How to Go to a Football Game In Montana

This coming Saturday, the biggest sports rivalry in the State of Montana will be renewed. Maybe, the only one. The University of Montana vs. Montana State University. The rivalry is known as "The Brawl of the Wild."

Before You Go. Montana varies between mountains and plains. Regardless, presume it's going to be colder there than here. For this coming weekend, the weather in Bozeman is set to be in the low 30s in daylight and the low 20s at night. Bundle up. Also, there's going to be snow on Thursday and Friday. Not on Saturda, so it won't fall during the game. But watch your step.

The entire State of Montana is in the Mountain Time Zone, 2 hours behind New York. Adjust your timepieces accordingly.

Tickets. MSU's Bobcat Stadium, which will host this game, seats 17,777. UM's Washington-Grizzly Stadium seats 25,217. Regardless of which was hosting, both teams usually sell out their home games. Tickets may be hard to get.

Since UM has played its last home game of the season, I can't give you ticket prices for them. And all MSU has left for this game is standing room only: $50. I ain't spending 50 bucks to stand for 3 hours.

Getting There. It's 2,187 miles from Times Square in Midtown Manhattan to Bobcat Stadium in Bozeman, and 2,389 miles from Times Square to Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula. (The 2 stadiums are separated by 204 miles of Interstate 90.) In other words, if you're going, you're going to want to fly.

If you don't mind changing planes in Denver, you can fly round-trip from Newark to Missoula for a shade over $1,000, and from Newark to Bozeman for under $1,200.

That's kind of expensive. Would Amtrak be cheaper? No, because Amtrak doesn't go to either city. Greyhound does. It's $488 round-trip from New York to Bozeman, and $515 from New York to Missoula. And, either way, you'd had to leave on Wednesday to get there by Saturday's kickoff.

If you're really prefer to drive... Get onto Interstate 80 West in New Jersey, and stay on that until it merges with Interstate 90 west of Cleveland, then stay on 90 through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, into Wisconsin, where it merges with Interstate 94. Although you could take I-90 almost all the way, I-94 is actually going to be faster. Stay on I-94 through Minnesota and North Dakota before re-merging with I-90 in Montana. Exit 313 will be for the MSU campus in Bozeman, and Exit 105 will be for the UM campus in Missoula.

Not counting rest stops, you should be in New Jersey for an hour and a half, Pennsylvania for 5:15, Ohio for 4 hours, Indiana for 2:30, Illinois for 2 hours, Wisconsin for 3:15, Minnesota for 4:30 and North Dakota for 6 hours. For MSU, you'll be in Montana for 4 hours, for a total trip of 33 hours; for UM, you'll be in Montana for 7 and a half hours, for a total trip of 36 hours and 30 minutes. With rest stops, you're talking about 44 hours for MSU, and 48 -- 2 full days -- for UM.

Once In the City. Montana (Spanish for "mountainous") is the nation's 4th-largest State by area, but 7th-smallest in population, home to a little over 1 million people. It gained Statehood in 1889. The largest city is Billings, with 110,000. The capital city, Helena, has just 31,000; only South Dakota and Vermont have a smaller State capital city.

Missoula, founded in 1866 and named for the Salish word "Nmesultekw," meaning "place of frozen water," after the Clark Fork River, has about 72,000 people. Bozeman, named for businessman John Bozeman and founded in 1864, has about 45,000 people. Both the University of Montana and Montana State University were founded in 1893.
Prominent newspapers in Montana include the Billings Gazette, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the Great Falls Tribune and the Missoula Independent. Property taxes are assessed on vehicles, farm machinery, livestock and business equipment; however, household goods are exempt from property taxes, and the State has no sales tax.

That should tell you that this State is more libertarian than conservative, which may be one reason so many people who don't really fit into modern society have moved there and established ranches (like the "Montana Freemen") and cabins (like Dr. Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber). The State also, for a few years in the 1990s and 2000s, had literally no speed limit.

It's elected Democrats to Statewide offices -- the current Governor is a Democrat, and the 2 U.S. Senators are split between the major Parties -- but has gone Republican in every Presidential election of my lifetime, and only gone Democratic once (Lyndon Johnson in 1964) since Harry Truman in 1948 -- due not to race (the State is 89 percent white, 6 percent Native American, and all other races combined are just 5 percent), but taxes and guns.

