BYU Athletes Face a "F--- the Mormons" Chant, Again

[smac97]

Providence AD apologizes for fans' anti-LDS chant during BYU basketball game

Quote

Providence College athletics director Steve Napolillo apologized to BYU’s basketball team after an offensive chant broke out at Amica Mutual Pavilion on Tuesday night.

During the first half of BYU’s 83-64 loss to Providence, some fans started chanting “F--- the Mormons.” A video of the chant was posted to social media.

https://twitter.com/BYUFlorida/status/1864131597508731088?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1864131597508731088|twgr^f332a0053c6e08c8af916537e52830cce64693a5|twcon^s1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sltrib.com%2Fsports%2Fbyu-cougars%2F2024%2F12%2F04%2Fprovidence-college-fans-shout-anti%2F

“I want to apologize to [BYU basketball], their coaches and institution for unacceptable chants by our student body tonight,” he wrote on social media. “Once it was brought to my attention, I went to the student body and had them stop. That does not represent who Providence College is and what we stand for. We are sorry.”

 

Providence College is a Catholic school in Rhode Island and a longtime fixture in the Big East.

Similar chants have occurred at BYU games in the past. Most recently, a chant broke out when BYU football visited Oregon in 2022. The Ducks’ administration issued an apology after the game. USC fans also did it in 2021.

I hope we can get past this sort of thing.

Thanks,

-Smac

[Tony uk]

1 hour ago, smac97 said:

Providence AD apologizes for fans' anti-LDS chant during BYU basketball game

I hope we can get past this sort of thing.

Thanks,

-Smac

It is sad that good people are targeted for this type of abuse. The BYU team can hold their heads high, many good people over the centuries, especially in the Bible have been targeted for who they are.

[Pyreaux]

2 hours ago, Tony uk said:

It is sad that good people are targeted for this type of abuse. The BYU team can hold their heads high, many good people over the centuries, especially in the Bible have been targeted for who they are.

That's very charitable Tony, thank you.

[smac97]

Another article: "F the Mormons" chants rained down on BYU basketball during their visit to Providence

Some excerpts:

Quote

"I want to apologize to [BYU], their coaches & institution for unacceptable chants by our student body tonight," Providence's AD, Stephen Napolillo, shared on social media after the final buzzer sounded. "That does not represent who Providence College is & what we stand for. We are sorry."

Though it may not be what the institution stands for, the behavior of their fans is nothing new for BYU athletics, who face similar chants and hatred for their religious beliefs in nearly every stadium or arena they visit.

In the 2022 football season alone, BYU's football team was on the receiving end of two identical "F--- the Mormons" chants from Oregon's Autzen Stadium and USC's Colosseum, two teams that were currently hosting an LDS recruit on a visit to the campus, and whose starting quarterback was a member of the very religion they were disparaging, respectively.

This issue supersedes good-natured athletic trash talk, and instead aims to spread concentrated hatred in the direction of their opponents' religion.
...
The problem with this trend is how these events aren't unanimously scorned by observers, as they would be if they were directed toward any other religious group.

 

Jake Retzlaff has made headlines this season for his Jewish faith while attending BYU. While he's noted the University's exceptional acceptance of his beliefs, Retzlaff was shocked to see how religious hatred toward his teammates was casually ignored.

In an interview with McKay Coppins of the Atlantic, Retzlaff shared how he'd experienced far more anti-Mormonism than anti-Semitism during his time at BYU.

“The blatant disrespect for their faith—it’s something to think about. What if there was a Jewish university that had a Jewish football team, and they were saying that in the stands?” Jake questioned, appalled. “Like, imagine if that hit the papers. That would be a big deal.”

“There’s a lot of people who just don’t like Mormon people, for no reason,” he insisted. “That’s what happened to the Jews all throughout history.”

Thanks,

-Smac

[bluebell]

5 hours ago, smac97 said:

Providence AD apologizes for fans' anti-LDS chant during BYU basketball game

I hope we can get past this sort of thing.

Thanks,

-Smac

It's so dumb because there are mormons attending that school in RI.  So it's not a school rivalry issue, it's something much more dark.

[Robert F. Smith]

5 hours ago, smac97 said:

............................

I hope we can get past this sort of thing.

Thanks,

-Smac

Ain't gonna happen, Counselor.  Decorum and good sportsmanship are not the objective.

[smac97]

9 minutes ago, Robert F. Smith said:

Quote

I hope we can get past this sort of thing.

