I had always been one to laugh off the tales of the brave BYU fans who venture into RES and claim to be met with the most vile and hateful anti-Mormon epitaphs imaginable. I have been to those same games and had never heard such unspeakable things. This sort of thing just doesn't happen, outside a few isolated incidents. So I thought.

But now, my eyes have been opened.

All those games I sat idly by while choruses of boos for the boys in blue rang out all around me. The shouts of "BYU Sucks!" rang out from every corner of the stadium. The scores I've heard shouted profanely throughout the years "54-10!" "48-24!" "3-0!" "34-31!" Oh, those scores! Year after year I heard those scores spill forth from the lips of my fellow fans. And the "Ki-Yi's!" Oh, the "Ki-Yi's!"

The only thing more deafening than the vitriolic cascade of cheers for Utah and against BYU was my silence. Through it all, I stood idly by. Me, an Active LDS Ute Fan stood by while the beliefs I cherish and hold dear were trampled underfoot by a stampede of "Go Utes!" and a chorus of "Utah Man" and I did nothing. Nothing to stem the tide of cheers laced with an underlying tone of anti-Mormon bigotry raining down from every corner of my beloved RES.

Why!?!? Why!?!? Why didn't I hear the tone behind those seemingly innocent cheers!?!? All those years of seeming fun with good friends and family of my LDS faith in those stands had hardened my heart to the bigotry that even my own father and mother had against The Lord's School. I had allowed myself to be fooled by the adversary, I was past feeling.

I have vowed never to be "tone deaf" again. It is hard to imagine believers in the stands acting like they are at a football game when it is God's chosen team on the field. I will stand up for what is right and silence those who would cheer for the Utes and against everything I believe and know is true. I hope my fellow LDS Ute brethren (and sistren) will stand by me in standing up for what we believe. Only together can we stop the anti-Mormon tone that pierces the hearts of our fellow Saints like daggers. Only then will the hate stop. Who is with me!?!?!?