“Love is Live Tour” At The “Y” - Part II
By Mad Love
Senior Love God
So, where to start.
OK, I guess I could start talking about my trip to Provo for BYU homecoming by saying I knew things here would be a bit different than I’m used to when it comes to watching football.
I mentioned this yesterday in Part I of my “Love is Live Tour” ramblings, but the people at the “Y” simply have their own way about them.
I knew this going in. I was under no misconceptions. I have a faction of my family who went to BYU and converted to Mormonism. I can dig that. In fact, it was cool to be raised a Cougar fan. They’ve been one of the most exciting and consistent teams in college football for the last 40 years.
I witnessed that history by taking a trip inside their recently completed Hall of Legends. You can see some of the pictures below, including the 1984 National Championship trophy and the tribute to my second-favorite Cougar of all time, Ty Detmer (Jim McMahon being No. 1, of course). Alongside them were tributes to former BYU All-Americans of every sports. Guys like the NBA’s Danny Ainge, MLB’s Jack Morris and NFL’s Steve Young. It was a pretty impresive site.
While at the Hall of Legends, I decided to grab a quick bite to eat. The lovely coed at the pizza parlor told me I could get as many veggies on my pizza as I’d like, but I was limited to just one “protein.”
Well, I don’t know if you’ve heard of that one before, but I needed to know more. I’d never been remotely interested in ordering any “protein” on my pizza before, so I asked the young lady what that could possibly mean. Well, apparently, that’s the term they use for “meat” here. Come to think of it, I never DID hear the word “meat” throughout the entire weekend. This IS football, correct?
Hmmm. Anyhow, I decided to accept it for what it was and decided on a two-protein pizza, with mushrooms and onions. To the other 99.9% of the country, that meant I had pepperoni and sausage. Yeah, who knew.
After my protein pie, it was on to the stadium. I left an hour ahead of time to give myself plenty of time to make the walk across campus. I think I saw one BBQ grill in the many parking lots along the way. If I were back home visiting my brother at an N.C. State game, that number would come a lot closer to 12,000, only to be outnumbered by the number of empty beer cans surrounding them.
The number of beer cans I saw the entire weekend? How about none?
But the crowd is definitely a faithful bunch, in many manners of speaking. At one point during the game when BYU was temporarily losing 3-0, the nice lady behind me asked me how the home town team could have possibly given up the lead. I responded by saying, “the bad guys obviously got lucky right there.”
That didn’t go over well. She kindly explained that there were no “bad guys” on the field, that they were merely the “opposition.”
Number of times I heard a curse word the entire weekend? How about none?
And the guy in front of me actually had the nerve to be wearing a New Mexico (the bad guys) jacket. There were no others anywhere within three sections of us.
Number of times that guy got ritualistically beat down by the home fans? How about none?
Imagine that guy surrounded by LSU fans! Or maybe lingering around Miami.
Again, not your normal fans. Which in some ways was a beautiful thing. I never had to go through any metal detectors on my way into the stadium. I never had to worry about having beer spilt on me by that idiot Jets fan who came to the Packers/Bears game just because he had free tickets and used it as an excuse to get hammered. In fact, I never saw a single security guard the entire time, in a stadium of 65,000 people.
Number of cops I saw the entire three-day weekend? How about none?
Yeah, seriously.
Well, when it came to an end, it was a solid victory. A damn cold one (42 degrees), but solid nonetheless. Heisman hopeful Max Hall threw for three touchdowns, the Cougars remained undefeated and the fans once again went home happy.
Well played Provo. You may do it differntly than the rest of us. But yyou keep doing what you do.
I knew the bar at the L.A. airport would be the last - The Cougar stands proudly at BYU’s Hall of Legends
time I saw beer all weekend
Loved this one student’s choice of headgear — The prize jewel: the 1984 National Championship Trophy
Comments
Tim on 10/12 at 04:18 PM
very good read…
and interesting look at how they do it in the ‘vo
beeg on 10/13 at 09:54 AM
lets not be absurd here, this is a horrible stereotype that the cougars wish they had. one of the worst things ive ever heard at a football game came from the mouth of a cougar fan
slp/nc on 10/13 at 10:09 AM
Thoroughly enjoyed your take on the weekend in Provo. Definitely different from other football towns!! Awesome view from the stadium.
What a Joke on 10/13 at 10:28 AM
BYU fans are the rudest fans i’ve ever been around. At the University of Washington game they cheered when a player was down on the field and a ambulance had to go out, and until my entire section shouted them down they didnt stop. The team plays hard and is well coached, they deserve there ranking- but respectful fans? Please. Maybe its different at home, but their road fans are awful.
mb on 10/13 at 10:47 AM
BYU football and Mormans..........dum dum dum dum dum
Chris on 10/13 at 10:48 AM
I was at the BYU-UW game - nobody cheered the fact that a player was down on the field! I was right there in the middle of a host of BYU fans and they were all respectful and quite friendly, actually. This article is spot-on. Everybody in the stadium cheered when the security guards let the woman (apparently the injured player’s mother?) run across the field to where the player was being loaded into the ambulance. If you thought the cheering was because a UW player was injured.... well, that’s just stupid and bigoted.
Chris on 10/13 at 10:49 AM
Misspelling a word that is printed all over this article? Priceless.
Try Mormons.
