Eastern Washington student's opinion of the Griz

Billings_Griz · Post by **Billings_Griz** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 3:11 pm

GrizinWashington wrote:The editorial would be marginally humorous if there were anything at Eastern that compares to what Montana has. Certainly there is a basis in truth to the column: Montana fans ARE somewhat cocky. It's hard not to be with the kind of success we've enjoyed. But when you put this editorial up to the actual facts, it just becomes a very sad commentary on where the Griz program is comparted to most others in the BSC. I attended the Eastern game, and they were extremely proud of setting a new stadium attendance record. The only problem is, 70% of the 11,000 people there were Griz fans, sitting on bleachers that I would think would be in need of replacement if they were at Wibaux Junior High's stadium, say nothing of a Division 1 university.

Perhaps the columnist would be better served to write an editorial about why Eastern cannot seem to build a program to be proud of, rather than childishly mocking the Griz for having done so.

Wibaux has a JR High Stadium? Wow, they ARE big time.

crazycat · Post by **crazycat** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 3:44 pm

Topher wrote:
crazycat wrote:
bozbobcat wrote:I just thought this was kind of funny.

http://www.easterneronline.com/vnews/di ... 34078b4f0f

There's a long discussion about this on e-Griz, which is where I found it. I posted this on the Smack Board because this conversation could get ugly.
Good article. He nailed them perfectly. Finally someone said it, but I doubt it fazes them. They're a lost cause.

For Cat fans it was prefect timing. The Griz fans were telling us how bad we were going to get clocked by the second best team in the league and now that it didn't happen they are saying PSU played horribly and the rain hurt PSU. Haha, yeah, like it's never rained in Portland. Shucks, MuAmmar Ali was even saying he loves to play in the mud. The best part is we won't have to put up with them this week. If they do come around, we can just select quotes from this fine Easterner article.

To be real, the Griz are the best team in the league right now, but lets see if they can improve as the year goes on. They have an opportunistic defense and have had great special teams play. Are they that good in those areas or are other teams that bad or have things just been falling into place for them? PSU played them fairly even in those areas and almost won, while our game vs. PSU didn't have any of that stuff. You have to wonder if UM's offense will pick up the slack if they don't get the turnovers, sp. teams plays.

If we scored 39 against NAU, then the Griz should really light them up in Missoula. We still have a tough time catching them with SSU believing in themselves and ISU on the road. If we win those, it'll start to get real interesting.
Right now you are tied with Sac State for second place in the Big Sky...Conveniently you have the opportunity to rectify that real quick like. This should be the only thing on your mind, not overzealous Griz fans.

Right before you said 'right now...' I acknowledged the fact that SSU and ISU are the first orders of business, but amazingly my pea brain is able to break away from that focal point and allow itself to take in a humorous, yet true, topic.

But to do as you say, I'll point out that prior to that I acknowledged that UM is the best team in the league 'currently'. All this on the SMACK page, but still you guys are so cocky you don't even like it when Cat fans are grounded. Get over yourselves, I'm trying to give your team a compliment. Your fans, on the other hand, need their collective heads shrunk.

The article - and I say this while breaking my trance from the SSU game - was right on the money. Kids say the Darndest things...in public...when you told them specifically not to. Suck it up Griz fans, you're not as cool as you think.

catatac · Post by **catatac** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 8:23 pm

GrizinWashington wrote:The editorial would be marginally humorous if there were anything at Eastern that compares to what Montana has. Certainly there is a basis in truth to the column: Montana fans ARE somewhat cocky. It's hard not to be with the kind of success we've enjoyed. But when you put this editorial up to the actual facts, it just becomes a very sad commentary on where the Griz program is comparted to most others in the BSC. I attended the Eastern game, and they were extremely proud of setting a new stadium attendance record. The only problem is, 70% of the 11,000 people there were Griz fans, sitting on bleachers that I would think would be in need of replacement if they were at Wibaux Junior High's stadium, say nothing of a Division 1 university.

Perhaps the columnist would be better served to write an editorial about why Eastern cannot seem to build a program to be proud of, rather than childishly mocking the Griz for having done so.

I'm thinking that saying 70% of the crowd were Griz fans is a bit of an exaggeration...

