Lets talk about those F*** The Mormons chants

Good morning, and thanks for spending part of your day with Extra Points.

Today, my friends, I would like to write about a topic where I am compromised in multiple directions.

I’d like to talk about the “F*** The Mormons” chants that keep breaking out during BYU athletic events. But first…

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For those that are unaware, BYU is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, colloquially known to most Americans as the Mormons. The overwhelming majority of the student body belong to that faith tradition. And in case this is relevant to this newsletter, I was a member of that faith for about 36 years, and my wife is a graduate of the university, as are many of our closest friends. We are not currently LDS.

The most recent example of these chants was two weeks ago, in Stillwater, when the Cowboys upset BYU. But it’s also happened at Colorado, Cincinnati, Providence, USC, Oregon and probably others that I’m forgetting off the top of my head. I think it’s fair to say that these chants are not just the purview of Big 12 rivals, very politically progressive campuses or any particular region of the country.

The Oklahoma State event caused BYU head basketball coach Kevin Young to specifically condemn the remarks, saying in his postgame press conference,

And you know what? I agree!

Nobody should chant “Fuck the Mormons” at a college basketball event, or, quite frankly, any event. In fact, nobody should chant “Fuck [any particular religious group, ethnic group or federally protected class].” It isn’t interesting, clever or funny. It’s hurtful, crude, and debases the chanters.

Is it hate speech? I mean, there are worse things you could chant at somebody. But rather than getting bogged down in the debate about whether these chants are at the level of explicit ethnic slurs, I think simply being hurtful, crude and singling out a minority group should be sufficient grounds for not wanting this to happen at sporting events.

I’ve seen pushback to this sentiment in many online sports communities, because lots of people do not like Mormons. You do not need to explain to me how many aspects of LDS church history are problematic, particularly to LGTBQ people or racial minorities. This is one of the biggest reasons why I’m not LDS anymore myself. But if you think that a group of frat guys in Stillwater, Oklahoma are chanting “Fuck the Mormons” because they are expressing a policy disagreement over treatment of LGTBQ people or a theological dispute over the true nature of the Trinity…I don’t know what to tell you. Other than “lol”, I guess.

So why does this keep happening, even though the Big 12 has now fined multiple institutions?

I’m no sociologist or religious scholar, but I have an idea.

Here, via the Athletic, is Patrick Q. Mason, a professor of Mormon history and culture at Utah State.

I think this is almost exactly right. While Mormonism is unquestionably a global religion, in the United States, the membership is still significantly concentrated in the intermountain West. Once you cross the Mississippi, even very large state schools may have less than two dozen LDS undergraduate students. When I was at The Ohio State, a school of over 50,000 students, I don’t think we had 30 undergraduates. When I attended American University, there were four.

So when you assemble a gaggle of bros at just about any state school east of New Mexico, you’re probably not going to find any Latter-Day Saints. You’re less likely to hear a “F*** the Catholics” because somebody in those stands either is Catholic or knows Catholics who would be disappointed in him. Most places, that won’t be true for Mormons.

I’ll go a bit further than Dr. Mason here. I think we’re also in a moment where mainstream media depictions of Latter-Day Saints are overwhelmingly negative or sensationalized (Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Real Housewives of Salt Lake, etc) and where LDS representation in anything resembling mainstream culture (outside of Instagram influencers) is mostly absent.

The last time I remember seeing any LDS character that felt remotely realistic on TV was…the Expanse? Other than McKay Coppins, you barely see any Mormon writers in non-Utah, national publications. LDS lawmakers are mostly limited to states with heavy LDS populations. You can find plenty of LDS folks working in national security, dentistry, and affiliate marketing, but not so much when it comes to visible culture.

The closest thing, I’d argue, to a visible, mainstream media LDS presence is Luke from the Outdoor Boys YouTube channel. I love the Outdoor Boys as much as anybody, but I dunno if one guy building shelters in the Alaskan Wilderness is gonna be the Will & Grace moment for Latter-Day Saints.

So you have a minority religious group that most larger groups really don’t want to defend, a name that’s easy to chant, drunk college students, and bam. Chant problems.

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The Big 12 has made it clear that they don’t condone this sort of behavior. The league has fined Colorado, Cincinnati and Oklahoma State for the chants. Individual campus leaders have also stressed to their fans that disrespectful chants are not to be tolerated. I think this is laudatory behavior! Commissioners, ADs and coaches should do what they can to encourage positive behavior and discourage negative behavior.

But I don’t think it’s going to be enough. And the biggest punishment that the league is wielding right now, a fine, doesn’t impact any fans. Everybody in the Big 12, or any power league, can afford a $50,000 fine. It sucks, and schools don’t want to pay it, but a fine wouldn’t meaningfully hurt the program long-term. The fans don’t have to pay that money, after all. That’s ESPN or billionaire money.

I don’t think it would be fair to end a game or create a forfeit, although such drastic measures would probably curtail negative fan behavior. That’s punishing players too much for something they have nothing to do with.

My solution? First offense, your program gets a $50,000 fine and a letter saying this will be their only warning. Second offense?

Your next conference home game is in an empty gym.

I mean, fine, let the player’s parents in the gym, along with NBA scouts, media and other professional staff. But no fans. No ticket revenue. No beer sale revenue. Just the sound of laptops typing, sneakers squeaking and coaches yelling.

That’s a major financial and logistical headache, sure, but it would also be a national news story and would impose a penalty that would mean something to fans who might be tempted to yell something during a game they might regret.

It would be a bold punishment. I can’t recall a time a school has been forced to play a major athletic event without fans in my lifetime, outside of COVID or health-related reasons. If there’s a negative behavior that conventional means isn’t preventing, it’s time to try something else.

And for what it’s worth, I’m not advocating for BYU or Mormons in general to have some special “you can’t make fun of us” policy. I am advocating for a conference-wide policy, with teeth, aimed at prevening crass chants directed at any particular minority group. If BYU fans decided to chant “Fuck The Baptists” when they played Baylor, the league should throw the book at them. Also, since we’re talking about BYU fans, I’d advocate for “Frick the Baptists” to carry a similar penalty, on account of being breathtakingly lame.

If fans want to troll BYU, they can do so much better than screaming Fuck The Mormons. Teach your pep band to play In Our Lovely Deseret. Play clips from Johnny Lingo on the videoboard. Shoot, I personally even think you can do what San Diego State used to do, and dress the entire student section in white shirts, ties, and bike helmets. Crack open a religious or American History textbook and go to town: there’s plenty of source material to work with here

But you can tease and joke without crossing the line and it’s clear that student sections across the country don’t appear to know where that line is. If fines aren’t enough, or a plea to acknowledge the shared humanity of their conference peers….well, maybe it’s time to try a little something else.