Cummard personifies fans’ contempt for BYU
Lee Cummard long ago reached that unique level as an athlete, the one where he is not above creating artificial motivation when there is a shortage of the real stuff.
Meaning: “There is nothing I haven’t been called. You name it, I’ve heard it,” he said.
I’m guessing UNLV fans will do their best tonight to offer original material. Perhaps their team even will show up before halftime.
Brigham Young is the foremost enemy to eight other Mountain West Conference basketball programs, and Cummard is among the players most loathed outside Provo, Utah.
But the UNLV team that lost at Wyoming on Wednesday has greater concerns than the senior Cummard. Mainly, why a team picked to win the conference resides in fifth place and too often begins games with all the urgency of a koala on Quaaludes.
You would think such indifference wouldn’t be an issue for the Rebels tonight. It definitely won’t be for those who cheer them.
Ask yourself: Why isn’t San Diego State the chief conference rival of UNLV? Why doesn’t another public institution in close proximity that annually recruits from the same pool extract a higher level of resentment than the Cougars in these parts?
“That’s easy,” said longtime Rebels fan Joe Spilotro, who hasn’t missed a home game in 23 years. “It’s the elitist attitude of BYU. It’s obviously the premier school across the board in this conference. They’re better than most in all sports.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with religion or that so many Mormons live (in Las Vegas). I really think it’s because of the perception that BYU feels it’s better than everybody else.
“For me personally, I don’t mind (Cummard) at all. I could find you many fans who hate him, but I respect him for being a good player.”
That’s what it comes down to. It always has. Everything else is a fringe motive.
If the Cougars didn’t annually contend for league titles and Cummard wasn’t an all-conference fixture who averages 17 points and nearly seven rebounds, the tank of bitterness toward them would run on fumes. If they stunk, nobody would care. Bad doesn’t create hostility. Good does.
But it reaches further with Cummard here. Jonathan Tavernari is unquestionably the BYU player opposing fans now love to jeer most, a former Bishop Gorman standout who is as much swagger as skill. The one thing that can be quicker than Tavernari’s shot is his mouth.
Cummard is a different sort. Locals probably couldn’t even list a reason beyond his talent and the name across his jersey for why they heckled him before the league tournament final last year. Now, it’s about his skill and school and wife.
Sarah Cummard was involved in a postgame altercation with UNLV fans after the Rebels’ comeback victory, part of a chaotic and dangerous scene that was as much about the conference’s naive pregame forecast on potential celebratory problems than anything.
“The only time I think about what happened with (his wife) is when someone brings it up,” Cummard said. “She won’t be at the game (tonight), and I’m not yet sure about the conference tournament. …
“Vegas has good fans — like at Utah and San Diego State, they are right on top of you and start on you the minute you come out to warm up. They let you know what they think of you. Most of it is funny. You take it for what it is.
“As a freshman, I was more hot-headed. I was immature and talked trash. Over time, you learn to deal with it and turn it into a positive by how you play. But you always hear it. Nobody likes it.
“Do you like being called names?”
(You mean besides the 10 minutes a day it doesn’t happen?)
J.J. Redick once said that being the most hated name in the Atlantic Coast Conference better served his mission at Duke than if all his critics gradually began to applaud him. Good players, you see, tend to feed off others’ doubt and disparaging remarks more than their adoration.
Cummard is of this lot. So were Travis Hansen and Austin Ainge, others who wore the BYU uniform and for different reasons became the target for the taunts and insults of opposing fans.
“Those stories are passed on over the years in our locker room,” Cummard said. “Fans can be hurtful. Not classy. But it’s all part of college basketball. It’s the same everywhere. You can’t ever get completely away from the smart alecks.”
He will hear more than a few tonight. If the shouts are loud enough, they might even awaken UNLV players before the final 20 minutes.
Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at 702-383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.
