Dear Editor:
I think we have some misguided students among us. We have some students who think they are paying for everything they have here at BYU and therefore have the right to boo at our own players. I wanted to dispel some of the rumors they might be hearing by directing to them some clarifying statements.
1. If it were not for the university there would be no football team. If all the students transferred to other schools at the end of this semester, there would be more than 30,000 ready and willing to take our places.
2. The price of our tickets and the hundreds of thousands of dollars the team receives for bowl appearances pay for the football program and fund most of our other athletic programs. (When was the last time you bought a ticket to fund our No. 2 ranked racquetball team?)
3. Students (non-athletes) receive scholarships and tithing-reduced tuition, have access to free tutors (called Teaching Assistants) and have some of the greatest university facilities in the nation (granted some are under construction). You get special treatment too.
4. Booing is an international signal which means, “You’re an idiot and I don’t like you.” Disapproval is communicated with more mild terms.
5. Kevin Feterik has completed many passes and has incredible talent. Or maybe all tithing payers should boo you every time you miss a question on your exams.
6. If you boo your own team, you are a fair weather fan.
7. If you don’t think BYU is a winner and therefore doesn’t deserve your support, DON’T GO. I promise you won’t be missed. Welcome to the real world.
What a struggling football team needs is support. Fans can make a big difference in a game and in the player’s confidence in their playing ability. Your choice of action (booing) was an immature response to an uncomfortable stimulus. Why waste your time looking for people to blame, instead of finding solutions to the problem?
I guarantee if you dress in blue, scream your head off, jump up and down a lot, try to get on television and sing along with the band, you will have a hoot at the game AND we will win all our home games.
Mark Lehnardt
Liberty, Mo.
