By Wendy Weiler
BYU lost to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas Saturday night Oct. 19 without scoring a single touchdown. That left tortilla-throwing fans holding the shells.
This may have been a sigh of relief for BYU organizations that have been working overtime to educate students into finding an alternative to the celebration.
The tossing of the tortilla has been promoted as a way of showing support and sportsmanship after a touchdown is scored by the football team.
President Merrill J. Bateman, following a question and answer session Oct. 10, said tortilla throwing is not appropriate.
'We don''t want that (tortilla throwing),' President Bateman said. 'We strongly discourage it. We can do things better than that and still have fun.'
Carri Jenkins, assistant to the president for university communications, echoed the president''s sentiment, saying, 'There are better ways of showing support for our team. Many of our student organizations are coming together to discuss sportsmanship and how they can best support our teams. They are concluding that tortillas are not the best answer.'
The Tortilleros said they were unaware of President Bateman''s stand on the issue and had heard nothing official from administration specifically against tortillas.
'Joe' an anonymous member of the Tortilleros, a small group of Cougar fans that perpetuated the throwing of tortillas at the home games, said they did their best to round up as many tortillas as they could. The Daily Universe does not normally allow anonymous sources to be used but has made an exception in this case.
Joe said the issue is a power struggle between fans trying to be rowdy and administration trying to keep the peace. Joe said he believes the administration secretly likes the tortillas.
'It''s my opinion that many of the administration love the tortilla,' Joe said. 'Who couldn''t love all the tortillas flying in the air? Now of course there are rules and regulations, but I think those are there to stop the bigger things from happening-not the tortillas.'
Joe and John both said they would stop distributing and throwing tortillas if President Bateman made an official statement against the tortillas.
'If we get an official announcement from President Bateman to stop throwing, it''s done-finished. We will proudly throw in the Tortillero sombrero,' Joe said. 'However, we hope that we will continue to have the freedom to throw.'
Suzanne Stratton, Marriott Center and Lavell Edwards Stadium guest services manager, said the events staff was instructed to confiscate tortillas and issue warnings to fans during the BYU-UNLV game.
'We''ll take away the tortillas,' Stratton said. 'If they continue to throw them and refuse to give them up, then they''ll be taken out of the stadium.'
Devin Spann who works for BYU Grounds was ready for a major tortilla cleanup but said this game wasn''t nearly as bad as the last home game.
'You could say the crowd was fairly well behaved compared to the last game,' said Spann, 22, a sophomore from Orem, majoring in pre-commutations. 'The last game was so much worse.'
Joe said they did their best to round up as many tortillas as they could. The Tortilleros went around Provo earlier in the week with a sombrero collecting money and passing out tortillas.
Some fans threw their tortillas during the UNLV game, even without a touchdown. Shells were released after field goals, first downs, UNLV fumbles and at other random times during the game. According to the Tortilleros, they were thrown at the wrong times.
'We wanted to get some excitement, so we threw them,' said Jared Conley, 22, a junior from Columbus, Ohio, majoring in finance. 'We didn''t want to take them home.'
Since the last home game against Hawaii, the Tortilleros said the tortilla issue has grown. The Tortilleros have received support and opposition.
'This whole thing has been so far overblown-it''s ridiculous,' Joe said.
'We don''t know if we''re going to continue this,' Joe said. 'First, I anticipate there will be an official announcement made from the administration. Second, the excitement level has decreased quite a bit for obvious reasons-the Cougs aren''t doing very well this season.'
However, the tradition of the tortilla may live on.
The Tortilleros said they support administration in other decisions its made regarding fan behavior this year. Joe and John are against body painting at football games.
'I''ve heard tortilla throwing grouped into the same category as taking off your shirt,' Joe said. 'These are totally different issues. The body painting is stupid and immodest.'
John agreed: 'Say no to skins; say yes to corn.'