Letting TV shows speak our real feelings about BYU's last four days

"Sometimes I'll start a sentence and I don't even know where it's going. I just hope I find it along the way." - Michael Scott

That quote from The Office is the foundation of our newsletter today. The events over the last three or four days in BYU world are astounding. Players transferring out, players transferring in, players changing their minds and staying at BYU, and all of the madness in between.

It's been wild. It's been unpredictable. And, frankly, it's near-impossible for me to explain the emotional roller coaster that we've all been on.

So I won't explain it. Instead, I'll turn to my six favorite TV shows (that have all been on Netflix at one point in their post-live TV careers, but are now spread about in the streaming world on various apps) and I will allow them to explain the emotions we've all been going through. Those five shows? The Office, Parks and Recreation, Community, Seinfeld, New Girl, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. These shows will walk us through the news, through the emotions, and into what the coming days might look like.

"Anyone over the age of six celebrating a birthday should go to hell." - Rosa Diaz, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Full disclosure: That quote has nothing to do with BYU news. But it's something I've agreed with and wanted to get off my chest for a long time. We're adults, people.

"People don't turn down money! It's what separates us from the animals." - Jerry Seinfeld, Seinfeld

He's not wrong. And that's what makes the transfer portal and NIL such a weird, awesome, awful dynamic for college teams across the country. At the drop of a hate, any player can get an NIL offer from any team in the country and bolt for the transfer portal. Sure, there are technically tampering rules in place that 'prevent' that from happening, but it's kind of like speeding on the freeway. Sure, there are laws that say you can't go faster than 70 MPH, but even cops will see you flying by at 77 MPH and keep eating their hot pocket in their car. It's a law, but only when it HAS to be a law.

Did Kody Epps get a big NIL offer before he entered the portal? Depends on who you talk to. If he didn't, then who knows why he entered the portal. If he did get a big offer, good for him.

"I'm all about loyalty. In fact, I feel like part of what I'm being paid for here is my loyalty. But if there were somewhere else that valued my loyalty more highly.... I'm going wherever they value loyalty the most." - Dwight Schrute, The Office

Dwight gets it. I get it. You get it. We all get it. If Epps got a big offer and he hit the portal to explore that, good for him. I'm a loyal guy too, but I'll go wherever people value loyalty the most.

"Well, Nick, I'm out of tears. Plumb out. Now, all that's left is just yellowish good. That's right, Nick, goo." - Schmidt, New Girl

Losing Epps to the portal was a tough blow. Not only was a great player, but BYU had invested a lot in him and made him one of the faces of the team. Losing the player hurt, but it felt like losing 'one of our own' more than anything.

Epps entered his name into the portal on the last day of the spring window being open. It surprised fans. It surprised teammates. It surprised coaches. The shock of entering the portal hurt. It all just hurt. It felt weird and it hurt.

All we had left was goo.

"I don't know what to do! My whole brain is crying!" Troy, Community

News broke that BYU basketball had signed UC Irvine transfer Dawson Baker this week. The Cougars added a guy who scored 15 points a game from the portal. It was undeniably good news for the Cougars this week, but it was hard to celebrate the good hoops news because of the bad football news.

"The English language can noy fully capture the depth and complexity of my thoughts, so I'm incorporating emojis into my speech to better express myself. Winky face." - Gina Linetti, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Fesi Sitake and Gina have a lot in common. This tweet from Fesi set the BYU world on fire and a whole rush of emotions came rushing back to the surface.

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. I read that one of a can of lemonade. I like to think it applies to life." - Andy Dwyer, Parks and Rec

Lo and behold, Fesi's tweet had nothing to do with Kody Epps. Instead, it was about Eastern Michigan transfer Darius Lassiter, who had committed to the Cougars.

It wasn't the excitement that BYU fans thought it could be, but it was still very exciting. Lassiter is a big bodied receiver who can do a lot of different things at the P5 level. Everyone still wanted Epps back, but he was pulling offers in from SEC schools and nobody expected Epps to come back.

But Lassiter represented the future, and BYU fans could look at his commitment and know that, even without Epps, Fesi and the coaching staff were making lemonade.

No program has ever had to shut down because of the loss of one wide receiver, and fans started coming to grips with that after Lassiter committed.

"I'm a detective. I will detect!" - Terry Jeffords, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

We have to hand out some kudos to friend of GEHB, Joe Wheat. He was the first to start hinting that Epps was reconsidering his stance on leaving. Word quickly spread throughout BYU-dom and people started to figure it out.

The internet went wild and BYU fans anxiously awaited the official word from Epps.

"I feel like all my kids grew up.... and then they married each other. It's every parent's dream!" - Michael Scott, The Office

This tweet, man, this tweet is everything.

Nobody ever dreams that one of the faces of the program enters the transfer portal only to ultimately re-commit to the school he was transferring from, but that's what happened here. And you know? It feels great. It feels damn great.

So what if Michael's work-kids all married each other? He feels great! And I feel great that Kody is still at BYU!

“I don’t deal with exes, they’re a part of the past. You burn them swiftly and give their ashes to Poseidon!” - Nick Miller, New Girl

Now, Epps is back in the BYU fold. And from henceforth, we don't need to talk about him ever entering the portal at all. That's part of the past, and we will burn it quickly and give its ashes to Poseidon.