Max Hall Hates Getting Arrested

The Arizona Republic is reporting that former BYU quarterback Max Hall has been arrested for shoplifting and cocaine possession. Hall, who at one time played for the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL, was released from his CFL team, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, earlier this year.

"I don't respect 'em, and they deserved to lose." - Max Hall, post-game comments, 2009 Holy War

Hall allegedly took iPhone accessories out of their packages and put them in a bag at an Arizona Best Buy. When searched, the Gilbert, Ariz. Police found cocaine, as well. Hall had started this high school football season as the Gilbert High School offensive coordinator, a job which could be in jeopardy.

Utah fans remember the good, the bad, and the ugly about Max Hall. Hall was the BYU quarterback who threw five interceptions and had a fumble in the 2008 Holy War, which propelled Utah into the 2009 Sugar Bowl, a 31-17 Utes victory over the vaunted Alabama Crimson Tide. But Hall was also the quarterback who tossed an overtime touchdown pass to TE Andrew George to beat the Utes 26-23 in the 2009 Holy War. Afterward, Hall tossed more than a few barbs at the visiting Utes too.

"I don't like Utah," Hall said. "In fact, I hate 'em. I hate everything about 'em. I hate their program. I hate their fans. I hate everything, so it felt good really good to send those guys home. They didn't deserve it. It was our time. It was our time to win. We deserved it. We played as hard as we could tonight, and it felt good to send 'em home and get 'em out of here."

Ironically, that would also prove to be the last time BYU would win the hotly contested rivalry game, as Utah would win the next four games between the two teams and then cancel the series for two seasons. (Some crimson faithful had taken to calling the four-game winning streak "The Curse of Max Hall," ala the New York Yankees' Curse of the Bambino.) The Holy War rivalry won't resume until 2016.

"I think the whole university, their fans, and the organization is classless," Hall said in 2009. "I don't respect 'em, and they deserved to lose."

Karma can be a wicked biotch. Just the mug shot of a young man that BYU fans cheered in a t-shirt of his alma mater showed someone in a very dark place in his life. Do I respect Hall? No. But I hope he is able to pull his life together, because the path he's on has only one destination. And I hope Utah fans will show the class Hall believed Utes don't possess and try (yeah… it's really hard not to pick such ripe, low-hanging fruit) to be charitable, kind, even supportive to someone on a clear express elevator down. This isn't some football game. This is someone's life, and there really are some things that go beyond the rivalry game, even if karma would say Hall "deserved to lose."