Page 16 of 21

Re: Brent Vigen - New Bobcat Head Coach

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:48 am
by kennethnoisewater
Catsrgrood wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:56 pm
84CatGrad wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:01 pm
BozoneCat wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:46 pm
ilovethecats wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:02 pm
DBARNETT1953 wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:59 pm
Reformed Griz fan here, as I lived in Missoula until I was 17, and then enrolled at MSU and discovered Montana's finest University. There is only 1 measure of success for a Head Football coach at either school; that is Cat-Griz victories. If Vigen goes 4:0 or 3:1 then he gets a new contract after 4 years. If he goes 0:4 or 1:3 then he probably does not. If he goes 2:2 then they will look at other things such as Big Sky or Playoff success. Those are nice, but really only icing on the cake. Beating the Griz is the cake!
Totally disagree.
x100 million. National championship is the cake, Big Sky championship is the icing. Beating the griz is a nice glass of wine to go with the cake.
Beating the Griz is ALL that matters to me. To each his own.
Really?
I LOVE beating the Griz. But there is more.

If you told me that in the next 10 years we’d win 2-3 national championships and a handful of big sky titles, but we’d go 2-8 against the griz in that time, I’d take those national championships every time.
I'm somewhere in the middle on this. 20 years ago, honestly, beating the Griz was the most important thing to me. They were such pricks about it, like it went from bragging rights to bullying rights. Maybe I'm too far away from the sting of that streak for it to matter as much now, I don't know. I definitely want bigger things for the program.

However, I do think it's more than one game and it's more than bragging rights. I don't think you lose to them 8 times in 10 years and are even competitive. If they win that many times, they're getting the best recruits. Sure, MSU could bring in out of staters, but then there's a little less interest in Montana for MSU football and it just doesn't feel as good. In Missoula they'd be saying they beat us with Montana kids and they're the best team of Montanans, and that would eventually matter to me, even if MSU was having more success overall than them.

I think a coach has to beat the griz not just because you need to win that game, but you truly do have to win that rivalry 365 days a year, like it or not.

Re: Brent Vigen - New Bobcat Head Coach

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 11:31 am
by BozoneCat
kennethnoisewater wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:48 am
Catsrgrood wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:56 pm
84CatGrad wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:01 pm
BozoneCat wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:46 pm
ilovethecats wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:02 pm
DBARNETT1953 wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:59 pm
Reformed Griz fan here, as I lived in Missoula until I was 17, and then enrolled at MSU and discovered Montana's finest University. There is only 1 measure of success for a Head Football coach at either school; that is Cat-Griz victories. If Vigen goes 4:0 or 3:1 then he gets a new contract after 4 years. If he goes 0:4 or 1:3 then he probably does not. If he goes 2:2 then they will look at other things such as Big Sky or Playoff success. Those are nice, but really only icing on the cake. Beating the Griz is the cake!
Totally disagree.
x100 million. National championship is the cake, Big Sky championship is the icing. Beating the griz is a nice glass of wine to go with the cake.
Beating the Griz is ALL that matters to me. To each his own.
Really?
I LOVE beating the Griz. But there is more.

If you told me that in the next 10 years we’d win 2-3 national championships and a handful of big sky titles, but we’d go 2-8 against the griz in that time, I’d take those national championships every time.
I'm somewhere in the middle on this. 20 years ago, honestly, beating the Griz was the most important thing to me. They were such pricks about it, like it went from bragging rights to bullying rights. Maybe I'm too far away from the sting of that streak for it to matter as much now, I don't know. I definitely want bigger things for the program.

However, I do think it's more than one game and it's more than bragging rights. I don't think you lose to them 8 times in 10 years and are even competitive. If they win that many times, they're getting the best recruits. Sure, MSU could bring in out of staters, but then there's a little less interest in Montana for MSU football and it just doesn't feel as good. In Missoula they'd be saying they beat us with Montana kids and they're the best team of Montanans, and that would eventually matter to me, even if MSU was having more success overall than them.

I think a coach has to beat the griz not just because you need to win that game, but you truly do have to win that rivalry 365 days a year, like it or not.
A lot has changed in 20 years. Back in 2001, I was just graduating college, and I barely had any memories in my entire life of beating the griz, as I was just 7 years old the last time it had happened in 1985. They were coming off their 2nd national championship and we were a middling program that hadn't tasted any sort of success for 16 years - not only had we not beat them, we generally got killed, and to make it worse we hadn't even made the playoffs during that entire run as well. That streak created a hatred for the griz that I will never, never get over - it's probably an unhealthy amount of hatred, but it's as much a part of me as the blood coursing through my veins. The bullying, the narcissism, the entitlement, the hubris we as Bobcat fans had to put up with during that time is something I will never forget. Back in 2001, beating them was everything, because we literally had nothing else.

