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Serious Question

I generally like the Cats. Usually don't care how they do, but against some teams, I hope they win. Idaho in recent years. Most playoff games. Don't like when they crowd UM in the playoffs, or try to beat the Griz, or do.

I like the current Cat coaching staff, starting with TG, who is my friend. Also, know Choate a bit and like him. Think it would be a big mistake for Griz Nation to take them lightly.

My dad played for the Griz, way back in the day, but he died early so I didn't grow up a Griz fan. Moved to Bozeman after he died, as my mom's sister lived there, and grew up more of a Cat fan for middle school and high school. Recruited by both schools.

Don't understand the almost hatred in some parts of the rivalry. Seems stupid to me. Understand how younger players hate the Cats. I still sort of "hate" Harvard.

Like how both the Griz and Cats are ranked in top 10 for attendance in FCS.

Think the Cat Griz rivalry went south when the Griz had their incredibly winning streak. Too many (dumb) Griz fans got too obnoxious, and too many Cat fans got too defensive and sort of mean or stupid.
 
Sam Jankovich played for the Griz and was Dennis' position coach for Sweeney (another Butte guy). Mick Dennehey who was without a doubt the best safety I've seen in Montana coached in Bozo and was good friends with Cliff.

One of the Stark kids coached track in Bozo forever.

I could point out several SEC coaches such as Vince Dooley who played football and basketball at Auburn did really well as a coach at Georgia. When I returned to Montana to help my mother care for my father before they passed, UM was in the last year of the second longest win streak against MSU and by and large, it wasn't the graduates of UM that gave me so much shit for being an MSU Grad. It was all the transplants, Northern, Western or people who in all likelihood never sat their ass in a classroom in either school.

I lived in the south for several years and never experienced such childish behavior as I see within our state and like they say down there: "You ain't got no dog in this fight!" I think it's just the Oregon or Arizona pukes stirring the pot.
 
I wish Bridger Bowl wasn't in Bozeman, they don't deserve it. LOL

Seriously though, I do cheer against the Cats because it's fun, and I do like the rivalry between the fan bases when it's fun. Not so much when it gets mean or personal, but a good burn is a great read.
 
Maybe I look at it slightly different than others. I root for the Cats during the regular season. Preferably they are ranked about 25th going into that final game. It makes our win that much stronger and we can knock them out of the playoffs. That makes our final regular season game a win/win. We get nothing out of them being a shitty team.
 
Here's how I look at it. I want the cats to lose every game. I don't personally hate them and wish them an injury free year. However......FTC.
 
George Ferguson said:
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.
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very well said :clap:
 
Some folks don’t have a life and find their only pleasure vicariously.

Sad.


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77matcat said:
Some folks don’t have a life and find their only pleasure vicariously.

Sad.

I have a number of griz friends. Most are good folks that are good fans.


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Click to expand...



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
...would root for the cats...
...if they play north korea...
...depending on the spread...

... :p ...
 
I really don't want to hate the Cats. Bozeman is a nice city, the university is good and I know many people who went there after high school (grew up in Great Falls).

With that said, from a football standpoint I cannot stand the Cats. They are the worst winners, and even worse losers. I have been to the cat/GRIZ game in Bozeman twice (03 & 05). Each time the Cats won & I was treated like sh*t for simply wearing a Griz jersey in their stadium. Car was spit on, yelled (F*CK YOU GRIZ, EAT SH*T) to my face as Im walking to the bathroom, not great times. Ironically, those two games are the only times the Cats have beat the Griz in Bozeman since I have been born. I haven't stepped foot in Bozeman in November since then.

Cats fans live for nothing more than to simply beat the Griz and become the biggest a holes around the time of the Brawl. While I do not view a Griz season solely on whether we beat MSU or not, I will say I do hate the football program and look forward to seeing them lose the last regular season game of each year.
 
1509812_10205170400890667_2834590385751997677_n.jpg
 
CatGrad-UMGradStu said:
Sam Jankovich played for the Griz and was Dennis' position coach for Sweeney (another Butte guy). Mick Dennehey who was without a doubt the best safety I've seen in Montana coached in Bozo and was good friends with Cliff.

One of the Stark kids coached track in Bozo forever.

I could point out several SEC coaches such as Vince Dooley who played football and basketball at Auburn did really well as a coach at Georgia. When I returned to Montana to help my mother care for my father before they passed, UM was in the last year of the second longest win streak against MSU and by and large, it wasn't the graduates of UM that gave me so much shit for being an MSU Grad. It was all the transplants, Northern, Western or people who in all likelihood never sat their ass in a classroom in either school.

I lived in the south for several years and never experienced such childish behavior as I see within our state and like they say down there: "You ain't got no dog in this fight!" I think it's just the Oregon or Arizona pukes stirring the pot.
Click to expand...

My mom's side of a large family hails from Alabama. Half the kids attended Alabama, half went to Auburn, except for one outlier who attended Georgia. It made for some interesting family dinners.
 
I rarely even notice them. To hate or loath the Cats shows relevance. Best just to ignore them unless confronted by a Cat fan. Then just look down, give a small smile and say it's o.k. little fella.
 
cclarkblues said:
CatGrad-UMGradStu said:
Sam Jankovich played for the Griz and was Dennis' position coach for Sweeney (another Butte guy). Mick Dennehey who was without a doubt the best safety I've seen in Montana coached in Bozo and was good friends with Cliff.

One of the Stark kids coached track in Bozo forever.

I could point out several SEC coaches such as Vince Dooley who played football and basketball at Auburn did really well as a coach at Georgia. When I returned to Montana to help my mother care for my father before they passed, UM was in the last year of the second longest win streak against MSU and by and large, it wasn't the graduates of UM that gave me so much shit for being an MSU Grad. It was all the transplants, Northern, Western or people who in all likelihood never sat their ass in a classroom in either school.

I lived in the south for several years and never experienced such childish behavior as I see within our state and like they say down there: "You ain't got no dog in this fight!" I think it's just the Oregon or Arizona pukes stirring the pot.
Click to expand...

My mom's side of a large family hails from Alabama. Half the kids attended Alabama, half went to Auburn, except for one outlier who attended Georgia. It made for some interesting family dinners.
Click to expand...
Without a doubt! I experienced the same thing during holiday meals only my in-laws were a mixture of Georgia, Auburn and Florida State graduates. The world's largest floating cocktail party in Jacksonville was always civil and a lot of fun as were most games in Tennessee.

It will never cease to amaze me as to how uncivil we are with our dialogue out here today. Look at Bobby Dodd who played for Tennessee. Two of Saban's former assistants are now SEC coaches. One went to Sentinal and played for EWU.

I don't get it actually and my family goes back three generations in Bozeman. Anyway...
 
Glendivegriz said:
I rarely even notice them. To hate or loath the Cats shows relevance.
Click to expand...

This. I don't waste one second on them other than checking the score if I think about it. Sometimes I'll watch a game because they are in the Big Sky Conference; if its laid in front of me.
 
Glendivegriz said:
I rarely even notice them. To hate or loath the Cats shows relevance.
Click to expand...

This. Only time I pay any attention is Griz/Cat week, and it is not so much hating the Cats as it is rooting for the Griz to stomp their ass.
 
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