Will BYU ever allow Sunday play?

[TripletDaddy]

Is there any truth to the urban legend about some BYU team walking off the field as the clock struck midnight in order to avoid playing on Sunday? I seem to recall hearing that one back in the day.

[beefytee]

Is there any truth to the urban legend about some BYU team walking off the field as the clock struck midnight in order to avoid playing on Sunday? I seem to recall hearing that one back in the day.

I seem to recall a BYU baseball game that went to extra innings a few years ago and they did not walk off the field.

[mUUser]

Is there any truth to the urban legend about some BYU team walking off the field as the clock struck midnight in order to avoid playing on Sunday? I seem to recall hearing that one back in the day.

It's probably the same dude that records the Super Bowl on Sunday then throws a party at 12:01am Monday for anyone interested in attending.

[Clark Addison]

Is there any truth to the urban legend about some BYU team walking off the field as the clock struck midnight in order to avoid playing on Sunday? I seem to recall hearing that one back in the day.

Maybe it happened back in the day, but in the final years of the ESPN contract, BYU basketball used to play late night Saturday basketball games that would occasionally go past midnight. No one stopped playing.

[Donuthole]

It always seems odd to me that there is a prohibition about playing on Sunday, but the athletes travel on Sunday, commercially, all the time. Hell, my MTC flight to my mission was on a Sunday.

I have similar feelings. Back when I was at Dixie State, the women's soccer team was fantastic. Their leading scorer was Jennifer Henry*, an LDS girl from Spokane (Pasco? I think it might have been Pasco) who was as devout as they come. She was in one of my institute classes, and she was clearly a very spiritual person. I sat by her a number of times, and while I contemplated asking her out, she was very caught up in her missionary (who had been out only a few months) to the point that it was off-putting, at least to me. So we never dated. Sorry about the digression.

The Dixie State soccer team made it to the national final, which was held on Sunday. Jen had made it clear to her team all along that if they reached the final, she wouldn't play, and that's exactly what happened. A local St. George girl (from my high school, actually) stepped into her place and scored two goals in the championship game, leading them to victory.

The local paper (a terrible, sorry excuse for a newspaper, btw) was all over the story. My dad ate it up when he read it, and said something to me akin to "you need to meet and take out that Jen Henry girl. That's a girl who knows what she's doing" (He had no idea I knew her, and that I had my own reasons for not taking her out). When he was done with the paper, I picked it up to read the article and was a bit disturbed to see Jen in the team pictures (in street clothes). It turns out while she didn't play in the game, she was in attendance and was anxiously cheering them on the entire time. This gave me pause, and I asked myself if willful attendance at such an activity on the sabbath was any different than participation in the same activity. In my mind, it wasn't (and isn't) any different.

It's very similar to Larry H. Miller, who was very public in his refusal to attend Jazz games on Sunday (and actually has a standing agreement with the League that the Jazz don't have regular season home games on Sunday--the playoff games are weekend-centric, and are often on Sundays) but then you find out that he's listening to the games in the car on his way to the Arena, and that he participates in the pre and post game festivities. If you're going to avoid physical attendance at the game in the name of Sabbath observance, shouldn't you avoid everything that goes along with it?

While I don't have a problem with someone who will or won't play or attend on Sunday, I do get a kick out of the selective application most employ.

*Jen Henry married her missionary and she later starred at BYU.

[byu71]

I know I won't be around to see it, I doubt any of you will be, but I would bet my grandchildren will. I won't be around to collect on the bet.

I will bet there will also be a modification of the Word of Wisdom.

I could be wrong. Is there any church out there as fundamental as we are and as big as we are? I should qualify by saying, any Christian Church.

[Moliere]

I think the sports on Sunday rules are well known throughout the church:

Okay: Doesn't require payment of money and you won't sweat

Not Okay: Requires payment of money or makes you sweat

Okay: Ping pong, billiards, badminton (of course these have to be done at home to clear the "money payment" provision)

Not Okay: Basketball, football, golf, running

[PaloAltoCougar]

I know a BYU recruit who was going to decline playing on Sunday in a tournament that a BYU coach was attending. The coach asked the recruit to play so that an evaluation could be made. The recruit did, and later received a scholarship.

Pretty much every BYU scholarship athlete (with the possible exception of football players) had to play on Sundays growing up to get to the level of competition necessary to deserve D-1 scholarship consideration. Those who declined Sunday play consistently in their youth rarely, if ever, get there.

But like most of the others here, I'm very confident there will be no change in the BYU Sunday play rule. I can live with cognitive dissonance.

[mUUser]

I have similar feelings. Back when I was at Dixie State, the women's soccer team was fantastic. Their leading scorer was Jennifer Henry*, an LDS girl from Spokane (Pasco? I think it might have been Pasco) who was as devout as they come. She was in one of my institute classes, and she was clearly a very spiritual person. I sat by her a number of times, and while I contemplated asking her out, she was very caught up in her missionary (who had been out only a few months) to the point that it was off-putting, at least to me. So we never dated. Sorry about the digression.

