The Bobcat Nation

Disclaimer: This is a vent post.

Driving home from Bozeman after the game Saturday I pulled up Egriz to read the latest posts by our esteemed counterparts to the west; something I periodically do. In this instance, I shouldn't have.

I came across a post titled: "Is it even worth it to have an official cats game thread?" to which the overwhelming response was "no", and there were multiple agreements that we should be a DII or NAIA team. If this didn't irk me enough, when we got home and went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, a woman was telling people at the host stand "MSU just knocked off some high-school team...that's all they will beat this year".

Ok...

This personifies why I am SO proud to be a Cat. Yes, I'm an MSU alum, but more than that, I'm a complex thinking individual who understands that by spewing absurdity I am revealing myself to be a terribly insecure person; I try not to spew absurdity. The GRIZ seem to be making it a habit. You don't see discussion topics like these on BN...and frankly, I would dismiss the site if there were. I find it increasingly offensive/laughable that this program that touts itself as the best is so transparent. Lets cite a few facts...

Enrollment: UM down AGAIN...this time 4.3 percent to 13,358. MSU up AGAIN, to 15,688. (http://missoulian.com/news/local/fall-e ... e306e.html), (http://www.montana.edu/about/)

MSU has 49% out-of-state enrollment. That's a pretty nifty number. (http://www.montana.edu/about/)

The Huffington Post has a SEARCH CATEGORY dedicated to the...rough patch...UM has gone through recently: (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/univ ... tana-rape/)

However...they have been the superior football program historically: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montana%E ... ll_rivalry) ...yes, I cited Wiki in this case because it simply notates the fact that MSU is the historic loser in the rivalry.

I'm sorry...but I am done being quiet when I stand and listen to things like I heard at the restaurant Saturday night. Newsflash Griz fans...you aren't the "shining city on a hill" you seem to have yourselves convinced you are. Perhaps you were one day...but that day is not today. Let's find a little perspective, shall we? And some restraint? And, one final note...should the UM's attendance continue to decline, they may not have a football program to speak of. Common thinking says that if UM, MSU, or any school of similar size falls below 10,000 students, they will have trouble meeting their obligations. Hopefully Denny Washington has had a prosperous year.

I don't want to see UM fail. I don't want to see the athletic department fold. FCS football and DI sports are better when "the U" is relevant. But they are NOT the premier institution of higher education in the State of Montana any longer. Frankly, that designation may go to Carroll. I'm done being quiet. I hope my fellow Cats are as well.

Honestly, I don't really care what griz fans think or say. I have come to realization that there are some that spout off when given the chance, but the vast majority are respectful humans.

Perhaps the worst thing one can do regarding griz smack talk is to go to egriz to seek out Griz smack talk, then post that griz smack talk on the BN.com main board, and then admit that the griz smack talk is really getting to you. We have managed to keep the sickness that is griz smack talk largely limited to egriz (think of it as a modern day leper colony). We don't want a healthy person sneaking in to a leper colony, getting infected, and then bringing that sickness out into the world to infect the rest of the healthy folks!

I'm moving this thread to smack talk.

SonomaCat wrote:Perhaps the worst thing one can do regarding griz smack talk is to go to egriz to seek out Griz smack talk, then post that griz smack talk on the BN.com main board, and then admit that the griz smack talk is really getting to you. We have managed to keep the sickness that is griz smack talk largely limited to egriz (think of it as a modern day leper colony). We don't want a healthy person sneaking in to a leper colony, getting infected, and then bringing that sickness out into the world to infect the rest of the healthy folks!

I'm moving this thread to smack talk.

Ha! Well said

[emoji106][emoji106][emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]


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Honestly, the only one's who should feel insulted are the folks from Western Oregon.

99% of Griz fans are awesome people, including many friends of mine who are mature enough to engage in good-natured back and forth about the rivalry without getting nasty or overly serious about sports games that are pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of things. If you're getting upset by the 1% of the fans who are jerks about it, including the part of that 1% which finds its way onto internet message boards in a much greater proportion than does the 99% of good fans, then that's more your problem than theirs, IMO.

MSU01 wrote:99% of Griz fans are awesome people, including many friends of mine who are mature enough to engage in good-natured back and forth about the rivalry without getting nasty or overly serious about sports games that are pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of things. If you're getting upset by the 1% of the fans who are jerks about it, including the part of that 1% which finds its way onto internet message boards in a much greater proportion than does the 99% of good fans, then that's more your problem than theirs, IMO.

No way is the percentage of grizztards at 1%, it is significantly higher than that, I agree that the large majority are decent human beings.

The problem with grizz fans is that they have a large number of people that know very little about football or the actual teams, these people just get into repeating the standard smack lines just for the sake of the smack talk alone. all you have to do, to shut them up, is to ask a few simple questions like "Who do you play next week?" they usually fold when they can't answer.

e-griz has degenerated into a cesspool of adolescent name calling, serious griz fans rarely even post there any more, I used to have a lot of fun over there but it isn't even entertaining any more, and it certainly isn't informative.

I do stop in and read BWahlbergs scouting reports, but that is about all you can find of value for either information or entertainment. I think the recent years events have really put a "small mans syndrome" on a pretty good portion of their fan base.

cats2506 wrote:

MSU01 wrote:
e-griz has degenerated into a cesspool of adolescent name calling, serious griz fans rarely even post there any more, I used to have a lot of fun over there but it isn't even entertaining any more, and it certainly isn't informative.
.

