SWX Sports - Shaun Rainey

[kwcat]

This is from a few days ago in the local paper. It's an opinion piece though.


Let’s talk about the real phoenix rising from the ashes.
I refer, of course, to the Montana Grizzlies football team.
For the first time all season, last weekend I saw a team of champions — not just
the flashes of brilliance from this player or that one that snatched victory from the
jaws of defeat more than once, but a multi-faceted, multi-talented team truly firing on all
cylinders. Just two more games before we take another trip to Tennessee to wreak vengeance on (I’m
hoping) Villanova and reclaim the national championship they stole from us in 2009!
We’ll have to get past South Dakota first, though, and the Yotes creamed Mercer last
weekend, 47-0. But in OUR house? With our team playing like a team that beat the only
team in the running who beat them? We’ll win. Then we’ve got the Cats again, this time in their sta-
dium. But the Cats lacked luster last weekend, despite playing at home against a Yale team
with nowhere near their talent. (Do you find it mildly insulting that the Yalies take umbrage at
being considered too “Ivy” to play good football, but have no problem dismissing the Cats
as too hick to take on “real” schooling?). I think the Cats are getting distracted somehow, as
evidenced by their continual post-game embarrassments. The Cats’ celebration after the
Brawl — from the juvenilia of scratching up the Griz logo to the scat-hurling and lewd ges-
turing to Griz fans — took the shine off their game-winning performance. Coach Vigen must have given
them the tongue-lashing they deserved. Maybe that contributed to last weekend’s lackluster
performance. But seeing Julius Davis interacting (pleasantly) with Yale players after the game
seemed to trigger Vigen into giving Davis an unwarranted what-for. Davis responded with the
indignation of the falsely accused, and it’s worth noting that the security guards nearby
took no notice of what ESPN was selling as mayhem-in-the-making. Eventually, Davis set-
tled down and joined the team’s prayer circle. (Do you find it mildly blasphemous that the
“Amen” to all this post-game public ribaldry is the ostentation of public prayer?)
So, if the Grizzlies who showed up to play last weekend are the same ones who show
up in Bobcat Stadium on Dec.20 … well, turnabout is fair, fair play. And after you win on
your rival’s fi eld, Griz, be classier than they were on yours on Nov. 22. That’s not setting the
bar very high. Then it’s on to Tennessee! I won’t miss Texas, but I’ve been to a championship game in Ten-
nessee. Chattanooga, not Nashville. Same diff erence when it comes to rain. The moment our
plane’s wheels hit the Tennessee tarmac, it started to rain. It kept raining until we left 30 hours
later. Rain in Tennessee is different from Montana rain — heavier, wetter, non-stop — and being
Montanans, nobody had an umbrella. Ski jackets? Of course. Umbrella? Get serious.
By the time we got to the one department store in Chattanooga the next morn- ing, there wasn’t a raincoat or
umbrella left. But I married a genius. While the rest of Griz nation stood forlornly by the
empty umbrella rack, my guy sidled over to the bath section. Yes! Shower curtains galore! We grabbed two and a sleeve
of shower rings and headed to check-out. Griz fans besieged us as we passed, pleading, “Where’d you
get those?” We gestured to aisle 14. And so it was that a significant portion of Griz nation cheered their team on in the
middle of a monsoon, wrapped in shower curtains bedecked with ducks, unicorns, and rain bows and clamped at the throat
with shower curtain rings. Curtains. Hmmm. Might have been bad luck. I’ll always remember standing through
the dismal second half rather than sit in the puddled bleacher, shivering beneath my Hawaii-motif shower curtain,
yelling at Bobby Hauck, “Get it to Mariani! Mariani! He’s wide open!” But would he listen to me?
No. This time will be different.

On the interview, I posted with Mike Kramer. I like his comment about Coach Vigen and Montana state. I’ll paraphrase because I didn’t take it down “he (Vigen) has found a way to have his guys play with confidence not arrogance. Play physical, but not cheap. He found a way for them to be productive, not necessarily flashy.

I have stated before that Lamson was underwhelming for me early in the season. I have grown a lot of respect for that Young man. He manages the game well and he has a heart of a champion. We are lucky to have him. And lucky to have some behind him that are gonna be very talented as well.
And we have a team full of unselfish unflashy players right alongside him on both sides of the ball. I take the cats 100% of the time and I’m proud to call myself a fan.

[KIX]

Rainey is a douchebag gris homer. I can stomach Kyle Hansen but he is slowly, but surely, trending in the same direction. Let's not venture into Speltz territory.

Who is Speltz?

Bill Speltz, Great Falls Trib.

I don't think Speltz ever worked at the Tribune.

My bad...Missoulian.

[BOBCATBORN]

Listening to Rainey after the game was pretty bad as well. He really didn’t want to give the cats any props and was real concerns about making the Gris feel bad.

[MSU Toddler]

So do biased reporters like Mr. Rainey get to cover the Cats during the next couple weeks on their trip to Nashville? I seem to recall that last year.

[MSU01]

So do biased reporters like Mr. Rainey get to cover the Cats during the next couple weeks on their trip to Nashville? I seem to recall that last year.