Fast forward to 2021. We've beaten them more times than we've lost to them since then. More importantly, we've tasted more - and better - forms of success, which (I think) has only whetted our appetite for greater things. Beating them is important, and it sure as hell means more than any other regular season game for a multitude of reasons. It's important because the team that wins that game has a big leg up on in-state recruiting, and as has been proven over many decades, building our team with Montanans first is a recipe for success on the national level, as the state of Montana produces an inordinate number of excellent football players for its size, as well as the pride factor, which is intangible but certainly a very real thing. Second, that game is always the last game of the season, so winning that game means you go into the playoffs with momentum, more likely to get a much-needed bye and better seeding, which positions you for longer playoff runs. Third, that's another 365 days we don't have to listen to those blowhard assholes, and that's worth the price of gold. But, I would take a national championship ten million times before I'd take a win over the griz, and I wouldn't hesitate for 1 second. I have a hard time seeing how we accomplish one (the NC) without the other (beating the griz). You can lose an early season game and come back, but it would be hard to lose that last game of the season and think that you are peaking as you enter the playoffs.

Re: Brent Vigen - New Bobcat Head Coach

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 11:40 am
by CelticCat
I wonder the contrast on this subject as it relates to when you became a fan. For me, I became a die hard in 2002, my 2nd year of college. I was never a fan during the streak, so since that fateful day in Missoula in 2002 when I was in the Marching Band watching the Cats snap the streak, my taste of the rivalry is evenly split 9-9 (9-8 if you discredit the 2011 game). One of my biggest bugaboos as a Cat fan is fans who are more interested in hating the Griz than rooting for the Cats.

Re: Brent Vigen - New Bobcat Head Coach

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 11:56 am
by bcatfan1
CelticCat wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 11:40 am
I wonder the contrast on this subject as it relates to when you became a fan. For me, I became a die hard in 2002, my 2nd year of college. I was never a fan during the streak, so since that fateful day in Missoula in 2002 when I was in the Marching Band watching the Cats snap the streak, my taste of the rivalry is evenly split 9-9 (9-8 if you discredit the 2011 game). One of my biggest bugaboos as a Cat fan is fans who are more interested in hating the Griz than rooting for the Cats.
I think this is an excellent point! I started cheering for Cats while I was a freshman in 2000. So I definitely started on a rough year, but didn't have to endure much of the streak. I LOVE beating the Griz. But if I had the choice between that game being a coin flip every year with the Cats making the playoffs, or beating them every year but missing the playoffs, I'd take the playoffs 100%!

But on a rough year, where we do miss the playoffs, ending the season on a high note of beating the griz definitely makes for a happier off season. :lol:

Re: Brent Vigen - New Bobcat Head Coach

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:01 pm
by ilovethecats
BozoneCat wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 11:31 am
kennethnoisewater wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:48 am
Catsrgrood wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:56 pm
84CatGrad wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:01 pm
BozoneCat wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:46 pm
ilovethecats wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:02 pm
DBARNETT1953 wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:59 pm
Reformed Griz fan here, as I lived in Missoula until I was 17, and then enrolled at MSU and discovered Montana's finest University. There is only 1 measure of success for a Head Football coach at either school; that is Cat-Griz victories. If Vigen goes 4:0 or 3:1 then he gets a new contract after 4 years. If he goes 0:4 or 1:3 then he probably does not. If he goes 2:2 then they will look at other things such as Big Sky or Playoff success. Those are nice, but really only icing on the cake. Beating the Griz is the cake!
Totally disagree.
x100 million. National championship is the cake, Big Sky championship is the icing. Beating the griz is a nice glass of wine to go with the cake.
Beating the Griz is ALL that matters to me. To each his own.
Really?
I LOVE beating the Griz. But there is more.

If you told me that in the next 10 years we’d win 2-3 national championships and a handful of big sky titles, but we’d go 2-8 against the griz in that time, I’d take those national championships every time.
I'm somewhere in the middle on this. 20 years ago, honestly, beating the Griz was the most important thing to me. They were such pricks about it, like it went from bragging rights to bullying rights. Maybe I'm too far away from the sting of that streak for it to matter as much now, I don't know. I definitely want bigger things for the program.

However, I do think it's more than one game and it's more than bragging rights. I don't think you lose to them 8 times in 10 years and are even competitive. If they win that many times, they're getting the best recruits. Sure, MSU could bring in out of staters, but then there's a little less interest in Montana for MSU football and it just doesn't feel as good. In Missoula they'd be saying they beat us with Montana kids and they're the best team of Montanans, and that would eventually matter to me, even if MSU was having more success overall than them.

