My Experience with Ute Fans

[Jarhead]

The Ute fans in my area are great people, and are good friends.

[byufan4ever]

Its impossible to respect any adult fan that yells or degrades children. As stated above, every fan base has bad fans. Utah may or may not be worse than others. I would hope as BYU we can elevate ourselves above that as much as possible.

This week I was pretty disappointed in the guys over at CougarBoard (this forum is better in every way) for their focus on Carrington and his past issues. Obviously the kid made a mistake. But so have a few of our players. Takitaki and Koroma come to mind. I'm glad these kids get second chances. Do any of us Carrington would end up better off if Oregon kicked him off and then he was left to deal with the issues on his own? I don't have the link, but there was a great article a few weeks back about Takitaki and how much of a difference the time off made for him. Anytime a kid has a chance to learn from mistakes and better himself through sports, I'm all for it.

**Just wanted to say I'm not saying that Takitaki and Koroma had issues on the same level as Carrington, but they were the only relevant examples I could think of that are currently on the team, as I refuse to accept the Francis Bernard situation.. Hopefully this doesn't come off as too holier than thou, because this board was great. But we all know that trying to make a point on CB is a death wish. Love this board and the general positivity.

Great post. I think there's a lot of value in having empathy and trying to see things from "the other side." You didn't come off as holier than thou at all. In fact, you seem very well grounded with a lot of common sense.

[MTM]

I sit in the West chair seats, about 3 sections over from the Visitor's Section.

I have a fair amount of interaction with visiting fans before, during, and after games.

I almost never see any kind of untoward or negative behavior from Utah fans.

But it is worse when we play BYU. It is a small minority of fans but it is embarrassing. I've intervened and told Ute fans to knock it off particularly if there are kids around.

We all have "evidence" to support whatever narrative we want to put forth but I think the vast majority of us are all pretty much the same. Except those nut jobs over on CougarBoard.

[hawkwing]

I think it's fair to say that CougarBoard attracts the worst fans from both fan bases (BYU and Utah) to peruse it often and find excuses to get morally outraged at one another.

[vancouvercougar]

I think it's fair to say that CougarBoard attracts the worst fans from both fan bases (BYU and Utah) to peruse it often and find excuses to get morally outraged at one another.

Exactly! That's why Cougar Corner is my home for cougar news.

[Mars]

Utah fans, in my experience, are bad on the internet, at games, and at work, but typically make awesome neighbors. I love some of the Ute fans that live in my ward.

[vancouvercougar]

My old ward had tons of cougar fans and only one guy who was a ute. We accepted him because all of his grandkids went to BYU.

Now a few neighbors in Vancouver are utes. We all get along pretty well.

[Cougs_Rule]

I got some news for all you Ute lovers.
There are two things that have dissipated the rivalry hatred:
1. Coach Sitake and the relationship between KS and Kryle has mended ALOT!
2. Ute anger, venom, and hostility might be at an all-time low. And that's what happens when your rival beats your A__ 7x in a row and 9 out of 11 or whatever it is. BYU is no longer a threat to the Utes. And their flimsy, stupid "we are Pac-10" and you are not wanted anywhere" mantra has actually been internalized in their collective psyche. Instead of being insecure in their new membership and little brother routine from several decades of losing to BYU; they have moved on. Some of them even feel sorry for BYU fans.
If BYU won even 2 or 3 in a row, the hostile, anti-mormon, drunkards would light up the sky and all the "good" Ute fans would just stand there, shrug their shoulders and tolerate abhorrent Ute fan behaviors.
So, Why the original poster seems so to have good brotherly-like intent, let the tables turn in this rivalry--if its even possible, and watch the hate return and you will know what many of us know all too well.

[Cougs_Rule]

PS.,, Oh and there might. Be. One other contributing factor to a much needed cooling of the hostility--WE GOT NOTHIN! We are humbled to the depths! We have come full circle to teh early days of this rivalry where we cant beat that stupid team up north and none of us want to fight about it.

[Jarhead]

Urban Meyer did a "great" job in poisoning this rivalry. There is no need for cougar fans to continue the hatred. Go ahead and be wary of those who are ute fans because they are just antis, but that is not the bulk of the fanbase.