The Broncos and HGTV?!!

When I married into my husband's family, I got the sports package deal.  Let's call it a 'signing bonus.' 

Being based in Colorado, they love, love, love anything Colorado.  This means the CU Buffaloes, the Rockies, the Nuggets, and last, but certainly never least, THE DENVER BRONCOS.  This non sports fan was not familiar with the time constraints placed on everyday life by the beginning and end of football season.  How was I to know that Sunday was a holy day of another kind for legions of ardent followers?!  And that the sting of manic Monday was lessened by a ritualistic evening of commentated mayhem?!  Who knew?  Not this non-competitive nature girl given to books, walks, and Grape Nuts.

One of the ironies of my life as the 'one amongst the many' is the subconscious brainwashing effects of the Bronco blue and orange motif.  So ingrained in my mind was it upon our move to Tennessee, that when I first began to notice the orange and blue of a Tennessee team's merchandise line, I thought folks here held affection for our Mile High pro team back home.  (My pleased husband quickly schooled me to prevent any possible nasty altercations which could arise from misunderstandings.)

I've attempted to watch entire games with my husband, and later with our kids, so as to be of one mind, in one room, engaged in one unified fall/winter indoor activity.  Nerve-wracking is all I can say on this.  Ugh.  The moment I commit myself to a team when viewing a sporting event, I become so involved in the struggle for victory over the opposition that the acids set to churning in my gut and the tension takes a tight hold on my shoulders.  It's sickening!  I realize somebody's gotta win and somebody's gotta lose.  And, every now and again, I would find myself rooting for the opposing team!  Now, how's that gonna fly with dyed-in-the-wool fans of the home state.  John Elway himself might have put a contract on my head had he known.  After 21 years of this, I've come to the conclusion that it is perfectly acceptable to simply BE in the same room, the same house, even merely the same city, without taking in the game with the family.  I can bond just as well over wings n' things.

Now, I've said all this to make an entirely NON Bronco-related point, though family and competition still figure in to the equation.  Tonight I watched the season opener of "Design Star" on HGTV.  No, I'm not a regular viewer.  But, I am a loyal family member.  And, one of the featured designers is my cousin, Trent Hultgren.  We are not close though I recall him fondly and with humor when I think back on the treasured summer and holiday visits I had with him and all my cousins during my nomadic childhood.  He was stylish and handsomely quirky even back then, a dreamer of a boy stuck in the country with big city dreams.  My then hero was his best bud, our cousin, Katie.  I can still hear them giggling and picture them strolling, running, jumping, and spitting, all the way down the long tree-lined driveway of the Hultgren Ranch on Palm Avenue.  Being a long-distance relative, I had enough mystique per my rumored habits to cause Trent to one day ask, quite sincerely, if it was true that I had read the ENTIRE dictionary.  To this I replied that I most certainly had, and the Q's were my favorite section.

Taking in his image on billboards, ads, online, and in PEOPLE magazine, tucked in with the other contestants vying for their own TV show, his trademark cap making him instantly recognizable, it's hard for me to not picture the young man that he was so many years ago.  But he's been to college, traveled the world, worked as a missionary, rubbed elbows with more than a few famous individuals, and is running his own successful design business in Southern California.  Trent has seen a few struggles, tackled personal obstacles, and is now his own man, on his own terms.  And bully for him, making it onto a popular television program, claiming his spot over hundreds of others, through talent and a growing portfolio of quality transformations.  I understand and appreciate the lure of the lifelong dream.  Who among us does not?  How could I not want to watch him and urge him along from the sidelines.  Just . . . like . . . a . . . sports . . . um . . . fan . .

And therein lies the problem.  As the last fifteen minutes of the program ticked away tonight, I felt the familiar sensations in my gut and across my shoulders.  "I don't think I DO like having a relative on TV after all," I told my mother-in-law, while I simultaneously keyed in my ten votes for Trent on the HGTV website and scrunched my eyes against the possible termination drama being played out onscreen.  He was in the bottom six.  The judges had pulled apart his white room design.  When the bottom two turned out to be the blond woman with no plan and the type-A Asian gal, I couldn't have expressed more enthusiasm for their misfortune. I had to placate my empathetic nature by reminding all in the room that just being on the show was an honor and afforded each participant more publicity than they would normally see in an entire YEAR.

I guess I'll have to tough it out.  Take one for the team.  There's at LEAST another week to go in this game series.  Beneath those steel blue eyes, one can sense his thought process.  The wheels are turning.  He's going to take what he learned and turn it into a profitable performance.  That I've got to see.

If the judges asked me to critique, the one thing everyone in the Valdez living room agreed upon was LOSE THE CAP.  (I'm not holding back because I saw how that went for the one designer who tried to be nice to the gal he was paired with.  They designed rooms for one another, hoping to capture the personality of the other.  He held his tongue out of misdirected kindness when asked if he would change anything; she, on the other hand, speared him.  She made the top six; he descended to the bottom six.) 

We want to see Trent's face, and the lighting casts shadows on those lovely aforementioned eyes.  He's a casual chic, sometimes dapper, kind of a guy, and caps and brimmed hats are a handy way to conceal the male-patterned baldness that runs in the bloodline.  But if you've read any of my previous blog entries, you know how I feel about bald men.  Whether shaved or just tightly trimmed, a man with a rugged or handsome, or even just interesting, face and a nice head needs not bother with hair.  Do you hear me, cousin?  I'm right on this one.  Promise.

Click here to visit HGTV and vote your 10-a-day for Trent!