I think a coach has to beat the griz not just because you need to win that game, but you truly do have to win that rivalry 365 days a year, like it or not.
A lot has changed in 20 years. Back in 2001, I was just graduating college, and I barely had any memories in my entire life of beating the griz, as I was just 7 years old the last time it had happened in 1985. They were coming off their 2nd national championship and we were a middling program that hadn't tasted any sort of success for 16 years - not only had we not beat them, we generally got killed, and to make it worse we hadn't even made the playoffs during that entire run as well. That streak created a hatred for the griz that I will never, never get over - it's probably an unhealthy amount of hatred, but it's as much a part of me as the blood coursing through my veins. The bullying, the narcissism, the entitlement, the hubris we as Bobcat fans had to put up with during that time is something I will never forget. Back in 2001, beating them was everything, because we literally had nothing else.

Fast forward to 2021. We've beaten them more times than we've lost to them since then. More importantly, we've tasted more - and better - forms of success, which (I think) has only whetted our appetite for greater things. Beating them is important, and it sure as hell means more than any other regular season game for a multitude of reasons. It's important because the team that wins that game has a big leg up on in-state recruiting, and as has been proven over many decades, building our team with Montanans first is a recipe for success on the national level, as the state of Montana produces an inordinate number of excellent football players for its size, as well as the pride factor, which is intangible but certainly a very real thing. Second, that game is always the last game of the season, so winning that game means you go into the playoffs with momentum, more likely to get a much-needed bye and better seeding, which positions you for longer playoff runs. Third, that's another 365 days we don't have to listen to those blowhard assholes, and that's worth the price of gold. But, I would take a national championship ten million times before I'd take a win over the griz, and I wouldn't hesitate for 1 second. I have a hard time seeing how we accomplish one (the NC) without the other (beating the griz). You can lose an early season game and come back, but it would be hard to lose that last game of the season and think that you are peaking as you enter the playoffs.
Agree with every bit of this. And I'm just about your age so I know exactly what you mean.

I'll surmise by saying that if we are to the point where beating the griz is EVERYTHING, that's not a great spot to be in as a program as a whole. We don't want to get back to that point where it's the only game that matters because we have nothing else to play for.

But without a doubt it's always the biggest game on our regular season schedule, and far from "just another conference game".

Great post

Re: Brent Vigen - New Bobcat Head Coach

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:06 pm
by BozoneCat
CelticCat wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 11:40 am
I wonder the contrast on this subject as it relates to when you became a fan. For me, I became a die hard in 2002, my 2nd year of college. I was never a fan during the streak, so since that fateful day in Missoula in 2002 when I was in the Marching Band watching the Cats snap the streak, my taste of the rivalry is evenly split 9-9 (9-8 if you discredit the 2011 game). One of my biggest bugaboos as a Cat fan is fans who are more interested in hating the Griz than rooting for the Cats.
I was literally a Bobcat fan from the womb. Born in April, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the first noises I heard were the cheers at Reno H. Sales stadium when I was only a few months old. Fourth-generation MSU grad, blue & gold courses through my veins. I was a diehard Bobcat fan throughout the duration of the streak, one of only a few kids brave enough to proudly wear MSU gear to school during the 90's when it just wasn't cool. So, as stated, I have a very deep hatred of everything griz and UM related, probably at an unhealthy level. That said, I'm 100x the Bobcat fan that I am a griz hater, I get much more enjoyment out of a Bobcat win than I do a griz loss, and as I get older, I find that I don't have the time or desire to waste any energy on even really following them, any more than I do any other Big Sky team. They've dropped so far as a program and as a university that they don't deserve any extra attention or energy.

Re: Brent Vigen - New Bobcat Head Coach

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:16 pm
by coloradocat
bcatfan1 wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 11:56 am
CelticCat wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 11:40 am
I wonder the contrast on this subject as it relates to when you became a fan. For me, I became a die hard in 2002, my 2nd year of college. I was never a fan during the streak, so since that fateful day in Missoula in 2002 when I was in the Marching Band watching the Cats snap the streak, my taste of the rivalry is evenly split 9-9 (9-8 if you discredit the 2011 game). One of my biggest bugaboos as a Cat fan is fans who are more interested in hating the Griz than rooting for the Cats.
I think this is an excellent point! I started cheering for Cats while I was a freshman in 2000. So I definitely started on a rough year, but didn't have to endure much of the streak. I LOVE beating the Griz. But if I had the choice between that game being a coin flip every year with the Cats making the playoffs, or beating them every year but missing the playoffs, I'd take the playoffs 100%!

