Yes, I came to realize, after reading several recent posts, if you’re a real true blue maroon Griz fan, you can’t be it from far away. Spiritual connections don’t matter; it must be physical. You must put your butt in a seat in Dahlberg or it simply doesn’t count. And of course, I wanted to be counted among the true Griz fans!
So my wife and I flew into Missoula. Given my reputation on this board, both for good and for bad, I called the Missoula Police Department to arrange a special escort over to Dahlberg, but I wish now I hadn’t done that. The flashing lights just called attention to our limo, such that there was a huge mob of people waiting when we got to Dahlberg. I always say, a mob is an idiot; you can’t make friends with a mob. But Montanans are different. They’re very nice friendly people, and I’m happy to report, my wife and I did not get hurt in the crush.
We were escorted to a seat in the second row with John Tester, Bobby Hauck and Seth Bodner, but I have to say, I was kind of embarrassed about that. People were ignoring them to meet my wife. She’s a major artist with her work in the permanent collections of the Musuem of Modern Art and the Whitney in New York, not to mention the current exhibit at the new Louis Vuitton Museum in Paris. That’s a brand new museum designed by Frank Gehry, and for their first exhibit, they asked MOMA in New York to curate a show of all the leading artists of the Modern style, including Picasso, Matisse, Warhol and such, and they included my wife’s work, so of course everybody wanted to meet her and get an autograph.
Player Rep came over, too, and because he went to an Ivy League school, he wanted to compare notes, since I too have two degrees from an Ivy League school. It’s always fun to talk to people from the Ivy League, because we’re the Ivy League, and share that common bond of superiority over regular people. But when I found out he only had a Bachelor’s Degree, I sort of lost interest in him. I mean, c’mon! What’s a Bachelor’s degree worth today!
A nice young lady came by to ask if we’d like any concessions, and my wife and I were quick to say, almost in unison, “Oh yes, quiche au foie gras, with a glass of white wine.That would be wonderful.Thank you.” She looked a bit perplexed, then said she was thinking more along the lines of a hot dog and a coke. My wife and I both blanched, sniveled and said, “You know, we just ate in first class on the plane. We’re really not that hungry. But thanks anyway.”
As for the game itself, given all the commotion around us, I frankly can’t say I remember much, who we played, or even the score. I do remember that afterward Mike, Ahmaad, Ahmaad’s mom, Jamar (wow, is he big!), Bobby, Timmy and Syeed all came over to say hello. Krslovic came over too but I had to remind him, I speak the King’s English, not Australian, and so he went back to the locker room, while Timmy and Syeed and I reminisced about the Bay Area. I reminded them about the time I hosted a big Griz get-together with several mucky-muck big-money Griz fans in my co-op on Nob Hill, and you could tell, they were all suitably impressed.
Well, that’s pretty much my report about the game. Now I can say—I saw a game in Dahlberg. And what a great opportunity it was for everybody to meet me! It’s an experience I’m sure they’ll never forget.
