Is there an echo in here? I swear, there’s an echo in here. Here, there, everywhere, or at least somewhere.
“F--- the Mormons.”
That chant has erupted at least twice this basketball season and multiple times before at other BYU basketball and football games in other seasons. It doesn’t matter that apologies have been issued by school officials after the fact, just like the one fired off by a University of Arizona administrator following Saturday night’s BYU road win over the Wildcats.
Usually the apologies include a line in them, as did the one scratched out by Arizona vice president/athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois, saying: “The chant is not reflective of who we are and should not have happened.”
Not sure about the first half of that sentence, and as for the second half, let’s all chant together, “No s---.”
Yeah, there’s a difference between profanity and profanity aimed at an entire religion. It doesn’t matter if chanters don’t like or believe in said religion, doesn’t matter if they don’t agree with some aspects of said religion, doesn’t matter if a referee makes a lousy call in a one-point game’s final three seconds, putting an opposing player on the foul line, shooting two free throws, making two free throws to win the game.
What’s obvious is that, at that juncture, Richie Saunders’ particular faith, nor the religion that owns and operates BYU, had nothing to do with the fact that a disputed foul was whistled, that Arizona gave up 96 points on its home court, and that the Wildcats shot 11 more free throws than the Cougars did.
If the call in question was bad, it had plenty of company in this game.
Look, I’ve written a minimum of two previous columns on this subject, essentially pointing out how ugly and stupid it is that fans — even college kids — engage in this specific chant against BYU teams.
Some followers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have had their fill of apologies that carry no weight, getting offended by the chant and calling for those who participate in it to be tracked down and punished, banned from attending future games. Others don’t really care all that much, blowing all of it off as ignorance, almost feeling sorry for the offenders. Some claim that if the word “Mormons” was replaced by the name — slang or official — of any other religion or ethnic group, those doing the chanting and the school for which they root would suffer severe repercussions, necessitating more than a subsequent statement saying, “Oops, our fans goofed up. We’re sorry.”
OK, so I’ve mentioned the stupidity of it in the past, condemning it, and declaring the rather singular practice should end.
Since it hasn’t, I’ve got a new idea.
Let fans of teams playing BYU chant whatever they want. That’s right. If they are moved to scream vulgarities aimed at those darn Mormons, regardless of whether or not those darn Mormons are BYU fans — it might be news to some of these less-enlightened chanters that not all Latter-day Saints are, in fact, Cougar fans (on account of the fact that we’re just talking sports here, not debating eternal truths) — then let them do it. Let it rip. Scream away, all the night long.
Don’t limit the chants to just this one. Hell, no. Add in every other profane word that their minds can conjure and allow them to use them any which creative way they want.
Contrary to what Reed-Francois said, let the people reveal by what they do and shout who they really are. That does more harm to them than any kind of weak apology that has no real effect.
And since BYU likes to use its sports teams to spread the good word to fans and viewers who might not know much about the faith, this is an effective way to draw attention to it, to get people curious about it, if not to completely familiarize everyone with the religion.
The story about what some Arizona fans did at the end of Saturday night’s game has already been noted on the internet, printed and broadcast from coast to coast. You can’t buy that kind of publicity. And being seen as the victim of such rude behavior due to a group’s selected faith, even after a big BYU win, might stir not just some curiosity, but also some sympathy, too. Sports fans don’t typically shout in unison, “F--- anybody,” let alone a church.
Go ahead and put a potted plant on it, then. Put a trophy on it. Don’t get offended by or complain about it. Wear it like a badge of honor.
Nobody else gets that kind of special treatment. Nobody yells that kind of thing if they aren’t threatened by them because they win a lot more than they lose. It’s a compliment. Let it be.
I know, I know, this might seem a revolutionary approach, a capitulation. But it just might work to an advantage. And if it doesn’t, it’ll be because nobody chants vulgarities at BYU games anymore. It’ll simply fade away. And that always was the hope from the beginning.