But on a rough year, where we do miss the playoffs, ending the season on a high note of beating the griz definitely makes for a happier off season. :lol:
I'm in a similar boat to you guys. I think timing and relationships make a big difference.

I was a freshman in 1999 and still remember going back to the dorms at halftime because we were getting blown out. I was a fairly passive fan until we broke the streak but the combination of that, going to the game at home the next year (and running onto the field afterwards) and being friends with a bunch of people in Missoula during college turned me into a huge fan. The fact that my girlfriend at the time transferred to Missoula and switched allegiances also turned Cat-griz into a 365-day rivalry. It's only been the last few years that my griz friends have finally stopped bringing up the streak. Having friends on the other side is what has really made the game so much more of a priority than anything in December (until the last couple years when we actually expected to win the non-NDSU playoff games).

Going to the games makes a big difference as well. My parents have been fans since the 70s but never saw a win in person until Choate got here. They became much bigger fans over the last decade once they got season tickets but still still kind of dreaded going to Cat-griz. The 2019 game is when they finally turned the corner from just wanting to win Cat-griz to having higher expectations for the team.

Re: Brent Vigen - New Bobcat Head Coach

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:28 pm
by kennethnoisewater
BozoneCat wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 11:31 am
kennethnoisewater wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:48 am
Catsrgrood wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:56 pm
84CatGrad wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:01 pm
BozoneCat wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:46 pm
ilovethecats wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:02 pm
DBARNETT1953 wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:59 pm
Reformed Griz fan here, as I lived in Missoula until I was 17, and then enrolled at MSU and discovered Montana's finest University. There is only 1 measure of success for a Head Football coach at either school; that is Cat-Griz victories. If Vigen goes 4:0 or 3:1 then he gets a new contract after 4 years. If he goes 0:4 or 1:3 then he probably does not. If he goes 2:2 then they will look at other things such as Big Sky or Playoff success. Those are nice, but really only icing on the cake. Beating the Griz is the cake!
Totally disagree.
x100 million. National championship is the cake, Big Sky championship is the icing. Beating the griz is a nice glass of wine to go with the cake.
Beating the Griz is ALL that matters to me. To each his own.
Really?
I LOVE beating the Griz. But there is more.

If you told me that in the next 10 years we’d win 2-3 national championships and a handful of big sky titles, but we’d go 2-8 against the griz in that time, I’d take those national championships every time.
I'm somewhere in the middle on this. 20 years ago, honestly, beating the Griz was the most important thing to me. They were such pricks about it, like it went from bragging rights to bullying rights. Maybe I'm too far away from the sting of that streak for it to matter as much now, I don't know. I definitely want bigger things for the program.

However, I do think it's more than one game and it's more than bragging rights. I don't think you lose to them 8 times in 10 years and are even competitive. If they win that many times, they're getting the best recruits. Sure, MSU could bring in out of staters, but then there's a little less interest in Montana for MSU football and it just doesn't feel as good. In Missoula they'd be saying they beat us with Montana kids and they're the best team of Montanans, and that would eventually matter to me, even if MSU was having more success overall than them.

I think a coach has to beat the griz not just because you need to win that game, but you truly do have to win that rivalry 365 days a year, like it or not.
A lot has changed in 20 years. Back in 2001, I was just graduating college, and I barely had any memories in my entire life of beating the griz, as I was just 7 years old the last time it had happened in 1985. They were coming off their 2nd national championship and we were a middling program that hadn't tasted any sort of success for 16 years - not only had we not beat them, we generally got killed, and to make it worse we hadn't even made the playoffs during that entire run as well. That streak created a hatred for the griz that I will never, never get over - it's probably an unhealthy amount of hatred, but it's as much a part of me as the blood coursing through my veins. The bullying, the narcissism, the entitlement, the hubris we as Bobcat fans had to put up with during that time is something I will never forget. Back in 2001, beating them was everything, because we literally had nothing else.

Fast forward to 2021. We've beaten them more times than we've lost to them since then. More importantly, we've tasted more - and better - forms of success, which (I think) has only whetted our appetite for greater things. Beating them is important, and it sure as hell means more than any other regular season game for a multitude of reasons. It's important because the team that wins that game has a big leg up on in-state recruiting, and as has been proven over many decades, building our team with Montanans first is a recipe for success on the national level, as the state of Montana produces an inordinate number of excellent football players for its size, as well as the pride factor, which is intangible but certainly a very real thing. Second, that game is always the last game of the season, so winning that game means you go into the playoffs with momentum, more likely to get a much-needed bye and better seeding, which positions you for longer playoff runs. Third, that's another 365 days we don't have to listen to those blowhard assholes, and that's worth the price of gold. But, I would take a national championship ten million times before I'd take a win over the griz, and I wouldn't hesitate for 1 second. I have a hard time seeing how we accomplish one (the NC) without the other (beating the griz). You can lose an early season game and come back, but it would be hard to lose that last game of the season and think that you are peaking as you enter the playoffs.
That's kind of the point I was trying to make. It matters more than bragging rights.

