Okay, hearing about the violence at the MWC tourney game got me all riled up. It's one thing to have the tournament location favor a particular team it's another to have it be a hostile location for fans. That's inexcusible. I almost shelled out the cash to fly to LV and watch the games, but I am certainly glad I didn't now.

For those wanting to let the MWC know of how sick we are of having to go to Las Vegas and put up with religious intolerance, below are the email addresses of several key MWC officials. Let them hear it.

Bret Gilliland, Deputy Commissioner, 488-4045 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Jim Andrus Associate, Commissioner, Business and Finance, 488-4042 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Kelly Banet, Director of Championships, 488-4054 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Kim Melcher, Director of Communications, 488-4050 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Also, if anyone is interested, here is the email address for UNLV's athletic director, Mike Hamrick. I'm definately going to let Mike know about how pleasant his fans are to be around.
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Here's the email I sent to the MWC in case you are interested.

"I'm writing to let you know how utterly appalled I am at the reports of fan abuse at the MWC Men's Basketball game Saturday night between UNLV and BYU. I have been to past events, and I was very close to purchasing a plane ticket, reserving a hotel room and buying tickets so my family and I could attend the game, but thankfully I did not. I do not plan on supporting the MWC with my attendance at its championship venues if the physical and emotional safety of my family is a concern.

To read and hear first-hand reports of violence, threats and religious epithets and intolerance at your sporting event is disgusting and absolutely uncalled for. I am in shock the MWC permitted such to occur by not taking enough security measures and failing to remove those fans shouting derogatory remarks aimed at a particular religious group. In many states such actions would be deemed hate crimes.

I encourage the MWC to take into closer consideration the safety and security of those in attendance. As long as such behavior prevails I will not be attending any more MWC events, and I am encouraging others to boycott your events as well."

Gunk wrote:

Here's the email I sent to the MWC in case you are interested.

"I'm writing to let you know how utterly appalled I am at the reports of fan abuse at the MWC Men's Basketball game Saturday night between UNLV and BYU. I have been to past events, and I was very close to purchasing a plane ticket, reserving a hotel room and buying tickets so my family and I could attend the game, but thankfully I did not. I do not plan on supporting the MWC with my attendance at its championship venues if the physical and emotional safety of my family is a concern.

To read and hear first-hand reports of violence, threats and religious epithets and intolerance at your sporting event is disgusting and absolutely uncalled for. I am in shock the MWC permitted such to occur by not taking enough security measures and failing to remove those fans shouting derogatory remarks aimed at a particular religious group. In many states such actions would be deemed hate crimes.

I encourage the MWC to take into closer consideration the safety and security of those in attendance. As long as such behavior prevails I will not be attending any more MWC events, and I am encouraging others to boycott your events as well."

Well written, Gunk! I prob won't send an email in, to be quite honest, but I agree with EVERYTHING you wrote. Especially going to it as a family, as that's prob how lots of people went down to enjoy the event- that behavior is uncalled for. Absolutely. I'm a single student, but if I DID have a family, I'd feel the same way. That's MY safety at risk as well as fans of both teams as well. It's JUST a game, and even though UNLV fans wented revenge against us from mid february in Provo, BOTH teams were in the NC double A tourney, regardless of the outcome of that game. Improvements HAVE to be made.
Go cougs on thursday, baby, and spring ball this week. Lets enjoy both!

Gunk wrote:

Here's the email I sent to the MWC in case you are interested.

"I'm writing to let you know how utterly appalled I am at the reports of fan abuse at the MWC Men's Basketball game Saturday night between UNLV and BYU. I have been to past events, and I was very close to purchasing a plane ticket, reserving a hotel room and buying tickets so my family and I could attend the game, but thankfully I did not. I do not plan on supporting the MWC with my attendance at its championship venues if the physical and emotional safety of my family is a concern.

To read and hear first-hand reports of violence, threats and religious epithets and intolerance at your sporting event is disgusting and absolutely uncalled for. I am in shock the MWC permitted such to occur by not taking enough security measures and failing to remove those fans shouting derogatory remarks aimed at a particular religious group. In many states such actions would be deemed hate crimes.

I encourage the MWC to take into closer consideration the safety and security of those in attendance. As long as such behavior prevails I will not be attending any more MWC events, and I am encouraging others to boycott your events as well."

Couldn't have said it better! I went down to the tournament and I promise I will not be back until they can somewhat control their fans. It really was embarrassing...

I went to Virginia Tech and am a fan as well. The administration there really goes out of its way to make sure "Hokies Respect" the opposing fans.
take a look......

http://www.hokiesports.com/respect/