Booing of 'University of Utah fan' was just for fun

"To recap," Greenstreet wrote, "the crowd started booing an American soldier while he stood in the hot desert of Iraq. They supported him serving his country. They supported the flag he wore. They supported his sacrifice. And then he said he liked a football team that they didn't like and so they told him to go (expletive deleted) himself."

That conclusion calls into question all other conclusions Greenstreet makes. What he should have written is: "They supported him serving his country. They supported the flag he wore. They supported his sacrifice. And then he had some fun with them when he said he liked a football team that they didn't like, and they had some fun with him by booing. Both he and they laughed together, happy to enjoy a moment of comic relief over a subject far less weighty than God, Country and Family."

He even could have issued three cheers for freedom of speech.

Instead, Greenstreet finished with this clever turn of phrase: "I tell ya, when the line between being a patriot or a traitor depends on what football team you like, we are all seriously screwed."

Huh? People I spoke with thought the moment was a funny highlight, nothing more. How does Greenstreet make the (il)logical leap that some boos over a really good regional football rivalry actually were meant to smear the soldier as a traitor? Really? A traitor?

That's wild-eyed hyperbole running irresponsibly amok.

Maybe this is a slick, reverse-psychology marketing ploy to get Utahns south of the Point of the Mountain to go see his latest documentary on obesity, "Killer at Large."

No, thanks.

---

Utah County Bureau Chief Tad Walch lives with his wife and five children in Provo, their home of 21 years. E-mail twalch @desnews.com.