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I've been to several rivalry games (BYU-UT, South Carolina-Clemson (both places), UNC-NCSU, GA-FLA, Auburn-Alabama, at the TX state fair for UT-OK, but not in the Cotton Bowl for the game)) and I've been to several other places where I've been treated particularly bad - UNM, UNLV, CSU, Mississippi State,etc) Some of them were right up there with RES in terms of overall bad behavior, but the total experience at RES is by far worse than any of them. The difference - the decent fans.
The decent human beings among the fan-base of college football teams realize that there are jackasses among them, as well, and tend to go out of their way to make up for the jackassery that visiting teams are exposed to. Besides RES, the most obnoxious behavior I've been exposed to was at Mississippi State, but coinciding with those a-holes was some of the nicest behavior. Yeah, we had drunken Baptists screaming at us that we were a cult and all going to hell and that our f-ing Cougars were going to get their f-ing butts kicked by the f-ing SEC because f-ing SEC football rules! But then we got invited to a tailgate, given quickly a beer - and then after an embarrassed moment of reflection, a sprite - and burgers, brats, dogs, etc. Similar things happen everywhere else I've been - the good guys take notice of the bad guys and try to be extra nice to correct for their bad behavior - and try to stop it if it's happening while they're around.
This is what is missing at RES. There are some easy explanations for parts of it - a lot of UofU fans are attracted to the U as a way to show their non-mormonness. Tailgates are heavily skewed toward those that are there to drink. So if you walk on the road next to the tailgating area at RES, there are simply going to be a lot fewer of the sober tailgaters in the lot than at most schools. The boors see the family in Y gear, and run out to accost them, and there are few sober decent fans to stop them.
This creates a bit of a problem for other fans. If no one else is going out to help put a stop to the asininity, what will happen if I do? This is especially troubling for the active-LDS Ute fans. It's us against them, but when my group obviously oversteps the lines of decency, if I do decide to step in, it looks like I'm siding with them because they're LDS. And in the eyes of fellow Ute fans, that just might be too hard for me to ever come back from. So the active LDS Ute fan watches silently as his religion is defamed and as a Cougar fan who's been behaving civilly is threatened, jostled, spit at, and called every name under the sun.
The power lies 100% in the hands of decent Ute fans to control where this rivalry goes. So far, they're doing ABSOLUTELY nothing. They're letting the boors in their fanbase dictate their image. They all deny that this is the case, but they're 100% wrong.
And it still all boils down to religion.
Slam away - I've got to go get a tooth pulled, and I'm going to be in lala land for the rest of the day anyway. ;-)
The decent human beings among the fan-base of college football teams realize that there are jackasses among them, as well, and tend to go out of their way to make up for the jackassery that visiting teams are exposed to. Besides RES, the most obnoxious behavior I've been exposed to was at Mississippi State, but coinciding with those a-holes was some of the nicest behavior. Yeah, we had drunken Baptists screaming at us that we were a cult and all going to hell and that our f-ing Cougars were going to get their f-ing butts kicked by the f-ing SEC because f-ing SEC football rules! But then we got invited to a tailgate, given quickly a beer - and then after an embarrassed moment of reflection, a sprite - and burgers, brats, dogs, etc. Similar things happen everywhere else I've been - the good guys take notice of the bad guys and try to be extra nice to correct for their bad behavior - and try to stop it if it's happening while they're around.
This is what is missing at RES. There are some easy explanations for parts of it - a lot of UofU fans are attracted to the U as a way to show their non-mormonness. Tailgates are heavily skewed toward those that are there to drink. So if you walk on the road next to the tailgating area at RES, there are simply going to be a lot fewer of the sober tailgaters in the lot than at most schools. The boors see the family in Y gear, and run out to accost them, and there are few sober decent fans to stop them.
This creates a bit of a problem for other fans. If no one else is going out to help put a stop to the asininity, what will happen if I do? This is especially troubling for the active-LDS Ute fans. It's us against them, but when my group obviously oversteps the lines of decency, if I do decide to step in, it looks like I'm siding with them because they're LDS. And in the eyes of fellow Ute fans, that just might be too hard for me to ever come back from. So the active LDS Ute fan watches silently as his religion is defamed and as a Cougar fan who's been behaving civilly is threatened, jostled, spit at, and called every name under the sun.
The power lies 100% in the hands of decent Ute fans to control where this rivalry goes. So far, they're doing ABSOLUTELY nothing. They're letting the boors in their fanbase dictate their image. They all deny that this is the case, but they're 100% wrong.
And it still all boils down to religion.
Slam away - I've got to go get a tooth pulled, and I'm going to be in lala land for the rest of the day anyway. ;-)
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