I do think there was a year during Hauck's first time in Missoula that the griz lost Cat/griz and then were so pissed off about it that they made it to the championship game. I think that's an anomaly though, and you don't want to enter the playoffs on a bad note necessarily.

Re: Brent Vigen - New Bobcat Head Coach

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:33 pm
by technoCat
If we could somehow win a BSC championship and a Natty in a year that we lost to the Griz, I would be happy with that. With that said, as others have mentioned, because of the placement of that game it is almost impossible to see a scenario where we drop one to them and don't either see them again in the playoffs or it makes everything much harder. Rob Ash's teams looked like world beaters, got dropped by the Griz several times and then floundered in the playoffs.

Bottom line, I WANT IT ALL!!!! :lol: :lol:

Re: Brent Vigen - New Bobcat Head Coach

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:34 pm
by ilovethecats
CelticCat wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 11:40 am
I wonder the contrast on this subject as it relates to when you became a fan. For me, I became a die hard in 2002, my 2nd year of college. I was never a fan during the streak, so since that fateful day in Missoula in 2002 when I was in the Marching Band watching the Cats snap the streak, my taste of the rivalry is evenly split 9-9 (9-8 if you discredit the 2011 game). One of my biggest bugaboos as a Cat fan is fans who are more interested in hating the Griz than rooting for the Cats.
This is exactly the reason why I don't have a problem with people who seem to hate the griz more than they seem to cheer for the Cats. For some of us, we endured two decades of just getting hammered by the team, and treated worse by their horrible fans. It was flat out ugly for a while.

That's why I maintain that as fun as it is to beat them, and I'd love to win 20 straight, it would be bad for the rivalry as a whole. It was literally unhealthy. The best thing for both fanbases is to have to teams who are almost always national contenders. Beat each other up a bit. And as much as I hate losing to them, and wouldn't complain if we had long streaks of winning, I think for the rivalry it's good to win a few, lose one, win a couple, maybe lose one, win one, lose one etc.

It's still a passionate rivalry, but in my opinion it's far healthier now than it was 25 years ago. Hell, my family and other like ours wouldn't even let their kids go to the game because of what they would likely see/hear. That's not great. We're in a better place now with a "kinder hatred". :lol:

Re: Brent Vigen - New Bobcat Head Coach

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:41 pm
by kennethnoisewater
CelticCat wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 11:40 am
I wonder the contrast on this subject as it relates to when you became a fan. For me, I became a die hard in 2002, my 2nd year of college. I was never a fan during the streak, so since that fateful day in Missoula in 2002 when I was in the Marching Band watching the Cats snap the streak, my taste of the rivalry is evenly split 9-9 (9-8 if you discredit the 2011 game). One of my biggest bugaboos as a Cat fan is fans who are more interested in hating the Griz than rooting for the Cats.
I think you're right, it's all dependent on individual circumstances. I was a freshman in 1995, plus I'm from the Flathead, where everybody is (or was) a griz fan. Hell I picked MSU mostly because everybody from my HS was going to Missoula. So going home during the streak was rough. I can remember plenty of times when people literally said I was pathetic or I was a joke because I went to school at a place where the football team was so horrible. You roll your eyes and laugh, or you tell them they're pathetic (because any fan who does that is pathetic), but you know it damn sure would be nice to get a win in that rivalry. It doesn't matter how many times you tell them their school would be nothing without one big donor, and their actual identity would have to be in something else besides griz football. I'll never forget sitting in wagriz in 1998 and the Cats were losing another close one. In the final seconds, the PA announcer came on and said, louder than anything he'd said all day: "if we've told you once, we've told you 14 times..." Most of the fans in the stands weren't cheering for their team at that point, they were finding Bobcat fans and pointing at them in this really ugly display of something I guess I can't call much besides bullying.

So that's waned over the years some, probably partly because the Cats have had plenty of success in the rivalry, and partly because I'm not around drunk 21 year olds in bars anymore.

Re: Brent Vigen - New Bobcat Head Coach

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:43 pm
by CelticCat
I think we can all agree 2019 was the most cathartic football game of our Bobcat lives, no matter when you started rooting for the Cats, how you feel about the rivalry, we hadn't beat them handily in a long, long time and man that felt GOOD. It was like 35 years of frustration vented out in one glorious Saturday.

