After living in Southern California for more than a year, I looked forward to spending my Thanksgiving weekend in my hometown, Salt Lake City. I missed the rich cultural life and sense of community so lacking in Los Angeles.
Therefore, I was very sensitive to cherished community institutions that seem to have been auctioned off to the highest out-of-state bidder. The most noticeable was the BYU-Utah football game, which was not on network TV. Selling the game to ESPN not only made it unavailable to a large segment of the population, it also forced the University of Utah to hold the game from 4 to 7 p.m., the coldest hours of the day. All the fans at the stadium had to suffer so ESPN could program the game during its off hours.
Being a fan of BYU or Utah is an identity claimed in kindergarten, and the game is an important symbol of our community spirit. By showing fans he doesn't really care, University of Utah athletic director Chris Hill is hurting Utah sports in the long run. I know of no other city that would allow its chief sports rivalry to be sold to a multinational corporation.
L.A. sports fans treated the USC-UCLA game like the Super Bowl, even though both teams had terrible seasons.
Rick Mortensen
Claremont, Calif.