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"Hate" is a word that was used with unbridled frequency in the aftermath of yet another tense and exciting football game between the University of Utah and BYU.
BYU quarterback Max Hall set off a fire storm with his emotional post-game comments when he unwisely used the hostile word to describe his feelings for the opposing team. Sadly, rabid fans from both institutions began to echo what he said in a public outpouring that seemed more reflective of attitudes in warring nations than among neighbors who otherwise, generally, are friends.
Hatred, of course, is at the very core of much that is wrong with the world today. It infests life at every level and ultimately always leads to feelings of bitterness, despair and abject unhappiness. Indeed, a community filled with hatred would be considered a community in moral and cultural decline, and that surely isn't how most Utahns think of themselves, or is it what they desire.
Somehow rabid fans of both institutions need to regain control of their emotions. Let the rivalry be intense, vocal and filled with pride for the respective institutions. But if hatred really is at the core of the annual Utah-BYU football encounter, then it is a rivalry that has gone too far.
