I will never, ever hate an MSU player. To hate someone who you've never even met is perhaps one of the dumbest things in sports, and a complete waste of time. I've also interviewed and met tons of them over the years, and have not personally met one single bad dude from that program. In my college days, I had a very good friend of Malta who was a great MSU linebacker. He actually stayed in town after a loss in Missoula and partied all night with all Griz players. I've said this often, the players on both sides of this rivalry don't dislike each other nearly as much as the fan bases wish they would. In fact, if the fan bases knew how many friendships within the rivalry over the years, they'd be awfully disappointed.
I also have a lot of really good friends who are diehard Bobcat fans, and honestly, I have never had so much as even an argument over the years with any of them over this rivalry. We are friends, and we treat each other like friends do. We tease ocassionally, but actually, when I'm with any of them, we spend most of the time talking in a positive manner about the other guy's team. If that cheapens the rivalry, oh well.
So the bottom line is, no I do not hate the MSU football team. But, there have been a couple of things in recent years, that, at least get my blood boiling as Cat-Griz approaches.
1. I know it was only one guy, but a lot of MSU fans embraced this. The bar owner in Bozeman that bought a full page ad wishing Villanova good luck in 2009. I thought that was lame, low class, and really s---ty. Not that MSU was ever in a chipper, but I can't imagine Gordie Fix or Mike from Reds, or any of the other downtown guys doing that. That one really stuck in my craw. On the flip side, Griz fans in past years, have went and helped EWU fill their stadium for playoff games, and the University of Montana itself bought and ran a full page ad wishing the Eagles good luck before the 2010 national championship game.
2. And I say this by fully admitting Egriz is a crazy, crazy place, and I'm every bit a apart of that. But another thing that has bothered me and made me dislike SOME MSU fans a little more is, at least on Bobcat Nation, they actually really do seem to hate Griz football players. Just off the top of my head, I can think of the following threads in the college football forum over that called out or slammed players over the years: Chase Reynold, Jordan Tripp, Zach Wagenmann, Colt Anderson, Tyrone Holmes, and there was even a thread during Mariani's rookie year on there about how he sucked, and was only in the NFL because of Jeff Fisher. Really? You know how many kids in Havre who come from DIEHARD Bobcat families list Marc Mariani is the biggest hero in their young lives? HUNDREDS. I have been on Egriz from day one, and there have been very few threads over those years, singling out a Bobcat player. Egriz has its many, many flaws, but that has never been consistently one of them.
So in conclusion, I don't hate the Montana State players and coaches, but, I admit, I'm a little more surly towards the rivalry then I used to be.