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World Wide Sports Leader and Religious Bigotry

ESPN commentator Ric Bucher when trying to explain why the Utah Jazz have a great home court advantage came to this conclusion: "It is the most intimidating place to play because of the configuration of the arena... and, let's be honest... they are Mormon? They are in Salt Lake, and there's nothing up there," he said. "You gotta smile and be happy all the time... and this is the one opportunity for people to get vicious in a fair arena. And the fans seem to take full advantage of it."

When I first heard the comments, I looked for stories covering it and I found 7 whole stories, only one of which had anything approaching an accurate headline: ?ESPN Commentator Says Jazz Fans Are 'Mormon' And 'Vicious'.? All of the other headlines just noted that ?Some Jazz fans not happy with ESPN commentator's remark.?

First, less than half of Salt Lake City residences are actually Mormon. Second, there are plenty of other raucous home courts in sports (Arco Arena, Lambeau Field,etc.) that I think can probably be described without reference to religion.

I have put up with a lot of crap in the media lately about my religion, whether it?s daily articles about Mitt Romney's underwear or how the polygamists in Texas consider themselves ?true Mormons,? the media seems to always find a way to infer, imply or explicitly perpetuate misinformation or falsehoods about Mormon theology and culture. That?s nothing new, it?s been going around since the church was founded in 1830, and most Mormon's would sooner drink coffee than consider themselves victims. Seriously, I read, virtually everyday, the most ignorant and vile crap about my church on the web. Most of the time it?s water off my duckish back. But religious bigotry, in a sports context, is out of bounds (pun intended). Can you imagine if any other religion was spoken about in such a way? What if Ric Bucher said, ?Madison Square Garden; It is the most intimidating place to play because of the configuration of the arena... and, let's be honest... New Yorkers are Jews?You gotta wear yarmulkes and eat kosher food?and this is the one opportunity for people to get vicious in a fair arena.? Bucher would be fired from ESPN in a heart beat. It?s not that difficult, if you are a public speaker, you should avoid negative stereotypes (Mormons are inauthentically happy) as well as linking ?viciousness? with an entire religion.

Full post as published by SoapBox Law on April 19, 2008 (boomark / email).