Who is the Mormon in this story? Just because it’s about the U of U doesn’t mean the players are all (or even mostly) Mormon. I did some searching on David Rudd, and can’t find anywhere it claims he is Mormon.
I mean I get that it’s all trendy & hip to reference the musical from the creators of South Park, but you’ll need more than just the fact it’s Utah. Demographically speaking, Salt Lake City is the least Mormon place in Utah (except maybe Park City).
From my limited experience, the U of U actually goes out of its way to not hire Mormons. So, why the title of this post, unless you just want to gratuitously make fun of Mormons?
There are plenty of Mormons at the University of Utah, though fewer, of course, than there are at Brigham Young. The number is around sixty percent.
The object of my ridicule was the U of U, and its moronic assumption that big-time sports will improve its academic reputation.
I brought in The Book of Mormon to suggest that the U of U “just believes” that going big-time will be a boon for it academically. In a similar way, the young man who sings “I Believe” is struggling, as many Mormons (like my mentor, Wayne Booth), struggle, with “just believing.” The song expresses this problem in broad satirical strokes.
All Mormon issues aside, there’s a real failure to look at evidence in the original article. Nothing against Washington State, say, or Arizona State, but does anyone think of them as being institutions on the level of Berkeley and Stanford just because they’re in the same conference? Why would Utah be any different?
I’m totally down with the attack on athletics and disdain for the too rosy optimism/lack of true journalistic skepticism in the article.
I guess I just misunderstood – I thought you were claiming David Rudd is Mormon. He might be, but I can’t find any evidence of it – perhaps if I ever meet him I will ask him.
I went to BYU personally, but have many neighbors who attended the U of U–some of whom are my friends, despite being less valiant. You see, the U of U may have a high percentage of mormons attending, but they tend to be the less valiant kind who worship at the altar of intellectualism and selective beliefs. Call them Mormon Lite, if you will.
July 10th, 2011 at 8:24PM
Who is the Mormon in this story? Just because it’s about the U of U doesn’t mean the players are all (or even mostly) Mormon. I did some searching on David Rudd, and can’t find anywhere it claims he is Mormon.
I mean I get that it’s all trendy & hip to reference the musical from the creators of South Park, but you’ll need more than just the fact it’s Utah. Demographically speaking, Salt Lake City is the least Mormon place in Utah (except maybe Park City).
From my limited experience, the U of U actually goes out of its way to not hire Mormons. So, why the title of this post, unless you just want to gratuitously make fun of Mormons?
July 10th, 2011 at 8:55PM
There are plenty of Mormons at the University of Utah, though fewer, of course, than there are at Brigham Young. The number is around sixty percent.
The object of my ridicule was the U of U, and its moronic assumption that big-time sports will improve its academic reputation.
I brought in The Book of Mormon to suggest that the U of U “just believes” that going big-time will be a boon for it academically. In a similar way, the young man who sings “I Believe” is struggling, as many Mormons (like my mentor, Wayne Booth), struggle, with “just believing.” The song expresses this problem in broad satirical strokes.
July 10th, 2011 at 9:38PM
All Mormon issues aside, there’s a real failure to look at evidence in the original article. Nothing against Washington State, say, or Arizona State, but does anyone think of them as being institutions on the level of Berkeley and Stanford just because they’re in the same conference? Why would Utah be any different?
July 10th, 2011 at 11:54PM
I’m totally down with the attack on athletics and disdain for the too rosy optimism/lack of true journalistic skepticism in the article.
I guess I just misunderstood – I thought you were claiming David Rudd is Mormon. He might be, but I can’t find any evidence of it – perhaps if I ever meet him I will ask him.
July 11th, 2011 at 3:13AM
I went to BYU personally, but have many neighbors who attended the U of U–some of whom are my friends, despite being less valiant. You see, the U of U may have a high percentage of mormons attending, but they tend to be the less valiant kind who worship at the altar of intellectualism and selective beliefs. Call them Mormon Lite, if you will.
July 11th, 2011 at 5:16AM
Conservative English PhD: Sorry – I think the post could indeed give that impression. Didn’t mean for it to be directed at anyone personally.