A True Brawl of the Wild

Saturday marked the 106th meeting of the Montana Grizzlies and Montana State Bobcats football teams...or as some like to call it The Brawl of the Wild. I was pretty excited for the game since this would be my first Griz/Cat game experience. (Side note: I thought it was Cat/Griz and always said Cat/Griz, until I was shunned by my peers for putting our rivals' name before our home team. So for all intents and purposes I will now say Griz/Cat, even though alphabetically C comes before G...oh well.)

My sister was driving up from Bozeman for the game, so in addition to the rivalry between schools, we had the whole family rivalry going on. Even more reason to go out and cheer for our guys. That and the fact that I was one of the lucky people to spend 16 hours in the University Center waiting for my ticket and a guest pass. So you better believe that I wasn't gonna let that ticket go to waste.

We arrived in the stadium about 20 minutes before game time. Just in time to see the pre-game show. It kicked off with the routine skydivers trying to land on the grizzly at the 50 yard line. Next Monte, our beloved mascot, rode out onto the field in his usual style sportin' his leather jacket and his sweet motorcycle. The crowd did their usual cheering upon Monte's arrival. Then a surprise 'celebrity' guest rode into the stadium. It was none other than Benny the Bull, the Chicago Bulls mascot. The crowd went into an overwhelming uproar. (For those of you who don't know the connection between Benny the Bull and U of M: the guy who is now Benny the Bull used to be Monte. His antics made Monte into the well-known gymnast, dancer and crowd pleaser during his time as Monte. He also made Monte the Capital One National Mascot for the first time before leaving Missoula to take the position as Benny the Bull. Got it? Okay. Let's move on.)

Finally, it was go time. The massive inflatable football helmet was aired up and the team geared up to enter the field. The MSU Bobcats made their way out and were greeted by an overwhelming "Boooo." Not exactly a warm welcome. Next the Grizzlies ran onto the field. The crowd went wild.

To tell you the truth, I had more fun watching the crowd interact with each other than watching the game. Sure, there was the occasional exciting moment when my friends and I would jump up and down screaming and yelling as our players intercepted or ran the ball down the field, but for the most part, I was amazed by the atmosphere of the game. Especially when three MSU fans decided to stand in the UM student section. You could cut the animosity with a knife. After being heckled and having a few things thrown at them (by the way, if the person who was throwing things is reading this...Not cool--you weren't exactly representing our school very well, plus most of the stuff you threw hit Griz fans) these students made the wise decision to relocate to the south end zone during half time. Thanks to our amazing defense, we prevailed; beating the Bobcats 13-7.

At the end of the game, the crowd rushed the field to celebrate our victory with the team. This victory led the Griz to be undefeated in our conference. And we have a playoff game this Saturday at Washington Grizzly Stadium. So, for those of you traveling home for Thanksgiving, I hope you have an awesome holiday. And for those of you staying in Missoula, I better see you at the game on Saturday supporting our team. Go Griz!