ZIP Codes in Montana begin with the digits 59, with Missoula having 59812 and Bozeman having 59717. The Area Code is 406. In Missoula, the Milwaukee Trail -- not the Clark Fork River -- divides street addresses into North and South, while Higgins Avenue divides them into East and West. In Bozeman, Main Street, a.k.a. U.S. Route 191, is the North-South divider, and the East-West divider is Tracy Avenue.

Mountain Line runs Missoula's bus service, but doesn't run late at night or on Sundays. They are in the middle of a 3-year "Zero Fare" experiment, providing free service. Streamline provides free buses in Bozeman.

Going In. The official address of the University of Montana's Washington-Grizzly Stadium is 32 Campus Drive, about a mile and a half southeast of downtown, across the Clark Fork River. Bus 2 will get you a 5-minute walk away. If you drive in, parking is $5.00.
It opened in 1986, thanks to a donation from construction magnate Dennis Washington, and its seating capacity is 25,217, making it the largest stadium in the State. The field has been artificial since 2001, and is aligned north-to-south. It also hosts high school football.
Previously, the Montana Grizzlies played at stadiums built in 1920 and 1986, both named Dornblaser Field, after Paul Dornblaser, their 1912 football captain, who was killed in World War I. The new one, seating 12,500, still stands, at Higgins & South Streets, and is used for track & field.

The official address of Montana State University's Bobcat Stadium is 1 Bobcat Circle, about a mile south of downtown. There is no bus going there. If you drive in, parking is $4.00 per hour. It opened in 1973, and its seating capacity is 17,777. The field has been artificial since 2008, and runs northwest-to-southeast.
It opened in 1973 as Reno H. Sales Stadium. Sales was a lineman on the 1st MSU football team in 1897, and became a prominent geologist. He was known as Mr. Bobcat for his generosity to his alma mater, but I can find no reason why his name was taken off the stadium in 1997.
Food. I can find no reference to concessions at Bobcat Stadium. You may be better off eating before and after the game. Washington-Grizzly Stadium has Bootleg Burgers in the north end zone and under each sideline's stand. Fan Favorites and Sideline Snacks are also under each sideline's stand. Playmaker's Popcorn is under the east stand.

Team History Displays. Neither team displays its honors in the fan-viewable areas of the stadium.

The Montana Grizzlies won the Division I-AA, now Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), title in 1995, beating Marshall in the Final. Marshall avenged this loss in the next season's Final. The Grizzlies have also won the title by beating Furman in 2001; and lost in the Final to Georgia Southern in 2000, James Madison in 2004, Richmond in 2008, Villanova in 2009.

They have won 18 Big Sky Conference Championships: In 1969, 1970, 1982, 1993, 1995, 1996, and then 12 straight from 1998 to 2009. They also won it in 2011, but got caught misbehavin', and had to forfeit 5 wins from that season, and thus the title.

UM has retired no uniform numbers. Grizzlies who went on to notable pro careers include Bob O'Billovich, an early 1960s quarterback who won titles as a coach and general manager in the Canadian Football League; Doug Betters, a defensive end with the Miami Dolphins' early 1980s "Killer B's" defense; Dave Dickenson, the quarterback on their 1995 National Champions who won the Grey Cup with the CFL's Calgary Stampeders, and is now their head coach; and Kroy Biermann, an Atlanta Falcons defensive end best known for having married reality TV star Kim Zolciak.

The Montana State Bobcats claim National Championships in the NAIA in 1956 (beating St. Joseph's College of Indiana in the Final), in NCAA Division II in 1976 (Akron), and in Division I-AA in 1984 (Louisiana Tech). They claim 20 Conference Championships: In the Rocky Mountain Conference in 1938, 1946, 1947, 1954 and 1956; and in the Big Sky in 1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1979, 1982, 1984, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2010, 2011 (after UM had to give it up) and 2012.

