Why is Y. ignoring Hall's spew of hatred?

I am not surprised that the BYU-Utah football rivalry caused BYU quarterback Max Hall to go all Three Mile Island on us last Saturday. Such a meltdown has been brewing for years. It was bound to happen somewhere, sometime, to somebody.

I felt bad for Hall. Nobody wants to lose their cool, and if they do, nobody wants it to be in public. I could see anyone — myself, for instance — doing the same thing. I hoped Hall's major wasn't PR.

I am also not surprised that the Mountain West Conference publicly reprimanded Hall for violating its sportsmanship standards, i.e. disparaging and criticizing another school in the league. If what he did didn't qualify as disparaging and criticizing, what would?

What does surprise me is that BYU didn't do anything.

No reprimand, no sanction, no comment, other than to note that Hall, on his own initiative, offered a public apology — a rather selective mea culpa, at that, in which he got specific about exactly whom he hated and whom he didn't — and that neither the school nor the athletic department would have any more to say or do concerning the matter.

This is BYU, right? My alma mater? The Rules Capital of the universe?

Don't misunderstand. I loved my college days there. I'd have stayed at BYU forever if it would have been socially acceptable. I thought it was like living at a country club. Everything within walking distance. Exceptionally nice people. Reasonably priced food. Free gym membership.

But it is not a laissez-faire kind of place when it comes to laying down the law.

One of my first memories of BYU comes from a youth trip I took there. On a tour of campus, one of the students showed me where he'd stashed some Coke in his dorm room — inside the toilet tank. He said it had the dual advantage of keeping it cold and hidden.

Not that kind of Coke. Coca-Cola. Banned from BYU unless it is decaffeinated.

The student looked at me slyly. He knew he was living on the edge. He knew if he was caught there would be blood.

That's the BYU I know. No-nonsense. By the book. Do the crime, do the time. Mercy can't rob justice.

In my day they'd look at you cross-eyed if you walked on the grass or tried to play tennis on Sunday.

This was back when hippies roamed the Earth. If your hair touched your collar, boom, down to standards.

From what I've seen and heard, they've only cracked down more since I left. The school's Honor Code has gotten thicker and thicker. Everything is spelled out clearer than ever. What you can do and what you can't. Nothing inconsistent with church principles.

And if you see someone in violation of the code, you have no choice but to tell on them or you're also in violation.