Grizlaw · Post by **Grizlaw** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 8:32 pm

catatac wrote:I'm thinking that saying 70% of the crowd were Griz fans is a bit of an exaggeration...

I wasn't at the game, obviously, but 70% of 11,000 is only 7,700 Griz fans. Is that really so unbelievable?

Post by **kmax** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 8:53 pm

Grizlaw wrote:
catatac wrote:I'm thinking that saying 70% of the crowd were Griz fans is a bit of an exaggeration...
I wasn't at the game, obviously, but 70% of 11,000 is only 7,700 Griz fans. Is that really so unbelievable?

Come on Grizlaw, usually your pretty reasonable but this is kinda silly. Look at it:

Attendance at Cheney vs. Sac State: 6738

Now, obviously Sac State doesn't travel well, so even being generous and saying 500 Sac State parents and fans made the trip we'll say there was a EWU/neutral crowd of around 6200.

Attendance at Cheney vs. Montana: 11583

So if 70% of that were UM fans, it leaves an EWU/neutral crowd of only 3475 give or take. Your telling me the crowd at EWU decreased by over 2700 fans against the one team in the Big Sky that actually gets a team's fans excited to come out and watch? (yes that was a compliment to the Griz)

I'm not buying it.

Grizlaw · Post by **Grizlaw** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 8:44 am

kmax wrote: Come on Grizlaw, usually your pretty reasonable but this is kinda silly. Look at it:

Attendance at Cheney vs. Sac State: 6738

Now, obviously Sac State doesn't travel well, so even being generous and saying 500 Sac State parents and fans made the trip we'll say there was a EWU/neutral crowd of around 6200.

Attendance at Cheney vs. Montana: 11583

So if 70% of that were UM fans, it leaves an EWU/neutral crowd of only 3475 give or take. Your telling me the crowd at EWU decreased by over 2700 fans against the one team in the Big Sky that actually gets a team's fans excited to come out and watch? (yes that was a compliment to the Griz)

I'm not buying it.

*shrug* Fair enough.

In my defense, though, I really wasn't trying to be ridiculous. I posted off-the-cuff and without looking at EWU's attendance for other home games, but here was my (rough) logic: the Griz bring in ~22,000 of their own fans for every home game (assuming a reasonable number of visiting fans), many of whom travel several hours every week to Missoula. Cheney is only a few hours from Missoula. Given a fair number of local Spokane Griz fans who don't travel to Missoula for games, plus a lot of "regulars" at WA-Griz who are willing to drive a few extra hours for a road game, it didn't seem that ridiculous to me that 7,000 or 8,000 Griz fans would show up in Cheney.

Granted, after looking at the other half of the equation (EWU's attendance in other games), I'll concede that it looks like I'm probably wrong and you're right, but I wasn't just talking out my @ss.

Post by **kmax** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 9:29 am

Grizlaw wrote:
kmax wrote: Come on Grizlaw, usually your pretty reasonable but this is kinda silly. Look at it:

Attendance at Cheney vs. Sac State: 6738

Now, obviously Sac State doesn't travel well, so even being generous and saying 500 Sac State parents and fans made the trip we'll say there was a EWU/neutral crowd of around 6200.

Attendance at Cheney vs. Montana: 11583

So if 70% of that were UM fans, it leaves an EWU/neutral crowd of only 3475 give or take. Your telling me the crowd at EWU decreased by over 2700 fans against the one team in the Big Sky that actually gets a team's fans excited to come out and watch? (yes that was a compliment to the Griz)

I'm not buying it.
*shrug* Fair enough.

In my defense, though, I really wasn't trying to be ridiculous. I posted off-the-cuff and without looking at EWU's attendance for other home games, but here was my (rough) logic: the Griz bring in ~22,000 of their own fans for every home game (assuming a reasonable number of visiting fans), many of whom travel several hours every week to Missoula. Cheney is only a few hours from Missoula. Given a fair number of local Spokane Griz fans who don't travel to Missoula for games, plus a lot of "regulars" at WA-Griz who are willing to drive a few extra hours for a road game, it didn't seem that ridiculous to me that 7,000 or 8,000 Griz fans would show up in Cheney.

