When Brigham Young University teams play on the road, they, like any visiting opponent, expect to encounter their share of jeers from the home crowd. But what happens when the razzing turns raunchy and the boos give way to bigotry?
That occurs all too often at Cougar games. Obscene choruses, often emanating from opposing student sections, break out, mocking BYU’s sponsoring religion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and members of that faith.
Why have Latter-day Saints and their beliefs become the target of such openly prejudiced chants? Do Catholics and Notre Dame run into the same hostility? And what, if anything, could or should BYU and Latter-day Saint leaders do in responding to such discrimination?
Answering those questions and more are Salt Lake Tribune sports writer Kevin Reynolds, who covers the Cougars and wrote about this issue in a recent special report, and Britain Covey, a practicing Latter-day Saint who starred at BYU’s rival school, the University of Utah, plays for the world champion Philadelphia Eagles and has deep familial ties to BYU.
(Rich Schultz | AP) Philadelphia Eagles' Britain Covey (18) evades New York Giants cornerback Darnay Holmes (30) as he returns a punt 54 yards in November 2023. Covey is a practicing Latter-day Saint with deep familial ties to BYU.
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Tribune sports writer Kevin Reynolds wrote a special report on anti-Latter-day Saint chants endured by BYU.
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