Try it out when U of U comes to town on 10/13 at 11:01 AM
It is a totally different atmosphere when the in state rival comes to town. I personally witnessed a BYU fan/student jump onto the field and tackle a Utah yell-leader, only to then have his face smashed in by the hulking male rah-rah.
Go Chiefs on 10/13 at 11:28 AM
For those that have visited Provo, is there better scenery at any other stadium you’ve visited? The mountain views are incredible.
Don Omaha, NE on 10/13 at 01:27 PM
What?
This is an interesting article that attempts to create a “BYU fans are really, really weird and bizarre and they live in a bizarre sub-dimension of weirdness but they sure are nice golly gee”
I have been to hundreds of BYU football games all over the country and this much I know:
(1) I have never heard the term “Protein” used in place of meat - maybe some 18 yr old chick said that someplace but it is certainly not the word “they” use there for meat.
(2) Why no grilling you ask? Well, it was a wee bit colder last week in Provo than in North Carolina, and as everyone who has ever been to a football game knows - tailgaiting serves no other purpose than an excuse to get wasted before a game - and Mormons don’t drink.
(3) Drinking is “allowed” in Utah so you should have perhaps consulted a phone book or the internet or asked anyone where the nearest place you could get toasted was - there are thousands.
(4) and to the commentor above who “personally witnessed” the BYU fan jump onto the field - BULL! you saw it on video or someone told you about it - Stop your filthy Ute lies - that occured pre-2004 (I did personally witness it)and as we all know there were no U of U fans before about October of 2004 and then mysteriously they all disappeared again until this year so it would have been impossible for you to see such a thing...hmmmmm.
Russ on 10/13 at 01:34 PM
You saw no cops the entire weekend?
What, did you just beam yourself into the stadium?
Or were you in such awe of the Bizarro Mormons, Ooooooo, ahhhhhhh, that you missed the 100 cops directing traffic just outside the stadium and the other dozens controlling traffic lights all the way from the freeway to the stadium?
Also for the record - In the last two years I have been to games at Notre Dame, Nebraska, Arizona, UCLA and Iowa State and I have never seen a metal detector at any of those stadiums.
Have you actually ever been to a College Football Stadium before.
This article is almost like you wrote it before you left of what you think BYU “should be”
tom on 10/13 at 03:38 PM
Try again when the cougars play the Utes. You’ll see a very different reaction from the fans. You could even ask my brother what reception he got from the cougar faithful wearing a red shirt at the byu-USU game.
I was not at the byu-UW game, but living in Seattle I have heard accounts of both fans acting like idiots.
There is nothing really all that weird about being nice and polite. There is certainly more things that are actually weird about Provo that you could have pointed out. The stench alone should have been noticeable.
And I was there in 1999 and I did see the byu-provo student jump out of the stands and tackle a Utah cheerleader who then proceeded to beat the living snot out of the kid.
College Fans Are College Fans Until Rival Week on 10/13 at 04:56 PM
Chris,
I was also at the UW-BYU game, in Section 41. BYU Fans were cheering well after the UW Safety was down as well as the band and cheerleaders waving their flags, and only stopped after several UW fans became very vocal. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that perhaps they didn’t know what was going on. Both sets of fans did cheer when Darrin’s mother was able to run across the field. I went with one of his High School teammates, and wish you could ask him what he thought of the situation! Both sets of fans weren’t perfect, and I remember several UW frat fans not being polite to the visiting crowd (I’m a long time UW fan). However I don’t buy that there the nicest stadium in the country and would like a follow up after Utah comes to play.
Emily on 10/13 at 10:05 PM
I think that’s great if that’s how it actually happened...I have my doubts though. I’m a student at LSU, have never missed a home game, and have never had to walk through a metal detector. Yea, we can be a bit rude, especially if you’re wearing some other team’s clothes in our student section, and we’ve been known to have cheers laced with profanities be heard on national TV, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. So if this is how it is at BYU, that’s awesome...I’m glad they have their own identity when it comes to football, as does every other school. It’s what makes the college football experience great.
Kirk on 10/14 at 05:44 AM
What a great article. But please ... there are dozens and dozens of games/fans like this every week. They just aren’t at the “big” schools that get attention. They don’t essentially pay morons to play for foul-mouthed drunks, but are actual schools for learning, and football for fun. College football is my favorite thing, and I agree with Emily ... I enjoy laughing at the drunken, foul-mouthed fools from LSU cheering on their particular morons. I just wouldn’t go to school there. It’s just good TV.
Ken on 10/14 at 08:31 AM
Yeah, many parts of the stereotypes written by the author are (thankfully) true. But as a BYU alum, I can attest that Cougar Stadium - nay, LaVell Edwards Stadium - has seen its share of boorish, albeit beer-less, behavior.
Travis on 10/14 at 09:25 AM
As an interesting side note the U of U cheerleader that got tackled then beat the BYU fan later transferred to BYU.
T-Rex on 10/14 at 02:20 PM
You would definitely have a different experience if Utah were in town. However, the experience would still be milder than at other rivalry games. As to the police issue. BYU is private property and is patrolled by BYU cops. At high profile events, it is not uncommon for BYU to employ plain clothes officers. If you had attempted to drive and park at the stadium, you would have seen roughly 1,000 uniformed officers directing traffic away from the stadium.
Post a Comment