HB Arnett’s
“Lite”
Vol. 37, Issue 3 – July 10, 2018
What does the BYU Fan Base have that the Fan Bases of these Schools Don’t?
Answer: “Stickum”. See accompanying 1970’s Oakland Raider photos of Lester Hayes and his “stickum” hands. Fred Biletnikoff was also known to have his hands caught in the cookie and stickum jar.
When it comes to athletic misconduct at BYU and all other schools sponsoring sports, I call it Teflon vs. Tacky.
Teflon…where nothing ever sticks to the fan bases of all other schools and after maybe an occasional oh, that’s too bad comment, athlete misconduct is just considered the cost of doing business at the Power 5 level.
Tacky…as in sticky, not Sione Taki Taki, the new starting outside linebacker for BYU. Misdeeds by Cougar athletic personnel seems to also cause guilt, embarrassment, shock and shame and sticks to Cougar fans like a Lester Hayes and Fred Biletnikoff post game handshake.
I have a daughter that is a Utah graduate. My mother, brother and another daughter are graduates of Arizona. I have a cargo ship of cousins who have graduated and scholastically sailed from Arizona State. I spent 1 ½ years in East Lansing teaching institute to LDS Michigan State students. I can vouch for my relatives and friends with ties to Utah, Arizona, ASU and MSU as fine upstanding people.
The difference, in my opinion, with their sports fandom and alumni allegiance to their schools is that athletic misconduct, except for loss of life or felony convictions, doesn’t reflect on them and when it does occur at their schools it is just a hiccup that will soon go away.
Again, my opinion, at BYU, athletic misconduct is more than a hiccup, it also has hints of hypocrisy as it ties in with the Honor Code and the 13th Article of Faith (You might remember the honest, true, chaste benevolent part I wrote about as it pertains to BYU football a few months back). Again, my opinion, that is why it stings and sticks with the BYU fans base more than other fan bases.
What makes headlines with BYU athletic conduct is just “happy hour” at other universities and soon forgotten by their fans.
The media won’t let BYU fans forget about the indiscretions of their athletes. Unfortunately, as Cougar fans, we take it personally when one of ours steps out of bounds. That’s because our neighbors and family that are not BYU fans never let us forget the foibles that befall some BYU athletes.
The older I get, the less it bothers me. I used to be able to use the “scoreboard” card with my relatives when it comes to sports. That comeback needs a serious comeback in football and basketball.
Let’s not be naïve. As long as there is a BYU with an honor code, there are going to be honor code issues and infractions. Those that generate headlines come from the football and basketball programs. We are kidding ourselves if we think that honor code issues don’t happen with the other Olympic sports in Provo and in the general student body of the school. Those seldom affect us because nobody ever knows about them.
I have a Utah fan and avid supporter who also takes my letter. We have become friends. His take is that there are dumb “donkeys” (substitute the biblical terminology for donkey) at both schools and in both fan bases. He is right. They only difference is Teflon and Tacky.
What’s the Solution? Here’s my thinking out of the box suggestion:
IUPUI
Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis.
What can the IUPUI Jaguars, members of the Horizon Conference with 16 sponsored sports have to do with BYU and thinking out of the box.
Here is what it says on the IUPUI website: Discover IUPUI, a thriving university in downtown Indianapolis offering the best of Indiana University and Purdue University on one centrally located campus.
Here’s my outside the box proposal:
Discover BYUVU, a thriving collaborative football program in Provo-Orem offering the best of Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University.
My first thought was calling it BYU Lite, but both BYU and UVU can equally help each other.
UVU is the largest public university in the state. They have an enrollment of 37,217. BYU’s enrollment is 33,517.
UVU has everything it needs except for two things. Parking and a Football team.
BYU has everything it needs except for Parking and a Better Football team.
The two institutions could help each other. The Wolverines don’t have the funding or facilities for a football program. BYU does. BYU has and always will have trouble admitting outstanding athletic prospects who academically can’t get in school in Provo or aren’t proficiency qualified in English to be admitted into BYU.
No problem at UVU. When it comes to recruiting football players, it is also still no problem for Utah and Utah State either.
Crossover
There is a major LDS Church Crossover. Before my stint in Michigan, my wife and I served 3 years in an Orem Young Single Adult Stake. It had BYU and UVU students together. In case you don’t know, there are no longer BYU wards and UVU wards, there are just YSA wards based on geographic boundaries.
We currently reside in an Orem ward that fits the definition of a Church unit of “nearly dead and newlyweds”. You will have to guess in which category my wife and I fall. The days of “pure bred” BYU marriages is over. Ours is a transient ward with young couples coming and going at a rapid rate.
These new couples are asked to speak in Church and introduce themselves to the ward. I was flabbergasted at how many BYU-UVU or vice versa marriages there are and continue to happen.
