Paytonlives wrote:

Silvertip wrote:There is no glory to be had in the BSC, even if you win it. Mohammed Ali, in his prime, would have had little reason for beating his chest having punched out PeeWee Herman.

Post of the year canidate!!!!

Dude Pee Wee Herman is a bad-ass! WTF?!

IntuitiveGriz wrote:

BigSkyBears wrote:You might get into the playoffs, but you won't win the conference. IMO

That's a good one, BigSkyBears...

I don't know whats so funny, that statement is probably pretty accurate. The Griz won't be favored by either the media or coaches in the preseason poll, but will probably make the playoffs.

Listen to anyone that plays the game and pays close attention to sports. They always refer to the defending champs. You haven't done sh** until you've beat the defending champs. Maybe we won't have an undefeated season, but the Big Sky Championship comes through Missoula.....period.

As far as a National Championship....take some time to realize how many schools there are and how fortunate we are to be in the top 10 pretty much every year.

I have to admit; I always expect more, especially for what we are now being charged to cheer on our team at home. However, consider the collective gathering we all receive and the enjoyment of the game, the student athletes, and the community.

Is there a better environment anywhere? Our expectations are high and we should keep it that way....but don't call out the boo-birds or the skeptics already. I 100% believe that our home field advantage is the best in the nation, thus we'll always be right there at the end. Sure whine about the schedule, but remember what makes the clock tick; and still we play conference games at home as well.

Go Griz!

Interesting topic.

From an outsiders point of view, it looks like the Griz will do just fine, particularly with all the passionate, opinionated fans who deeply care about their Griz.

One of the disadvantages of our playoff system is that only ONE team ends the season with a win. In the bowl system there are 30+ teams that have a positive ending (okay, so maybe the Poulan Weedeater Bowl Champion is a bit of stretch...)

The important thing is the support OFF the field. There are going to be up and down years, but if support is solid in the down years, that is the sign of a truly great program. But, to be honest, I don't really think you can say an undefeated regular season and BSC championship is a down year. It's good to hope (and expect) a National Championship, but it's insane to think your program is on the skids when you aren't in the title game EVERY year.

At App, football has always been our sport. Support has been strong no matter what, but our sucess on the field the last couple of years has me worried a bit. Obviously we have lots of straphangers who have jumped on the bandwagon and will be headed off in another direction when the NC's stop coming. I mean, think of it, there are seniors at ASU who have never known anything but rushing the field at Chattanooga!

I'm waiting for the years when both UM and ASU are putting together back to back 6-6 seasons and have playoff droughts. Will the fans still pack Wa-Griz and Kidd Brewer? I think both schools have the potential to weather that kind of drought, though it won't be fun.

We'll just have to see.

General Disarray wrote:

ronbo wrote:There is more to a program than wins/losses and Championships.

Stadium
Fan support
Facilities
How the athletes are taken care of. Private flights, nice hotels, excellent meals.

App. State makes half their fans sit on a grass hill. We make $8 million a year from football, App. State makes $2 million. You must be kidding. And they bus to all their games. UMass gets 8000 attendance, UNI plays in a sweaty barn. Come on, are you getting a bad case of envy?

Stadium . . . ASU
Fan support . . . ASU
Facilities . . . ASU
Meals, Hotels, flights . . . nobody f**kin' cares.

Let's not kid ourselves, ASU has done more in 3 years than UM has done in the last 13 . . . 3 NC's + national respect > 2 NC's and financial security.

I feel its pretty vital to mention here that not only is KiddBrewer stadium nowhere near the facility that Wash/Grizzly is, but despite seating 5-6 thousand more fans its still nowhere near as loud. Wouldnt that in itself give the GRIZ the edge for having superior stadium, fan support, and facilities???

bigtyme wrote:I believe there is a country song that goes something like: poor poor pitiful me...

sounds like you guys need some cheese, a violin, and whatever else that can allow you to sleep after crying.

Now THAT'S the post of the year. And would have been for the last three years. And surely could be next year.

Jenks383 wrote:

General Disarray wrote:

ronbo wrote:There is more to a program than wins/losses and Championships.

Stadium
Fan support
Facilities
How the athletes are taken care of. Private flights, nice hotels, excellent meals.

App. State makes half their fans sit on a grass hill. We make $8 million a year from football, App. State makes $2 million. You must be kidding. And they bus to all their games. UMass gets 8000 attendance, UNI plays in a sweaty barn. Come on, are you getting a bad case of envy?

Stadium . . . ASU
Fan support . . . ASU
Facilities . . . ASU
Meals, Hotels, flights . . . nobody f**kin' cares.

Let's not kid ourselves, ASU has done more in 3 years than UM has done in the last 13 . . . 3 NC's + national respect > 2 NC's and financial security.

