Does Jimmer have Jimmerfatigue?

First we hear there was outrage when a BYU student penned a letter to the editor of the Daily Universe, saying she was tired of the Jimmer Fredette worship.

Michelle Peralta wrote: “I can’t walk across campus without hearing Jimmer Fredette’s name a dozen times. His name comes up everywhere: in class, at work, during lunch. Really, people? Cut it out with the Jimmer worship. Last time I checked, idol worship was very much frowned upon in the scriptures.”

Subsequent news reports said she got savaged on Facebook.

Now comes the news that several hundred people showed up at the Ernest L. Wilkinson Center for an autograph session with The Jimmer, Thursday. Except that Fredette didn’t know about it. Some fans on Twitter said they waited several hours.

Fredette apologized (perhaps unnecessarily), saying he was unaware that someone had posted bogus fliers announcing that he would be signing autographs.

Exactly why the Jimmermania has taken such a wild turn is unclear. He’s a wonderful player — a national player of the year candidate. But I don’t recall autograph mobs for Andrew Bogut, the NBA’s No. 1 draft pick at Utah, or Alex Smith, the NFL’s top pick.

Maybe it has to do with the ever-increasing reach of social networking, which was considerably smaller even in Smith’s and Bogut’s day.

Still, in the experience I’ve had with Fredette, I have to believe he’s a bit embarrassed by all of this. He doesn’t seem to be as impressed by himself as everyone else. In fact, if you got him in a room and asked him off the record, I’m guessing he’d admit that in a certain sense, Ms. Peralta has a point.