Fire BYU Fans' Defense of Jimmer Fredette

Fredette's fans didn't sell the idea that Jimmer is so great.

ESPN columnist Rick Reilly recently wrote a column criticizing BYU's Jimmer Fredette, and while his 800-word piece was about 799 words too long (Reilly said Fredette is overrated), the BYU fans who attempted to defend Fredette did such a poor job that they should be fired.

The HR Department is generally against criticizing amateur athletes for their play, so we'll try not to bash Jimmer (no promises) and stick to criticizing Jimmer's defenders. Reilly only published a handful of responses to his column, so we'll just have to go with what we have.

"Jimmer Fredette has captivated the nation with his talent and had one of the most memorable personal college basketball years in recent memory."

Will we remember his season several years from now? If you can name the Naismith Award winner from 2007, you win a prize and disprove this argument. If not, then Jimmer's season was probably forgettable. (The '07 Naismith winner was Kevin Durant.) As for his season captivating the nation - so what? The OJ trial and Rebecca Black's music video have captivated the nation. Doesn't mean they're good.

"While he is certainly no Pete Maravich and he may not become an NBA All Star, he was the very best player in college basketball and captivated the nation."

Again with the "captivated the nation" argument. As for him being the "very best player in college basketball" this season, yes he was by some measures. But is the guy who wins the trophy always the best player? If UConn wins the national title tonight, a lot of people are going to make the case that Kemba Walker was the best player in the country and his stats back that up: 23.7 points, 4.6 assists, 5.4 rebounds per game and a field goal percentage of 34% (Jimmer had 28.9 points, 4.3 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game while shooting 40% from the field).  

"Jimmer will have a great life because he's a great kid. He treats his fellow man with respect and would never say a bad thing about anyone."

If true, that's wonderful and Jimmer is a role model. But what does that have to do with his game? And just because he's a good guy, does that mean Reilly can't criticize him? We wouldn't give a president a free pass just because he once helped an old lady cross the street.

"I don't understand why... you had to basically insult me and 11 million other people's religion. Why is it bad to teach not to have pre-marital sex? True, you never said in the column that it was wrong, but the way you throw around my beliefs without even understanding them really disappoints me."

This comment gets to the real issue. Some people think that by criticizing Fredette, who is Mormon, Reilly criticized all Mormons. Absurd. This particular reader even admits that Reilly "never said in the column that [Mormon beliefs are] wrong." The reader seems to feel that because Reilly isn't Mormon, he's not capable of discussing Mormon beliefs. Maybe this fan (and others) shouldn't discuss Reilly's column since they very clearly don't understand it.

None of Jimmer's fans addressed any of the criticisms Reilly made of Fredette's actual game, and so the HR Department (grudgingly) gives Reilly a win on this one.