Morgan Scalley and Kalani Sitake Talk of Cooling the Utah-BYU Rivalry, Making Room for Peace

The language of lowering the temperature only makes sense if something has gotten too hot. When Morgan Scalley and Kalani Sitake talk about cooling the Utah-BYU rivalry, they are not saying the game no longer matters or that competition should be soft. They are naming a real tension: rivalry can bring out loyalty, school pride, and energy, but it can also slide into contempt, where opponents become enemies and winning requires humiliation.

That is where the reported conversation does more than describe sports etiquette. It exposes a habit many of us carry: we mistake heat for faithfulness. In fandom, in workplaces, in family arguments, we can treat intensity as proof that we care, and treat restraint as weakness. The report does not tell us what motives sit behind their comments, and one public conversation cannot guarantee that fans, players, or alumni will change their behavior. Psalm 29:11 also does not promise a conflict-free season or a rivalry without hard feelings. It does something quieter: it places strength and peace together.

That pairing reframes the choice. Peace is not the absence of strength; it is strength under a different kind of control. It takes strength to compete fully without dehumanizing the other side, to cheer loudly without turning disagreement into disdain, and to let a rivalry remain a game rather than an identity. The invitation is not to care less. It is to ask where our own rivalries need the strength to cool down.