o! yet another awf(ul) post to confront! but he's right. lamentations, fulminations, recriminations--all for naught. tis i, a junk yard dog, braying at the moon.
at history.
we went: from the pacific coast conference (where we didn't belong) to the skyline conference (essentially the mwc, where thanks to one president who decided to demphasize athletics at montana, we couldn't make it), to the big sky conference, where we've dominated. about 15 years ago, we had the chance to get back to the mwc (via the wac), but all of us football fans were so relishing the bully role, we foreswore the opportunity, relating more to poor little idaho than to mighty boise, amid talk our homegrown lads couldn't compete at that level, we didn't have the money, woe is poor little fly-over montana. i was a big advocate at the time of moving up, but gradually got weary of the ceaseless confrontation with mediocrity, to the glee of all the hyper-macho chest-thumpers on the football board. in all this discussion, basketball was never mentioned, unless i brought it up, maybe twice. now we're stuck in football with winning a "national championship" at essentially the pony league level, and in basketball with a conference that is losing national traction with each passing season. oh, we're a "big sky power" alright, until either the men's or women's team steps out of our little bubble, and gets blown to the far side of embarrassment in an ncaa tournament.
now: comes a great local talent, a player who might reverse this trend, and we have nothing to offer (lest begging and petitions) but futile high hopes and a third-rate conference. can't change anything now. tis really the history i lament, and the montana state-of-mind that keeps us stuck at this level.