By Jill Macallister
Students were ready and waiting to decorate the sky with tortillas Saturday night, but a shortage of Cougar touchdowns left those who support and oppose the activity wondering still if throwing tortillas is ethical and if it will continue.
Tortilla critics have claimed that throwing tortillas at the football game is inappropriate for a school that tries to showcase moral integrity. Some have accused students for putting the University in a bad light, wasting food and money, and littering their home stadium. Student behavior at the recent BYU-UNLV game might prompt critics to ask if it is proper to violently chuck tortillas on your own field to protest musical quarterbacks and absentee touchdowns.
First things first, let us all remember that the said activity is taking place at a football 'game.' This is not a devotional or a church meeting. In fact, it could be considered the very opposite. There are large men running into each other on the field. Anger is encouraged; swearing is allowed. And the main goal is to carry a misshapen sphere across a chalk line. (Did somebody say 'chalk line'?)
Simply put, a football game is for fun and should not be mistaken as something with a much deeper purpose. Part of the fun is celebrating in new and unique ways. Throwing tortillas is not a rebellion; it is a recreation just like the game on the field. A majority of students who choose to throw tortillas are simply captivated by the thrill of throwing something high and far at the very same time everyone else is throwing something high and far. No crime, just entertainment.
But still others are worried about what ESPN or anyone else say about BYU if they catch on to the sensitive issue. We wish to remind you that onlookers who form negative opinions about BYU because of an innocent celebration would find something else to complain about or hate us for, with or without flying tortillas. They could just as easily criticize the Cougars for just sitting there.
Students have also been accused of wasting precious resources like food and money. The BYU athletic department spends millions of dollars on everything from facilities to advertising. The students have an equal right to do whatever they want with their few pennies that are leftover after they buy their football tickets. After all, students are already saving money on face and chest paint.
We support the students as they try to create new tradition, but we have a suggestion that might make the creation of a cougar fiesta a little easier on BYU and the local community.
Keep it clean!
Keep the tortillas off the field. A few strays landing on the field is one thing, but an attack on Event Services is another. If the goal is a flying fiesta, keep the party in the air and off the field. Plus, we do not want players slipping on stray tortillas.
Keep your intentions clean. 'Tortilling' is recreation when it is done to celebrate, but let us remind the not-so-nice Tortilleros that throwing food when you''re frustrated is not celebrating; it is whining. Next time try taking some deep breaths and counting to ten before you ambush the innocent groundsmen guarding the empty end zone.
Keep the stands clean. We ask every person who brings a bag of tortillas to also bring an extra bag to help clean up. Whether it means passing the bags around and collecting the tortillas during the game or just staying after to help the clean up crew, do not turn your fun into some else''s late night cleaning job. Students should also talk to local grocers about buying expired tortillas or zip-locking old tortillas and saving them for next time to reduce waist.
Make your trademark, but then clean it up.
BYU students are great examples to the world of how to be clean, pure, and creative all at the same time, so let''s keep it up.