Representing the Church on the Field

Rise and shout, the Cougars are out!

I’ve heard that college athletic programs around the nation hate BYU because we put on a “holier than thou” attitude but play just as dirty as everyone else. This was almost true during the BYU vs. Idaho State game last Saturday. I walked into LaVell Edwards Stadium (late) to see a Bengal down on the field. I didn’t know what happened and when I asked my friends they said they weren’t paying attention. I heard the referee give BYU player Kyle van Noy a late hit penalty and move us back fifteen yards. All the fans booed and I thought, “Oh, must have been a bad call.” Later I watched the highlights of the game and saw that the call was very appropriate. What happened was that sophomore linebacker Van Noy plastered ISU’s punter after the play and the punter was out for the game. The ISU coach was furious because his punter was an all-American in high school, and judging by the 56-3 blowout, probably also their best player (haha). He even said that he wouldn’t think something like that would happen at BYU. (Personally, I think it was the punter’s own fault for getting into the fray. And I mean, come on, it’s football. Stuff like that happens all the time. BYU was in ISU’s position when we played Utah State). But Van Noy didn’t realize that it was a late hit or that he had hit the punter. So he did something sportsmanlike, and even classy: after the game he sincerely apologized to the ISU coach. Coach Mendenhall also went to talk to the coach, and they talked for a good long while. I think that Van Noy and Coach Mendenhall were great representatives of the church on the field. Van Noy is an aggressive player, which makes him such an asset to the team, but he is not a malicious player. He is just playing his hardest. I think Coach Mendenhall did not want to leave ISU with a negative opinion of our school, and by extension, our gospel values. I appreciate Van Noy’s and Coach Mendenhall’s examples on the field because they show that we don’t let a game outshine our main goal to live as good people. I guess you could say that’s why I call myself a cougarette.

photo: theupsetblog.com