Granted, after looking at the other half of the equation (EWU's attendance in other games), I'll concede that it looks like I'm probably wrong and you're right, but I wasn't just talking out my @ss.

Agreed, didn't mean to come off quite that bad I guess. I agree that your side doesn't sound completely far fetched, but looking at the room that left for EWU fans just didn't jive even on first look for me which is why I looked up the numbers.

#34 · Post by **#34** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 10:02 am

kmax wrote:
Grizlaw wrote:
kmax wrote: Come on Grizlaw, usually your pretty reasonable but this is kinda silly. Look at it:

Attendance at Cheney vs. Sac State: 6738

Now, obviously Sac State doesn't travel well, so even being generous and saying 500 Sac State parents and fans made the trip we'll say there was a EWU/neutral crowd of around 6200.

Attendance at Cheney vs. Montana: 11583

So if 70% of that were UM fans, it leaves an EWU/neutral crowd of only 3475 give or take. Your telling me the crowd at EWU decreased by over 2700 fans against the one team in the Big Sky that actually gets a team's fans excited to come out and watch? (yes that was a compliment to the Griz)

I'm not buying it.
*shrug* Fair enough.

In my defense, though, I really wasn't trying to be ridiculous. I posted off-the-cuff and without looking at EWU's attendance for other home games, but here was my (rough) logic: the Griz bring in ~22,000 of their own fans for every home game (assuming a reasonable number of visiting fans), many of whom travel several hours every week to Missoula. Cheney is only a few hours from Missoula. Given a fair number of local Spokane Griz fans who don't travel to Missoula for games, plus a lot of "regulars" at WA-Griz who are willing to drive a few extra hours for a road game, it didn't seem that ridiculous to me that 7,000 or 8,000 Griz fans would show up in Cheney.

Granted, after looking at the other half of the equation (EWU's attendance in other games), I'll concede that it looks like I'm probably wrong and you're right, but I wasn't just talking out my @ss.
Agreed, didn't mean to come off quite that bad I guess. I agree that your side doesn't sound completely far fetched, but looking at the room that left for EWU fans just didn't jive even on first look for me which is why I looked up the numbers.

Is there any way we can get one of those little smiley face characters that is punching numbers in on a calculator?

I think that would be appropriate for this conversation. Ya gotta love all the number crunching.

ursusmissoulus · Post by **ursusmissoulus** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 10:13 am

Other things to include in the calculation. EWU oversold the ticks and many Griz fans had to sit on a hill outside the stadium. There were lots of empty seats in the EWU booster section at midfield.

Post by **kmax** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 10:27 am

ursusmissoulus wrote:Other things to include in the calculation. EWU oversold the ticks and many Griz fans had to sit on a hill outside the stadium. There were lots of empty seats in the EWU booster section at midfield.

That I would believe. Their ticket office is so screwed up. Last year for the Cat game we were supposed to have our tix at will call and they didn't have them. When we started to get upset the gal says, go see that guy over there. We went to him, and he is standing there with a stack of like 200+ tickets. We didn't even get half way through saying what the problem was and he goes "how many do you need?" We said six and he ripped em off and handed them to us no questions asked.

Weltercat · Post by **Weltercat** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:14 pm

That's a great article. He hit it right on the head except for the Weber State Athletic Department comment. I don't think he is too familiar with Weber State Track. They have a great Track and Basketball program.

GrizinWashington · Post by **GrizinWashington** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 5:14 pm

Perhaps 70% was a SLIGHT exageration. But I assure you it was well over 50% Griz fans. And let's be frank: What difference does it make? Even a 50/50 split is a rather marked comment on the status of the two programs.

catatac · Post by **catatac** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 7:57 pm

GrizinWashington wrote:Perhaps 70% was a SLIGHT exageration. But I assure you it was well over 50% Griz fans. And let's be frank: What difference does it make? Even a 50/50 split is a rather marked comment on the status of the two programs.

