So, there are a few Utah fans at work. One is a Utah Fan by marriage .... he is from east coast, married a lady from Utah, and is now a big Utah fan. HE is cool. Always been playful and funny about the rivalry. He is the kind of fan I think we all want all the rivalries to be. His wife is a Utah Super Fan. As a joke, last year he borrowed a BYU shirt to take home, to tell his wife he was thinking about a different school. I evidently ALMOST lost the shirt as she threatened to burn it!! But, we can laugh and enjoy stuff together. They are great.
(Note also, I graduated from University of Michigan, and I have great fun with fans from Ohio State, Penn State, and Illinois. I've been taking it on the chin a lot this year!!)
(we don't live in Utah, we're in New Mexico, so it's not all that often that I meet Utah fans that I don't know personally from work or church)
BUT, I have also been wearing Y gear on travel through SLC airport, and had people yell at me. I don't know, I guess maybe it was supposed to be funny, but it was weird and uncomfortable. I don't know if I was supposed to yell back or what.
Having said that, I think that many of you probably have to deal with more of the really unpleasant fans. That is sad.
But I do think we should try to praise the GOOD fans, and there are some. And I really really wish they would be better about patrolling their unruly fans.
I'm proud to say that every BigXII fan at work, ISU, TTech, KSU, that has come by to talk, has always said "Your fans at the game were really nice" or "I really had a nice trip to Provo" or "I can't believe how many fans you brought to our stadium.... wow!" So, keep up the good work being the kind of fans that other teams respect as rivals.