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Please stop calling us ‘Buttians’
Mick Dennehy looked at me like I just asked the dumbest question in the history of postgame press conferences.
It was Saturday, Sept. 20. 1997, and Dennehy’s Montana Grizzlies beat Saint Mary’s 35-14 in a non-conference football game at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. My fellow 1993 Butte High graduate Josh Paffhausen just broke the school record with 15 pass receptions.
Paffhausen, a senior at the time, turned those 15 receptions into 175 yards and two touchdowns.
He broke the previous record of 14 set by Mike Trevathan in 1990. That record was tied twice by Joe Douglas in 1996.
Two days later, Paffhausen was selected by ESPN and USA Today as the NCAA Division I-AA National Offensive Player of the Week.
The remarkable thing about Paffhausen’s big day was that he spent the previous Sunday and Monday in the hospital with a dangerously high fever of 104 degrees.
Paffhausen also suffered from a severe headache, and he was so sick that his wife at the time told me that she was afraid that he might die.
So, at the press conference following the Grizzly win, I asked Dennehy, who was in his second year as head coach, if he was surprised that Paffhausen was able to play in the game so soon after such a frightening ordeal.
After staring at me like I was a buffoon for a moment, Dennehy said, “Bill, you’re from Butte. I’m from Butte. Josh is from Butte. He’s a Butte guy. Of course I knew he was going to play.”
Notice that Dennehy, one of the toughest coaches to come out of this old mining camp, called Paffhausen a “Butte guy.” He did not call him a “Buttian.”
Years ago, my dad told me a story about the great Butte handball player Steve Stanisich playing a tournament game in front of a big crowd.
Stanisich went down low to get the ball off the floor — just before it hit the second time — to score a point.
As the referee declared “tally,” Stanisich’s opponent started to protest. He argued that the ball “skipped,” and he should get the side out.
The guy kept arguing and arguing with the referee. He was screaming because he was sure that Stanisich did not get to the ball.
Most players would not have gotten to it, but Stanisich was not most players. He is one of the best players this state has ever seen, and he got it.
While the guy kept arguing, Stanisich did not even look back at his opponent. He just stood in the service box, bouncing the ball as he waited for his next serve.
Eventually, the referee interrupted the argument to ask, “Steve, did you get it?”
Stanisich answered with a simple, “Yep.”
“Tally,” the referee said.
Then the referee, who was not from Butte, turned to someone in the crowd and said, “Steve is a Butte guy. Butte guys tell the truth.”
The referee did not call him a “Buttian.”
That moniker, “Buttian,” is something that I have been hearing from some in the younger generations or from some newcomers to Butte, and it makes my skin crawl.
A couple who moved to Butte from New York last fall was featured on the KXLF News last week in a story about a spring snowstorm. The man referred to a “Buttian winter,” and I wanted to go through the television and shake some sense into him.
That is not what we are. We are Butte guys and Butte girls. We are Butte Rats. No pretense needed.
The term “Buttian” is, to me, a sign of the gentrification we are seeing that has come to our part of the world. That name might technically go back decades, and Google will tell you it is real.
But I was in my late 40s before I heard anyone try to call anyone from Butte a “Buttian.”
Today, we have newcomers moving in who do not know or maybe they do not like our identity. They are the ones who tell us to put our dogs on a leash when walking in remote locations. They are the ones telling us to stop lighting off those fireworks.
Kevin Costner and his that silly Yellowstone show I refuse to watch probably bear the brunt of the blame. They are responsible for people coming here in love with a fictional version of the “Last Best Place.” Then those people try to turn it into something else.
Now, I am not one of those isolationists who doesn’t want anyone to move here. I welcome people from all over the world to move to the Mining City. I just wish they wouldn’t try to change us.
For generations, the people Butte people have been known for their hard work, honesty and friendly disposition. We have also always been the life of the party wherever we go.
Sure, there are exceptions that seem to be increasing every year. But, for the most part, that is still true about the city that helped electrify the world and win a couple of World Wars.
In Butte, we don’t think we’re better than other people. Well, maybe we do, but we usually don’t act like we’re better than other people. We certainly do no look down on other cities like people from other cities do to us.
Terms like “Buttian” seem like something you would hear in Missoula or Bozeman, where they are “Missoulians” and “Bozemanites.”
That is fine. They can call themselves what they want. But places like Butte and Great Falls don’t need silly nicknames like that.
That name makes us seem soft. Even worse, it makes us sound pretentious, and it is time to stop once and for all.
If you hear someone refer to someone from the Holey City as a “Buttian,” it is your obligation to set them straight. We cannot accept that name from newspaper or television reporters. We cannot let newcomers refer to the people from this blue-collar city by a nickname that makes it sound like we are going to die their hair.
Butte guys and Butte girls deserve the simplicity of being a Butte guy or a Butte girl. That Butte guy who set that Grizzly certainly does.
Paffhausen’s record, by the way, lasted nearly two full decades. Jerry Louie-McGee broke it when he caught 21 passes against Cal Poly in 2016.
