In the last few days, I have seen many of you railing on my beloved alma mater, and your complaints are certainly valid. I have been a BYU sports fan my entire life and have dear childhood memories of listening to games with my dad on the radio. So I know how screwed over they have been in seeding over the years, how overlooked they have been in polling, and have personally had to live with the sheer indifference to all Western football outside of USC or Oregon while teaching at Florida State. I have felt the crushing disappointment of embarrassing performances over the years (particularly those to FSU!), and the inglorious boredom of terrible schedules while the big boys refuse to play us. So I too am thrilled with BYU's recent success and the opportunity to share in the glorious warmth of reflected success from my favorite team!

But I am here to ask greater kindness for Indiana in your posts. They have unfortunately become the whipping boy in too many posts by fans who should have more sympathy to the argument "you can only beat the teams on your schedule" and the fact that so many of their opponents have been down this year. It isn't too far in the past that David Locke was calling BYU, "barometer U", because we only beat teams in their down years, and as fans we were rightfully outraged by his condescension. And to their credit, and believe me that I can't believe I am even able to type this, they actually look very good this year! Not just "their band looks good at half-time" or "they actually were able to get a half-dozen first downs" kind of looking good, but actual competence and skill across four quarters.

Now please ask yourself, when will this ever happen again? BYU is ascending, getting into a better conference with more exposure, and seems to be willing to spend the kind of money on players that other schools have been paying for years now that it is legal to do so. This isn't a once in a lifetime event for BYU; they will have more opportunities to shine in the future. For Indiana, this is like a "Make a Wish" type of opportunity before they again descend into the depths of mediocrity and the vacuum of ignoble oblivion. As the vile Urban Meyer said, "I have seen 60,000 fans in this stadium many times, but they weren't rooting for Indiana!" Consider the happiness and incredulous joy of these poor souls as you seek to crush them down in order to elevate yourself in the national conversation. For shame!!!! This year, karma has taken all the pleasure out of my children's fandom of Florida State to pass it on just once to Indiana fans. Would you steal the great sacrifice my children (and several posters on this board) are making in my behalf?

Hopefully, try to understand that while it is perfectly acceptable to hate on the blatant greed and corruption of the current process, and the ridiculous efforts made to prop up the "brand" names of college football, Indiana is the Tiny Tim of college football, just an innocent waif trying to find a little happiness and joy in a brutal world. This holiday season, don't kick out his crutch!

Thank you for your support and kindness.