I feel its pretty vital to mention here that not only is KiddBrewer stadium nowhere near the facility that Wash/Grizzly is, but despite seating 5-6 thousand more fans its still nowhere near as loud. Wouldnt that in itself give the GRIZ the edge for having superior stadium, fan support, and facilities???

You're probably right. Although, "The Rock" is supposed to be one of the routier places in FCS. A track around the field is always a buzz-kill to the atmosphere, though.

I was mainly basing that off of attendance figures, and the fact that they're dishing out $50 million to improve their stadium and add a new practice facility in the near future.

UM has a good stadium, but their locker rooms, press boxes, and lack of a practice facility need to be considered as well.

General Disarray wrote:

Jenks383 wrote:

General Disarray wrote:

ronbo wrote:There is more to a program than wins/losses and Championships.

Stadium
Fan support
Facilities
How the athletes are taken care of. Private flights, nice hotels, excellent meals.

App. State makes half their fans sit on a grass hill. We make $8 million a year from football, App. State makes $2 million. You must be kidding. And they bus to all their games. UMass gets 8000 attendance, UNI plays in a sweaty barn. Come on, are you getting a bad case of envy?

Stadium . . . ASU
Fan support . . . ASU
Facilities . . . ASU
Meals, Hotels, flights . . . nobody f**kin' cares.

Let's not kid ourselves, ASU has done more in 3 years than UM has done in the last 13 . . . 3 NC's + national respect > 2 NC's and financial security.

I feel its pretty vital to mention here that not only is KiddBrewer stadium nowhere near the facility that Wash/Grizzly is, but despite seating 5-6 thousand more fans its still nowhere near as loud. Wouldnt that in itself give the GRIZ the edge for having superior stadium, fan support, and facilities???

You're probably right. Although, "The Rock" is supposed to be one of the routier places in FCS. A track around the field is always a buzz-kill to the atmosphere, though.

I was mainly basing that off of attendance figures, and the fact that they're dishing out $50 million to improve their stadium and add a new practice facility in the near future.

UM has a good stadium, but their locker rooms, press boxes, and lack of a practice facility need to be considered as well.

The stadium seating is really flat too. So if you sit in row 20 you are pretty far from the field.

Note how flat the seating is in the lower sections.

Flat seating might lessen the atmosphere slightly, but look how much room they have for expansion. WGS is loud and sweet because the seats are so steep, but room for expansion is tight. It's easier to build out than up.

ASU could build out and bowl their stadium and potentially have 45,000 some day. What is the ultimate capacity for WGS in the future? 35,000? It's hard when space is tight and they basically have to build straight up.

If you look at expansion pics for App. State they really didn't have room. The had big rock hills around their stadium that they are needing to blast away and remove to make room.

Our Stadium is louder than Apps, period. No diss to them they have a sweet stadium. Im not sure what their locker room looks like but i guarantee you it is a hundred times nicer than ours. I was talking to a couple buddies who are on the team, and they were joking about how they thought the health department might come in and close the locker room.
Bottom line, our stadium is great, but in order to expect to get the best recruiting classes we need to invest in a new locker room and weight facility and hold off on new expansions.

The glory days are not gone yet however Hauck and crew are working on getting us there. The nail in the coffin will come when they step up to the next level.

General Disarray wrote:Flat seating might lessen the atmosphere slightly, but look how much room they have for expansion. WGS is loud and sweet because the seats are so steep, but room for expansion is tight. It's easier to build out than up.

ASU could build out and bowl their stadium and potentially have 45,000 some day. What is the ultimate capacity for WGS in the future? 35,000? It's hard when space is tight and they basically have to build straight up.

35,000? After the current expansion all we would need to do to EXCEED 35,000 is make the SEZ the same as the NEZ. The stadium is pretty much at its limits as far as expansion on the westside unless we go up, but the south, east and west sides could all be brought both out and up. Granted we would lose a little of our precious boozing grounds. This is out of the question for quite some time but given the fact that it could happen i would bet the stadium could see as many as 50-60,000 seats. Just a guess. There's always the question of planting butts in that many seats as well. A guy can only hope

griz5700 wrote:I was talking to a couple buddies who are on the team, and they were joking about how they thought the health department might come in and close the locker room.

I have independently heard that the locker room is a very serious problem that needs to be addressed immediately.

grizpack wrote:
What UM has accomplished the past 15 years in football is historically amazing. But if we think / expect it to continue on indefinitely, without an occasional speed bump, we are being very naive.

Just as niave to think it has nothing to do with the coaching staff that has been there for the entire "Speed Bump"....

But seriously, we hear this same concern every year... 2001 was a rebuilding year in everyones eyes... Its all about what the kids that will be suiting up this fall believe.

