Utah/BYU rivalry can be more civil

Harold Christensen has bled blue his whole life.

He grew up in Provo, where his father was a beloved English professor at BYU for more than 30 years. He was a starter for the 1951 NIT-winning BYU basketball team. He was inducted into the BYU athletic Hall of Fame in 1978. Three of his sons have played basketball for BYU.

However, he doesn't hate Utah and never has. In fact, long before Max Hall declared his hate for everything about the University of Utah, Christensen has been trying to bring some civility to the Utah-BYU rivalry.

Christensen, who also happens to be my uncle, has lived in Salt Lake City for more than 50 years, five minutes away from the U. He is surrounded by Ute fans in his neighborhood. One of his sons played a year for the Utah basketball team and another son is a card-carrying Crimson Club member. He cheers for the U. unless they're playing the Y.

He understands things aren't the same as the old days when he played at Utah's Einar Nielsen Fieldhouse when he heard applause from the U. fans "just as loud" for his BYU team as for the home team. But he also has a much fuller understanding of the rivalry than most and wonders why it can't become more civil.

Several months ago Christensen started his own campaign to bring more civility to the rivalry. He's met with the BYU alumni association board more than once to discuss ways BYU can be more accommodating to the University of Utah and all visitors. He'd like to do the same with the Utah alumni association. He envisions sitting down with Utah President Michael Young, a BYU graduate, and with BYU President Cecil Samuelson, a Utah grad, as well as BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe and Utah AD Chris Hill.

The latter two have already expressed a desire to improve relations between the two schools. Hill, who has been the Utah athletic director for 20 years, has seen the rivalry become more intense and sometimes downright ugly since his school has become competitive with BYU in football. He also believes it's only a small percentage of fans who spoil it for a large number of folks.

"We need to make sure this is a healthy rivalry," Hill says. "I don't want to overreact to the small minority. We want to get rid of the 5 percent that is not healthy. For the large majority of people, it's a great rivalry. But it just takes a handful of people to make it difficult."

Holmoe points out that he and Hill get along great, as do most of the coaches and athletes from each of the universities, and that they congratulate each other when the other is victorious

"Unfortunately there are fans on both sides that ruin it for everyone else," he says.