interception to USC’s Kris Richard, who ran for an easy touchdown. Arizona lost 41-34 in one of the few Division-IA football games Arizona has actually deserved to win in the last five years.

In 2002, Arizona was beating 18th ranked Washington 28-26 with two minutes remaining. One 80-yard touchdown reception from Huskies receiver Reggie Williams later and the Wildcats lost 34-28.

In 2003, lame duck head coach John Mackovic was on Arizona’s sidelines for the last time as the Wildcats took on 17th ranked TCU. Arizona somehow forced the game into overtime, but true freshman quarterback Kris Heavner threw an interception on the second play of Arizona’s OT possession.

Two plays later, TCU kicker Nick Browne kicked a 33-yard field goal to win the game. Mackovic was fired the next day, which might be the most triumphant moment in Arizona Football history.

Two weeks later against UCLA, Heavner threw a shovel pass directly into UCLA’s Rodney Leisle’s hands with the Wildcats up 21-17 in the fourth quarter. Leisle ran the ball down the field for a touchdown, giving UCLA a 24-21 lead. With 5:28 left in the game, Arizona’s Nick Folk missed a 28-yard field goal that would have tied the game.

This season Arizona went up against 20th ranked Wisconsin in a game that had an 88-minute delay due to a thunderstorm. I stood with hundreds of other Arizona students throughout the storm, anxiously waiting for the game to start back up so the Wildcats could pull off the upset.

Up 7-0 in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats gave up a touchdown (missed extra point) and a field goal and were down 9-7 with two minutes to play. Heavner led Arizona down the field to the 32-yard line, where Folk would attempt a 47-yard field goal to win the game.

The field goal look good until it hooked wide left just a couple feet before it got to the goal post. Arizona lost the game and I think my clothes are still soaked to this day.

While all of the above situations were bad, Arizona’s loss to Washington State could be the most depressing defeat in the history of Arizona Athletics. Up 19-14 with less than two minutes to go, all Arizona had to do was down the ball three times and the Wildcats would have pulled off the win.

The dehydrated Arizona students were going crazy, chanting for everyone to rush the field and tear down the goalposts. During a previous fourth down stop, the student section was as loud as it had ever been in my five years of college.

Arizona fans started preparing to run on the field when all of the sudden, running back Gilbert Harris ran up the middle and fumbled the ball. Washington State recovered and scored with 53 seconds remaining, giving the Cougars a 20-19 victory and sending Arizona fans into depression.

How Washington State won that game will be something I’ll never understand but it summarized my experience as an Arizona fan over the last five seasons. Just like the fans, the players never recovered from the loss to Washington State and Arizona’s team hasn’t been the same since.

Arizona’s game against Arizona State will be more than just another game in the rivalry. It will mark the end of my tenure as a student at Arizona, giving Mike Stoops’ football program hope for the future. Arizona has never seen five years like the ones I’ve experienced in its history and it hopefully never will again.

I’ve sat in the student section during every single one of Arizona’s games during the last five years and I guarantee that I’m one of the very few that can say that. Arizona’s game against USC in 2001 was the night of my six-month anniversary with my girlfriend at the time, which supposedly means you have to drop all plans and celebrate. I told her that the best I could do was bring her home some fast food after the game.

Just to see all of Arizona’s games over the last five years, I’ve sat through tropical storms, 110-degree days, showed up to games with fevers, a back that I could barely walk on for months and burned bridges with multiple girls that I refused to let come to games with me because I don’t want to hear about Cosmo and Sex and the City when I’m trying to watch a football game.

I did all of this to see a team that won a grand total of two Pac-10 home football games in the last five years. The two Pac-10 teams that Arizona actually beat went a combined 10-13, but we rushed on the field both times anyway. If Arizona had beat Washington State this year, we would have rushed the field after that game as well, even though the Cougars finished their season 5-6.

I have dedicated three months of my life annually for the last five years just to see an Arizona Football team that has continuously been an absolute disaster. However, if I could go back, I’d do it all again. When Mike Stoops turns Arizona’s program around, I guarantee that no one will appreciate it more than I will.

To the current underclassmen at Arizona who are going to see Stoops turn the football program into a Pac-10 contender, appreciate the football you’re going to see, but realize what several of us suffered through for so many years before.

If there is such a thing as a football god, Arizona will beat Arizona State on Friday, for the few students and other fans such as myself who haven’t stopped believing in this football program, despite how bad it has been. The team should win for the seniors who have worked their butts off for four or five years and have nothing to show for it. A win would be huge for the coaches who have dedicated themselves so much over the last year, despite not having the necessary talent to compete in the Pac-10.

Right now, Arizona State is clearly a better football team than Arizona. However, those of us who have grown up rooting for Arizona our whole lives realize that anything is possible, especially in this rivalry. Arizona has had so much go against them over the last five years that the team is simply due for something special.

On Friday, I’ll be standing three rows up on Arizona’s 50-yard line, the same place I’ve stood on Saturdays for five straight years. It will be my last Arizona game as a student and no matter what the score is, I’ll cherish every minute.

I’ve gone five years and have only seen two Pac-10 wins in person. I can’t think of a better way to end my tenure as an Arizona student than to see the Wildcats beat the Sun Devils for the first time at home since the 12-1 season in 1998.

After that game, I watched with my dad in the stands as thousands of Arizona fans tore down the goal posts following the Wildcats’ 50-42 victory over the Sun Devils. Six years later, I hope to be on the field celebrating Arizona’s victory over ASU during my last game as a student.

Win or lose on Friday, Wildcat fans can feel good about the fact that with my graduation, the curse will be lifted off of the shoulders of Arizona Football and the program once again has the chance to be successful. I’ve outlasted Dick Tomey, John Mackovic and Mike Hankwitz, but hopefully no current student will be around longer than Mike Stoops.

The low point of Arizona Football is almost over and the future couldn’t look brighter. When Arizona is in the Rose Bowl five years from now and I’m in Pasadena cheering with the rest of the UA fans, I’ll make sure to remember what it was like to be at the bottom of the football world.

Everything that Arizona fans have gone through for five years will make us all appreciate the future of the football program that much more. Arizona has nowhere to go but up, but Mike Stoops will bring the program to a level it has never seen before.

As I leave Arizona Stadium at around 4:30PM on Friday, all Wildcats fans can rejoice. The curse of Josh Gershon will finally be lifted and Arizona can be successful. I apologize to all of the true Arizona fans out there for what they’ve gone through the last five years, but realize that the era is almost over.

Let’s all appreciate what Mike Stoops is about to do to this program, but no one should forget the last five years. I definitely won’t, because despite my negative affect on the Arizona Football program, there is not one person more grateful for Arizona’s future than me.

Bear Down on Friday.

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