Daniel Bobik is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served a mission to the Dominican Republic and he is currently serving in the Elders Quorum presidency of the Stillwater, Oklahoma 2nd Ward. He attends the temple regularly and he and his young wife have a 17-month-old son.
He also happens to be the starting shooting guard for Oklahoma State University's basketball team, the same team BYU played Saturday afternoon in front of an unforgiving Delta Center crowd.
Bobik was once a part of that BYU team before chose to transfer to do what he felt was best for him and his family. Seeing a log jam behind Travis Hansen, Mark Bigelow and Ricky Bower, Bobik transferred after his sophomore year to OSU.
Saturday's game was his first reunion with his former team and thousands of members of his own faith. He knew there might be a little hostility over his choice to leave, but he didn't expect the heckling he got.
BYU fans, many of which were fellow Mormons, felt it necessary to boo Bobik every time he touched the ball. Had the fans drawn their lines of personal conduct at the Boos we would not be discussing this. It's the least a player can expect at a basketball game.
But the fans didn't stop with boos.
After a while, the jeers turned into personal attacks and taunts neared threats toward Bobik, who, besides choosing to play at a different university and scoring 18 points in the game, has done no harm to BYU or its program.
Sports fans will be sports fans, and there are some things that will never change. However, BYU fans at the OSU game went too far. There is no justification for the personal attacks that were directed towards this fine young student athlete.
Unfortunately, this isn't the first time that BYU fans have chosen to harass sports figures who have come to Utah.
In the first game of the football season, fans verbally attacked referees with so much abusive language that one family, appalled by the horrendous treatment from Latter-day Saints, ceased their investigation of the church.
According to members of his ward in Stillwater, Bobik has been a great missionary tool in spreading the beliefs and teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ. After Saturday's game, his attempts to be an example to others were overshadowed by lewd taunts.
The game was televised without commercial breaks in Oklahoma and fans watching were able to hear and see the treatment Bobik received by members of his own faith.
This has got to stop. Enjoying a sporting event will always include its fair share of boos and cheers, but personal attacks on the character of a person do not belong.
Fans who participated in the verbal attacks should be embarrassed of themselves for once again failing to be examples for our church.
It is impossible to separate the church from BYU sports - and there is no excuse for this type of behavior.
BYU should be held up before the world as an example of what a university should be all about - not as an example of bad sportsmanship. The mission of BYU includes a directive to go forth and serve. BYU serves no one with such rank behavior. We must remember whom we represent when we speak.