Posted: November 30, 2011 - 7:46am
By 
Before heading to the cold of Montana, here’s a fresh batch of “David’s Appetizers,” assorted musings and observations from the sports scene:
THE GRIZZLIES
In the past few days, our online products have apparently gotten a number of views from Montana Grizzly fans in anticipation of Saturday’s NCAA Division I Football Championiship Subdivision matchup with the University of Central Arkansas.
During the last couple of days, I’ve probably talked or communicated online with more Montana fans than UCA fans. They have made their presence known and are doing their homework.
This I’ve already discovered:
Even through cyberspace, it’s easy to detect the passion and pride they have for the school, the team and their part of the country. They are excited to show it off to visitors.
They ones I’ve communicated with are classy, knowledgeable and hospitable folks. I’ve seen or heard no trash talking. They are enthusiastic about relating places to see and go and eat in Missoula. From hotel clerks to just plain ole fans, some of whom now live in other parts of the country, they have been most gracious and kind to what we have written and reported and most congratulatory about UCA’s season.
One fan seemed to be chuckling a bit when he left me a voice message, noting how I had reported that UCA coaches were going to pump noise into Estes Stadium during practice to try to prepare the players and coaches for what they will face at Washington Grizzly Stadium, which seems to be universally noted for having one of the best and loudest atmospheres in all of college football. “They can pump all the noise they want into their stadium, but it is definitely not gonna work,” he said. “It’s really bad (at Wash Grizz) and I’ve been all over the country following the Grizzlies.”
I’ve been to College Stadium and Baton Rouge, watched many a game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock (when can be pretty loud in its own right) and here’s what I suspect: You can practice in noise and folks can create a form of loudness. But there is no way you can replicate passionate noise. Basketball teams used to do the same thing before they visited the old Barnhill Arena in Fayetteville and it didn’t really work to any significant degree once the Arkansas fans got cheering on the Hogs in key situations.
Here’s another bit of info from Mick, a Grizzly fan:
“The traffic is bumper to bumper for 120 miles on game day. Some diehard fans drive 600 to 700 miles every weekend to ‘Griz It Up.’ All our regular-season games are sold out with attendance in the mid-26,000. Playoffs generally draw 22,000 to 25,000 but the atmosphere is still great. I’ve actually seen quarterbacks more than once line up under the offensive guard rather than the center due to confusion from crowd noise. Tony Romo was once asked after a victory over Seahawks in Seattle if had ever experienced more noise in a stadium. His response was ‘Missoula Montana is way louder.’”
Here’s what I like about Montana and Appalachian State and Georgia Southern and other longtime traditional powers and great fan bases in NCAA Division I FCS. They illustrate that you don’t have to be in or watch teams play in major Football Bowl Subdivision Conferences to witness a bigtime football atmosphere and see first-class support and quality football played with the passion that most of us love about college athletics.
The Grizzlies to the city of Missoula and the state of Montana are just as prized as the Razorbacks are to Fayetteville and Arkansas.
Before heading to the cold of Montana, here’s a fresh batch of “David’s Appetizers,” assorted musings and observations from the sports scene:
THE GRIZZLIES
In the past few days, our online products have apparently gotten a number of views from Montana Grizzly fans in anticipation of Saturday’s NCAA Division I Football Championiship Subdivision matchup with the University of Central Arkansas.
During the last couple of days, I’ve probably talked or communicated online with more Montana fans than UCA fans. They have made their presence known and are doing their homework.
This I’ve already discovered:
Even through cyberspace, it’s easy to detect the passion and pride they have for the school, the team and their part of the country. They are excited to show it off to visitors.
They ones I’ve communicated with are classy, knowledgeable and hospitable folks. I’ve seen or heard no trash talking. They are enthusiastic about relating places to see and go and eat in Missoula. From hotel clerks to just plain ole fans, some of whom now live in other parts of the country, they have been most gracious and kind to what we have written and reported and most congratulatory about UCA’s season.
One fan seemed to be chuckling a bit when he left me a voice message, noting how I had reported that UCA coaches were going to pump noise into Estes Stadium during practice to try to prepare the players and coaches for what they will face at Washington Grizzly Stadium, which seems to be universally noted for having one of the best and loudest atmospheres in all of college football. “They can pump all the noise they want into their stadium, but it is definitely not gonna work,” he said. “It’s really bad (at Wash Grizz) and I’ve been all over the country following the Grizzlies.”
I’ve been to College Stadium and Baton Rouge, watched many a game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock (when can be pretty loud in its own right) and here’s what I suspect: You can practice in noise and folks can create a form of loudness. But there is no way you can replicate passionate noise. Basketball teams used to do the same thing before they visited the old Barnhill Arena in Fayetteville and it didn’t really work to any significant degree once the Arkansas fans got cheering on the Hogs in key situations.
Here’s another bit of info from Mick, a Grizzly fan:
“The traffic is bumper to bumper for 120 miles on game day. Some diehard fans drive 600 to 700 miles every weekend to ‘Griz It Up.’ All our regular-season games are sold out with attendance in the mid-26,000. Playoffs generally draw 22,000 to 25,000 but the atmosphere is still great. I’ve actually seen quarterbacks more than once line up under the offensive guard rather than the center due to confusion from crowd noise. Tony Romo was once asked after a victory over Seahawks in Seattle if had ever experienced more noise in a stadium. His response was ‘Missoula Montana is way louder.’”
Here’s what I like about Montana and Appalachian State and Georgia Southern and other longtime traditional powers and great fan bases in NCAA Division I FCS. They illustrate that you don’t have to be in or watch teams play in major Football Bowl Subdivision Conferences to witness a bigtime football atmosphere and see first-class support and quality football played with the passion that most of us love about college athletics.
The Grizzlies to the city of Missoula and the state of Montana are just as prized as the Razorbacks are to Fayetteville and Arkansas.
