SF Chronicle: Mormons on a real mission in Sin City

Scott Ostler
Las Vegas -- The Mormons have saved Las Vegas. Again. Yes, the religion that is among the world leaders in the fight against sin has bailed out Sin City. Go figure. That's just one element of the semi-surreal atmosphere surrounding tonight's Las Vegas Bowl, in which Brigham Young University plays California. If you tried to pick the two teams that would be the most uncomfortable in this city, you'd probably wind up with these two. BYU is a Mormon school and if you want to explain what Mormons are against, you simply would kind of sweep your hand Vanna-White-style at the neon glow of Las Vegas. Plus, the BYU football team went into this season reeling from two years of scandals involving sex-crime allegations and loutish behavior. Just when that embarrassment is dying down under a new coach, you send the team to, gulp, Las Vegas. Cal would figure to have no such squeamishness about Vegas, except that coach Jeff Tedford is one of those extremist coaches who winces at any tiny thing that might distract his team from its mission. So though Tedford is grateful to be invited to play here and isn't complaining, given the choice, he would have opted for his team to spend the week in Elko or Bullhead City.
Add to that the fact that BYU will be enjoying a distinct home-field advantage, and you've got a stressful week for Tedford, and maybe a problem tonight for his team.
There are about 136,000 Mormons living in the Las Vegas area, and if the bowl people could have added 100,000 temporary seats to Sam Boyd Stadium, they probably would have sold 'em.
This is the 14th Las Vegas Bowl and the first sellout. There is talk that the bowl was in financial trouble and in danger of going out of business. BYU, with its strong local following, has helped put the game back on its financial feet. Technically, it would be an exaggeration to say that the demise of the Las Vegas Bowl would kill the city's economy, but if you can't exaggerate in Las Vegas, where can you exaggerate? Let's just say the bowl is important, if not vital, to the local economy. So that's what the Cal Bears are up against tonight -- not only a worthy opponent riding a late-season scoring binge, but a stacked house. At least 25,000 of the 40,000 seats will be filled by local Mormons, and they won't be rooting for Cal, even though Cal has five Mormon players. What are so many non-galavanting Mormons doing living in Las Vegas? Dude, they built the place. When Las Vegas sprang to life 100 years ago, Mormon settlers were leaders in politics and business. As legal gambling emerged as the driving force of the Las Vegas economy, local Mormon bankers were major players in funding the construction of the casinos.
Jimmy Hoffa and Howard Hughes, two of this city's greatest pioneers, leaned heavily on Mormons -- Hoffa for cash and Hughes for his personal support staff. And it's not only Mormon money that has helped build Las Vegas. Mormon piety has been good for the city, too. Because at least 10 percent of the local population doesn't drink, gamble or gambol, the non-Mormons have taken it upon themselves to work extra hard to take up the slack. Besides, when you think about it, Mormons are gamblers at heart. If the church's only-us-in-heaven belief turns out to be erroneous, Mormons face an eternity of good-natured joshing. Meanwhile, in the here-and-now, BYU presents a formidable challenge to Cal because the Cougars are an explosive offensive team, and probably are the most mature opponent any college team might face.
Sixty-two of the BYU players have served Mormon missions, seeking converts in the far corners of the world. Thus, most of the players are two years older and more mature and worldly than their Cal counterparts.
You talk about street smarts, imagine the kind of savvy and moxie you pick up in two years of walking the dirt streets of a third-world country, knocking on doors trying to sell your religion.
How old are the BYU players? That's a secret. Nowhere in BYU's 208-page Las Vegas Bowl media guide are there birthdays or ages of the players. Cal's book has the birthdate of every player, it's pretty much a universal bit of info in media guides. The Cougars, however, are ageless. They also are married, many of them. Thirty of the 75 players on BYU's Las Vegas Bowl roster are married. Quarterback John Beck is kind of the prototypical Cougar. He was an Eagle Scout, he served a Mormon mission in Portugal, he is married, and his age, of course, is unlisted. Cal goes into the game a slight betting favorite, but Mormons don't bet. They root, though, and the Bears might be ready to play, but until further notice, this is BYU's town.