I don't buy that it was 50%... but that's just my opinion. Fams have a tendency to inflate the #'s. Last year I kept hearing that we had 5,000 people there and I would be surprised if there were 3,000. Nobody knows for sure...

anacondagriz · Post by **anacondagriz** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 8:18 pm

catatac wrote:
GrizinWashington wrote:Perhaps 70% was a SLIGHT exageration. But I assure you it was well over 50% Griz fans. And let's be frank: What difference does it make? Even a 50/50 split is a rather marked comment on the status of the two programs.
I don't buy that it was 50%... but that's just my opinion. Fams have a tendency to inflate the #'s. Last year I kept hearing that we had 5,000 people there and I would be surprised if there were 3,000. Nobody knows for sure...

Catatac go to KPAX & watch the replay of the game. UM fans had the entire East side, both end zones & one section of the west side. It was well over 50%

Grizlaw · Post by **Grizlaw** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:31 pm

GrizinWashington wrote:Perhaps 70% was a SLIGHT exageration. But I assure you it was well over 50% Griz fans. And let's be frank: What difference does it make? Even a 50/50 split is a rather marked comment on the status of the two programs.

Apparently you're forgetting the other part. According to the aforementioned snot-nosed 19-year-old EWU student, the only reason so many of us go to games is because none of us have jobs.

--GL (I'll try to remember that the next time I'm still at work at 11:30 pm working on a deal...)

Swilly3224 · Post by **Swilly3224** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:39 pm

catatac wrote:
GrizinWashington wrote:Perhaps 70% was a SLIGHT exageration. But I assure you it was well over 50% Griz fans. And let's be frank: What difference does it make? Even a 50/50 split is a rather marked comment on the status of the two programs.
I don't buy that it was 50%... but that's just my opinion. Fams have a tendency to inflate the #'s. Last year I kept hearing that we had 5,000 people there and I would be surprised if there were 3,000. Nobody knows for sure...

How many Cat fans make that trip?

Post by **rtb** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:57 pm

Swilly3224 wrote:
catatac wrote:
GrizinWashington wrote:Perhaps 70% was a SLIGHT exageration. But I assure you it was well over 50% Griz fans. And let's be frank: What difference does it make? Even a 50/50 split is a rather marked comment on the status of the two programs.
I don't buy that it was 50%... but that's just my opinion. Fams have a tendency to inflate the #'s. Last year I kept hearing that we had 5,000 people there and I would be surprised if there were 3,000. Nobody knows for sure...
How many Cat fans make that trip?

Last year there were ALOT of Cat fans there as the expectations were high going into the game. I don't know the number, but it was a very big group of MSU fans.

Hell's Bells · Post by **Hell's Bells** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 10:30 pm

rtb wrote:
Swilly3224 wrote:
catatac wrote:
GrizinWashington wrote:Perhaps 70% was a SLIGHT exageration. But I assure you it was well over 50% Griz fans. And let's be frank: What difference does it make? Even a 50/50 split is a rather marked comment on the status of the two programs.
I don't buy that it was 50%... but that's just my opinion. Fams have a tendency to inflate the #'s. Last year I kept hearing that we had 5,000 people there and I would be surprised if there were 3,000. Nobody knows for sure...
How many Cat fans make that trip?
Last year there were ALOT of Cat fans there as the expectations were high going into the game. I don't know the number, but it was a very big group of MSU fans.

just courious i wonder what is the allotment of tickets to visiting fans at ewu games...

94VegasCat · Post by **94VegasCat** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:59 pm

I would love to read the article, but I am being blocked or re-directed away from it. Does anybody or can anybody get me a good link please?

grzh8r · Post by **grzh8r** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 3:49 pm

anacondagriz wrote:
catatac wrote:
GrizinWashington wrote:Perhaps 70% was a SLIGHT exageration. But I assure you it was well over 50% Griz fans. And let's be frank: What difference does it make? Even a 50/50 split is a rather marked comment on the status of the two programs.
I don't buy that it was 50%... but that's just my opinion. Fams have a tendency to inflate the #'s. Last year I kept hearing that we had 5,000 people there and I would be surprised if there were 3,000. Nobody knows for sure...
Catatac go to KPAX & watch the replay of the game. UM fans had the entire East side, both end zones & one section of the west side. It was well over 50%

Who cares? Soon enough griz fans will claim to have over 50% of the world's population on their side...

Eastern Washington student's opinion of the Griz

Re: Eastern Washington student's opinion of the Griz