To me, though, Paffhausen’s day still stands as the greatest in Grizzly history. That is because we found out later that season that he was playing without an ACL in one of his knees.
Josh previously had surgery on that knee, and the replacement ACL somehow disintegrated. Don’t ask me how that happened, but that is what one of the team trainers told me.
To this day, I believe that injury is what kept him from a playing in the National Football League. To this day, I maintain that Paffhausen is the most gifted athlete I have ever seen come out of the Mining City.
He was also tough. Not only did Paffhausen leave the hospital to set a Grizzly record, he did it while basically playing on one leg.
That, though, did not surprise any of his teammates and coaches. Paffhausen played the whole season on that bum leg. He did it because he knew his teammates needed him and because he knew tha not playing was never an option.
That is why Dennehy looked at me like I asked a dumb question about a “Butte guy.”
A “Buttian” never would have played in that game.
— Bill Foley, who gets nauseous from pretense, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 or Bluesky at @foles74.bsky.social. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
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Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week: Chase Lubick and Braelynn Schelin
Butte High baseball player Chase Lubick and Butte Central softball player Braelynn Schelin are this week’s Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week.
The honors come after these athletes led the way the Bulldogs and Maroons pick up victories.
Lubick, a senior, receives the boys’ award. He pitched the distance as the Bulldogs beat Flathead 21-5 Friday in Kalispell. The game was called after six innings by the run rule.
Lubick scattered four hits and surrendered three earned runs in the win. He struck out three batters and worked around five walks.
Lubick, who also got the start in Butte High’s season opener a week earlier, needed just 88 pitches to get through six innings. Through two starts, Lubick has eight strikeouts in 10 and a third innings pitching. He is 1-0 on the season.
Schelin, a sophomore, takes home the girls’ honor. She was a force at the plate and in the pitcher’s circle Tuesday as the Maroons rolled to a 12-2 season-opening win at Three Forks.
Schelin went 2 for 3 at the dish. She smacked a double, worked a walk and drove in three runs to lead the BC offense.
She also pitched the distance, scattering three hits. She struck out four batters and walked three in the game, which was called after five innings by the 10-run rule.
For the fourth year, Leskovar Honda, home of the non-commission sales staff that always has your back, is teaming up with the ButteCast to honor the finest student-athletes from the Mining City to encourage more children to get up, get out and try all kinds of sports and activities.
Photo of Lubick courtesy Alycia Holland Photography. Photo of Schelin provided by Dan Chesnet of the Belgrade News.
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KC basketball schedule
Following is the Knights of Columbus Athletic Club’s four-man basketball schedule for the week of April 6.
Monday
7 p.m. — Rosary Rattlers vs. Crib Crew
8 p.m. — Someday Starters vs. HoopballasTuesday
7 p.m. — Moof’s Dawgs vs. ButteSports
8 p.m. — Parish vs. ButteSports
8 p.m. — Parish vs. HoopballasWednesday
7 p.m. — Crib Crew vs. Washington Generals
8 p.m. — Someday Starters vs. Rosary Rattlers
9 p.m. — Moof’s Dawgs vs. Poi TimeThursday
7 p.m. — Moof’s Dawgs vs. Rosary Rattlers
8 p.m. — Poi Time vs. Washington Generals
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Episode No. 337: Kelly Davis
When I was 10 years old, I would often play football by myself in our yard or the front room of our house.
At that age, all you need is an imagination to take you anywhere in the world. Mine took me to a football stadium in Bozeman where I played for the Montana State Bobcats with two stars named Kelly.
Kelly Bradley was the quarterback for the Bobcats, who went from worst to first and won the national championship in 1984. Bradley passed for 30 touchdowns in that magical season.
His big-time receiver was Kelly Davis, who scored 24 touchdowns for the Bobcats in his career.
Davis was my favorite Bobcat player because he was a from Butte. Before helping deliver a title for Montana State, Davis helped Butte High win the 1981 Class AA State football title. He also won the 300- and 110-meter hurdles to help the Bulldogs win back-to-back State titles in track in 1981 and 1982.
He set state records in both hurdles races as a senior.
Kelly Davis, who was inducted into the Butte Sports Hall of Fame in 2011, grew up in a trailer park on Hobson Street in Butte, and he parlayed his football scholarship into a degree in engineering.
He now lives in the Denver area, where he and his wife raised four daughters. Even though he lives in Colorado, Kelly is still very much a Bulldog and a Bobcat.
This morning, I caught up with Kelly over Zoom for a fun conversation. Listen in to hear about Kelly growing up in Butte and how Betty Merrifield was the second-grade teacher who put him on the straight and narrow.
Listen as he talks about competing in grade school track for coach Jim Patrick before playing football for Gene Fogarty at East Junior High School and then heading to Butte High.
Listen to hear him talk about blocking for Don Douglas on the 1981 state championship team and playing with those “Cardiac Cats” of 1984.
Listen in to hear how he welcomed the newest Bobcat national champions to the club.
Today’s episode is presented by Leskovar Honda, home of the friendly non-commission sales staff that always has your back. It is also available on YouTube:
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Episode No. 336: Paul Miranda
Paul Miranda is kind of a big deal. Just don’t tell him that.
