News Release

December 22, 2006

FIESTA FEVER: In anticipation of the upcoming Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Boise State University’s Office of Communications has identified story ideas that would be of interest to the community. Following is one of these stories. Feel free to use as written, or contact the sources listed at the bottom for more information.

From Shanghai and Frankfurt to Glendale: No Distance is Too Great for These Bronco Fans

On Dec. 7, Roman Wachter was a man on a mission.

The 1999 Boise State graduate works for Hewlett-Packard in Shanghai, China, but distance hasn’t dampened his enthusiasm for Bronco football. Still a season ticket holder, Dec. 7 was his day to buy tickets to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

Wachter got up at midnight — 9 a.m. Boise time — when the ticket office in Boise released the coveted tickets for sale.

“After 256 — that is right, 256 — tries, I finally got through on the 257th effort,” he wrote in an e-mail. “I bought all four of my season tickets. I also bought a tailgate pass.”

Wachter may hold the record for farthest distance traveled for the Fiesta Bowl, but he won’t be the only expatriate flying in for the game. Kent Briggs, who lives in Frankfurt, Germany, also will be going to Glendale. Briggs and Wachter have exported their love of the Broncos internationally and have faithfully followed the team despite confused co-workers, the dearth of football on TV, and — most of all — distance.

Briggs, who graduated in 1996 with degrees in international business and international economics, is a software training consultant. His office in Frankfurt is plastered with Bronco football memorabilia. Even his computer mouse is Bronco-themed. When game day rolls around, he converts the company’s presentation room into a screening room, projecting the games onto a big screen. When the Broncos win, he makes a sweet presentation to his office.

“I take cake to the office for each win, or if I am not there I leave money with the secretaries so that they can provide it in my absence,” Briggs said in an e-mail. “Most of them know if cake is coming before I get there as they look up the scores first thing Monday morning.”

In Shanghai, where sports tastes run toward soccer, rugby, cricket, “lots of badminton” and ping pong, Wachter has to make do. He checks in with three different Web sites and has conversations with friends back home. For the Nevada, Utah State and San Jose State games he got up at 4 a.m. and listened to the games on KBOI.com.

Wachter has missed only one recent bowl game, last year’s MPC Computers Bowl against Boston College. Although he was excited about the BCS game, he had a moment of hesitation.

“After listening to the Nevada game on the Web and realizing BSU had made it undefeated, I thought, ‘If BSU goes to the Fiesta Bowl, could I really pull this off, from China?’ ”

Wachter and Briggs certainly are going to pull it off, but they’ll pay the price in jet lag: Wachter is facing “15 hours, four movies and two meals” during his trip and Briggs expects a 14-17 hour flight.

Both fans say that their friends think they’re crazy for enduring the trip. “Germans do not understand the love of an alma mater,” Briggs said. “Their college education is paid for. There are no sports associated with it. Alumni relations is not an issue.

“I have one American colleague from Nebraska; he understands it but is not quite as fanatic as I am. They all accept that I bleed blue and orange,” he said.

Although they describe Boise State’s first trip to the BCS as “emotional,” Briggs said that he’s impressed not only by the team’s rise but by the name recognition such rapid success brings. “What it means to me is that when I tell people I went to Boise State, they know where that is,” he said. “I do not have to explain to them — we are on the national map When I go to the NFL Europe Frankfurt Galaxy or Hamburg Seadevils games” — where he has watched former Bronco stars Ryan Dinwiddie and Tyler Jones — “I wear my BSU jersey and hear positive comments from people about our blue turf and our football program.”

Wachter is predicting a 38-21 win for the Broncos, and Briggs is hoping that a Broncos win will overshadow the Rose Bowl. Although he’s worried that he’ll bring bad luck upon his team, Briggs has already arranged a cake for Jan. 2. “We are undefeated for games I have provided cake for in the last three years,” he said.

Even if the Briggs cake indicator is incorrect this year, Wachter said that he’ll have a great time. “I have to because it is a long flight home!”

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Contact: Roman Wachter, roman.wachter@hp.com; Kent Briggs, kbriggs@lorenz.cc
Media contact: Julie Hahn, University Communications, (208) 426-5540, juliehahn@boisestate.edu

We’re proud to be the home of the undefeated, Fiesta Bowl‑bound Broncos, the national champion student speech and debate team, and the nation's 12th‑ranked engineering program among public, comprehensive universities.
 

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Last reviewed on Wednesday, January 03, 2007