Football: Bringing People Together

The fall travel season has come to an end.

This past weekend was spent in Bozeman, our final football weekend of the season.  Our Bobcats lost their third-round playoff game to Sam Houston State on Friday night.  SHSU is the same team to knock the Bobcats out last year, too.

What was great about the game was the number of fans who attended-- bundling up for a football game on a cold, snowy December evening. I think it was a sell-out crowd of around 18,000 fans, which may be a play-off attendance record for MSU, but I'm not sure.

Nearing twilight over the Bridgers. 

People in Montana sure love their football.  My theory, which I may have mentioned before, is that because there really aren't many professional sports programs around this area, people follow college more closely.

I also think there is a deep level of pride among residents of this state to say they are from Montana.  Often, you hear people referring to the length of time their family has resided in this state.  For example,  my husband is a fourth-generation Montanan. Our children (someday!) will be fifth-generation Montanans.  I think part of what Montanans love about cheering on the university football programs is the chance to cheer for some of their own.  There are many Montana boys on both the Montana State and the University of Montana football teams.

There were a number of Grizzly fans at Friday's game in Bozeman, and many more who watched the game on TV. Several of my Grizzly-fan friends told me they would be cheering for the Bobcats during the game.  With U of M out of the playoffs, this year, they were just cheering for the Montana team that did make the playoffs, wishing them well.  Being the type of person who just wants everyone to get along, I loved that it felt like rival factions of Montanans came together to cheer for the Bobcats.

In the end, Sam Houston State won.  As one always does when situations do not go as hoped, I have turned to reflect on the season as a whole, which was tremendous. To the delight of my husband and in-laws, my fan-dom and allegiance to the Bobcats was greatly solidified. The football games were great, but what was also wonderful was the chance to spend time with friends and family on our many trips to Bozeman (we went down their eight times between August 28 and December 7).

It's true that it's just a game, but football also brings people together. That might be worth even more than a win or a loss in the end.