“Nobody likes BYU? Some love to loathe the Cougars”

Last updated on: October 9, 2017 at 9:17 pm by Dan Peterson

“Nobody likes BYU? Some love to loathe the Cougars” 2017-10-09T21:17:03-06:00 Dan Peterson

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A partial aerial view of Brigham Young University’s campus in Provo, Utah (Wikimedia Commons)

An interesting, even inspiring, short article from the inimitable Jeff Lindsay:

“Learning from Russell M. Nelson’s Response to an Inspired Recommendation from President Kimball”

***

From World Religion News:

“Did You Know Mormons Dominate Competitive Dancing?”

Actually, I did know. But, alas, I’ve never done anything at all to contribute to that domination — except, perhaps, by conscientiously refraining from dancing.

Curiously, I don’t think that the article mentions BYU’s record at the British Open Ballroom Dance Championships in Blackpool, England:

“BYU Ballroom Dance Company Crowned at British Open Championships”

(I don’t know how BYU did in 2017. Does anybody out there know?)

***

And, finally, something that, I admit, I continue to find an impenetrable mystery:

“Nobody likes BYU? Some love to loathe the Cougars”

This is, of course, a terrible year to be a BYU football fan, and a great year not to be one.

And I understand why non-Mormons probably aren’t fans of BYU and why anti-Mormons almost never are. That’s not hard to figure out.

I can even understand why an active Latter-day Saint might not be a particular fan of BYU. I, for example, pay relatively little attention to BYU sports. I just don’t care that much. Sometimes I do, especially when I’m actually watching. But, usually, I’m thinking about other things. And I can understand why USU grads and USC grads and UCLA grads and Berkeley grads are most likely supporters of USU, USC, UCLA, and Cal.

I don’t believe for a moment that there’s anything wrong with going to a school, or teaching at a school, or cheering for a school, other than BYU.

But what I just don’t get and have never understood is why an active, believing Latter-day Saint would actually hope for BYU — a university named after Brigham Young, the second president of the Church, whom we believe to have been an apostle and a prophet — to fail, or to look bad.

Personally, I want everything connected with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to flourish. I want our temple grounds to look nice. I want our social services to do well. I want our missionaries to be effective. I want the shows at the Polynesian Cultural Center to be well done and to go over well with their audiences. I want our chapels to be well kept. I want our Mormon Helping Hands volunteers to be recognized as embodying the teachings of the Gospel. I want the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to perform well and to draw large audiences when it tours. And, yes, I want BYU to prosper. I want to see it climb ever higher in college rankings. I want its faculty to teach effectively and to do good research. I want its athletic teams to bring credit to it and, thereby, to its sponsoring church. (Which means, of course, that I want them not only to play well but to acquit themselves well, on and off the field.) I want its campus to be beautiful. I want its graduates to live in such a way as to justify the tithing and other contributions that subsidized their educations, and to lead those who observe them to think well of the Church and perhaps, even, to consider the claims of the Restoration. And so forth.

Why would any active, committed Latter-day Saint want anything connected with, or sponsored by, the Church to fail, to perform poorly, to reflect badly on the Kingdom?

I honestly don’t get it. I never have.

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