BYU basketball star Jimmer Fredette is the closest thing that Utah has to a rock star, so much so that he’s now cutting classes–at the best of the school’s own administration.

“It was getting too disruptive,” Al Fredette, Jimmer’s father, told The Post-Star that his son’s fame on BYU’s campus means he “can’t go anywhere in Provo without being recognized” and deluged with requests for autographs.

–SLC Tribune.

I’m pretty sure that “Don’t come to class” is in the BYU Honor Code, which would help them immensely with recruiting. Of course, some guys would just go to class anyway. It’s a youngster’s rebellious nature that makes him such a fine athlete. Nappy hair helps, too. Doesn’t it, Jimmer?

There’s more info coming out on the girlfriend of Brandon Davies, who Sportscasm brilliantly anointed “the Yoko Ono of BYU basketball.” In case you missed it yesterday, Davies was booted from the BYU basketball team for admitting to coitus with his special lady friend, who has now been identified as Arizona State freshman volleyball player Danica Mendevil, according to reports. And yep, she’s a white girl.

Why does this matter? Because this could negate everything anyone said yesterday about BYU simply enforcing its well-documented honor code. I’m not presuming racism here, but…okay, I’m totally presuming racism. There’s anecdotal evidence that the discipline of Davies–one of only three black players on the team–was relatively harsh, not only by college basketball standards, but even by those of the school.

Somebody has to ask the question: were the conservative powers that be in Provo looking to punish a black kid getting sexual attention from a white girl? Don’t tell me that it couldn’t possibly happen, because it does. It could certainly happen in Utah, especially at a school operated and encased by a federalized religion.

But my main takeaway from yesterday does stand: if you want to get stinky, don’t work in a soap factory. Davies still violated his contract with the school, as shoddy as such a pact may have been. Good luck to BYU on ever recruiting another black athlete ever again. And no, I don’t really mean that.

via Frat House Sports.

The third-ranked men’s basketball program at Brigham Young University has dismissed its third-leading scorer from the team after he admitted to having sex with his girlfriend. The school confirmed that sophomore Brandon Davies will sit out the rest of the year–while he watches his team’s potential one-seed in the national tournament slip away–and could be kicked out of school entirely.

Much is being made of the fact that Davies has not been charged with a crime, which is totally beside the point when we’re talking about Mormons.

A source told The Tribune that Davies is “extremely remorseful, heartbroken” but has accepted the punishment doled out by the school.

Wednesday afternoon, the school confirmed that Davies’ dismissal was not due to something that is criminal in nature, but would not acknowledge the specific portion of the honor code that he violated, per school policy.

Among other things, the honor code forbids students from engaging in premarital sex, and admonishes them to “live a chaste and virtuous life.”

BYU’s honor code, conceived by the Mormons’ Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is pretty explicit: don’t drink, don’t do drugs (that includes caffeine), don’t lie, don’t break the law, don’t skip church, don’t dress like a d:ckhead, don’t bring guns to campus…

And don’t have sex. But it used to be worse; before 1981, students couldn’t even wear jeans.This is not a school where any sane 18-year-old American would want to play college basketball.

Here’s a pro tip: if you want to have sex with girls in college, don’t go to a college where you can’t have sex with girls. Whether you agree with the policy or not is irrelevant; BYU’s honor code couldn’t be easier to understand, and unlike a lot of honor codes at other schools [coughcoughwestpointcough], they actually enforce theirs. If Davies agreed to live his life by the BYU standard, and he failed to meet that standard, what exactly is unfair about him being disciplined for it?

San Diego State was one of two undefeated college basketball teams in the country, but no longer. BYU, led by senior sensation Jimmer Fredette, scored 47 points as his Cougars took down their Mountain West rival in what some might call his signature game to date.

“It was a physical game and we stayed with them for about 35 minutes, but we just couldn’t hang for 40,” San Diego State coach Steve Fisher said. “This team is really good and our team is really good. I think we are both capable of beating any team anywhere at any time.”

BYU (20-1, 6-0) has won 10 straight, and six in a row at home against San Diego State (20-1, 5-1).
–Y! Sports.

And yeah, I had a big cry yesterday about how little I think of college basketball in February, but this Jimmer fellow seems to be doing something magical over at BYU. I can’t shortchange his holy underwear, the staple of every good Mormon. And anyone stuck in a foot of snow. Looking at you, east coast. Img via.

Over the weekend, people in faraway lands gathered for the purpose of kicking a ball around a field, and other people gathered to watch it and later they all got together to look down on me for not liking soccer. But what I do like is a little bit of violence sprinkled into my sports, and that’s where soccer makes brownie points with me. Can you imagine how much greater Air Bud: World Pup would have been if the dog had rabies and went around attacking everyone? Even better, they should have replaced him with White Dog.

Thankfully we have heroes like Luis Suarez and Samuel Eto’o to keep me from completely disregarding soccer. Suarez and his Ajax squad took on PSV Eindhoven on Saturday, and during a brief heated exchange between teams, Suarez bit Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal on his neck. Actually, it was closer to his clavicle, if you want to get sexy about it.

Also on Saturday, Eto’o’s Inter Milan squad took on Chievo and Samuel became fed up with Bostjan Cesar and pulled a move from Zinedine Zidane’s playbook by headbutting Cesar in the chest. All in all, I’d say it was a pretty productive weekend in soccer violence. After the jump, take a trip down memory lane with some fun moments in soccer fights…

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Lost in the shuffle of BCS chicanery last week was the plight of Brigham Young University, whose football program was hoping to make its own exodus of sorts from the Mountain West Conference. Considering the history of the Mormon culture, I’m kinda surprised that BYU doesn’t play in multiple conferences at the same time.

The Provo, Utah, school doesn’t have many alternatives since the Mountain West pulled the rug from under the Western Athletic Conference by raiding Fresno State and Nevada. BYU was contemplating going to the WAC in all sports except football and becoming an independent in football but playing a handful of WAC opponents.

BYU has made no secret it wants greater freedom to broadcast its games over its network, BYU-TV. Unlike the proposed University of Texas network, BYU-TV isn’t a cash cow but a vehicle for spreading the Mormon faith.

–Denver Post.

The fact is that, in the history of horrible fanbases, BYU has gotten a pass, and that’s just not right. While Ohio State fans might urinate wherever they please and Alabama fans can’t read and Clemson fans can’t manage expectations, BYU fans for the large part think they’re the LDS version of Notre Dame. Read the rest of this entry »