BYU quarterback Max Hall issued an apology today after ripping the entire University of Utah organization from the football team and the fans calling them 'classless.'
I want to take the opportunity to clarify and apologize for a few of my remarks after the game yesterday.
Last year at RES my family was spit on, had beer dumped on them, and were physically assaulted on several occasions. They had to endure extremely vile comments personally attacking my wife, my mother, other family members, and our religion. They had to be escorted to their car by local police.
As a result of what happened to my family last year this rivalry became personal, and in the heat of the moment yesterday I made comments toward the entire university that were really directed specifically at those fans in RES. It was not intended to be directed at the entire organization and all of their fans and I apologize that it came out that way.
I have the utmost respect for Kyle Whittingham, his coaching staff, and the Utah football players. I apologize to them and other members of the university for my comments.
I'm also sorry if my comments took anything away from my teammates and coaches and our victory Saturday. The BYU-Utah game is a great rivalry, but no one should be treated the way my family was last year. I'm hoping that BYU and Utah fans can take steps to prevent future incidents at the game."
— BYU Quarterback Max Hall
So Utah fans what do you think about the apology?
The one thing that I have a problem with is that he attempts to justify his comments by saying his family was treated so poorly, plus I somewhat agree with Block U who said that if those events happened to Hall's family that they would have been removed from the stadium. That behavior of pouring alcohol or spitting could go unnoticed by security. The actions against is family were terrible, but to try to make them sound ok by blanketing the whole University of Utah family.
This quote I have a hard time believing:
in the heat of the moment yesterday I made comments toward the entire university that were really directed specifically at those fans in RES
Heat of the moment? Those comments were made nearly an hour after the game which included a cooling down period in his locker room. If those words were said in the post game interview then yes heat of the moment counts, but not after a long period of time.
Here is the thing Max about your last comment:
The BYU-Utah game is a great rivalry, but no one should be treated the way my family was last year. I'm hoping that BYU and Utah fans can take steps to prevent future incidents at the game."
What Max should know is that other rivalries across the country have fans who swear and yell at opposing fans, but I do agree about spitting or pouring beverages on people is out of line.
Something that has been under reported in relation to Max Hall's comments are the incident that happened to Utah's head coach Kyle Whittingham's family:
"...some BYU fan allegedly hit Jamie Whittingham, Kyle's wife, in the lip and someone else reportedly sucker punched his son, Tyler, in the massive assembly of bodies on the field afterward."
What about those fans? There has not been a peep from Kyle Whittingham or others from the Utah organization. Now, coach Whittingham will be asked about both incidents from the game and will not go off like Max Hall did.