and first had experiences that people have had with really bad fan behavior at RES. I have personally experienced it from Ute "fans" even at LES in Provo. Too many stories to tell. For me, bad interactions with Ute fans FAR outweigh the good ones. There are good ones, yes. But the sad truth is that even they are too scared to say or do anything when the vulgar and noisy ones start to go out of bounds. Thus, the loud and obnoxious and vulgar Ute "fans" develop the reputation for the rest of the fan base. IF you agree that such behavior is unacceptable, then do something about it. Or else you're as much a part of the problem as the ones doing it.

I'll never forget the Ute "fan" at a Target store in Davis County. The guy was fat and had to be in his 40's. My three boys (at the time 12, 10, and 8) always wore their BYU hats. I was one aisle over, looking for a birthday present for the oldest son's friend. My two younger boys were looking at legos. I heard this adult male getting loud with my boys and getting kind of nasty. I quickly walked around to the aisle to see what was going on and came up from behind the guy. I asked what was wrong and he turned around and had a look of surprise. He mumbled something and quickly walked off. I asked my boys what was going on and they said this guy just walked up to them and started cussing them out for wearing BYU hats. I went to tell the store manager, but the guy had already left the store and they said there was nothing they could do. Sad. Why would an adult man feel the need to verbally assault two little boys? It certainly made an impression on my boys. They will never forget that incident. It automatically taints their view of all Ute fans. (edit: this - or something similar - has happened to my boys a couple of times at a couple of stores, but this interaction was the worst.)

Then there's the young men's president in our old ward who would harass my boys in church about their BYU support, almost every Sunday. You can assume that it was good natured fun, but it went beyond that. The "brother" was in a position of authority over these boys and the "joking" was definitely out of line and constant. At best, it was inappropriate for a church setting, at worst, the guy was actively trying to get under the skin of my kids. And it wasn't just during rivalry week. It was all year long. Every time they came across this "brother", he would make a snide remark. It made my boys not want to be around him and made them not want to go to their aaronic priesthood meetings. That guy will have some explaining to do on the other side.