Re: Brent Vigen - New Bobcat Head Coach

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 1:10 pm
by cats2506
84CatGrad wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 9:38 am
Catsrgrood wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:56 pm
84CatGrad wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:01 pm
BozoneCat wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:46 pm
ilovethecats wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:02 pm
DBARNETT1953 wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:59 pm
Reformed Griz fan here, as I lived in Missoula until I was 17, and then enrolled at MSU and discovered Montana's finest University. There is only 1 measure of success for a Head Football coach at either school; that is Cat-Griz victories. If Vigen goes 4:0 or 3:1 then he gets a new contract after 4 years. If he goes 0:4 or 1:3 then he probably does not. If he goes 2:2 then they will look at other things such as Big Sky or Playoff success. Those are nice, but really only icing on the cake. Beating the Griz is the cake!
Totally disagree.
x100 million. National championship is the cake, Big Sky championship is the icing. Beating the griz is a nice glass of wine to go with the cake.
Beating the Griz is ALL that matters to me. To each his own.
Really?
I LOVE beating the Griz. But there is more.

If you told me that in the next 10 years we’d win 2-3 national championships and a handful of big sky titles, but we’d go 2-8 against the griz in that time, I’d take those national championships every time.
Really. Sure I want 'ships. But beating those a@@holes, who OWNED us for so long and made us feel irrelevant, is what butters my bread. Even a 'ship, in a year we lost to those dickh@@ds, would feel tainted. Just how I feel about it.
Is EWU's Championship in 2010 tainted? I doubt many of their fans even recall that the Cats beat their a@@ that year.

Re: Brent Vigen - New Bobcat Head Coach

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 1:24 pm
by iaafan
Griz fans are so insistent that the only, or most important, thing that matters to Cat fans is beating the Griz, that they'll set up fake accounts here and pose as Cat fans just to prove it.

Re: Brent Vigen - New Bobcat Head Coach

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 1:40 pm
by Catsrgrood
technoCat wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:33 pm
If we could somehow win a BSC championship and a Natty in a year that we lost to the Griz, I would be happy with that. With that said, as others have mentioned, because of the placement of that game it is almost impossible to see a scenario where we drop one to them and don't either see them again in the playoffs or it makes everything much harder. Rob Ash's teams looked like world beaters, got dropped by the Griz several times and then floundered in the playoffs.

Bottom line, I WANT IT ALL!!!! :lol: :lol:
I agree with this. I think people took my statement of go 2-8 against the griz but with a couple natty’s and all will be good a little too literal.

I’m well aware that if we went 2-8 against them in a 10 yr span, we’re probably not in the position to win big sky championships or national championships. That’s not really the point.

My point is simply that while I love beating the griz and want to beat them every year for the rest of my life, it is not the only thing that matters in a season. It’s the biggest game of the regular season and it’s not close. But there should be, and is, more to play for after that, win or lose that game. We should be striving for more than a win in that one game, and I think the program is and most fans are.

If I had the choice between beating the griz and lose in the quarters every year or lose to the griz and win a few nattys. I’m picking the nattys. That’s it.

I’m not calling specific people out, but I find it honestly a little embarrassing to hear from a fan that cat/griz is the only thing that matters to them and as long as the cats win that game then the season was a success.

Re: Brent Vigen - New Bobcat Head Coach

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 2:12 pm
by bobcat99
AFCAT wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:02 am
84CatGrad wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 9:38 am
Catsrgrood wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:56 pm
84CatGrad wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:01 pm
BozoneCat wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:46 pm
ilovethecats wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:02 pm
DBARNETT1953 wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:59 pm
Reformed Griz fan here, as I lived in Missoula until I was 17, and then enrolled at MSU and discovered Montana's finest University. There is only 1 measure of success for a Head Football coach at either school; that is Cat-Griz victories. If Vigen goes 4:0 or 3:1 then he gets a new contract after 4 years. If he goes 0:4 or 1:3 then he probably does not. If he goes 2:2 then they will look at other things such as Big Sky or Playoff success. Those are nice, but really only icing on the cake. Beating the Griz is the cake!
Totally disagree.
x100 million. National championship is the cake, Big Sky championship is the icing. Beating the griz is a nice glass of wine to go with the cake.
Beating the Griz is ALL that matters to me. To each his own.
Really?
I LOVE beating the Griz. But there is more.

