WHAT WE LEARNED ABOUT MORMONS ON SATURDAY!

An article on BYU, ESPN and Mormons

 I was able to find BYU's basketball game against Wyoming on the Mountain in Las Vegas on Saturday. It hasn't been easy to find BYU over the last few years, their programs tied to a conference and time zone that is barely acknowledged by anyone east of the Hudson - except in Bristol Connecticut (ESPN). Thankfully, come this fall the nation will have an opportunity to watch the young men and women who represent their university and to some extent, the Mormon brand of Christianity up close and personal as ESPN embarks on a singular Notre Dame-NBC like partnership. 

People have queried, why would ESPN do this? Well, lots of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that BYU has traditionally been a really good draw for the network, especially in football. But beyond that, there is more than just viewer ship, much of which is obviously NOT Mormon. We found one main reason BYU is attractive over the weekend when BYU played Wyoming in the team’s final basketball game at home at the Marriott Center in front of 22,700 completely sober yet frenetic fans. 
What we witnessed was why BYU is special and why the Brandon Davies incident is so undeniably difficult and yet ennobling all played out in and after that game, all in just two amazing actions that show just who Mormons are, just why their brand of Christianity is so appealing in a world filled with silly pictures of what pure religion really isn't. The two events in chronologic order were as follows:

1)Midway through BYU's game, BYU's superstar player Jimmer Ferdetter sealed for this writer his POY election when following his own successful crossover drive to the hoop, he quickly turned to go back down the court and noticing a Wyoming player sprawled on the court near the free throw line without thought or hesitation reached out his hand and forearm for the Cowboy to grab, hauled the opponent to his feet and continued on. The event, barely noticed by the cameras but seen by all was precisely what makes BYU special. BYU will beat you, but never forgets you are an equal, brother on the court, a foe for an hour, friend for life. Ferdette epitomizes what we wish college athletics was about in a time when CBS and Sports Illustrated are pointing out just how far some programs will go to win (In 2010 there were 220 Preseason Top-25 football program athletes that had been in trouble with the law).

2)The second reason BYU should be a hot property is because of how they handled the Davies issue within their system and in light of their uniquely strict honor code, one that apparently over 30,000 young people and faculty all agree to abide by, including Davies. When BYU took the floor against Wyoming, Davies was there, on the bench, white shirt and tie which in the Mormon world is a symbolic way of saying you are an integral part of who WE are. When the game was won and a conference championship secured, Davies was seen participating in the net cutting ceremony with his teammates, all to the cheering throng of the ...

In a world where group attachment of ego to city or team success is become the modern equivalent of Sparta vs Athens, young Latter-day Saints are first and foremost, Christian and therefore the worth of the soul is great to them, far more precious than rubies, gold, or NCAA crowns. BYU is special because it sees Davies as having erred, but not lost, fallen like a player on the court. If Ferdette could reach down and help up an opponent in a thought-free moment of simple action, how much more-so is the requirement that one lift a teammate who has fallen on hard times. Indeed BYU's team, the administration and the fans of BYU's program displayed that character on Saturday. Failure never comes without consequences. But love always overcomes the consequences of failure and BYU showed us all on Saturday why it is that ESPN wanted them in the first place. Too bad Saturday's event was on the MTN and nobody on ESPN saw it this time.

 

 

Kenneth McCarty <ken_mccarty@byu.edu>