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McMahon the Disparager

by BoiseBYU · 4/20/2011

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BoiseBYU
At ProFootballTalk.com, Jim McMahon had the following comments about BYU:



On the school's honor code: "You had to find girls who kept their mouths shut."

Twenty years ago, when asked his favorite memory of BYU, McMahon said that it was "Leaving." Note that his best memory is not the Miracle Bowl, it is not the wins and cheers and records set, but it is leaving.



McMahon was a great player, but I'm sorry I am not a McMahon fan AT. ALL. PERIOD.

I I ahve edited to correct the reference to McMahon's "leaving" quote
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Lawboy
Old news, water under the bridge.



McMahon was a great player for BYU. Period. Enough for me. I rooted for him on the football field, where he excelled. He is still the standard by which BYU QBs are measured for his competitiveness.
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BoiseBYU
Lawboy wrote:
Old news, water under the bridge.



McMahon was a great player for BYU. Period. Enough for me. I rooted for him on the football field, where he excelled. He is still the standard by which BYU QBs are measured for his competitiveness.


That he has disparaged BYU in the past such that this is not new views being expoused by McMahon, that is true. These quotes, however, are within the past couple of weeks. Thus, this trashing of BYU is recent. I cheered for him then, but knowing what he thinks about my school and that what it stands for is nothing more than something to be mocked, well, I would not cheer for him now. He might be the standard by which to judge "competitiveness," at BYU but big freaking deal
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byufan4ever
BoiseBYU wrote:
At ProFootballTalk.com, Jim McMahon had the following comments about BYU:



On the school's honor code: "You had to find girls who kept their mouths shut."

On his favorite memory of BYU: "Leaving." Note that his best memory is not the Miracle Bowl, it is not the wins and cheers and records set, but it is leaving.



McMahon was a great player, but I'm sorry I am not a McMahon fan At. ALL. PERIOD.


I agree 100%, just be ready for the onslaught. Because of his on-field success fans are willing to forget everything that he did and said off-field. I wish that all of our QBs and players had his competitiveness, but he wouldn't last one week in Mendenhall's program.
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Y12
Lawboy wrote:
Old news, water under the bridge.



McMahon was a great player for BYU. Period. Enough for me. I rooted for him on the football field, where he excelled. He is still the standard by which BYU QBs are measured for his competitiveness.


State your case, in detail, for McMahon over Detmer. He was every bit as competitive as McMahon.
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BoiseBYU
Y12 wrote:
Old news, water under the bridge.



McMahon was a great player for BYU. Period. Enough for me. I rooted for him on the football field, where he excelled. He is still the standard by which BYU QBs are measured for his competitiveness.


State your case, in detail, for McMahon over Detmer. He was every bit as competitive as McMahon.

Well said. Indeed explain why he is more competitive than Boscoe who limped our way to a NC or Doman who had all the grit, will to win and fire one could ever hope for in a QB
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snoscythe
Where did you find him making the "leaving" comment in this interview. I know he said that 20+ years ago when he was still bitter about how they booted him, but I didn't read that in this interview. You're a bit out of line claiming he made that quip in the past couple of weeks.



I think someone treated the way he was by BYU after his last game is entitled to a grudge. As for the girls comment, it was an honest answer to a legitimate question (although a more honest answer might have been "Oh, BYU knew about it, they just let it slide as long as I was setting records and winning games for them"). I have no problem with either answer since both are legitimate and honest answers. That's not disparagement.
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Lawboy
snoscythe wrote:
Where did you find him making the "leaving" comment in this interview. I know he said that 20+ years ago when he was still bitter about how they booted him, but I didn't read that in this interview. You're a bit out of line claiming he made that quip in the past couple of weeks.



I think someone treated the way he was by BYU after his last game is entitled to a grudge. As for the girls comment, it was an honest answer to a legitimate question (although a more honest answer might have been "Oh, BYU knew about it, they just let it slide as long as I was setting records and winning games for them"). I have no problem with either answer since both are legitimate and honest answers. That's not disparagement.


My sentiments. The BYU of McMahaon's day is way different than the BYU of today. Things happened then, people looked the other way. Not so today. McMahon gets run at today's BYU. But it does not change the fact that he got run the second his eligibility was done for things he did for all 4 years. BYU was complicit in that respect. Plus, I know many good LDS guys who went to BYU, and did not love it. No big deal. Opinions and perspectives vary.



As to McMahon being the standard, listen. Nielsen was very good. So was Wilson. But McMahon was the one that set the tone for BYU QB's that exists today. High draft, won a Super Bowl, Young's BYU career got more notice as a result, which led to Detmer getting the Heisman. Go watch Holiday Bowl 1980. The BYU QB standard really started that game. First bowl win, great comeback, QB led do to sheer will. It starts with McMahon.
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BoiseBYU
snoscythe wrote:
Where did you find him making the "leaving" comment in this interview. I know he said that 20+ years ago when he was still bitter about how they booted him, but I didn't read that in this interview. You're a bit out of line claiming he made that quip in the past couple of weeks.



I think someone treated the way he was by BYU after his last game is entitled to a grudge. As for the girls comment, it was an honest answer to a legitimate question (although a more honest answer might have been "Oh, BYU knew about it, they just let it slide as long as I was setting records and winning games for them"). I have no problem with either answer since both are legitimate and honest answers. That's not disparagement.


The Idaho Statesman reported both quotes. I went to the website, which said the interview was a couple of weeks ago, to quickly see the interview. I saw the first quote about girls. I sawthe second quote in the comments and assumed they were part of a larger interview...If he only made that statement a long time ago, I stand corrected and will amend. I did not know that before now.

