Comments about ‘BYU, Utah Utes football: Mellowing the mayhem’

I'm glad that the two schools are going to be playing less. I think the "rivalry" is a bit overblown by the fans.

as much as i dislike the cougars i don't much like the animosity either. even though i think it would be nice to see a little civility i know that will probably never happen. but, here's to hoping we see a good game and a ute win.

I beg to differ - this has been going on outside rivalry week for decades. It was mean-spirited and classless on the Utah side in the 60's and 70's, with beer and four-lettered words poured on Cougar fans visiting that tiny stadium in Salt Lake.

I love a good rivalry, but HATING your own church's school is just plain weird. Find me a Catholic who hates Notre Dame, just because it is run by the church. Most of my U-friends would love to have their kids at the Y, because the like the education and trust the environment.

At the end of the day, does it really matter. I love the Cougs, but, seriously, ripping another institution like Utah simply makes no sense. Maybe this will be a year where more civility will be shown. A reading of President Uchtorf's ocnference talk is helpful. It truly is just a football game.

As a BYU fan, I wouldnt be disappointed at all to see the rivalry disappear because it does not add anything to the mission or purpose of BYU. The way that it has brought out deplorable behavior from people on either side is an argument for why it is worthless.

I grew up in Seattle as a huge BYU fan and knew absolutely nothing of the rivalry. It was wonderful to follow BYU in the absence of the negativity of the rivalry. During my freshmen year as the rivalry game approached it was shocking to see the opinion pieces from the two sides published in the Daily Universe. Reading the insult saturated, downright rude and boorish Utah opinion piece introduced me to the rivalry. And it didnt make sense. Why would someone hate someone like LaVell Edwards? Is LaVell Edwards a detestable person worthy of no respect? It seemed impossible for any rational person to make such conclusions, but there in my hand was proof that the rivalry induces insane behavior. Ive since met with plenty of normal thinking Utah fans, but why does there need to be this exchange of insults that we call a rivalry?

Another example that illustrates my point about the primary characteristic of the rivalry being the desire to insult the other side: in my ward here in Texas when a family moved in from Utah and gave their normal introduction talks in sacrament meeting after a few months they introduced themselves by telling the story of how their babysitter showed up wearing a BYU shirt and how they proceeded to insult them for that because they are Utah fans. Really? Thats the right way to treat some young woman who will watch your kids? And thats how you introduce your personality? They literally defined themselves by their hatred of BYU.

Maybe for Utah the rivalry is important to their were not BYU school identity, but BYU has been and always will be a unique place that is defined by their mission and purpose. So my response is, yes, the U of U, as a common public university, is not BYU and can never be like BYU. Were happy to be who we are, can you be happy to go and be who you are without the contrast to define yourself?

It is sad when the newspaper needs to help people be more polite and reasonable, but it was needed and I appreciate them doing it.

Another Deseret News article about the Deseret News. Yeah, we get it, you changed the comment boards and you're so great for doing so.

moving on...

The tone of the rivalry will diminish beginning next year. Eventually, this game will become like Colorado-Colorado State. It will be important for that week, and an exciting way to start the season. The game will be played early enough that it will have little effect on national ranking and bowl game selection, as opposed to today when one team is playing to spoil the other team's season.

With nothing on the line this year, this week's game is no big deal. If Utah wins, BYU fans will dismiss the loss as a "rebuilding year" thing. If BYU wins, Utah fans will complain about the BYU alum playing the head-case Jordan Wynn the last 3 games of the season and/or the defensive scheme in the secondary. All will be forgotten the next day. There is a lot more excitement about moving on to new things next year than this year's rivalry game.

I wish one of the basketball games was played the same day because then BYU would be guaranteed at least one victory and football is then a tossup.

GO Y

I enjoy the rivalry, and I am somewhat disappointed that the rivalry might be reduced due to Utah and BYU going separate ways.

I am aware of some fans on both sides that are classless. However, let's ignore the classless fans and give credit to the large majority that are good fans. Win or lose this rivalry has been a blast.

Let's keep it that way!

I hate rivalry week. I love the rivalry game.

Here's to hoping the fans ( on both sides) can make the game and the rivalry fun again. It's been a while since it has been....

Go Cougars

@Not from Utah
And growing up in the church on the East Coast and knowing nothing about the rivalry until I showed up on campus at the University of Utah I can give you just as many anecdotal stories in the reverse. The door swings both ways.

What does frost my cookies about some of my fellow Utes however, is their interjection of religion into the rivalry. Alumnus of both institutions can dislike (or if they so choose loathe, detest, and disparage as Mr. Hall expressed) the other on so many other grounds - we don't need religion.

I tuned into the Utah-SDSU game to cheer for the Aztecs, and found myself cheering for Utah for the first time in my life. Of course I want to win next week, but I truly no-longer "hate " Utah, in fact I wish them all the best and hope they win the PAC 12. Go Cougars! Viva Las Vegas.

Loving a football team just because your church owns it is just plain weird. I can honestly tell you that as a UofU fan who is mormon, we don't hate BYU because the church owns it. We hate the BYU fans who think they are better than everyone else because the church owns it. Perhaps we have ties to the UofU that extend beyond what church we go to...both sides have bad fans. It is the same with any university in the country. If you want to cheer for a football team because of the church you belong to, go ahead. Just don't tell me that I have to cheer for the same team you cheer for because we go to the same church every sunday.

I think the lack of civility among some fans related to the rivalry is grossly over-emphasized. I think we can agree that the vast majority of fans on both sides are great people and great fans. Why can't we just all acknowledge that there is a horrible breed of fan that likes to put uncivil things on the internet, and know that we probably can't change them, and just ignore them? I am as big a Ute fan as you will find, and I love the rivalry. I have many, many BYU-fan friends and we always enjoy the friendly sparring that happens this week. It is all part of the fun. We both agree that we have fellow fans that we are not proud of. We can each cite to examples of ugly things we have seen from both sets of fans. But we do not paint all of the fans with the same brush. When articles like this address the rivalry, I wish they could put things in proper perspective and note that the rivalry is not getting more uncivil in general--just among a certain type of fan (whom we probably cannot change).

My fourth grade daughter came home from her first week of school (in August) and asked me if we are for Utah or BYU. She said her classmates yell at each other about Utah and BYU, and she preferred to not be for either school. I encouraged her to stay non-commital.

I honestly believe when our modelled behavior is influencing elementary schoolers, that we have carried it too far. I've seen the yelling in elementary school--it goes beyond friendly banter. We are teaching our kids how to despise!

As a parent, I dislike this rivalry. It has become so negative, it simply isn't healthy. I wish both programs well, and I will enjoy seeing the Y and the U go their seperate ways.

Im a BYU fan first and a Utah fan second and Id like to stay that way, however, I have found it hard to remain a Ute fan when I read many of the posts made by BYU-Haters. I believe (or hope) that most of the BYU-Haters are not real Utah fans (maybe fair-weather fans but not real Ute fans), and yes, there are Ute-Haters too. I also admit that sometimes I will retaliate by making a mean spirited post and usually end up wishing I never said anything. Because of this, Ive started to limit the number of comments I read and the number of comments I make and have found Im enjoying the season much more. Go Cougars, Go Utes.

eastcoastzoob:

In my time on the East Coast, there were plenty of BC and CU-supporting Catholics who despised Notre Dame. Not because it was run by their church, but because ND fans acted like they WERE "the Church."

Notice the similarities? No? I'm not surprised.