As a one-time avid fan of college athletics, this is not easy to say. With such humiliating and derogatory behavior occurring in college athletics these days, especially in the highly visible and lucrative football and basketball arena, I believe the time has come for BYU to take the high road and drop the athletic programs the same as BYU-Idaho. I am extremely disappointed that so much was spent on a new indoor facility for football.
Just think what that money could have done had it been spent in the academic arena. It is time for BYU to focus on becoming the best academic and spiritual institution possible. I believe that athletics is now a distraction to that goal. Athletics has become the avenue for dysfunctional people to express themselves far too often these days. Just look at the behavior of so many MWC quarterbacks this last weekend. I think of the example of Eli Herring several years ago who had such a promising pro career and gave it up because he felt keeping the Sabbath Day holy was more important. He should have been portrayed as a hero and role model for our youth. The bar of personal standards and behavior were raised by our church leaders this last conference. BYU should follow suit and make this courageous move so as to make a statement how college athletics these days makes it difficult for our members to live such high standards and no longer want to sponsor something that can be such a contradiction in their lives.
Mark C. McCorristin
Acworth, Ga.
