Max Hall's Opinion of Utah

It has been a busy two weeks for BYU sports since the Utah game and there is a lot to comment on.  By now you know the news, but I'll be adding a few thoughts on each in the next few posts...

Max Hall
This was all the talk for far too long, and I avoided it on purpose.  Now that it has primarily blown over I thought I would share a few additional thoughts on the matter from good friends and solid Cougar fans:

"Great game. Win or lose these are our guys. Max loves to talk and has taken a ton of grief over the past season or two as he has piled up win after win. The people on the fan boards saying how embarrassed they are for BYU, the Church and themselves are completely ridiculous and have never competed in any sport. One guy was even comparing Max to the worst thug in the SEC. He apparently has never seen an SEC game or Miami game for that matter either.

I hate Utah and am totally fine with that and am glad Max does too. I look forward to the game and wished they walked away crying afterward every time. I have friends that are Utes and they make a point of telling me they love going to the Marriott Center or LES and being loud, obnoxious and using profanity and religious slurs that they normally wouldn't. It is part of the rivalry."       -- B

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"Great game - fun one to be at.   I heard the comments "live" tonight on the radio driving home from the game. Here are my thoughts...

My reactions are mixed. I hate the Utes. There, I said it too. If anyone could see the difference between how the Utes were treated in LES tonight vs. how I and hundreds of other BYU fans were treated in RES last year (I too had beer thrown in my direction in the restroom and was punched several times in the arm, and had anti-Mormon slurs thrown my way all night) he/she would understand. My main regret is that Max won't be here another year to back up his comments on the field one more time in RES. I also wished he would have not made such broad generalizations against the whole university and program. Obviously we all know a number of very classy Ute fans that do not fit the stereotype.

That said, it was a passionate quarterback unloading after an emotional win against a rival who had given him A LOT of crap since last year's loss (e.g., the beer thrown on his family, the blow-up doll labeled as his mom, etc.). I just hate that it will detract from a great victory overall."      --G
 
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"Loved Max's comments. I was laughing when I listened to the postgame. All those pathetic whiny Utes always complain and taunt that the Coug's never speak their mind, but as soon as Max does they can't handle it. Typical. Props to Max. He had a bad game but pulled it out in the end, is the winningest BYU QB and was 2-1 vs utah. Win the bowl game and he's unquestionably up there with the other cougar greats, and probably is already since the oldtimers lost lots of bowl games.

And consider this: a friend of mine got a little beer spilled on him by Philly fans after their World Series win last year and was so ticked off that he rooted for the Yankees this year. My goodness if such an experience can compel you to root for the Yankees then think how ticked off Max should justifiably be."   --S
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I would have to agree with the general senitment shared by these guys.  Should Max have said it?  No.  Did he really mean all of it?  No.  Will he regret it for a very long time?  Yes.

The timing of it was awful as it gave Utah fans and the media something to refocus on and took away something from his own team by overshadowing some great performances and the on the field victory.  The scope of his comments went too far, and although there are definitely many fans in RES that qualify as classless (I myself have been on the receiving end of the worst of what Max referred to), the majority are not (but why those that I do respect, do nothing to reduce unruliness of those that I don't, I can't say.)  Also, the University itself also has nothing to do with this and should have been left out of it, even if select coaches or administrators or professors may have been implicated in Max's mind (he didn't specify). 

Should Max hate Utah and its team?  That is his perogative.  It seems that the Utah players and coaches even (TDS?  Y's in the bottom of the urinals?) have or have hated BYU in the past.  That is fine with me.  So while, I may expect more of a team leader like Max to think before he speaks and not necessarily say everything on his mind, I also don't think that its my place (or the media's) to tell him what to think or feel.