This! I used to go get a ton of info of egriz and could have great conversations with griz fans from what I got from their board. Now its just a pissing match with kids that live in their mom's basement. CDA and Brinty are about the best they have now. CDA doesn't really offer much info, but if you read what he types like he's trying to be the comic relief.....he's just not that funny though.

Silly thread

I've lived my entire life in Bozeman and Missoula and can assure you that this is how the two groups act:

Griz fans = Expectations of being the best, which is difficult to reconcile with us being pretty mediocre for nearly a decade now. Overly sensitive to Cats no longer being our whipping boy (for the most part), EWU's rise, and NDSU's domination. A good amount of blue collar fans, which I only partially mean in a negative way. General low knowledge of FCS. Talking conferences or subdivisions confuses them.

Superiority complex over MSU athletics


Bobcat fans = There's two groups here. There's the old guard that was actually around for the streak, that have become hardened from the teasing and smack and are basically convinced Griz fans are the devil because of it. Never mind that when things were flipped in the 70s and early 80s they were the asshole. Then there's the new guard, or what I call the house that Denarius built. Their knowledge of the Cats pre-2010 is mostly confined to knowing there was a guy who dominated the Griz named Lulay, that they won more championships than the Griz (nevermind when, at what level, or over who). General low knowledge of FCS. Talking about how your seeding matters more than winning the Big Sky confuses them.

Superiority complex over UM fans

cats2506 wrote:

MSU01 wrote:99% of Griz fans are awesome people, including many friends of mine who are mature enough to engage in good-natured back and forth about the rivalry without getting nasty or overly serious about sports games that are pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of things. If you're getting upset by the 1% of the fans who are jerks about it, including the part of that 1% which finds its way onto internet message boards in a much greater proportion than does the 99% of good fans, then that's more your problem than theirs, IMO.

No way is the percentage of grizztards at 1%, it is significantly higher than that, I agree that the large majority are decent human beings.

The problem with grizz fans is that they have a large number of people that know very little about football or the actual teams, these people just get into repeating the standard smack lines just for the sake of the smack talk alone. all you have to do, to shut them up, is to ask a few simple questions like "Who do you play next week?" they usually fold when they can't answer.

e-griz has degenerated into a cesspool of adolescent name calling, serious griz fans rarely even post there any more, I used to have a lot of fun over there but it isn't even entertaining any more, and it certainly isn't informative.

I do stop in and read BWahlbergs scouting reports, but that is about all you can find of value for either information or entertainment. I think the recent years events have really put a "small mans syndrome" on a pretty good portion of their fan base.

The only thing you've ever done on eGriz is (attempt to) troll. You fit right in over there, don't kid yourself.

And both fanbases are relatively clueless, which judging by my experiences in other FCS stadiums is par for the course.

I can't really find fault with anything you said. Spot on. And very spot on with your description of fans from both sides.

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I think as Bobcat fans we need look at what Herb Brooks would say about schedules. Idaho, Bryant, and Western Oregon for a non-conference schedule is a joke. Go down the road to EWU and see what they play for a non-conference schedule. I hope the new Athletic Dept. will start to schedule some Missouri Valley Conference teams in the non-conference schedule instead of Pioneer teams or NEC teams. Griz fans making fun of this have a point IMO.

TacoCorpEBDB wrote:. I hope the new Athletic Dept. will start to schedule some Missouri Valley Conference teams in the non-conference schedule instead of Pioneer teams or NEC teams. Griz fans making fun of this have a point IMO.

You realize they have 2 pioneer schools scheduled for the next 2 seasons. Should be fun bringing up old threads about Drake.

TacoCorpEBDB wrote:I think as Bobcat fans we need look at what Herb Brooks would say about schedules. Idaho, Bryant, and Western Oregon for a non-conference schedule is a joke. Go down the road to EWU and see what they play for a non-conference schedule. I hope the new Athletic Dept. will start to schedule some Missouri Valley Conference teams in the non-conference schedule instead of Pioneer teams or NEC teams. Griz fans making fun of this have a point IMO.

Griz literally played a NEC team two weeks ago. And have Mississippi Valley State on the schedule.

TacoCorpEBDB wrote:I think as Bobcat fans we need look at what Herb Brooks would say about schedules. Idaho, Bryant, and Western Oregon for a non-conference schedule is a joke. Go down the road to EWU and see what they play for a non-conference schedule. I hope the new Athletic Dept. will start to schedule some Missouri Valley Conference teams in the non-conference schedule instead of Pioneer teams or NEC teams. Griz fans making fun of this have a point IMO.

MSU has a home-and-home with South Dakota State scheduled starting next year, so there is progress being made although we'll always have some years with a stronger non-conference schedule than others. The D-II games aren't going away unless MSU is willing to accept the decreased revenue of 5 home games in some years instead of 6.

MSU01 wrote:

TacoCorpEBDB wrote:I think as Bobcat fans we need look at what Herb Brooks would say about schedules. Idaho, Bryant, and Western Oregon for a non-conference schedule is a joke. Go down the road to EWU and see what they play for a non-conference schedule. I hope the new Athletic Dept. will start to schedule some Missouri Valley Conference teams in the non-conference schedule instead of Pioneer teams or NEC teams. Griz fans making fun of this have a point IMO.

MSU has a home-and-home with South Dakota State scheduled starting next year, so there is progress being made although we'll always have some years with a stronger non-conference schedule than others. The D-II games aren't going away unless MSU is willing to accept the decreased revenue of 5 home games in some years instead of 6.

That's not really true. Like I said in another thread, and ideal scenario is 2x home/home series each year (one at home and one on the road), and then pay somebody like an NEC team to come to Bozeman. 3x FCS out of conference games, 2 at home. 4 conference games at home.