A Brawl of the Wild tradition: Let the bands play!

Montanans just enjoyed the largest sporting event of the year, with more than 27,000 of us coming together in person to witness this year’s version of the Brawl of the Wild. The football game and intrastate rivalry between the Montana Grizzlies and Montana State Bobcats is 122 years old and began only eight years after Montana obtained statehood in 1889. By any measure, this contest is so much more than just another game and has become an important part of the fabric of Montana.

Our two flagship universities have been educating the sons and daughters of Montana for 130 years and are shining examples of providing quality public education in a rural state. By many measures, we continually outperform other larger universities in more populous states. As a graduate of the Montana University System, I am proud of that.

What I’m not so proud of is the recent decision by both universities to exclude the visiting school’s marching band from attending and performing at the annual Cat-Griz football game, supposedly to squeeze a few more dollars from the tickets being sold for the seats that would have been occupied by band members. In years past, and at least for several decades, the marching bands from both universities would be in attendance at the game, adding a significant and important amount of energy and excitement that was entirely produced by student talent. Can you think of anything better — marching bands from both universities full of young student musicians from communities large and small coming together to add spirit and enthusiasm to the largest annual sporting event in Montana? I certainly can’t.

There is a good deal of healthy competition between MSU and UM on a number of fronts both in the classroom and on the field. That’s natural and I think it makes for a better, sharper University System. But the performance of both of our state’s university marching bands at the Griz-Cat game is the opposite of competition — it’s cooperation between the two schools to showcase the significant musical talents of tuition-paying students who practice for hours on end to add to the gameday experience for nearly 30,000 football fans.

This tradition came to a screeching halt this year when added ticket sale revenue apparently became more important than having both marching bands in the stands. It’s a poor decision that negatively impacts football fans, Montana’s very best student musicians and the overall gameday experience.

If you agree as I do that continuing the Montana tradition of supporting our student musicians by having the marching bands from both of our flagship universities at future Brawls of the Wild, I encourage you to voice your opinion to the leadership of both schools.

It’s not too late. Let’s hope they’re listening.

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Rep. Paul Tuss, D-Havre, represents House District 28 in the Montana House of Representatives, which includes Havre and Hill County.