Ain't gonna happen, Counselor.  Decorum and good sportsmanship are not the objective.

 

Thanks,

-Smac

[smac97]

17 minutes ago, bluebell said:

It's so dumb because there are mormons attending that school in RI.  So it's not a school rivalry issue, it's something much more dark.

I'd like to attribute it to youthful stupidity and heat-of-the-moment, part-of-the-crowd-during-an-athletic-competition frenzy.  

But then, these are college kids who should probably know better.

Thanks,

-Smac

[Autonomous]

20 minutes ago, smac97 said:

I'd like to attribute it to youthful stupidity and heat-of-the-moment, part-of-the-crowd-during-an-athletic-competition frenzy.  

But then, these are college kids who should probably know better.

Thanks,

-Smac

 

I once took my grandmother to a college event where the whole stadium started chanting a phrase with the F-bomb in it (totally unrelated to anything religious, just college kids being college kids). My grandmother stood up, and preached to our little section of the stadium, I remember her saying "Didn't your mothers teach you better?" Our section went dead silent, and then, believe it or not, a line formed, and one by one, students started apologizing to her. (And no, this wasn’t in Utah or a religious school) Definitely one of my most embarrassing—yet favorite—memories of my grandmother.

[JAHS]

2 hours ago, smac97 said:

Another article: "F the Mormons" chants rained down on BYU basketball during their visit to Providence

Some excerpts:

Thanks,

-Smac

These apologies seem empty to me. I am sure the athletic director was sincere as far as he is concerned, but he knows it won't affect his students' behaviors much. They will do it again given the opportunity.

[Pyreaux]

17 minutes ago, Autonomous said:

I once took my grandmother to a college event where the whole stadium started chanting a phrase with the F-bomb in it (totally unrelated to anything religious, just college kids being college kids). My grandmother stood up, and preached to our little section of the stadium, I remember her saying "Didn't your mothers teach you better?" Our section went dead silent, and then, believe it or not, a line formed, and one by one, students started apologizing to her. (And no, this wasn’t in Utah or a religious school) Definitely one of my most embarrassing—yet favorite—memories of my grandmother.

Thats magical. Maybe the kids will be alright.

[let’s roll]

1 hour ago, Pyreaux said:

Thats magical. Maybe the kids will be alright.

I suspect that, like the AD at Providence, most of the students who came to apologize were not engaged in the chant.

 

[let’s roll]

2 hours ago, JAHS said:

These apologies seem empty to me. I am sure the athletic director was sincere as far as he is concerned, but he knows it won't affect his students' behaviors much. They will do it again given the opportunity.

Agree, although I’m not so sure about the sincerity of the AD.  Has it been reported whether the AD attended the game (ADs typically attend home games).  If so, it seems to me that if the AD truly deemed the chant unacceptable, he would have demonstrated some leadership by getting on the PA system while the chant was going on and telling the students in real-time that their actions were unacceptable.  If the AD wasn’t present, the coach could have done the same thing.  Hard to give much credence to an after the fact statement that the chant doesn’t reflect what the school stands for if the school stood by and let it happen, uninterrupted and without comment.

Edited December 5, 2024 by let’s roll

[JAHS]

31 minutes ago, let’s roll said:

Agree, although I’m not so sure about the sincerity of the AD.  Has it been reported whether the AD attended the game (ADs typically attend home games).  If so, it seems to me that if the AD truly deemed the chant unacceptable, he would have demonstrated some leadership by getting on the PA system while the chant was going on and telling the students in real-time that their actions were unacceptable.  If the AD wasn’t present, the coach could have done the same thing.  Hard to give much credence to an after the fact statement that the chant doesn’t reflect what the school stands for when the school stood by and let it happen, uninterrupted and without comment.

Some articles say the Vice president of AD did go to the student section and made them stop as soon as they heard it.

[Kenngo1969]

Has anyone else noted the irony that Providence is, or, at least at its founding, that it was, a religious school?  Perhaps that is of little consequence to students, and perhaps it plays little (if any) role in their decision to attend, but still ...

[MustardSeed]

My opinion is that this behavior is likely not something the large majority of those students would ever say solo.  It’s mob mentality, trendy, and any one of them would be embarrassed the next day to see a video of themselves engaging in this behavior or to be faced with a one on one with a member of the church for a conversation about it.
 
Sports turns many fans into screaming banshees for the duration of the event.  I’m not personally offended by the behavior, I’m of the opinion that most mean no “real actual” harm, but I agree it should be shut down. It’s tasteless.