Even the Governor of Utah thinks Utah should play BYU in basketball

Last night, Utah shocked the sporting world by abruptly canceling their basketball series with BYU over "player safety", in part because of an incident this season. The decision to end this series, which has gone back over a hundred years and was only interrupted by World War II, has been roundly criticized, from everybody from BYU's coaching staff, to local media, to national media. And now, and even bigger name is taking a shot at Utah for backing out of the game.

The governor of Utah.

This morning, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert made his feelings known on Twitter, when he sent this out:

We must hold ourselves to the highest standards of sportsmanship and excellence. I expect that from both teams. Play the game. #BYUvsUtah

— Gary R. Herbert (@GovHerbert) January 7, 2016

Sure, Herbert attended BYU, so maybe he's not totally unbiased. But it's not like he's regularly throwing sports related fireballs from Twitter.

Utah's Lt.Gov was even more blunt.

This is dumb. Seriously Utes, you're better than that. #1909 #BYUvsUtah pic.twitter.com/AQaQ0eGWQo

— Spencer Cox (@SpencerJCox) January 7, 2016

If the criticism from Utah's leading media voices, not to mention legions of fans, aren't enough to shame the athletic department, maybe voices from Utah's politicians will.