Love is not a Cougar or Wolverine fan. Neither is the LDS Church.
So, here’s my deal. BYU is a member of the WCC in all sports except for football. (Men’s volleyball and both men and women’s track teams also compete in the MPSF.
UVU fields all its current teams in the WAC. Nothing would change for either schools.
If there could be a football only collaboration, it would still have to be as an independent. But according to my projections, it would be a much-improved football program.
You add 40,000 more students to your fan base. You also add another chunk of alumni base. As a sports derivative of both schools, you also alleviate the honor code and academic admittance issues.
It’s a no brainer in my opinion.
BYU provides facilities and academics for those football players for whom that is important. They also provide an established BYUTV network and national contacts for networks, scheduling and streaming.
UVU would, at its current academic level, provide an admittance to marginal academic football prospects, for which almost all other Power 5 schools have a process already in place.
It’s a Cougar cake and eat it too deal. It also elevates UVU academic and athletic reputations.
Yeah but…..
Would the NCAA allow this?
Who would administer this?
Who would fund this?
Would the LDS Church sign off on this?
Would the State Legislature sign off on this?
Now, it won’t be an immediate reality. And is there anyone that has the ecclesiastical and political clout to make this ever happen and push it forward?
I know a guy
Yeah…I know a guy. He won’t be available for at least 3 years or maybe longer.
That would be Matt Holland, the former President of UVU and currently just beginning his 3-year calling as the LDS Mission President in the North Carolina Raleigh Mission. When he is released that would put current BYU President Kevin J. Worthen at his 7 year mark.
A Holland as President of BYU has a familiar ring to it.
Now if it is at least 7-8 years from this outside of the box to be opened, it would also coincide with the renegotiations of the current tv contracts.
With talk of streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon likely to be in the picture and with the current networks not anxious to pay for conference members who don’t pull their own weight when it comes to viewers, A BYU-UVU alliance may just be the beginning of football mergers in the future.
For the likes of Kansas-Kansas State to survive and get a piece of the football streaming pie, they may have to merge in football to be viable and viewable. Others that come to mind are schools that are not currently convenient but commutable and doable such as Fresno and San Jose State, Washington State and Idaho, Temple and Navy, Air Force and Colorado State. What about TCU and SMU? Central and South Florida?
The way college football is paid out will change. It will be about digital footprint and not stadium attendance. My personal view is that conferences, including P5 conferences will not look like they do now in 7 or 8 years.
A BYU-UVU football only merger won’t make their current athletic administration staffs happy, but something has to give if schools want to be available and desirable for the streaming money tree that is coming.
Kick it to the Curb
Before you kick this box to the curb or toss it in the dumpster, let it simmer, do your own study of the future of college football and the NCAA. Throw in what and how you view media in your home.
Check out the demographics of UVU and amazing progression as an academic institution. Name somebody with ecclesiastical and political clout better than Matt Holland. Name somebody who not only bleeds Wolverine Green, but also BYU Blue.
Until then, I just want to see the bleeding of BYU football stopped this season.
What about colors? Green and Blue. Think Seattle Seahawks. What about mascot? The Mighty Mergers? Parkway Panthers? Pigskin Polygamists? Just getting started. The possibilities are endless. College Conglomerates? The United Teamsters? Got a good one. Let me hear it.
WHAT’S THE CONNECTION BETWEEN A DATING APP AND BYU FOOTBALL?
According to the internet there are multiple dating apps available. Since I’m not in the dating mode or model, I don’t know much about them. However, one dating app caught my eye and attention during a family barbeque.
Two of my single nephews showed up to celebrate and consume massive quantities of tri tip on the 4th of July.
They showed me the dating app call Mutual, which advertises itself as the No. 1 LDS dating app. I’m not sure exactly how it works. I think it involves swiping, wiping, griping and typing tenuous truths about yourself.
I was curious how people present themselves on line so asked my nephew to bring up a couple of profiles and read them to me.
It was the best part of the evening.
I loved the girl who described herself and current dating status as, “not looking for anything serious, just a husband”.
Which got me to thinking. With the new transfer rules for athletes where the names of those wanting to transfer will be listed on the NCAA website, a coach/player app is sure to be developed.
It will likely be just like the dating apps. You tell what you are looking for and what you offer. If the app was available today, here is how I see Kalani Sitake posting on his profile. “Not looking for anything serious, just a quarterback”.
To Quote James Brown,
Purchase
Yes, the CS Lite subscription is still free. The Putt Partner isn’t, but the two are joined at the hip. The more Putt Partners I sell, the more and longer CS Lite will publish for free. There is a definite correlation between the two. I believe the marketing term is Buy One, Get One Free!
Please, Please, Please Act Accordingly
Thanks, your pal, publisher and putt partner, HB