Utah Reacts To ‘(Bleep) The Mormons’ Chant At Arizona Game

Last weekend, BYU's basketball team beat No. 18 Arizona in a hotly contested game in Tucson, 96-95.

A BYU player (Richie Saunders) was fouled and made both free throws with just a few seconds left to secure the win.

After the game ended (and apparently during different portions of the game), chants -- reportedly initiated in the Arizona student section -- came drifting down from the rafters, "F*** the Mormons."

Sorry if that offends you, but that's what happened and that's what they chanted.

Other fans hollered homophobic slurs and other insults as BYU's team left the court after the game..

While BYU's athletic department has made no official statement, Arizona's athletic director issued an apology and others have stepped up to condemn the act.

“Following tonight’s men’s basketball game, it was brought to our attention that an unacceptable chant occurred. On behalf of the University of Arizona Athletic Department, we apologize to BYU, their student-athletes, coaches and fans. The chant is not reflective of who we are and should not have happened,” said Arizona AD Desiree Reed-Francois.

By the way, in a similar incident this season, Providence's athletic director also apologized for bigoted chants directed toward BYU.

The United Jewish Federation of Utah issued a statement today, saying "Such incidents are unacceptable and have no place in our society. They not only harm the targeted community but also undermine the principles of respect and unity that bind us together."

Thank you to the Jewish community and for the athletic director for the apology.

However, three things get me hung up here.

No. 1 -- An apology without an effort to fix the problem is as empty as the numerous bottles of beer drained during the game.

No. 2 -- Mormons -- actually members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (let's see them work that into a chant) -- are used to being picked on, heckled, censured, made fun of, ridiculed, etc. We forgive and move on.

No. 3 -- Being offended is up to the victim. Was it terrible what they did? Yep. Should the behavior be punished? Probably. Should offensive language and attitudes be allowed? No.

But if we get all up-in-arms about what knuckleheaded students at a basketball game chant, we are no better than the rest of the "woke" society and organizations like Black Lives Matter.

When I was a kid, I was the only "Mormon" in my middle school in Texas.

My best friends were Catholic, Methodist and Presbyterian.

But we were just 12-year-old boys who loved sports and playing sandlot baseball and riding our bikes.

And no one was going to "offend" us. In fact, I'd bet we didn't even know what that word meant.

It's time to just let this stuff go. Punish the offenders if necessary, but let's move on instead of looking for ways we may have been slighted.

A friend of mine put it this way, "Those were classless fans, chanting classless things. Did I hate that they did that? Yes. Am I going to let it affect my life? No."