We apologize for Swoop

In response to Jose Sanchez's letter (Readers' Forum, March 15) about Swoop's mistreatment of the Australian flag, the University of Utah athletic department and Swoop would like to apologize. At no time did Swoop mean to treat the Australian flag with disrespect. If taken this way, we at the athletic department sincerely apologize. Swoop took the flag in a moment of excitement during the opening round of the Mountain West Conference tournament game after a great play by Andrew Bogut.

We are proud of Andrew Bogut and his Australian heritage and proud of the respect and notoriety he has brought himself and the University of Utah.

We apologize for Swoop's actions and will make sure it doesn't happen again.

Casey Fox

director of marketing

University of Utah Athletics

Salt Lake City