I do not doubt McMahon's honesty. Where I take issue is with an athlete at BYU who views the honor code as a thing to be mocked and cast aside as suits his fancy. That is what I took away from that quote. That to my mind is disparaging the honor code and something I think is wrong.

I will edit my first post. BTW, what did BYU do to him at the end of his last game to entitled him to a grudge? I do not know.
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Lawboy
BYU kicked him out of school semester after the Holiday Bowl. In other words, days after that win. It is why he did not graduate.
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Mars
Lawboy wrote:
BYU kicked him out of school semester after the Holiday Bowl.

The bowl game where he chewed tobacco during a TV interview and mooned a helicopter.
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CougarClaw
Mars wrote:
BYU kicked him out of school semester after the Holiday Bowl.

The bowl game where he chewed tobacco during a TV interview and mooned a helicopter.


yup. That's the one.
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Cougs_Rule
His "best day at byu" comment lives on in perpetuity because of his continued and confirming slams of the institution that did as much for him as he did for it.

All the McMahan lovers that cheered for him this past season causing him to receive the loudest applause of all the QB's are deluded. These fans either 1) have some fantasy that he will join the church if we love him enough; or 2) have some fantasy that if he completes his degree then we can "truly" honor and adore and worship him properly by draping his dishonorable and dispicable jersey at LES; or 3) have chosen for their hero a person who would just as soon chew and spit tobacco in your face or throw beer at your kids.

He set the bar high for qb performance on the field. BUT, he set the bar on the ground for all things that matter in the eternities. Sorry, not buying Master McMahan's stock.
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SpiffCoug
Mars wrote:
BYU kicked him out of school semester after the Holiday Bowl.

The bowl game where he chewed tobacco during a TV interview and mooned a helicopter.

I thought he mooned the helicopter at the Super Bowl. I've never of him mooning a helicopter while at BYU.
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Mars
SpiffCoug wrote:
I thought he mooned the helicopter at the Super Bowl. I've never of him mooning a helicopter while at BYU.

Yeah, you're probably right.
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Cougarbib
Mars wrote:
I thought he mooned the helicopter at the Super Bowl. I've never of him mooning a helicopter while at BYU.

Yeah, you're probably right.


I can be of help here. I am a fan of Jimmy as a football player - but not as a role model.



I lived in Chicago during the Bears Super Bowl season. McMahon and coach Ditka were always at odds including Ditka thinking Jim was lazy and did not like to practice. Jim claimed to have sore buttocks and even resorted to acupuncture to try to deal with the pain but had been refusing to practice. News stations flew a helicopter over Soldier Field in Chicago after Ditka gave an ultimatum to see if McMahon was practicing. McMahon mooned the helicopter. 1986 iirc - in that timeframe and at Soldier Field in Chicago - not BYU - not a Bowl Game - not the Super Bowl Game in New Orleans.



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Isola
I was too young to see McMahon as a football player, and as such I have little to no respect for him now.



BYU stands for something, and if he didn't like what it stood for then he should not have gone.



I beleive that the vast majority of people go to BYU intending on living the Honor Code and as such for him to laugh about having to find girls that he would lure into breaking the Honor Code and then try to convince them not to go through the repentance process...I hate it.



Enticing women to sin and convincing them not to properly repent is really low in my book. I don't care what he did on the field.



And he shows no remorse. I would feel a whole lot better if he said, "I did a lot of things against the Honor Code and to be honest I kind of regret it. I signed up to live it and I didn't honor the contract. In hind sight I should have just gone some place else, rather than commit to something that I had no intention on living."
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Lawboy
The BYU of the late 70's and early 80's is not the same BYU of today. Yes, there was an HC, but do not delude yourself into thinking things are the same. Back then, HC office had more discretion in how to deal with player issues, while now, with blogs and more reports, they really have to be tougher to keep up a perception to avoid being called hypocritical. Bronco has it way tougher than LaVell even did in that respect.



I know plenty of people who went to BYU and did not like it. So what is McMahon did not love his days at BYU. He is a non-LDs guy, and it just highlights the already well known fact that non-LDS have a tougher time at BYU. Let's deal with that reality, and just be glad when we get players to come to BYU, make it all four years, because our culture is tough on outsiders. Don't act like it isn't. It really is.



I do not care what McMahon said about BYU for that fact. It is not for everyone. But he made it 4 years, and BYU has the QB reputation it does in part because of his contributions.



By the way, he met his wife at BYU and is married to an active LDS girl. And he did not list that as his favorite BYU moment either. Perhaps his comment should be taken with a grain of salt? McMahaon likes to stir the pot. I think it was TIC all the way. And I have zero problem with it.
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Y12
Isola wrote:
I would feel a whole lot better if he said, "I did a lot of things against the Honor Code and to be honest I kind of regret it. I signed up to live it and I didn't honor the contract. In hind sight I should have just gone some place else, rather than commit to something that I had no intention on living."


I have had similar sentiments for awhile. But, I have come to the conclusion that McMahon's problem then was that he was immature, and I don't think he will ever be mature enough to make such a statement.



He is mature enough, however, to realize how he benefited from BYU and readily says he would pick BYU again.
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Y12
Lawboy wrote:
Perhaps his comment should be taken with a grain of salt? McMahaon likes to stir the pot. I think it was TIC all the way. And I have zero problem with it.


McMahon loves controversy. Once you get to know his way of talking to the media, you realize the comment like "You have to find girls who keep their mouths shut" is his diplomatic way of avoiding to throw BYU under the bus.



That statement is merely stating the obvious.



McMahon has had plenty of chances to rake BYU through the mud, but he has been careful not to. However, he does it in his own way that isn't normal protocol.
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