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Be Honest, Does it Bother Fans of the Brawl?

havgrizfan said:
I've seen summer videos of Griz and Cat players together, I know many hoemtown guys lift together, and have "heard" that Flathead Lake days and nights are filled with kids from both sides of the rivalry, especially the Montana kids.

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Follow some of the players on instagram and you'll eventually see Flathead and Holter excursions together. I think a Cat player's family or girlfriend has a place on Holter and probably the same for Flathead for a Cat or Griz player. As much as a lot of these guys went to high school together or played against, they should be buddies. And if you saw some of the girls in bikinis in a lot of these pictures....you would be hanging out with whoever knew the girls whether Cat or Griz too.

In as much as a small group of bad fans give a bad taste in some people's mouth, by and large, we all have friends on the other side and we get along great with them.
 
In the final analysis there is more in common between Missoula and Bozeman, between UM and MSU and between griz players/fans and cat players/fans than there are differences.

To paraphrase an old saying, "There are only two kinds of people in the world. Those who are Montana's and those who are not!"

The young men and women who are representing Montana at either school, no matter the endeavor and no matter where they originally hail from are deserving of respect from fans befitting the true nature of the Montana soul. Those friendships are the cultivation of that soul and a significant part of what makes the rivalry so intense. But it is also part of what makes Montana great!

I'd like to see more of them!
 
Doesn't bother me in the least. My son and daughter in-law both attended MSU, and unfortunately they are Cat fans. I have many friends that are Cat fans. People who know me know I bleed Maroon and Silver, as I am one of the biggest Griz fans around.
Friendship is not broken my a rivalry, it is created. Knowing you always bested your friends states a sense of Pride!
Bad fans are just that, no matter who their team is.
I am bringing Cat fans to the Griz/Cat game this year that have never attended a game at Wash/Griz stadium. They have ties to the Cat team as their family members used to coach the cats. I hope they have the times of their lives while in Missoula, hope it is an experience that only Griz nation can dish out!


Go Griz!
 
JDoub said:
I always thought it was silly watching fans fighting in the stands when I was on the field. I had two good friends and high school teammates go play for the griz when I played for the cats. I would have joined them if UM had an engineering school. Had several friends that played on the other side, always respected them as young men and good people.

I will admit, it did feel good beating the griz - ( I was one of the few fortunate Bobcats to have never lost to the griz), but I've never hated UM, the program, or the players, the way that some fans seem to. And I don't really understand the hatred. The only explanations I can think of for that mentality are rooted in hubris and narcissism, not worthy of noble aspirations or reflective of a full, wise soul.


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Spot on JDoub. The players fight like heck during the game and maybe a small minority take it with them, but for the most part, the players know the work and sacrifice that all players go through and after the final seconds tick off, they can talk to guys on the other team that they have probably known for years. Fans take it much more seriously and it is embarrassing the way they act and treat each other.

My wife is from California and went to her first griz/cat game in Bozeman last year and was really quite shocked and at times apalled by how she was treated by some people just because she wore maroon and cheered for the griz. And yes, I realize that cat fans get treated the same way in Missoula. I tried to tell her, but she didn't believe it until she saw it for her self.
 
Gaeilge1 said:
In the final analysis there is more in common between Missoula and Bozeman, between UM and MSU and between griz players/fans and cat players/fans than there are differences.

To paraphrase an old saying, "There are only two kinds of people in the world. Those who are Montana's and those who are not!"

The young men and women who are representing Montana at either school, no matter the endeavor and no matter where they originally hail from are deserving of respect from fans befitting the true nature of the Montana soul. Those friendships are the cultivation of that soul and a significant part of what makes the rivalry so intense. But it is also part of what makes Montana great!

I'd like to see more of them!
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I prefer the quote from A River Runs Through It. "The world is full of bastards and their numbers increase significantly the further away you get from Missoula Montana." (paraphrasing of course)
 
JDoub said:
I always thought it was silly watching fans fighting in the stands when I was on the field. I had two good friends and high school teammates go play for the griz when I played for the cats. I would have joined them if UM had an engineering school. Had several friends that played on the other side, always respected them as young men and good people.

