especially in regards to hating BYU. There is nothing wrong with BYU (besides some ridiculous Honor Code stuff, but students know about that when they sign up to attend there).

That being said, I really took issue with the BYU football team when they were nationally perceived as being dirty (a few years back just before Bronco left). I'm fine with most of those guys representing my faith, but if they aren't going to behave themselves on a national stage, then their coach shouldn't claim that they are a missionary tool. Take away the preachy coach, and this is no longer an issue for me at all.

I was pretty much the opposite of you TBH. I grew up with a view of BYU campus, and lived in a ward with a dozen or more current and former BYU professors. It was irritating as a youth constantly being asked if I was going to attend BYU, then getting dirty looks when I said I wasn't sure that I wanted to attend there... either that, or remarks about how I probably wasn't good enough anyways. I really rubbed me the wrong way as a kid. 

Then there was the fans that judged entire fanbases saying that Ute fans are all mormon haters, or they are sinners or whatever. That struck me as the opposite of what BYU fans should be doing. I'm fully aware that most BYU fans don't do that, but as a kid, it just didn't seem very christlike.

The final straw for me was when Lance Reynolds Sr. got royally screwed out of the head coaching job. He was offered the job, and there was a news crew headed to his home to interview him when they (whoever they is, he didn't specify when he told me the story) called him and told him they had changed their minds. He was then offered an assistant HC position at Utah, and he seriously considered it until BYU told him that he would lose every sent of his retirement if he left. A few years later he was forced out.

There are too many things about BYU athletics that go directly against what I believe for me to feel good about cheering for BYU (there are many other things that I left out). Many of those same things exist at UofU, but they don't do it under the guise of the church of Jesus Christ.

The biggest reason for me being a Ute fan has nothing to do with not liking things at BYU. My mom grew up in Provo, and knows Kyle's brothers well. Kyle is an old friend of my dad's also.

I also understand that this is just my opinion based on my own biases and my own perspective, most of which comes from my teenage years, when my perspective was rather flawed. I don't fault people for cheering for BYU, I think Latter Day Saints that hate on BYU are kind of short sighted, but I also can't bring myself to cheer for BYU sports either.