George Ferguson Column: HHS girls made all of us Blue Ponies proud

I’ll just get this off my chest right now. Saturday night at the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls, I wasn’t a very good journalist. No, I’m not ashamed to admit it.

Now, I’m not saying I didn’t do my job to the best of my abilities because, in a not-overconfident manner, I feel like I knocked my coverage of the Havre High girls basketball state championship out of the park. I feel like I, along with Daniel Horton and his outstanding basketball photography skills, did a stellar job of covering the Blue Ponies’ run to their first state title in 17 years.

Cocky? No. Just confident in my skills, kind of like how the Blue Ponies were certainly confident in beating Hamilton Saturday night.

But, as confident and as happy as I am with my coverage of this weekend’s emotional Class A state tourney run, I still fell short as a journalist, and quite frankly, for one night, I don’t really care.

Where I came up short was in my bias. Yes, I can admit, here and now, I’m biased when it comes to Havre High.

Even though I was there to cover the game for the Havre Daily News, I can fully admit, I wanted the Blue Ponies to win, and I was as happy as anyone in that building when they did. Did I cross the lines of journalistic integrity that night? No. I did my job. I didn’t cheer, I didn’t say a word during the game, and as always, I didn’t wear any Havre High gear of any kind. On the outside, I was just another reporter there to cover the last game of the Class A high school girls basketball season.

But on the inside, it was a whole different story Saturday night. I was a nervous wreck for 32 minutes, I was jumping up and down in my brain every time Havre made another big shot, got a huge steal or forced Hamilton into a tough shot that didn’t fall. In my head, I was up in the Four Seasons Arena bleachers with the other 1,000 or so Blue Pony fans going nuts.

And when that buzzer sounded, and Brandy Lambourne threw the ball high into the air, when the Ponies rushed the floor and erupted into a wild celebration, I felt the same emotions that every other Blue Pony fan in the building or listening on the radio did. I felt the same joy the rest of Blue Pony nation did.

For me, that’s really rare, and probably the last time I was overcome with a biased emotion like Saturday night was when the MSU-Northern men’s basketball team captured the Frontier Conference championship in Havre in 2011. Before that, it was probably when MSU-N beat Carroll in football and before that, it was probably when Havre High beat Billings Central for the Class A football state championship in 2004.

That’s only four times in the hundreds and hundreds of games I’ve covered over my career, so you know what, I’m just fine with that. I won’t, and didn’t lose any sleep over feeling so much joy and pride at Saturday night’s championship game.

And why did I feel the way I do? Because like most of you reading this, I’m from Havre, I’m a Blue Pony, and I will always believe one of the reasons I’m good at my job is because I got a solid education from Havre High School.

And there’s another reason Saturday night felt so good for me. I know these kids, and I know these coaches. I’ve covered them, and I’ve coached them in tennis and I’ve watched them grow up and I know how hard they work and how much they deserved to hoist that championship trophy. My job allows me the insight into the world of these kids and these great coaches, and I know and get to see just how special this Havre High girls basketball team is, and has been for a long time. When you get to see it from that perspective, you can’t help but be overjoyed when you see them do something as remarkable as what they did this past weekend in Great Falls.

I might be a sports writer, but I’m still a person with a heart, and my heart was bursting with happiness Saturday night. I was happy for Dustin Kraske, who I’ve known for a long, long time. I was happy for his assistant coaches, who put in the long and hard hours to help these kids realize their potential and their dreams. I was happy for the town of Havre and for the entire Havre High community, because these moments are rare. Moments like Saturday night don’t happen that often, in Havre or Box Elder or Great Falls or Billings or anywhere else. State championships don’t come often, and when they do, they are truly great.

But most importantly, I was happy for every player wearing a Blue Pony uniform Saturday night. Every basketball player dreams of winning a state championship, but not all of them work hard enough or become a team that can get the job done, and even some that do those things, still don’t get to achieve it.

But this Blue Pony team did work hard enough. They were devoted enough, they did form the kind of team chemistry and bond that it takes to be great. And when that happens, when night’s like Saturday night roll around, you’d have to not have a heart in order to not feel the emotions of the moment.

No, Saturday night was one of those very rare and very special moments. It was a night where you feel nothing but elation and happiness, no matter what your profession is. Saturday night was about a great group of kids, coming together to do something extraordinary. And it just so happened, it said Havre on the front of the jersey.

For me, Kraske summed it up best, short and simple not long after the game ended.

“I’m really proud to be a Blue Pony,” he said.

Me too, Dustin. Me too.