BYU-Utah: A "Burning Cauldron Of Loathing"

You recall the anti-Utah slam poem delivered by BYU quarterback Max Hall on Saturday. Now comes this photo of Jamie Whittingham, wife of Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, snapped just moments before she took a BYU fan's elbow to the grill.

From The Salt Lake Tribune :

The Salt Lake Tribune first reported Monday that Whittingham suffered a cut lip during an altercation on the field after the game. The photos, by a photographer with US Presswire, show an unidentified BYU fan latching on to Whittingham as he is being restrained by other fans. A second photo shows Whittingham and her daughter backpedaling from the altercation.

BYU police reported two different complaints were filed involving on-field scuffles in or near the area Jamie Whittingham and her daughter were following the game.

Idiot fan violence is a noble Holy War tradition, dating at least as far back as 1896, when police were called in to break up a brawl. It was one reason BYU dropped its football program from 1898 until 1922. "A burning cauldron of rivalry loathing," is how the Tribune's Gordon Monson puts it. Still, this latest outbreak has left Monson so shaken that he's throwing around Star Wars dialogue:

It's more likely, sadly, that it will go the other way, and Hall's words about hate will generate more hate. When I sat directly in front of him and heard them come out of his mouth, it reminded me of the quote spoken by that great philosopher Yoda.

"Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."

So, in the most homogeneous state in the Union, one sect of impossibly blond people has managed to find a reason to irrationally hate another sect of impossibly blond people. Awesome. Somewhere, Joseph Smith is stuffing his head in his hat again.

MWC reprimands Hall; photos show altercation [Salt Lake Tribune] Monson: There's too much hate in BYU-Utah rivalry [Salt Lake Tribune]

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