I See... The Cool School

After four decades of incessant and vitriolic criticism of University of Utah, the Dark Sith Lord in the universe of Utah inter-collegiate rivalry, the Mormon Third Eye is honor-bound by it's own code of observation ethics to offer congratulations as the Utes join the ranks of really cool schools. What has changed in Far East Salt Lake City to warrant their elevation to such a lofty level? It's easy. When Ute's basketball coach Larry Krystowiak violated the sanctity of the longstanding 106-year BYU-UofU rivalry and unilaterally cancelled their next game with the Cougars, they became... well... trendy. And trendy is cool.

I know that a lot of diehard BYU fans, like coach Rose in particular, were incensed when Krystowiak pleaded with the BYU AD to indefinitely postpone future games with the Cougars. We could call them sissies and fraidy-cats, and perhaps be right but immature. The reality is, however, that we live in an era where breaking covenants and commitments, implicitly or explicitly, has become commonplace. Whether it be spouses breaking marriage covenants, government employees breaking sworn oaths to not disclose classified data that results in irreparable harm to national security (ala Edward Snowden), or even something as simple debtors willfully deciding to avoid contracted debts via bankruptcy procedures, the sanctity of keeping oaths, covenants, promises, and commitments has gone the way of one-peice bathing suits and eight-track music players. We've descended a long ways from reformed Lamanites thousands of years ago who suffered death in choosing to keep oaths to “bury their swords deep in the earth.” Keeping commitments just not cool anymore. It is not a part of the current trend.

Hence my conclusion that the University of Utah, as represented by it's basketball coach, is a trendy modern institution of higher learning in pursuit of relative truth and occasional commitment to shifting morality, whereas BYU still languishes in the academic backwater of old-fashioned, outdated principles of integrity, honor, and commitment. I have a sneaking suspicion that BYU will never rise to or surpass the U's more modern, trendy investment in convenient commitment.

I hope it never does.