My Experience with Ute Fans

[byufan4ever]

I haven't lived in Utah for 50 years, 10 years, or even 5 years. This is my first year in Utah. This is my experience so far.

I live in Tooele County and work in SLC right by the airport. There are a lot of Ute fans. Everybody knows I'm a BYU fan. I have not received harassment by a single Ute fan. In fact, the ones I come across have been very nice to me and hard workers.

My first day at work I was one of the last ones left at the office and I couldn't figure out how to connect to the network printer. A Ute fan helped me out.

One of the guys who trained me on my position is an excellent worker, very smart, and always helps when I have questions. He's a big Ute fan.

The guy that sits right across from me is a huuge Ute fan. Doesn't like BYU and the honor code. After the rivalry game I went through all of Monday without him or anyone saying anything to me about the game. Finally on Tuesday afternoon I approached him and asked why he hadn't rubbed it in yet. "I'm not like that."

A guy I eat lunch with is a Ute fan. But, with the exception of the rivalry game, he enjoys watching BYU play and roots for them.

I wear my BYU hat and gear all over Tooele and SLC and never once has anyone said anything mean to me. And I have a proud dad moment: last week when my son went to Children's Hospital at the U (for a checkup on his congenital heart disease) he wore his BYU Cougars shirt and the staff said how brave he was and no one made him feel bad for wearing it.

So please forgive me when I roll my eyes when some of you talk about how bad and evil the U is and all of their fans. No, I do not agree with Max Hall. Yes, I said I don't agree with Max Hall but I still consider myself a die hard BYU fan.

[frdbtr]

So a couple of years ago my daughter came home from school upset because her best friend at school (which was also a boy) had told her he couldn't be friends with her because she liked BYU. This kid didn't make this up, he was only 7 at the time. It came from his parents. You happen to live in the midst of some respectful fans. There are a few out there. Max hall was right though.

[hawkwing]

In my experience the vast majority of Ute fans are great people. Just like the vast majority of BYU fans. When you actually attend a game or two at Rice Eccles or at the Huntsman Center you'll run into the 10%ers who are the bad ones. They will make it a point to let you know too. They are the ones who give the entire fan base a bad name. And BYU has them too.

[snoscythe]

White collar ute fans are not the ones people complain about....

[Jarhead]

Up until the Max Hall comments Bronco was 3-2 against Utah. We have lost 7 straight since then. I don't agree with Max Halls comments and I feel like it's about time we reverse the curse.

I am not a believer in a need to hate your sports rival, especially off the field of play.

[nuk13]

I don't remember the last time I heard anything positive on here about the Utah Utes and their fans. Thank you Byufan. I believe you others are correct as well. I once spent a year teaching in Tooele. My Bishop was a Ute fan. He was one of the best Bishop's I ever had.

[KingCoug]

PS Max Hall was right.

[Mars]

There's always the worst 10% of every fanbase that makes the normal 90% look bad.

[CrimsonCoug]

CAN I RESPECTFULLY REQUEST THAT WE LOCK THIS THREAD????!

Excessive use of a word not to be used in polite company. "Ute."

I've known a lot of fantastic Ute fans. I respect them.
I've also known some obnoxious ones--who are overzealous in their fanhood. I tolerate them because I understand them from the other side.
But I've also had run-ins with some in the most random places, typically outside of Utah, who feel obligated to badmouth and denegrate BYU just because I or my kids are wearing a Y hat or shirt.

Unfortunately, a few ugly, uninitiated, and certainly unprovoked experiences with the small but non-negligible percent in the last category has made my extremely circumspect in reaching out to all known Utes. Generalizing? Yes. Stereotyping even? Yes. But generalizations and stereotypes exist for a reason: They don't describe everyone, but they describe enough people to be a useful rule of thumb for keeping my family out of needless distasteful situations. Once I get to know folks, there's usually no problem.

[lawngnome]

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.