...the refs then totally waving it off for Bennett. He rides the refs relentlessly until they throw in the towel and start giving him the calls. Goes both ways. Be that as it may, every fanbase has their knuckleheads, that's a part of college sports. With the LDS fanbase at BYU there's a unique aspect of the culture that makes us all particularly prone to having a persecution complex. It goes back to our early days of the church when we were driven out of Ohio, Missouri and then Illinois through violent mob action and land and homes were taken or burned without compensation, innocents killed, suffered deprivations and then forced to make the hard trek west to the middle of the desert in the state of Utah to start over again. It's a part of who we are. In modern times it translates to refs are always for the other team etc.

It is ironic that for years we've been dying to get an invite into a power conference and finally it is at hand and yet there's a part of me (likely many of us) that will be sad to say goodbye to the rivalries with Gonzaga and SMC. BYU fans see the triumvirate similarly as you described with Gonzaga/Few as that classy opponent with a classy well respected head coach but SMC/Bennett is the evil empire Darth Vader one. It all depends on where you sit I guess.

Thx for the memories and best wishes going forward. It might take us a while to build up some new rivalries as good as the ones we're leaving with SMC and Gonzaga.