It struck me that I ought to explain a little bit about why we cheer for the teams we do. Well, in part, it’s because I thought we ought to, and I’m the one of us most capable of complex thought and logic. But also, each team has a special something that captures part of what I love about life, and part of what makes you who you are.

So periodically (like during international breaks, long summer holidays, or say, global pandemics that completely alter everything we understand about our lives and ourselves), I want to introduce you to the teams we are tied to.

Our fifth team to meet: The University of Montana Grizzlies in Missoula, Montana. A team that captures what I learned best from growing up in Big Sky Country

Wherefore The Montana Grizzlies?

If the first four teams are your ancestor clubs, the University of Montana is one of your immediate family teams.

I was born and raised in the big MT. Your mother visited almost every year as a kid. Our family ties back to Red Lodge and Billings in the southeast, to Libby in the northwest, to Great Falls in the smack dab center.

But we also tie back to the University of Montana in Missoula. Your grandma Di got her BA, and your grandpa Bruce got his JD from the U of M. Even after decades away, your mom and I love to go home. Missoula offers those quintessential Montana scenes: the purple mountains majesty, the rolling rivers, and more hiking trails than you can shake a walking stick at.

Because our story is so immediately, personally tied to Montana, we needed a team from the Last Best Place on Earth. And there’s no better team than the Griz.

Who are the Grizzlies?

While the University of Montana has been educating young minds for well over a century, the women’s soccer team is just over 25 years old.

Started back in 1994 (the same year I fell hard for soccer 166 miles to the north east-ish), the Women’s soccer team has featured tremendous and talented athletes from home and beyond. They’ve won the regular season title seven times, and won the conference tournament five more.

Because the team is still young (especially compared to the century old sides we’ve been talking about), they’re still building an ethos and a legacy. But under all four coaches (including Mark Plakorus who used to coach your uncle Matt, and Chris Citowiki who used to coach down the street from us at St. Kate’s): culture, community, and academics are all emphasized. During these odd times, the Griz have often found ways to celebrate each other and have fun, even at a distance.

One of my favorite things about sports here in the US is how, when it’s done well, it puts sports in its proper context. Much as I love it, watch it, write and read about it, it is still a group of people playing a children’s game. When done well, the game, the team, the experience, teach you about how to live and work just as much as they entertain or amuse.

How are we the Grizzlies?

There’s something special about pursuing what you love even when it’s not as popular or common place. A fire in your heart to sing, or code computers, or play soccer, even when ways to do it are scarce and public support is minimal.

There’s also something special about clear-eyed appreciation for what things are and what you want things to be. To get that more important than winning or losing games, more than making money, getting a job, or earning the praise of others: what matters is how you do something, and who you do it with.

The Griz have, in 25 years, built a regional power in a place where kids like me heard the sport derided and diminished in very ugly terms. They’ve done it with coaches, kids, and fans from the state-wide community who are passionate about the game and focused on the family and character that comes from a good team.

Part of me wishes you could grow up in Montana, like I did. But that’s not possible. Times have changed, Montana has changed, and you (mercifully) are not me. But I still hope you’re raised with that Montana spirit as reflected by the Griz.

To paraphrase a John Denver song about my home state:

Oh Montana, give this child a home

Give ’em the love of a good family and a true love of their own

Give ’em a fire in their heart

Give ’em a light in their eyes

Give ’em the wild wind for a brother in the wild Montana skies.

John Denver, “Wild Montana Skies”

I hope you grow up with that fire in your heart, and that light in your eyes. I hope you grow up to be Grizzlies.