Monson's tirade

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

I cannot let Gordon Monson's Aug. 9 column "Bronco Mendenhall's inner idiot emerges, again" go unchallenged. Writing an opinion piece is one thing, but name-calling and throwing out public insults akin to wielding a Samurai sword is quite another.

It's obvious Monson hates Mendenhall with a passion that can only be described as seething, but the kind of venom he spewed in his column went way beyond what Tribune management and editors should find acceptable and appropriate.

I am not a BYU fan. In fact, I can't stand the school or its athletic teams. The sense of entitlement and superiority that oozes from the Mormon school is, to me, vomit-inducing. However, Mendenhall's Spirit-Honor-Tradition jersey stunt came across to me as a well-intentioned, unique attempt to energize the Cougars' fan base. There's nothing wrong with that, Monson's pathetic tirade notwithstanding.

Scott Christian Bauer

Salt Lake City