On the long drive back to Cedar Falls I had a chance to think a lot about what happened during and after the quarterfinal game. Of course my main impression of the whole event was that Washington Grizly is one the best football facilities in the world, bar none. It was difficult for this old Panther to watch the action after the first quarter, but anybody who loves football would be in awe at the classy show that UM put on.
HOWEVER...one incident after the game almost managed to ruin an otherwise great experience so I felt I should share it. That way, other Griz fans can help weed out the 'problem fans' who I know are a very tiny proportion of your overall fanbase.
After the teams had mostly left the field and security officers let the fans come down, I went to mingle with a few of the lingering UNI fans, staff and players near the northern end zone. About five minutes later, three Montana students approached us from the opposite side of the field and started chanting things like 'Suck a XXXX Panthers', 'Go Home UNI', Eat XXXX Panthers, etc. These kids reeked of liquor and, if I had to guess, they were probably the type who smoke marijuana cigarettes on a regular basis. One of them waved an extremely offensive sign that said 'Even Santa Prefers Montana'. As a Christian man, it's difficult to watch this kind of religious hatred spread to college football (It's bad enough when large retailers try to bury the Reason for the Season under phrases like 'happy holidays'). It didn't take much of this crap to cause the few Panther fans to disperse. I started walking up the tunnel, but the three students pursued me and eventually caught up. I turned left and found myself trapped near a dumpster and one of the stadium walls. As the drunks moved in, I was honestly afraid for my life, so I warned them that I know a good bit of Tae Bo and UFC moves. They took this as a challenge and one of them threw me to the ground and the other two pinned me down. What happened next is probably not something that belongs on a family-friendly forum, but I'm ticked off and it needs to be said...While two of the young men held me in place, the other one undid his belt and pulled his pants down halfway. He then put his rear end very near my nose and began passing gas violently. Some of these eruptions were wet and the sprayed into my mouth. They were chanting 'atm, atm, atm' which I assumed meant they were going to rob me as well, but I had smartly left my wallet in my hotel room safe. This all seemed to go on forever but it was likely less than a minute before they let me up and ran off into the park across from the stadium. I was too shocked and humiliated to chase them. I have no plans on dragging law enforcement into any of this.
So my point is, although I know you all are on to bigger and better things at this point, I hope you'll take the time to remind the few bad apples that they are not helping the perception of your program on a national level.
Anyways, that's my rant, Griz fans. Thanks for the memories and I'll be rooting for them you the rest of the way. Go get'em Griz! :clap:
