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May 2, 2015
11:08:12am
Not really. Have you seen the latest Jabari Parker commercial?
The commercial starts with scenes from him playing ball in high school, getting recruited by Duke with several shots of him in his Duke uniform then it shows him being drafted by Milwaukee and later getting injured and rehabbing his injury. The millions of people who see the commercial will never know he's LDS. One image of him in a BYU jersey during a 30 second commercial screams "This guy is LDS" to millions of people. A few articles in local media or even Sports Illustrated mentioning Parker being LDS cannot compare with photos of Parker in a BYU uniform every time they show scenes from him playing in college or when the NBA announcer says "BYU" every night when they introduce Parker, etc.

Jabari Parker sounds like a great guy and has a right to play wherever he wants but I don't think you can say he is a bigger symbol of the LDS faith by having gone to Duke. If he had gone to BYU he'd be the Mormon in the NBA. Now he's another guy from Duke in the NBA who some might have heard he's a Mormon or Jehovah's Witness or Amish or something. Remember Haloti Ngata the Mormon? Maybe some do but most remember him as that big guy from Oregon. Eric Weddle? Same thing. Many know he's LDS and he's received lots of press about being LDS but nothing like it would be if he'd have gone to BYU. Wearing a BYU shirt, even for a fan, is so different from a Utah or Colorado or BSU shirt. A BYU shirt says "I am a Mormon" to most observers. A Utah shirt says "I didn't have the grades to get into BYU" Just kidding my UU friends.

Let the athletes who come to BYU decide between a traditional mission or a sports PR mission or no mission at all. A picture of a star NFL or NBA player in a BYU uniform reaches more people than some LDS dude at Stanford answering a few questions about the church in a local newspaper article on page 36 of the sports section.
ArcticKat
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ArcticKat
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