LAYTON -- As Susan Hall prepared to go to Atlanta to watch her oldest son -- Kevin Dyson -- play in the Super Bowl, she felt a little melancholy.
Sadness settled on her after the excitement of another improbable win by her son's team, the Tennessee Titans, began to fade. Her heart was heavy despite the hectic, harried schedule she had to keep to get her family on an airplane late Thursday night.Her heart ached not because of what she's experiencing, but because someone who had been close to her can't share it.
"It's because my mom, who truly was my best friend and very close to Kevin, died last April," Hall said. "I just know she'd be so proud . . . She used to call him Captain Ty Dyson (his middle name is Tyree), and she always had this vision of him -- for him -- that he'd do something special some day."
Grandma's feeling about her oldest grandson came right after his birth.
Hall thinks about it often, and this week she felt a little blue that her mother couldn't see her captain in the biggest game football has to offer.
Not that she's had a lot of time to dwell on it. You might say it's been a whirlwind week in the Hall household since the Titans stunned Jacksonville 33-14 to earn the right to advance to the Super Bowl where they'll meet the St. Louis Rams, 11-6 winners over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
"I think now that I'm packed and getting ready to go, it's starting to really sink in," she said.
She said sometimes when she thinks about it, she can't believe all of this is really happening to her.
"Sometimes I just have to pinch myself," she said. "I just can't believe it's our life. I just count my blessings," Hall said. "And I don't question why it's happening. I'm just grateful that it is."
Also grateful for Dyson's success and generosity are his siblings -- Patrick 23, Stephanie 21 and Andre 20. The two brothers play defense for the U. and say it's still a little unreal that they're going a game they dreamed about as children.
"Every kid that's ever played football thinks about it," Patrick Dyson said. "Who wouldn't want to watch it in person. I've watched every Super Bowl there's been since I was a kid, but you really never expect to actually go."
Andre Dyson said it still hasn't sunk in how big this is. He's been trying to finish school work before his trip and fight off a cold.
"I haven't really thought about it much," Andre said. "I've been so busy . . . It'll be more exciting once we get down there."
This week is the first week in months that Andre hasn't talked to Kevin, and he's not even sure when he'll see him. Stephanie Dyson doesn't really even like football. But she loves her brothers, so she's become an avid fan of whatever positions they're playing.
"When Kevin's playing I just watch the offense," she said. She said her family was very calm before all the phone calls started, people calling with congratulations, asking for interviews, and a few, "Oh, can you pick me up a hat in Atlanta?" requests for some family members.
"It's weird," she said. All the Dyson children say the part that makes them the happiest is that Kevin gets to play in the big game.
"I'm just so happy for Kevin," Patrick Dyson said. "If he wins, it's definitely a win for the family. How many people can say my brother's playing in the Super Bowl . . . This is the biggest thing you can do in football. It's the most exciting game in any sport, I believe."
Andre and Patrick said watching Kevin doesn't really make them fantasize about playing in the NFL themselves. They don't try to put themselves in his shoes. They say they're just happy for him.
And both boys are happy for someone else -- their mom who logged many hours on sidelines all across Northern Utah throughout their lives.
"That woman is just walking on clouds," Patrick Dyson said. "I'm so happy for her. She deserves everything she's getting. She raised us by herself for so long, pinching pennies."
Now she has some help from Kevin who paid for 15 family members to join him in Atlanta. He even sent tiny Tennessee jerseys to his nephew, Jaylen, and his daughter, Deyja. Hall will be wearing her jersey sporting number 87 as will all his siblings.
"I wouldn't go to the game without it," Hall said. "When I see the game on Sunday it will all be more real . . . When he makes that first catch, I'll feel better. Until then, I'll be a basket case."