What do you think is the answer?

[FtheY]

I stopped by CB real fast and found this: The question is why does everyone hate us? 

http://www.cougarboard.com/board/message.html?id=18569999

If it’s tongue in cheek, I think we all feel that way sometimes. I know people don’t like playing us either. 

If it’s not, I think the reasons are:

An overconfident fanbase

A reputation for dirty play

We all have our share of bad fans, but was curious what you guys think. 

[Utah]

It’s because you never beat them.

It’s because they play dirty.

It’s because all they talk about is BYU. For example, I was coaching my girl’s soccer game last Sat and was wearing a Ute hat here in Oregon. This guy comes up and mentions the hat, says he is a BYU fan, we have some friendly rivalry banter and then he spends 10 mins talking about BYU. He was very nice and complimentary about Utah, but I don’t care about talking about BYU.

But my #1 reason is this:

I liked BYU. I attended Utah from out of state and never had any bad feelings towards BYU. But in grad school, I attended with a bunch of BYU fans. They were absolute jerks. Hardline was our first year in school and after the game, they were straight up dicks afterwards.

Its because I watched the 54-10 game with in laws. At halftime, they all talked about how lucky Utah was to be in the game. When Utah got up big, they all stormed out.

Even the last game, the comment I get from BYU fan in my family: “Utah must suck because they barely beat BYU.”

They are never pleasant. Just dicks.

[Red Don]

Yep, I moved from CA to SLC the first time in Oct. of 1985, and knew nothing of BYU other than the previous year’s questionable trophy.  By the end of that season I hated them.  Same for LaDell Anderson and the BB team.  Between the insufferable fans and overkill hype in the local media, made me yearn for the USC and UCLA days. And I couldn’t stand them for the same reasons. And it had nothing to do with religious persecution, I didn’t know what a Mormon was.

[PlainsUte]

Let me count the ways

1) Hypocrisy: from what I can tell the “honor code” is really about superficial things and who can lie the best.   It is routinely being broken, recruits are even given beer.   Credit card scandals, restaurant fights, rape scandals, etc, all have gone down in Provo.  Also what team is more dirty on the field?  Late hits, targeting, nut punches, etc, seems like a weekly occurence especially the last few years.

2) Blatant racism.  Many of us still around from the pre-1978 declaration days.  And it persists today: Spencer Freakin’ Hadley chugging down magnums in Vegas then getting a pass from Bronco.  Meanwhile Brandon Davies is booted from campus for getting a girl pregnant?

2) Lavell Edwards RUTSing days.   Lavell was a good coach but somehow he felt in order to earn respect for his team and his players (for individual accolades) he had to run up the score on teams.   So there were several years of this such as the McMahon years, Detmer, etc.  All the fans in the WAC and MWC remember that crap.

3) Delusional fans.  Fans who like to think BYU is “quarterback U”, every QB is a Heisman candidate and every year is a chance at a mythical national championship.   Well, that ship sailed LOOOOONG ago.  Look at the history with Utah, 7 straight for the Utes and basically tailing off since Lavell retired.

4) Arrogant ADs such as “Flag” Hale who blamed attacks on U cheerleaders on their large flags and Tom Holmoe who drove Cal into the abysss and now seriously thinks Independence is a viable option for BYU.

That oughta be enough for now…

[RiseasUtes]

So many reasons, but the main one is that they hate everyone that isn’t just like them.  Hard to get people to like you if you judge everything they do or say.  I don’t care that they are LDS(I’m not but have no problem with people choosing and/or believing in a religion).  They think that is the reason that people don’t like them, when in reality it’s because they are assholes.

[WhoAmISir]

Here are a few reasons – 

 

Because of the shenanigans BYU has pulled over the years there are schools that like us would like to see them whither and die.

USU – Twice BYU in behind the scenes dealings set USU up to “join – wink, wink” the club only to leave them hold the bag both times.

SDSU – Replay-gate – nothing like jones-ing a team with a ringer in the replay booth is there?

Boise – read this – http://www.idahostatesman.com/sports/coll ege/mountain-west/boise-state-university/ b ronco-beat-blog/article176885801.html – enough said?

Wyoming and CSU hate them just on general principles – gee imagine that!

[Utahute72]

Wyoming hates them because the controversy over blacks holding the priesthood destroyed a number three team in the county when the bulk of the players threatened to boycott the game and were released by the coach. That team has taken decades to recover and really never has.

[gUrthBrooks]

This. Is one of the main reasons.

http://www.cougarboard.com/board/message.html?id=18470446

[GameForAnyFuss]

I think the big-picture answer is the fans. To go more granular than that, I think it may depend on whether you’re LDS or not, and your views on the LDS Church. I can’t answer for non-LDS people, but I think I know why so many LDS people don’t like them.

– They give us *lots* of crap at church for not being BYU-P fans, like it makes us bad Mormons or something.
– Their testimonies tend to involve BYU-P to at least some degree.
– They tend to harbor somewhat extreme and unpopular socio-political views, and the rest of us get painted with the same brush by non-LDS people who think we must all feel the same.
– Most of us want to see the church grow, and we notice that BYU-P sports tend to drive away more people than they bring in, mostly due to the behavior of their fans. “BYU-P sports are a missionary tool” is the greatest lie in LDS culture.

There are more, but I think that sums it up pretty well.