If you told me that in the next 10 years we’d win 2-3 national championships and a handful of big sky titles, but we’d go 2-8 against the griz in that time, I’d take those national championships every time.
Really. Sure I want 'ships. But beating those a@@holes, who OWNED us for so long and made us feel irrelevant, is what butters my bread. Even a 'ship, in a year we lost to those dickh@@ds, would feel tainted. Just how I feel about it.
Yeah, all you would hear is; “How can you be National Champs when you didn’t even win the state of Montana?”
So let them expose their stupidity publicly! Griz fans, or at least the vocal ones, are always going to say stupid ******. Who cares? Even if we won 25 straight, they’d never say a positive thing about MSU. I want national championships. I want that exposure. To be the best of the best. If I knew that we would win a championship but lose to the Griz, I’d take that every single time.

Re: Brent Vigen - New Bobcat Head Coach

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 3:13 pm
by AFCAT
bobcat99 wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 2:12 pm
AFCAT wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:02 am
84CatGrad wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 9:38 am
Catsrgrood wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:56 pm
84CatGrad wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:01 pm
BozoneCat wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:46 pm
ilovethecats wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:02 pm
DBARNETT1953 wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:59 pm
Reformed Griz fan here, as I lived in Missoula until I was 17, and then enrolled at MSU and discovered Montana's finest University. There is only 1 measure of success for a Head Football coach at either school; that is Cat-Griz victories. If Vigen goes 4:0 or 3:1 then he gets a new contract after 4 years. If he goes 0:4 or 1:3 then he probably does not. If he goes 2:2 then they will look at other things such as Big Sky or Playoff success. Those are nice, but really only icing on the cake. Beating the Griz is the cake!
Totally disagree.
x100 million. National championship is the cake, Big Sky championship is the icing. Beating the griz is a nice glass of wine to go with the cake.
Beating the Griz is ALL that matters to me. To each his own.
Really?
I LOVE beating the Griz. But there is more.

If you told me that in the next 10 years we’d win 2-3 national championships and a handful of big sky titles, but we’d go 2-8 against the griz in that time, I’d take those national championships every time.
Really. Sure I want 'ships. But beating those a@@holes, who OWNED us for so long and made us feel irrelevant, is what butters my bread. Even a 'ship, in a year we lost to those dickh@@ds, would feel tainted. Just how I feel about it.
Yeah, all you would hear is; “How can you be National Champs when you didn’t even win the state of Montana?”
So let them expose their stupidity publicly! Griz fans, or at least the vocal ones, are always going to say stupid ******. Who cares? Even if we won 25 straight, they’d never say a positive thing about MSU. I want national championships. I want that exposure. To be the best of the best. If I knew that we would win a championship but lose to the Griz, I’d take that every single time.
Not me. If the Cats won a bunch of Natty's but lost to the griz every time, the griz fans would certainly have a point that the Cats wouldn't be the best of the best at all. Of course, none of this is going to happen, so this whole idea is a bit ridiculous.

Re: Brent Vigen - New Bobcat Head Coach

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 3:28 pm
by ilovethecats
AFCAT wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 3:13 pm
bobcat99 wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 2:12 pm
AFCAT wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:02 am
84CatGrad wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 9:38 am
Catsrgrood wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:56 pm
84CatGrad wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:01 pm
BozoneCat wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:46 pm
ilovethecats wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:02 pm
DBARNETT1953 wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:59 pm
Reformed Griz fan here, as I lived in Missoula until I was 17, and then enrolled at MSU and discovered Montana's finest University. There is only 1 measure of success for a Head Football coach at either school; that is Cat-Griz victories. If Vigen goes 4:0 or 3:1 then he gets a new contract after 4 years. If he goes 0:4 or 1:3 then he probably does not. If he goes 2:2 then they will look at other things such as Big Sky or Playoff success. Those are nice, but really only icing on the cake. Beating the Griz is the cake!
Totally disagree.
x100 million. National championship is the cake, Big Sky championship is the icing. Beating the griz is a nice glass of wine to go with the cake.
Beating the Griz is ALL that matters to me. To each his own.
Really?
I LOVE beating the Griz. But there is more.

If you told me that in the next 10 years we’d win 2-3 national championships and a handful of big sky titles, but we’d go 2-8 against the griz in that time, I’d take those national championships every time.
Really. Sure I want 'ships. But beating those a@@holes, who OWNED us for so long and made us feel irrelevant, is what butters my bread. Even a 'ship, in a year we lost to those dickh@@ds, would feel tainted. Just how I feel about it.
Yeah, all you would hear is; “How can you be National Champs when you didn’t even win the state of Montana?”
So let them expose their stupidity publicly! Griz fans, or at least the vocal ones, are always going to say stupid ******. Who cares? Even if we won 25 straight, they’d never say a positive thing about MSU. I want national championships. I want that exposure. To be the best of the best. If I knew that we would win a championship but lose to the Griz, I’d take that every single time.
Not me. If the Cats won a bunch of Natty's but lost to the griz every time, the griz fans would certainly have a point that the Cats wouldn't be the best of the best at all. Of course, none of this is going to happen, so this whole idea is a bit ridiculous.
But sports don't work that way.