Jenks383 wrote:

General Disarray wrote:Flat seating might lessen the atmosphere slightly, but look how much room they have for expansion. WGS is loud and sweet because the seats are so steep, but room for expansion is tight. It's easier to build out than up.

ASU could build out and bowl their stadium and potentially have 45,000 some day. What is the ultimate capacity for WGS in the future? 35,000? It's hard when space is tight and they basically have to build straight up.

35,000? After the current expansion all we would need to do to EXCEED 35,000 is make the SEZ the same as the NEZ. The stadium is pretty much at its limits as far as expansion on the westside unless we go up, but the south, east and west sides could all be brought both out and up. Granted we would lose a little of our precious boozing grounds. This is out of the question for quite some time but given the fact that it could happen i would bet the stadium could see as many as 50-60,000 seats. Just a guess. There's always the question of planting butts in that many seats as well. A guy can only hope

The "batwings" expansion added 4,000 seats, and I don't think they're going to do that to the south endzone because it would be a huge cluster-f**k if they did, and they already have some plans for that space.

Connecting the East-side expansion should add 2,000 more (I think that was the original 4,000 plan?), and doing the same to the West would presumably add 4,000. So then we're sittin' at 31,000. I just don't see WGS exceeding 35,000 at any point. It would be a monumental project for even the most experienced architect/engineer company. Just not enough space to work with.

Autzen is 54,000.

http://www.goducks.net/sports/football/ ... utz4.shtml

In the five decades that I have been attending griz games we have had our ups and our downs. The attendance was commencerate. In the first part of the 80's we would have been lucky if we had 6,000 at a game and most of those were in the field at Dornblaster getting drunk. Most of this fan base are fare weather fans and that includes some on this post. When the going gets tough you and them" get gone and your attitude shows it. This program will be fine and it will go thru its ups and downs. But to wine so that you can make yourself feel better about your absentee loyalty shows just how much you really aren't a true fan. Those of us who will stick thru thick and thin will get angry about down times and blame whoever is available but we will always look for the silver lining. Some of you nee to start with the elastic in your shorts and graduate from there.

ancientgriz wrote:In the five decades that I have been attending griz games we have had our ups and our downs. The attendance was commencerate. In the first part of the 80's we would have been lucky if we had 6,000 at a game and most of those were in the field at Dornblaster getting drunk. Most of this fan base are fare weather fans and that includes some on this post. When the going gets tough you and them" get gone and your attitude shows it. This program will be fine and it will go thru its ups and downs. But to wine so that you can make yourself feel better about your absentee loyalty shows just how much you really aren't a true fan. Those of us who will stick thru thick and thin will get angry about down times and blame whoever is available but we will always look for the silver lining. Some of you nee to start with the elastic in your shorts and graduate from there.

ursusmissoulus wrote:

ronbo wrote:Reasons I don't see the Griz missing the playoffs.

1. 42 upperclassmen. 18 seniors, 25 juniors.
2. Senior QB, 3 year starter.
3. Veteran O-Line.
4. 13 returning All BSC players, leads the Conference.
5. New starters on Defense have good experience because of the way Paulson platoons them. That's why we reload on Defense so well.
6. Kickers will be Freshmen but they are two very good kickers with great athletic ability.

10-2 this season. 1st round home playoff game. 9-3 if we slip up and lose a game we will be favored in which Hauck doesn't do often.

If you want to discuss lost glory days then it would be BSC Conference respect. The Big Sky has plummeted in the minds of the Country since UNC was added and SUU will be the next new member.

I have 2 words for you. Brody McKnight (rumor). Expect an influx of CB's too (rumor).

bump

I am very excited about the CB that are rumored to be coming here, one of them i cant wait to see if he lives up to the billing.
Good stuff Coach Hauck.

If we get these drop downs and maybe a couple more, the Griz are going to be strong and the good times will keep on rolling.

ronbo wrote:

BigSkyBears wrote:

ronbo wrote:There is more to a program than wins/losses and Championships.

Stadium
Fan support
Facilities
How the athletes are taken care of. Private flights, nice hotels, excellent meals.

App. State makes half their fans sit on a grass hill. We make $8 million a year from football, App. State makes $2 million. You must be kidding. And they bus to all their games. UMass gets 8000 attendance, UNI plays in a sweaty barn. Come on, are you getting a bad case of envy?

You're the biggest jock sniffer I've ever seen on a fan message board Ronbut. In no way should you write smack against me. I am not envious about anything the griz do. I live in NoCo and I am envious of CU and CSU. Those are the big time programs you think your griz really are. Don't fool yourself you crazy idiot.

Yes and my family had season tickets to USC games for over 20 years and I am still a big fan. They make CU and CSU look like Junior Highs. But............ what the hell does that have to do with being fans of two Big Sky schools???????? I never compare Montana to USC. It's apples and corn.