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Here's why I think BYU's ESPN deal matters, and why I HAVE to think it at least played a role in getting a guy like Hinds, a guy that, unlike Jake Heaps, didn't have his mind made up where he wanted to go since he was ten years old:
What nobody is saying out loud but everyone should realize by now is that a lot of LDS kids pick BYU, not for the quality education (although that provides some justification)...
not for the quality athletic programs (although that also provides some justification)...
not for the honor code (some really like it, some just accept it, but you're insane if you really think that is WHY kids come here)...
not even because their church owns the school (although that also serves as some easy justification, "Hey. I'm Mormon. Why not?")......
No. Most kids go to BYU for the same reason I did:
To get laid.
We all know this. Sex sells. And BYU sells sex to Mormon boys and girls like few others can: COPIOUSLY AND GUILT FREE.
Mormons want to have sex just like everybody else. But Mormons HATE themselves when they break commandments so the psychological cost of having premarital sex really puts a damper on the experience. Not only that, but we are strongly encouraged to get married in the temple and strongly discouraged from dating/marrying non-mormons. To do so would be unthinkable for many LDS kids. So what do we do? Where do many of us want to go to school if we can get in?
To the Mormon wonderland; the school that provides the greatest number of high-quality sexual options for our demographic. BYU, duh.
Elite LDS athletes are not immune to this either, but it isn't always enough. Once you get to those four and five star athletes (Jake Heaps excepted) the ones being told by everyone that they'll play in the NFL/NBA some day, they seem to need something more from BYU to justify the yearnings of their loins.
Many of them, unfortunately, have perceived BYU as being a potential speed bump on that road to professional glory, partially due to their relative national obscurity. Maybe it isn't true that playing for Miami gives you a better chance at going pro because the NFL is so good at spotting talent no matter where it's found... but when you are that good and you feel that close to making it big, are you gonna want to take any chances? Are you gonna want your son take any chances? If you think there is ANY possibility that playing at a different school will help your chances are you really going to choose BYU? I wouldn't.
A sale begins on an emotional level, and BYU provides that with the awesome sexual lure already mentioned, but a sale closes on the logical level, and you HAVE to admit that BYU's new TV contract (as well as Utah's with the Pac) provides them with quite a bit more of that logical justification than they used to have (I'm not saying it'll be enough to get Jabari, but it sure doesn't hurt).
I have little doubt that with Utah's move to the Pac 12, had BYU not landed that ESPN deal, Troy Hinds would be a Ute right now, and he wouldn't be the only one. Utah offers much of the same LDS culture and sexual/marital prospects (less, but enough) as BYU, and with the Pac 12 move I believe they now offer more than plenty of justification for any LDS athlete to play there; much more so than BYU would have had they stayed in the MWC after Utah's departure.
Without BYU's counteroffer in the form of an ESPN partnership, I really don't think we get that kid. But with that deal, all things considered, I think BYU's two-headed recruiting machine of ESPN and sex continues to hold a slight edge over Utah's two headed machine of Pac 12 affiliation and... slightly less sex... for 3-5 star LDS athletes (ONLY lds athletes, though), as it always has in the past. Troy Hinds is proof of that.
What nobody is saying out loud but everyone should realize by now is that a lot of LDS kids pick BYU, not for the quality education (although that provides some justification)...
not for the quality athletic programs (although that also provides some justification)...
not for the honor code (some really like it, some just accept it, but you're insane if you really think that is WHY kids come here)...
not even because their church owns the school (although that also serves as some easy justification, "Hey. I'm Mormon. Why not?")......
No. Most kids go to BYU for the same reason I did:
To get laid.
We all know this. Sex sells. And BYU sells sex to Mormon boys and girls like few others can: COPIOUSLY AND GUILT FREE.
Mormons want to have sex just like everybody else. But Mormons HATE themselves when they break commandments so the psychological cost of having premarital sex really puts a damper on the experience. Not only that, but we are strongly encouraged to get married in the temple and strongly discouraged from dating/marrying non-mormons. To do so would be unthinkable for many LDS kids. So what do we do? Where do many of us want to go to school if we can get in?
To the Mormon wonderland; the school that provides the greatest number of high-quality sexual options for our demographic. BYU, duh.
Elite LDS athletes are not immune to this either, but it isn't always enough. Once you get to those four and five star athletes (Jake Heaps excepted) the ones being told by everyone that they'll play in the NFL/NBA some day, they seem to need something more from BYU to justify the yearnings of their loins.
Many of them, unfortunately, have perceived BYU as being a potential speed bump on that road to professional glory, partially due to their relative national obscurity. Maybe it isn't true that playing for Miami gives you a better chance at going pro because the NFL is so good at spotting talent no matter where it's found... but when you are that good and you feel that close to making it big, are you gonna want to take any chances? Are you gonna want your son take any chances? If you think there is ANY possibility that playing at a different school will help your chances are you really going to choose BYU? I wouldn't.
A sale begins on an emotional level, and BYU provides that with the awesome sexual lure already mentioned, but a sale closes on the logical level, and you HAVE to admit that BYU's new TV contract (as well as Utah's with the Pac) provides them with quite a bit more of that logical justification than they used to have (I'm not saying it'll be enough to get Jabari, but it sure doesn't hurt).
I have little doubt that with Utah's move to the Pac 12, had BYU not landed that ESPN deal, Troy Hinds would be a Ute right now, and he wouldn't be the only one. Utah offers much of the same LDS culture and sexual/marital prospects (less, but enough) as BYU, and with the Pac 12 move I believe they now offer more than plenty of justification for any LDS athlete to play there; much more so than BYU would have had they stayed in the MWC after Utah's departure.
Without BYU's counteroffer in the form of an ESPN partnership, I really don't think we get that kid. But with that deal, all things considered, I think BYU's two-headed recruiting machine of ESPN and sex continues to hold a slight edge over Utah's two headed machine of Pac 12 affiliation and... slightly less sex... for 3-5 star LDS athletes (ONLY lds athletes, though), as it always has in the past. Troy Hinds is proof of that.
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