hilinegrizfan said:
mtpride41 said:
I usually peek at these board around cat/griz just to see what's being said by fans on either side. I've never posted before but found myself here and just couldn't keep quiet on this one.
I quite honestly think the "who is classier" or "who is more classless" debate every year is not productive. It's a rivalry. Emotions run high for everyone. There's always copious amounts of alcohol involved. And no matter what - there are always bad fans on either side.
I grew up a cat fan, went to MSU, and got one of my degrees from MSU, so I have mostly seen the bad from your side. That said, it's not lost on me that it exists on both. I know for a fact the p**p throwing incident happened last year. I also had some family friends who were adults get peed on by griz fans in Wa-griz. When I was 18 or 19 I was at the game in Missoula and my boyfriend at the time was playing for the cats. I stood up to cheer as he walked on the field and had a grown man put his hands on my shoulders and shove me back down into my seat, telling me I needed to sit the f*ck down. The game hadn't even started yet! And I had no intentions of blocking his view the whole game. I was just there to support my team, just like he was.
Again, I know this happens on both sides, which is why I think the "class" argument is pointless. After those experiences, I still go watch the game in Missoula and am friendly to griz fans every day of the year. The bad few doesn't define the whole fan base.
As for cat fans yelling ESG, GCG last Saturday. . .
I was born in the 90s and didn't see the cats beat the griz until I was 10 years old. I remember losing every year and it sucked. Growing up in those years made it really hard not to hate the griz. Many, if not most, other cat fans, including some of those Montana kids in the student section this past game, lived for at least some part of the streak. And if they didn't grow up in it, they know about it. It's still thrown in our faces even after four wins in a row! Can't tell you how many times I've heard "talk to me after you win 12 more" or something to that effect. It's usually all in good fun so I'm not complaining about it, just pointing it out. Those 16 years put a very bad taste in a lot of bobcats' mouths and it doesn't really go away. I still hold my breath until the 4th quarter expires no matter what the score is.
We also grew up with Bobby round 1 who repeatedly said we don't even deserve to have Montana in our name, he wished there were 5 quarters so he could kick our a** some more, refused to spend a penny in Bozeman, and the list goes on. I think bringing him back to UM resurrected a LOT of animosity from cat fans.
This was the first time EVER we have beat the griz by such a large margin. Can't lie, it felt pretty dang good. It felt that much sweeter to do it with Bobby as HC. Mony mony was banned by the admin at bobcat stadium for many years until this year, and I really think having Bobby back, who has disrespected not only our team and coaches, but our university and our town for so many years, had a little something to do with its comeback. Is it classy of us? No, of course not! But to be fair, not a whole lot is in this rivalry. That's part of what makes it what it is.
For every bad fan on either side, there's 100 good ones. Can we focus on the good ones and not give the bad ones the attention they're obviously seeking? Unless, of course, it rises to a level that requires a real conversation. But for now, and correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think we're there yet.
Hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving, and best of luck to you in the playoffs!
The only thing that I think is "classless" is the fact that MSU, as in Montana State University, the institution itself, entices and encourages their fans to do that chant by playing that song. True, you can't control the assholes on either side, and neither of us should be held responsible for the actions of other fans who clearly take it too far. I'm well aware there are a lot of terrible Griz fans that are worthy of criticism, but I can proudly say my University doesn't intentionally condone and encourage profanity being shouted at a bunch of kids playing a game. Its my opinion that when the University ITSELF chooses to play that song, knowing damn well their students and fans will chant that as loud as possible to 18-22 year olds, including a lot of fellow montanans, is indeed, classless.
I admitted that it is classless. I agreed that it was. I'm not disputing that.
And to be fair, while UM may not play a song, they did rehire Bobby Hauck, who arguably brought more bad blood between the schools than anyone else and arguably made the rivalry more contentious than ever before, to lead your group of 18-22 year olds and be the face of griz football. Now he has those 18-22 year olds refusing to say the name of our school, town, players, coaches, administrators, etc. And this was before the song was ever played at the game on Saturday. And, those same 18-22 year olds walked out at bobcat stadium with "FTC" written on their arms. Which, contrary to what was said in a prior post, we could all see easily at the stadium and I'm sure was even more glaring on TV.
Hauck has never given MSU—as a football team or an educational institution—any respect until we beat him last week. It's his 9th year total as head coach and maybe MSU just got tired of it. Not saying it was the right thing to do, but I'm just trying to point out that your admin allows some classless conduct too, and a lot of it comes from the man who leads your team.
But if you want to talk about fellow Montanans, I remember being a young kid hearing Bobby's comment that we don't deserve Montana in our names and I was offended. And this came straight out of the mouth of the face of grizzly football. Yet I don't remember the UM admin telling him to cut it out.
Look, I get it, the chant is offensive to your players and I'm not defending the university's choice to play the song, regardless of how fired it up it gets cat fans. It's always better to take the high road and I really think admin from both schools could work on that.
My point is that both sides lack class, and I think deep down we all realize that, so what's the point of sitting here pointing fingers at each other? Especially when I don't think anything is changing anytime soon.
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