Unlike UM, MSU has a Pro Football Hall of Famer, Jan Stenerud, the kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs who helped them win Super Bowl IV. He came to MSU from Norway on a skiing scholarship, and kicked a school-record 59-yard field goal in 1965. Harvey Wylie of the 1950s Calgary Stampeders and Al Wilson of the 1970s British Columbia Lions are MSU graduates in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

Montana State has retired 4 numbers: Stenerud's 78 (which is weird, when you remember that the Chiefs retired his number, and it was 3), the 52 of 1950s center and 1970s head coach Sonny Holland, the 21 of 1960s running back Don Hass (nicknamed the Iron Tumbleweed), and the 77 of 1970s defensive tackle Bill Kollar. Dennis Erickson, who coached Miami to the 1989 and 1991 National Championships, quarterbacked Montana State in the late 1960s.

As for the Brawl of the Wild, known to MSU fans as The Cat-Griz Game (Bobcat fans put their team's name first), the series began in 1897, and UM leads 72-37-5. MSU won last year, though. They play for the Great Divide Trophy. The Great Divide, also known as the Continental Divide, is the line that separates rivers that flow eastward from rivers that flow westward. In the continental U.S., it runs, from north to south, through the States of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico.

UM also has a rivalry with Eastern Washington, and, next season, will resume a formerly rivalry with the University of Idaho, which returns to the Big Sky Conference. UM leads EWU for the Governors' Cup 26-15-1, but trails Idaho in the battle for the Little Brown Stein 55-27-2.

Stuff. Neither team has a large team store at its stadium. UM's bookstore is at the University Center, at 5 Campus Drive, just south of Washington-Grizzly Stadium. MSU's bookstore is at the Strand Union Building, 751 W. Grant Street, about a 10-minute walk north of Bobcat Stadium. Don't expect to find books or videos about either team.

During the Game. Safety won't be an issue: No Freemen or Unabombers at either team's stadium. What you will find in Missoula is Monte the Grizzly, named for the State; and the fight song "Up With Montana."
Montana State's mascot is Champ the Bobcat, and he leads the pregame Cat Walk through the campus and into Bobcat Stadium. Their Spirit of the West Marching Band plays the fight song "Stand Up and Cheer!"
After the Game. There's dining options available in the University Center, a 5-minute walk south of Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Aside from that, you're probably better off eating in downtown Missoula.

There isn't much to eat around Bobcat Stadium. A short walk east on Kagy Avenue, which bounds the north of the stadium, there's Rosa's Pizza and a convenience store called Kagy Korner. A short walk north, at 1609 S. 11th Avenue, is Bridger Brewing. Since the games will be played in the afternoon, you might have better luck at the Gallatin Valley Mall, about 2 miles to the northwest, especially if you drove in.

If your visit to either campus is during the European soccer season, the best bar in Missoula for watching matches is the Thomas Meagher Bar, 130 W. Pine Street, downtown; and in Bozeman, the Rocking R Bar, 211 E. Main Street, downtown.

Sidelights. Aside from UM and MSU, there isn't much in the way of sports in Montana. There are 4 minor-league baseball teams, making up the entire Northern Division of the Pioneer League, a "Rookie League," 6 levels below the major leagues:

* The Missoula Osprey (no S on the end), Arizona Diamondbacks, Ogren Park at Allegiance Field, opened 2004, seating 3,500, 700 Cregg Lane. Winners of 4 Pennants, most recently in 2015. (There's no team in Bozeman.)

* The Billings Mustangs, farm team of the Cincinnati Reds, playing at Dehler Park, 2008, 3,071, 2611 9th Avenue N. 15 Pennants, most recently in 2014.

* The Great Falls Voyagers, Chicago White Sox, Centene Stadium, 1940, 4,000, 1015 25th Street N. 12 Pennants, most recently in 2011.

* The Helena Brewers, Milwaukee Brewers, Kindrick Legion Field, 1932, 2,100, 1300 N. Ewing Street. 4 Pennants, most recently in 2010.

The Southern Division consists of the Idaho Falls Chukars, Utah's Ogden Raptors and Orem Owlz, and Colorado's Grand Junction Rockies.

The 200-mile difference between the Montana schools means that they have different major league alignments. For UM, the closest MLB and NFL teams are in Seattle, 476 miles away; and in the NBA and MLS, Salt Lake City, edges Portland, 549. The closest NHL city is Vancouver, 612.

But for MSU, Salt Lake City is easily the closest NBA and MLS city, while for MLB and the NFL, Seattle just edges Denver, which is the closest NHL city.

