OPINION: BYU game heckling was mild at best
For those who have been around Aggie basketball for the better part of the last decade, having USU administrators say fans’ chants and signs at the Nov. 11 game against BYU went too far probably left you thinking, “Meh, we’ve done worse.”
Whether or not you remember the guys who have had it as bad or worse than Brandon Davies got it, the idea of a public apology and especially the wording of which, was bad form on the parts of USU President Stan Albrecht and Athletics Director Scott Barnes.
This is why:
1. Nowhere else in the U.S. would this be over the line
Brandon Davies will get harassed everywhere he goes this season. That is the target BYU painted on his chest and the accountability he took on when he agreed to the honor code. There was a grand total of one chant that could even be considered as “over the line.” The other side of the line was lightly tread, if at all. In the big picture of college basketball, USU fans at their alleged worst, were still very mild in comparison to the rest of the college basketball world, and I’d rather hold USU to what is acceptable on a national stage rather than what BYU fans think is too mean.
2. Their smack versus our smack
Do not think that our own teams don’t get heckled hard when they go on the road. They do. I’ve heard from some USU players that it’s usually the kind of heckling that a place like BYU would demand multiple apologies for. In USU’s case, our students just make life a much bigger living hell for opposing teams when they take their turn coming to our house.
USU’s head basketball coach Stew Morrill even said he takes comfort in knowing no matter how badly he gets heckled on the road, he knows when that team comes to Logan the USU students will give it to them a lot worse than he’d had it.
When USU students can crack on an opposing team with unmatched efficiency than other schools, don’t go punishing Aggie fans for being the best at something where so many other fans fall short.
3. BYU being BYU
Everyone knows BYU fans are quite the complainers, whether it’s about officiating, opposing fans or any other variable that might put their own team at a perceived disadvantage. And if all else fails for them, their new go-to move is throw down the “classless” accusation. No matter how much they try and dish out smack on an opposing team, whenever it comes back their way, anyone who throws it back their way lacks class.
Caving in to BYU’s cries of “classlessness” by throwing their own students under the bus 11 days after the game doesn’t exactly scream sincerity, nor does it earn administrators any favor with the fans they sold out in the process.
4. Did it ever get too hostile?
Last year, while standing outside the Marriott Center in Provo, waiting for the Hurd buses, the aggression from BYU fans didn’t exactly create a safe environment for Utah State fans. BYU fans were getting in USU students’ faces, making threats and talking constant smack well after the game ended. Signs and chants don’t exactly rob visiting fans of their sense of security the way we experienced it in Provo that night.
5. Don’t sell out your die-hards
The die-hard fans are most likely your future donors. Yes, they’re also the ones who will toe the line and go too far, but in my opinion, that line still has never been fully crossed. The national perception of USU student fans is they’re the best in the nation. Caving in to the BYU fans’ cries of foul play and throwing the die-hard fans under the bus to seemingly tarnish the fans’ image was the absolute wrong move.
I believe that all Nov. 11 did was reaffirm what we already knew: Utah State basketball fans are the elite in the U.S. Keep it up Utah State.