Action heating up on the net
By Jason Barfield,
The Huntsville Item
12/8/2004
The kickoff between Sam Houston
State and Montana is still more
than 48 hours away, but that hasn't kept fans from both sides
debating and speculating on who will win this weekend's Division
I-AA semifinal game.
Both Kat and Griz fans have been
pounding the keyboard all week on message boards on the Internet
stating a case for their team.
While trash talking a team on the
Web can usually get nasty, both sets of fans have kept it pretty
civilized this week.
For the Bearkats, the main message
board is at The Bearkat Sports Forum, located at www.bearkatsportsforum.com. The site has about 20 to 30 regular members who post, but
this week the number has doubled.
Most of the talk this week has
centered around the expected weather at Washington-Grizzly Stadium
and the amount of noise the 20,000-plus fans can generate in the
stadium nestled in the mountain valley.
The following is a few perspectives
from some SHSU fans on the BSF:
EUR " This game will not be a
cakewalk. We know that! The Grizzlies are ready for a re-match and
they're itching to give us payback after we beat them as the #1 team
in Div.1-AA earlier this season. But if the 'Kats stay focused and
AVOID PENALTIES (the penalties against EWU were just ridiculous!)
and no TURNOVERS then we'll come away with another 'W'! GO 'KATS!
RE-DEFEAT THE GRIZZLIES!"
- Spock of SHSU
EUR " You Griz don't need to hit us
with all the WA-GRIZ crowd psychology... we know the place, have
been there a couple of times... know about the great fans, great
atmosphere, and more spirited play of the Griz on the home turf! It
is Impressive.... but..............We'll be ready for ya GRIZ!"
- Kats86
EUR " I don't think you will find a
BK that will count the Griz out. We know it will be very competitive
and a task to win in Grizland. However, our guys know they CAN beat
the Griz and the Griz knows we can too."
- DHKAT
The
Montana board (www.egriz.com)
is a very active site, with as many 20 members browsing the site at
any give time. There is even a little talk about the this weekend's
game once you get past all the threads at the top of the page about
which flight they are taking to Chattanooga, Tenn., for the national
championship game.
Egriz.com
is one of the most active team message boards in all of I-AA
and is usually a good read. Just like the SHSU message board, there
is very little smack talk about Saturday's game.
A few samples from
egriz.com:
EUR "We need pressure on Long. I
want REAL pressure not just hurries and near misses. I want DeCoite
like power hits, knock downs, and things that need a little
medicine! Even if we give up a few big plays at the beginning, we
need to hit this guy and knock him down."
- ALPHAGRIZ1
EUR "One big difference I've noticed
from our defense is the tackling. It's gotten much better since we
played them the first time. I remember a bunch of missed open field
tackles that game. Lately, the guys haven't been doing that."
-MontanaRaised
EUR "While SHS has fast receivers, I
believe the poor showing by the Griz in Sept. made them look faster.
The turf also contributed to the speed, and resulted in the Griz
taking bad angles. If you're not used to playing on the carpet-like
turf, the receivers come at you faster than normal (and, if you're
not prepared, faster than you expect)."
- Grizzle
One other good site to check out is
anygivensaturday.com. It is a
national board that has discussion on all of I-AA football. Some of
the regulars on that board never seem to leave it. Guys like Cap'n
Cat, UmassFan and Mr. Chicken can pretty much be seen chiming in on
any topic. It is by far one of the most entertaining I-AA Web sites
on the Net.
One example:
EUR "SHSU has the best player on the
field, and as we've already seen in the playoffs, that can
ultimately be the difference. I think
Montana wins the game, but
if they don't put it away and let SHSU hang around, things will
start to get a little tense in Washington-Grizzly, and if they give
Dustin and the boys an opening, he's played in enough big spots to
take advantage."
- Typical Tribe
(William and Mary fan)
If you can't wait to for Saturday,
then check out these three sites. There is more than enough content
there to keep you going until kickoff. All three are free and take
just a few minutes to register a user name.
Enjoy. |
