Be of good cheer

I'm a big sports fan. Have been since before I even understood most of the rules of the sports I watched. I follow pro basketball, baseball, and football pretty closely and have a favorite team in each league (plus a secondary team or two that I cheer for).

But my ultimate sports devotion is to BYU. I probably like college basketball more than college football, but since there are so few football games each one has more importance than a typical basketball game. The fact that there's just one game a week, usually on the weekend, makes each football game more of a must-see event. As a result, the most important sporting event of the year for me is the BYU-Utah football game.

This year's iteration of the Holy War takes place later tonight. The rivalry has lost a little of its luster, now that the teams aren't in the same conference, and after next year they may not play again for a while. Also, as I get older, my interest in sports hasn't waned but my passion has cooled off a bit. The drubbing BYU took last year probably didn't help things either.

All that being said...I'm still really excited for the game tonight. And I'll probably be pretty worked up (in a good way or a bad way, depending on the outcome) for at least a week after it's over.

I find following sports to be a great source of entertainment, but its clear that fan behavior can sometimes get out of control (which shouldn't be too surprising, since the word is derived from fanatic). Elder Holland said as much in his CES Fireside last Sunday, citing the poor treatment Daniel Bobik received from BYU fans when he returned to play them after transferring Oklahoma St. (Elder Holland didn't mention specific names, but he was definitely talking about Bobik.)

As Elder Holland spoke, a wave of guilt rushed over me. I was at the game in question, and while I didn't boo Bobik (the only athlete I will ever boo just because he left a team I like is Derek Fisher), Elder Holland's words reminded me of the shame I felt that day due to my peers' actions. They also reminded me of times when I exhibited poor fan behavior. Most of these times were back at Murray High School, the worst being the jeers I joined in showering upon our rivals at East High after some students there tried to form a Gay/Straight Alliance. Perhaps as a sort of karmic payback, everyone associates High School Musical with East, not realizing that part of the movie was shot at MHS.

When a prophet calls the wicked to repentance, you expect most of the people to ignore or deride (or worse) the counsel given. But when a prophet calls the "good guys" to repentance (in this case, fans of the so-called "lord's university"), there are two possible outcomes: the people humble themselves and repent, or they remain prideful and they don't. I hope that I and many others will heed the directive to avoid "checking our religion at the door" when it comes to sports fandom, including tonight's big football game.

This week in Sunday School, we read about a similar scenario--the Nephites had always been "the good guys," but they had gradually turned away from God until it became necessary for the Lord to send Samuel, a prophet from the hated Lamanites, to call them to repentance. This was Bobik's return taken to the extreme--rather than just boo Samuel, the Nephites tried to kill him. Fortunately, the aim of the Nephite Archery Corps (go here, then play the "NAC" clip--trust me, you WANT to do this) was about as accurate as a Jake Heaps pass.

There's only a few hours left to read these chapters before kickoff, so you'd better get on it. I know reading the Book of Mormon regularly will help us avoid checking our religion at the door.