For McMahon, playing Utah was personal but not religious. He wasn't a Mormon, so he wasn't representing a church. In a sense he didn't even represent BYU. He made no attempt to disguise his dislike of the school.

"He wasn't part of that culture," says his dad.

But McMahon was adamant about representing himself and his coaches and teammates.

His father believes Jim not only invented "scoreboard" ("No, it had never been done," he says), but introduced another famous gesture that is still used today — helmet-butting. McMahon used that extensively while playing for the Chicago Bears.

"Nobody was doing that before Jimmy," adds his father. "Now everybody has done it."

So if your team wins Saturday at Rice-Eccles Stadium, you might consider celebrating by head-butting a friend. But a smarter thing might be to single out someone wearing the other team's jersey, then majestically point to the screen above the end zone and say "Scoreboard!"

You won't have to say another word.

But it might be nice to give a silent nod to McMahon, who in his own ornery way made such celebrations possible.

E-mail: rock@desnews.com