I will admit, it did feel good beating the griz - ( I was one of the few fortunate Bobcats to have never lost to the griz), but I've never hated UM, the program, or the players, the way that some fans seem to. And I don't really understand the hatred. The only explanations I can think of for that mentality are rooted in hubris and narcissism, not worthy of noble aspirations or reflective of a full, wise soul.


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great post. I've been saying this for years. actually I think I got bashed pretty good when I suggested the idea that the rivalry seems a lot more extreme from the fans than it does the players. this in no way means anything come the brawl. every player, friends or not, wants nothing more than to beat the asses of the other team. and that's just how it should be.
 
Coming from Central Montana, kids I grew up with were pretty much split between U of M and MSU. I ended up on the U of M side. Remember my first Griz/Cat game in 1964. Terry Dillon was awesome. I even root for the Cats depending on the game. My best bud is a MSU grad from Miles City. Awesome man and a Cat. And, by the way, both Grizzlies and Bobcats are MONTANA critters.

There is more to College sports than the rivalries. These young people are becoming the leaders of tomorrow and I hope to God they learn to respect their adversaries. Not respecting your adversaries on the battlefield that can be a very costly mistake. Go Griz...
 
No problem at all with it. In fact, just the opposite. I wonder how you live in a state with such a small population and not have many friends and family that are not Cat fans. We have been to two weddings this summer with many Cat fans present. In fact, both of the brides are MSU grads. At both weddings during one of the dance tunes their crowd shouted "eat shit Grizzlies, go Cats go!" Of course that was just fuel for the fire and pretty soon the Griz fans were trying to out shout them with "eat shit Bobcats, go Griz go." I am much older and the brides were my nieces but it was thumbs up by everyone. We all had a ball and drank to the rivalry. At one of the weddings the groom was a Griz fan and gave a shout out during his thank you speech. Again, many cheers and boos depending on your alliance. All in good fun.
 
I'd question the duchery of players who can't be friends with their rival players. That was for high school, maybe, but now you're a man.

A Bobcat I still admire is Denarius McGhee. Amazing athlete who is also an amazing person. Always seemed like a guy who would walk the walk. How is that not refreshing?
 
BornGrizz said:
I'd question the duchery of players who can't be friends with their rival players. That was for high school, maybe, but now you're a man.

A Bobcat I still admire is Denarius McGhee. Amazing athlete who is also an amazing person. Always seemed like a guy who would walk the walk. How is that not refreshing?
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DM was a great player, unfortunately, I don't think he could walk the walk after coach Ron Ash threw him under the bus and peeled out following the loss to UM his senior season.
 
Ursa Major said:
BornGrizz said:
I'd question the duchery of players who can't be friends with their rival players. That was for high school, maybe, but now you're a man.

A Bobcat I still admire is Denarius McGhee. Amazing athlete who is also an amazing person. Always seemed like a guy who would walk the walk. How is that not refreshing?
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DM was a great player, unfortunately, I don't think he could walk the walk after coach Ron Ash threw him under the bus and peeled out following the loss to UM his senior season.
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He couldn't even crawl the crawl after Ash had his way with him. Sad to see a coach so against players when things went wrong. I'm hoping Choach Oat will bring back a sense of civility to that program.
 
Ursa Major said:
BornGrizz said:
I'd question the duchery of players who can't be friends with their rival players. That was for high school, maybe, but now you're a man.

A Bobcat I still admire is Denarius McGhee. Amazing athlete who is also an amazing person. Always seemed like a guy who would walk the walk. How is that not refreshing?
Click to expand...
DM was a great player, unfortunately, I don't think he could walk the walk after coach Ron Ash threw him under the bus and peeled out following the loss to UM his senior season.
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I didn't know it was even possible to peel out in a bus. That Ash guy was really something else.
 
I think it is strange behavior for anyone to hate/dislike someone because of the team they play for, the school they went to or the teams they root for. Although, I think all the political cross hatred that has been accelerated the past 20 odd years is also strange.

Only natural for football players, even on different sides of a big rivalry, to become friends, especially if they grew up under similar circumstances.
 
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