For Eastern Montana, the fans tilt more toward the Denver teams; for Western Montana, it's the Seattle teams. The Colorado Avalanche are easily the most popular NHL team. Although it appears that, due to their success and the "closest" teams' lack thereof, the Los Angeles Lakers are more popular in the State than the Denver Nuggets, the Utah Jazz and the Portland Trail Blazers.

Missoula is home to the Missoula Art Museum, at 335 N. Pattee Street, downtown; and the Montana Natural History Center, at 120 Hickory Street, just across the river from downtown. In Bozeman, the Museum of the Rockies is just to the east of Bobcat Stadium, at 600 W. Kagy Blvd.

The most famous historic site in the entire State of Montana is the Battle of the Little Bighorn, a.k.a. the Battle of the Greasy Grass, a.k.a. Custer's Last Stand, where, on June 25, 1876 -- with the news reaching the U.S. East Coast on Centennial Day, July 4, 1876, which is probably why it stands out so much.

Native Americans of the Lakota(the white men called them the Sioux), Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, nearly wiped out the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. (He had been a brevet Major General, 2 stars, in the Civil War, but reverted to his previous rank afterward.) Custer and 2 of his brothers were among the dead.

The battlefield, on the Little Bighorn River (a "bighorn" is a ram), is now on the Crow Indian Reservation, in Crow Agency. It's 203 miles east of MSU in Bozeman, 405 miles southeast of UM in Missoula, and 493 miles north of Denver. In other words, you're driving.

Neither Elvis Presley nor The Beatles ever performed in Montana. The tallest building in the State is the 272-foot First Interstate Center, at 401 N. 31st Street in downtown Billings.

No President, or Vice President, has ever come from Montana. The most famous politician the State has ever produced is Mike Mansfield, who served first in the Navy, then (after the Navy discharged him when they found out he'd lied about his age to get in) the Army, then the Marine Corps, all 3 branches then available, in World War I and its aftermath. He went to the University of Montana and then to UCLA, was first elected to Congress in 1942, then to the Senate in 1952. He became Senate Majority Whip after the election of 1956, because Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson liked him. When LBJ was elected Vice President in 1960, Mansfield was elected Majority Leader, and held the post longer than anyone, 16 years, retiring after the 1976 election. President Jimmy Carter then appointed him U.S. Ambassador to Japan, and he was one of the few Carter appointees that Ronald Reagan kept, and Mansfield didn't retire until 1988, age 87. He died in 2001.

There have been 3 TV series set in Montana. Buckskin was a Western in the 1958-59 season. Angel Falls lasted 6 episodes in 1993. And a kids' show named Caitlin's Way lasted on Nickelodeon from 2000 to 2002.

There have been considerably more movies set there, many of them Westerns, particularly those focusing on the Battle of the Little Bighorn, including Custer's Last Fight (1912, only 36 years afterward), Little Big Horn (1927), Custer's Last Stand (1936, a serial full of crap), They Died With Their Boots On (1941, with Errol Flynn as Custer), Sitting Bull (1954), 7th Cavalry (1956), a 1963 episode of The Twilight Zone titled "The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms" (sending present-day 7th Cavalry men back to the battle), The Great Sioux Massacre (1965), Custer of the West (1967, with Robert Shaw), Little Big Man (1970, with Dustin Hoffman as a Native and Richard Mulligan as Custer), and Son of the Morning Star (1991, with Gary Cole as Custer).

In 1938, Lou Gehrig played a fictionalized version of himself going west in Rawhide. In 1955, Ronald Reagan starred with Barbara Stanwyck in Cattle Queen of Montana. This was the film mentioned on the marquee of the theater in Hill Valley in the 1955 sequence of Back to the Future. In 1972, The Cowboys became the 1st movie in which a character played by John Wayne got killed by a bad guy (played by Bruce Dern) -- and those he led, all boys, were better off without him.

Star Trek: First Contact depicts the launch of the 1st light-speed (Warp 1) Earth vessel, based in Montana in 2063, in a world torn by a World War III that we'd better hope doesn't actually happen. A River Runs Through It, Legends of the Fall and The Horse Whisperer were also set in Montana.

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The Brawl of the Wild is pretty much it as sports in Montana goes. But it may be worth a visit.