In the year 2000, Ryan Breska was a backup quarterback at Purdue University. The future did not appear to hold much playing time for him, so in 2001 he decided to transfer to the University of Utah, where the starting quarterbacks had just graduated and the position was wide open. In the end, Lance Rice won the job as starting QB, and Breska was once again relegated to a backup role. So, in 2002 he decided to give up football and pursue a career as a relief pitcher for the U of U baseball team.
Breska’s baseball career was somewhat successful, but that was not what made him a legend at the U. Breska became legendary by doing what most Ute fans only dream of doing – applying red paint to the big Y on the mountain above BYU. According to reports, sometime around April 30, 2004, Breska and four of his teammates snuck up the mountainside above Provo and painted “four or five red U’s” on the large, white landmark that stands as a symbol for BYU. Early the next morning BYU officials noticed the defacement, and their grounds crew was able to paint over it before the noon hour.
That would have been the end of the matter, but ten days later, the BYU police department received a tip from a Fred Meyer store in Salt Lake City. An employee of the store’s photo department (an avid BYU fan) had developed photos belonging to Breska, and noticed that several of them showed Breska and his teammates posing in front of the painted Y. So the employee called the BYU police, and when Breska came to pick up his photos he found the police waiting to arrest him. Eventually, Breska and seven other players were charged with second-degree felony mischief, which carries a maximum sentence of up to 15 years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
In a flash, news of the prank hit the AP wire. “I'll be the first to admit we should be punished. There should have been something done,” Breska told a reporter. “But a second-degree felony charge seems a little much.” But Cougar fans did not agree. “Vandalism is a serious problem,” said one Cougar fan soon after the news broke, “and what kind of example does it set if we let these guys off just because they are athletes?”
“If the neighborhood kids repeatedly damaged your house or car,” another Cougar fan asked, “would you just laugh at those crazy kids and their silly antics? Vandalism costs BYU thousands and thousands of dollars every year. Crying ‘Rivalry’ should not be a way out.”
But Ute fans were outraged by the excessive punishments. “Why else do you have a U or a Y on the side of a mountain?” asked one Ute fan. “To protect it from your arch rival's vandalism. In my opinion this is way blown out of proportion and I would be honored every time someone tried to paint the U blue. It really shows how much you care when you deface your rival's most honored symbol.”
“I don't know anything about motives,” asked another Ute fan, “but A FELONY... are you freaking kidding me? I know Ryan Breska and this is a good kid that doesn’t need a felony following him around for who knows how long.”
And another Ute fan expressed, “It seems as though (the prosecutor) is pursuing and publicizing this case for his own personal political gain. I'm sure that he sees this case as a springboard to prominence with the scary right wingers in the Utah County. It is truly sad when a leader loses all common sense in the quest to obtain more power.”
But the charges were filed, and later that July the “Utah Eight” (as the baseball players were being called by the Ute fan community) were brought before Judge Lynn Davis in Provo's 4th District Court. They were defended by D. Gilbert Athay – one of the state’s most high-profile defense attorneys – along with several other attorneys. On the opening day of the hearing, the entire defense team wore RED as a sign of solidarity (except for one attorney who explained to the judge, "For the record, I'm wearing red underwear."
In the end, the defense team worked out a plea bargain for the players in which they plead guilty to a class B misdemeanor instead of the original felony with which they were charged. This plea was then held in abeyance for a year, as a probationary period. After the year had passed (with none of the athletes experiencing problems with the law), the charges were dropped and their records were cleared. However the athletes were held responsible for paying $6,267.20 in restitution charges, which were handled through a "joint and several agreement."