Of course they do, but we can all make the decision whether to spend any of our time watching or reading his content. Personally I'll stick to Colter and his team's amazing coverage like I do 99% of the time already.

[BOBCATBORN]

So do biased reporters like Mr. Rainey get to cover the Cats during the next couple weeks on their trip to Nashville? I seem to recall that last year.

Of course they do, but we can all make the decision whether to spend any of our time watching or reading his content. Personally I'll stick to Colter and his team's amazing coverage like I do 99% of the time already.

I am generally a big fan of colter and his team. I’m still a big fan of colter because he was the only one with any reason going into round 2 cat griz but listening to the other interviewees was painful and honestly exhausting. According to them the Gris were the best thing since sliced bread and the cats were rotten milk. I get that it’s hard though and again, not a dig on colter at all!

[MSU01]

So do biased reporters like Mr. Rainey get to cover the Cats during the next couple weeks on their trip to Nashville? I seem to recall that last year.

Of course they do, but we can all make the decision whether to spend any of our time watching or reading his content. Personally I'll stick to Colter and his team's amazing coverage like I do 99% of the time already.

I am generally a big fan of colter and his team. I’m still a big fan of colter because he was the only one with any reason going into round 2 cat griz but listening to the other interviewees was painful and honestly exhausting. According to them the Gris were the best thing since sliced bread and the cats were rotten milk. I get that it’s hard though and again, not a dig on colter at all!

That's fair. I don't have the time to listen to everything he puts out each week so definitely tend to stick to the Bobcat-heavy content like his awesome interview with Leo Davis this week.

[BOBCATBORN]

So do biased reporters like Mr. Rainey get to cover the Cats during the next couple weeks on their trip to Nashville? I seem to recall that last year.

Of course they do, but we can all make the decision whether to spend any of our time watching or reading his content. Personally I'll stick to Colter and his team's amazing coverage like I do 99% of the time already.

I am generally a big fan of colter and his team. I’m still a big fan of colter because he was the only one with any reason going into round 2 cat griz but listening to the other interviewees was painful and honestly exhausting. According to them the Gris were the best thing since sliced bread and the cats were rotten milk. I get that it’s hard though and again, not a dig on colter at all!

That's fair. I don't have the time to listen to everything he puts out each week so definitely tend to stick to the Bobcat-heavy content like his awesome interview with Leo Davis this week.

I must have missed the Leo Davis one! I love listening to Leo, might have to go find that one. I’m honestly really impressed with how impartial and unbiased colter is. I mean he should lean heavy Gris but it rarely feels that way. So thanks for all the great work colter! Oh I also do like listening to Akem, he knows his football and is super engaging. He also just speaks the truth.

[MSU01]

So do biased reporters like Mr. Rainey get to cover the Cats during the next couple weeks on their trip to Nashville? I seem to recall that last year.

Of course they do, but we can all make the decision whether to spend any of our time watching or reading his content. Personally I'll stick to Colter and his team's amazing coverage like I do 99% of the time already.

I am generally a big fan of colter and his team. I’m still a big fan of colter because he was the only one with any reason going into round 2 cat griz but listening to the other interviewees was painful and honestly exhausting. According to them the Gris were the best thing since sliced bread and the cats were rotten milk. I get that it’s hard though and again, not a dig on colter at all!

That's fair. I don't have the time to listen to everything he puts out each week so definitely tend to stick to the Bobcat-heavy content like his awesome interview with Leo Davis this week.

I must have missed the Leo Davis one! I love listening to Leo, might have to go find that one. I’m honestly really impressed with how impartial and unbiased colter is. I mean he should lean heavy Gris but it rarely feels that way. So thanks for all the great work colter! Oh I also do like listening to Akem, he knows his football and is super engaging. He also just speaks the truth.

Here's the Davis interview:

We are incredibly fortunate to have someone providing the level of coverage Colter does.

[BOBCATBORN]

So do biased reporters like Mr. Rainey get to cover the Cats during the next couple weeks on their trip to Nashville? I seem to recall that last year.

Of course they do, but we can all make the decision whether to spend any of our time watching or reading his content. Personally I'll stick to Colter and his team's amazing coverage like I do 99% of the time already.

I am generally a big fan of colter and his team. I’m still a big fan of colter because he was the only one with any reason going into round 2 cat griz but listening to the other interviewees was painful and honestly exhausting. According to them the Gris were the best thing since sliced bread and the cats were rotten milk. I get that it’s hard though and again, not a dig on colter at all!

That's fair. I don't have the time to listen to everything he puts out each week so definitely tend to stick to the Bobcat-heavy content like his awesome interview with Leo Davis this week.

I must have missed the Leo Davis one! I love listening to Leo, might have to go find that one. I’m honestly really impressed with how impartial and unbiased colter is. I mean he should lean heavy Gris but it rarely feels that way. So thanks for all the great work colter! Oh I also do like listening to Akem, he knows his football and is super engaging. He also just speaks the truth.

Here's the Davis interview:

We are incredibly fortunate to have someone providing the level of coverage Colter does.

Thanks for the share here MSU01!