I hate sports

From my earliest years, I have been a big sports fan. I have been mainly taught in the ways of BYU sports, but adopted teams for random reasons here and there, like the Colorado Rockies (I had a shirt, it made sense, but like the shirt, it didn't last). However, I have also been taught to hate the U of U, and I would rejoice and sulk more than usual when BYU would win or lose to them.

The dislike wasn't that strong even until well after my mission. Of course, here and there I would get annoyed at the loud-mouth obnoxious kid who would rub something in, but I don't remember many instances growing up. I had two companions that liked the U, and one we never once butted heads over colleges, and with the other for some reason we would argue random things (which looking back wasn't good) and that college sports came up once or twice, but really nothing special.

After my mission, I actually started to kind of like the U of U because at BYU, there are Utah bashers everywhere (the state of Utah, not the university). I would get so offended when people would make fun of it, or talk about how sheltered everyone was, and I remember a very popular Facebook group called "In Utah but not of Utah" where people just bashed on the state, so having the U do well to me was a way of getting back at them. In fact, I grew to like them even more when one day I was walking to the library and a group of U of U students came down to Provo and bought me and some other people ice cream, probably out of a measure of goodwill.

However, things started to go sour shortly thereafter. I don't want to bring up too many specifics, since they only seem to make people mad, but a few things happened that made me lose all respect towards the school up north. What didn't help was that I was listening to sports talk radio quite a bit then, and they would often do pot-stirring to get each fan base mad at each other, provoking callers to say nasty things about each other. Eventually I had to stop. Then every once in awhile I got sucked into comment boards and read the horrible things people say to each other....over football!!!!

It's gotten to the point that I can't sleep if the Utes win a big game, or BYU loses a big game, knowing the things that will be thought and said. This has happened three times over the past three weeks. I really do not think it is worth it anymore. Last night I was really tired and could have fallen asleep at 8:30, but I was so mad that Utah beat USC that I was up much of the night, and now today will be bad because I'm so tired and can't get it off my mind.

My problem is that I have learned to take things too personally. I am now at the U of A, and when ASU fans say bad things about UA, I just think "that's rude", but don't really care. However, if someone said the same thing about BYU, I would get so angry.

Why does it matter though? It's a GAME!!! It makes no difference in where I get a job, who I marry, where I travel, how much money I make, NOTHING! And I get so distraught about it. What's more, I do not live in Utah, I do not have any Ute friends, so why does it matter at all? It makes no difference in my life. I guess it is because I can't stand to see the enemy rejoice, after all the horrible things they do and say. But why must they be my enemy? I could be a fan if I wanted to; after all, it is my home state. I know there are lots of good people from the U. A couple of years ago I went to the BYU vs Utah basketball game, and BYU was getting worked most of the game. However, they came back and one. I remember I wanted to approach a Ute fan after the game in the stadium and shove it in his face (I wasn't going to do it, but I wanted to). However, I came across a family with little kids. It's too bad that we miss much of the good from a fan base because of the vocal idiots.

But I digress, something has to change. Besides the U of A football games that I already have tickets to, I am done with college sports for a year. I will check occasionally to see what's happening with BYU football, like if anybody got fired, etc., but I MUST detach myself from the emotions because they are way out of hand.
It's too bad because I love college sports, but more so now from just a macro view, following the best teams, etc.  But no, it all has to go for now until my emotions can be checked.

As for the damage that has been done, I have lost interest in my home state. I love to visit Utah, but there is too much about it that bothers me. That will be saved for a later post.