I grew up a BYU fan and knew that Utah was our rival but didn't really have any hatred toward them. Most of my friends were Utah fans but always kept it respectful. There was never any mocking BYU. I started junior high right around the time Urban Meyer was there and that is when things started to change. I was known at school for being a huge BYU fan. I wore a lot of BYU clothing. I became a target for any random Ute fan in my school to start mocking the Church and BYU as well as vulgar trash talk. I usually just took it in stride but the one thing that really disappointed me was that my Ute friends always excused or even defended this type of behavior.

At the 2009 game, I was in the BYU student section with my cousin and her friend. My cousin and her friend were not from Utah so they hadn't really experienced much of the rivalry. Somehow there were two Utes in the middle of the BYU student section making vulgar and crude comments about women, BYU and the Church all game. It got so bad and made my cousin and her friend so uncomfortable that I turned around and asked them to stop with their comments. They stopped with the crude comments but proceeded to yell "Go Utes" in my ear anytime anything positive happened for Utah for the rest of the game.

A few years later, I expressed disappointment on social media at the mock baptisms by Ute players and pictures of the sacrament cups and trays being used for shots by Ute fans only for every Ute I know to come to their defense. This repeated itself with the laying on of hands with the Ute recruits.

I stopped wearing BYU clothing in public for a few years because anytime I did so, some random Utes always had a nasty comment like "F BYU" or "F the Mormon Church". I'd also get people giving me the bird or stepping into my walking path to yell "Go Utes" in my face.

I'm done with them and I would like very much not to play them anymore or be associated with them in the same conference.