It's like that website that can make almost every team in the country the national champion because they beat a team who beat a team who beat a team who beat the actual nation champion. It's asinine.

It's like 99 said, do you really think that EWU wasn't the best of the best when the Cats kicked their asses? Because their national championship says otherwise.

But you're right. It's all moot.

Re: Brent Vigen - New Bobcat Head Coach

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 3:35 pm
by AFCAT
ilovethecats wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 3:28 pm
AFCAT wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 3:13 pm
bobcat99 wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 2:12 pm
AFCAT wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:02 am
84CatGrad wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 9:38 am
Catsrgrood wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:56 pm
84CatGrad wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:01 pm
BozoneCat wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:46 pm
ilovethecats wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:02 pm
DBARNETT1953 wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:59 pm
Reformed Griz fan here, as I lived in Missoula until I was 17, and then enrolled at MSU and discovered Montana's finest University. There is only 1 measure of success for a Head Football coach at either school; that is Cat-Griz victories. If Vigen goes 4:0 or 3:1 then he gets a new contract after 4 years. If he goes 0:4 or 1:3 then he probably does not. If he goes 2:2 then they will look at other things such as Big Sky or Playoff success. Those are nice, but really only icing on the cake. Beating the Griz is the cake!
Totally disagree.
x100 million. National championship is the cake, Big Sky championship is the icing. Beating the griz is a nice glass of wine to go with the cake.
Beating the Griz is ALL that matters to me. To each his own.
Really?
I LOVE beating the Griz. But there is more.

If you told me that in the next 10 years we’d win 2-3 national championships and a handful of big sky titles, but we’d go 2-8 against the griz in that time, I’d take those national championships every time.
Really. Sure I want 'ships. But beating those a@@holes, who OWNED us for so long and made us feel irrelevant, is what butters my bread. Even a 'ship, in a year we lost to those dickh@@ds, would feel tainted. Just how I feel about it.
Yeah, all you would hear is; “How can you be National Champs when you didn’t even win the state of Montana?”
So let them expose their stupidity publicly! Griz fans, or at least the vocal ones, are always going to say stupid ******. Who cares? Even if we won 25 straight, they’d never say a positive thing about MSU. I want national championships. I want that exposure. To be the best of the best. If I knew that we would win a championship but lose to the Griz, I’d take that every single time.
Not me. If the Cats won a bunch of Natty's but lost to the griz every time, the griz fans would certainly have a point that the Cats wouldn't be the best of the best at all. Of course, none of this is going to happen, so this whole idea is a bit ridiculous.
But sports don't work that way.

It's like that website that can make almost every team in the country the national champion because they beat a team who beat a team who beat a team who beat the actual nation champion. It's asinine.

It's like 99 said, do you really think that EWU wasn't the best of the best when the Cats kicked their asses? Because their national championship says otherwise.

But you're right. It's all moot.
You are right as well, Sports don't work that way. No team has ever won a bunch of Natty's and lost to the same team every single year.

Re: Brent Vigen - New Bobcat Head Coach

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 3:37 pm
by CodyCat
I started at MSU in 2002. Before then I had no ties to any school in MT. The only thing I knew was how annoying that griz radio announcer was. I didn't live through the streak and hadn't even heard of the streak until Cat/griz week of 2002. I somehow scored tickets to the game. Have only missed one since then (Miracle in Missoula), because watching the games with my Mom is more important than ensuring I go to every Cat/griz until I die. With all that said, I absolutely hate the griz. I hate the color maroon. And just seeing a griz license plate causes an inevitable slight swerve towards said vehicle while I'm passing. Somehow I married a griz and its undoubtedly the biggest issue in our marriage. Would I rather beat the griz than make the playoffs? I dont know. On years we make the playoffs but lose to the griz the playoffs dont feel right and it shows in attendance. Call me selfish, but we should never lose to um if we are title contenders. I wish there was six quarters last year and we continued to beat the SH!T out of those aholes. I loved the ESGGCG chant as the fans stormed the field last year. It was wonderful. It should have been on repeat. I will never forget Delaneys(sp?) last game in WaGriz. They beat us and then continued to rub it in our faces by turning the lights off, a fireworks show and the show went on and on. To hell with the dark pink. I do wish bad things upon them. I do hope they lose every game. So yes, I hate them. With every bone in my body. Its not an either or to me, you beat the griz and then you win the natty. And if at all possible, you beat the griz the Saturday before Thanksgiving and then you beat the crap out of them somewhere in the playoffs again and then win the natty.