The Dixie State soccer team made it to the national final, which was held on Sunday. Jen had made it clear to her team all along that if they reached the final, she wouldn't play, and that's exactly what happened. A local St. George girl (from my high school, actually) stepped into her place and scored two goals in the championship game, leading them to victory.

The local paper (a terrible, sorry excuse for a newspaper, btw) was all over the story. My dad ate it up when he read it, and said something to me akin to "you need to meet and take out that Jen Henry girl. That's a girl who knows what she's doing" (He had no idea I knew her, and that I had my own reasons for not taking her out). When he was done with the paper, I picked it up to read the article and was a bit disturbed to see Jen in the team pictures (in street clothes). It turns out while she didn't play in the game, she was in attendance and was anxiously cheering them on the entire time. This gave me pause, and I asked myself if willful attendance at such an activity on the sabbath was any different than participation in the same activity. In my mind, it wasn't (and isn't) any different.

It's very similar to Larry H. Miller, who was very public in his refusal to attend Jazz games on Sunday (and actually has a standing agreement with the League that the Jazz don't have regular season home games on Sunday--the playoff games are weekend-centric, and are often on Sundays) but then you find out that he's listening to the games in the car on his way to the Arena, and that he participates in the pre and post game festivities. If you're going to avoid physical attendance at the game in the name of Sabbath observance, shouldn't you avoid everything that goes along with it?

While I don't have a problem with someone who will or won't play or attend on Sunday, I do get a kick out of the selective application most employ.

*Jen Henry married her missionary and she later starred at BYU.

This is a pet peeve of mine.

If you're going to commit to play a team sport, then fulfill your obligations to the team and play when you're supposed to. Otherwise, play an individual sport outside the team concept.

[RC Vikings]

I think the sports on Sunday rules are well known throughout the church:

Okay: Doesn't require payment of money and you won't sweat

Not Okay: Requires payment of money or makes you sweat

Okay: Ping pong, billiards, badminton (of course these have to be done at home to clear the "money payment" provision)

Not Okay: Basketball, football, golf, running

I think you can add gear or no gear.

[byu71]

In the San Diego area when I was 9, the season traditionally started off on a Sunday. Banners flying, bands, it was really a big deal.

I remember my parents not letting me play, although we did go watch my team play. Kind of the Larry Miller thing I guess. My Dad was the assistant coach, but he wouldn't coach that day either.

Maybe we wanted to be there to answer questions from those who were playing, about Mormons and why we won't play on Sunday.

Anyway, 15 years later a kid on the team that hung out with me an awful lot sent me a letter. I hadn't seen him since we were twelve. He said because of my families influence on him, he had let the missionaries in and was converted.

I thought, wow, my folks were right. Not playing on Sunday did set a good example. I asked him about it. He said he didn't remember I didn't play on Sunday.

[creekster]

In the San Diego area when I was 9, the season traditionally started off on a Sunday. Banners flying, bands, it was really a big deal.

I remember my parents not letting me play, although we did go watch my team play. Kind of the Larry Miller thing I guess. My Dad was the assistant coach, but he wouldn't coach that day either.

Maybe we wanted to be there to answer questions from those who were playing, about Mormons and why we won't play on Sunday.

Anyway, 15 years later a kid on the team that hung out with me an awful lot sent me a letter. I hadn't seen him since we were twelve. He said because of my families influence on him, he had let the missionaries in and was converted.

I thought, wow, my folks were right. Not playing on Sunday did set a good example. I asked him about it. He said he didn't remember I didn't play on Sunday.

GOld, Jerry, this is comic GOLD!

[Donuthole]

This is a pet peeve of mine.

If you're going to commit to play a team sport, then fulfill your obligations to the team and play when you're supposed to. Otherwise, play an individual sport outside the team concept.

I don't have a problem with the religious conviction, per se. Particularly if it is stated up front to teammates and coaches. I take more issue with the selective application of what is and what isn't proper Sabbath observance. To sit out of a sporting event because it is played on Sunday, only to then attend and cheer on your team is a bit like being a pot dealer who refuses to smoke pot because it's against the Word of Wisdom. Not a perfect analogy (or even a good one), but you get the point.

[SteelBlue]

Maybe it happened back in the day, but in the final years of the ESPN contract, BYU basketball used to play late night Saturday basketball games that would occasionally go past midnight. No one stopped playing.

I remember this as well during my time there.

[RC Vikings]

Maybe it happened back in the day, but in the final years of the ESPN contract, BYU basketball used to play late night Saturday basketball games that would occasionally go past midnight. No one stopped playing.

This happened after the church changed the rule to read "the sabbath starts the minute sacrament meeting starts and ends the minute priesthood meeting is over".