With the Utah vs. Brigham Young University game coming to a head, there is only one question left: Whose side is U President Michael Young on, anyway?
Recently, Young has deployed a good sportsmanship campaign under the banner of, “Let’s Stay Classy, Utah.” The message has been spread through ads, banners and posters on campus with hopes of dissuading rowdy U fans from excessive jeering. Young even asked several U clubs, fraternities and sororities to stand at stadium entrances to welcome BYU fans to the game, though most groups declined the offer.
But the BYU-U rivalry is not a Little League game, where you line up afterward and give every opposing team member a high-five. Maybe Young has ordered plastic trophies for every participant.
Neither is the rivalry a church meeting, where you usher in the soft-spoken congregation. This is a football game, and one of the most contested rivalries in the nation. It shouldn’t be dominated by warm fuzzy feelings.
Meanwhile, it’s getting harder to tell if Young is president of the U or Benedict Arnold. Maybe he should check his loyalties to BYU, his alma mater.
Administrators denied that the campaign is aimed at any one athletic contest, but it seems coincidental that Young only asked student groups to welcome fans of the opposing team at the BYU game. Although good sportsmanship is a noteworthy goal, pressuring fans to be unnaturally friendly ruins the fun of a rivalry. There is a thin line between being nice and being pretentious. We don’t need to buddy up to the opposing team in order to demonstrate sportsmanship.
This is a Holy War, and the administration can’t encourage this rivalry while simultaneously trying to cover up its foundation: A mutual lack of affection. The jeering is part of the fun, and it wouldn’t be a rivalry if there wasn’t tension. Fans should be reasonable at any football game, but a little jeering never hurt anyone…permanently.
Let’s stay sassy, Utah.