Mormon Football

Good Story in last weeks SI on Kyle Whittingham and the Utes. Always find it strange though in this day and age when story points out religious make up of much of team. You would never read that say Mississippi is half Southern Baptist.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1176702/index.htm

"The BYU-Utah rivalry, the so-called Holy War, is often described as a clash between church and state: the devoutly Mormon Cougars versus the secular Utes. (Certainly there are plenty of BYU fans who choose to see it that way.) The fact is, roughly half the players on Utah's roster are LDS."

 

Does Missippis tout any of their clashes as a Holy War?

 

I think you meant to say Mississippi - if so no because in SEC football IS the religion.

 

No, I meant to say the same thing you said and then went back and changed. You're probably a grad of one of the SEC schools.

 

Huh??

 

Yep.

 

Isn't Mississippi still fighting the war of Northern aggression?

 

Hey, you just wait. They'll rise again.

 

ND-BC is often described with terms like Holy War.

I would guess that BC's roster has more Catholics than ND, but it's just a guess.

As a side note, when BC played BYU in the Kickoff Classic at Giants stadium years ago, the beer lines were much, much shorter on the BYU side of the stadium.

 

When a large number of players on your team are given an extra year of eligibility for religious reasons, I think you have to mention it.

Utah had a sophomore defensive end (Paul Kruger) who was an All-American a few years ago. He was 22 years old.

 

Actually two extra years if you go on a mission. I wouldn't call it extra, though, because it's not as if missionaries are keeping in game shape.

One tidbit is most of the LDS Church's Quorum of the 12 Apostles and the First Presidency did not attend BYU. The current and previous president of the church went to Utah.

 

It's one of those rivalries that you just wouldn't get unless you lived in Utah for one year. That's enough time to understand the culture there and how religion plays into it. You've got private school vs. public school, church vs. state, etc.

It's an interesting rivalry because of how close they are to each other: 50 miles separates the two schools, and the fans of both schools basically live on top of each other (though your Utah fan base is more centered in SLC, while the BYU fan base is a little more nationally spread out). Now, I understand that Duke-UNC is much closer, but when you throw religion on to the fire, crazy things happen. In Mormon congregations, your bishop (leader) might be a diehard of the opposite team. Your neighbor might be a very cool guy, but during that last week of November, both of you become crazy men the week leading up to the game. And the hate goes on all year, regardless of whether athletics are happening or not: it's this constant battle of red v blue.

It's so hard to explain without you being there and witnessing it yourself. But I'm pretty sure when you're born in Utah, your birth certificate is stamped red or blue.

Yes, there are lots of Mormons at Utah. Yes, lots of the Church hierarchy went to Utah, but more because when they were young, BYU wasn't quite as well established as Utah was. You look at the younger Apostles and other leaders of the LDS church, and you'll see more BYU grads.

It's interesting, because in this rivalry, BYU fans basically classify Utah fans in a few categories: 1- those who have been Utah lifers, 2- Mormons who couldn't/didn't get into BYU, and therefore hate BYU, and 3- anti-Mormons who live in Utah and have no choice but to root for the Utes.

Here's an article describing the rivalry, from BYU's school newspaper three years ago. Go down to no. 8 to see the Holy War.

http://newnewsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/66437