The 1986 graduate of Butte Central has a Ph. D in chemistry from the University of Montana. He also has a master’s degree in metallurgical engineering and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Montana Tech.
Not bad for a kid who grew up on La Platte Street on the Butte hill.
But don’t call him “doctor.” Just call him Paul. Those boys from La Platte Street have no pretenses.
Paul works for Northwestern Energy, and he owns his own business, Eagle Engineering, which he calls a hobby.
As of this spring, Paul is also the new coach of the Butte High tennis program. He is using a bit of a Ted Lasso approach as he looks to build something special for the Bulldogs.
And Paul knows what it is like to be something special on the tennis court. He helped start the Butte Central tennis program when he was in school, and played at the state tournament for the Maroons. After high school, Paul won more tennis titles than he can even remember.
Thanks to some health issues, Paul no longer plays tennis, but he can still coach it. Likewise, he no longer referees basketball. But after his 20-plus years working high school and Frontier Conference games, he is as good of coach for new officials as you will find.
Earlie today, I met with Paul inside the vault at the Metals Sports Bar & Grill for a fun conversation. Listen in as he talks about his plans for the Bulldog team that played its first matches last Friday.
Listen as he talks about growing up on the hill and his years at Butte Central, where he was the very tiny manager of the 1984 Class A State champion boys’ basketball team. Listen as he talks about the burning feeling he gets when he puts on his Butte High Bulldogs hat.
Today’s episode of the ButteCast is presented by the Jewelry Design Center. Let Brian Toone and Co. be your jewelers for life.
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Central softball opens with victory as weather dominates spring opening
The cure to any long drought is apparently to schedule a high school track meet. Or softball game.
Mother Nature is the MVP so far as the spring high school sports season gets off to a slow start in 2026.
Butte High’s first track meet was wiped out by snow on Tuesday. The Bulldogs were supposed to compete with Missoula Sentinel, Missoula Hellgate and Butte Central.
The storm also washed out Butte High’s season-opening softball game at Gallatin, and wet weather on Monday prompted the early postponement of Tuesday’s Butte High vs. Butte Central baseball game.
In the spring, no schedule is written in stone. Luckily, you can keep track of all the changes with updated schedules that are always in the menu at ButteCast.com.
Butte High’s softball team will now open the season Friday with a home game against Kalispell Flathead. The Bulldogs’ game set for Thursday against Glacier was moved to next Tuesday at Stodden Park.
While Butte Central will now open the baseball season next Tuesday at home against East Helena, the Bulldog baseball teams are set to head to Kalispell play Flathead and Glacier Friday and Saturday. Those games, of course, are weather permitting, and the forecast does not look great.
In the limited action we did see, we saw some good things. Butte High dropped a pair of hard-fought baseball games as the Bozeman schools entered the fray on the diamond.
The Bulldog tennis teams opened the season at home against Billings West and Butte Central saw some good performances in a track meet in Corvallis.
Then on Tuesday, the Maroon softball team opened the season with a convincing win at Three Forks.
That is what we will be looking at as we take a lap around the Mining City sports scene for the first week of the spring season.
Maroons topple Wolves
THREE FORKS — Braelynn Schelin had herself a day Tuesday.
The Butte Central sophomore delivered in the pitcher’s circle and the batter’s box as the Maroons opened the softball season with a 12-2 victory. (Boxscore)
Schelin went 2 for 3 with a double, a walk and three RBIs to lead BC’s nine-hit attack in the game called by the 10-run rule after five innings.
She also pitched the distance, scattering three hits. She struck out four and walked three.
The Maroons opened with four runs in the top of the first inning. When Three Forks answered with two in the bottom of the Frame, BC shot back with three in the second, four in the third and one in the fourth.
Eighth grader Luci Fantini and sophomore Zayonna Otherbull joined Schelin with a pair of hits. Fanti blasted a home run and drove in two runs.
Sophomore Kenzie McQueary and eighth graders Blake Smith and Mila Carriger added hits. Smith, the leadoff hitter, also drove in a run and joined McQueary, who walked twice, with three runs scored.
Sophomore Kodee Badovinac and freshman Natalie Osterman each drove in a run in the win. Junior Marly Mansanti walked and scored a run, and eighth grader Jordyn Samson scored twice as a courtesy runner.
Senior Arika Stajcar and eighth grader Ryan Olson also played in the field for BC but did not make a plate appearance.
The Maroons, who saw Saturday’s game with Livingston rescheduled because of a conflict for the Rangers, now have a couple weeks off. Their next game is April 14 at home against Stevensville.
That is the Southwestern A Conference opener.
Bulldogs drop two
Butte High started the baseball season by making a little history for the two Bozeman schools.
Gallatin High and Bozeman High both beat Butte High in their inaugural Montana high school games.
Galltin beat Butte High 11-4 Friday at 3 Legends Stadium. (Boxscore) Less than 24 hours later, the Bulldogs fell in a 5-4 thriller at Bozeman. (Boxscore)
Against the Raptors, Butte High tied the game at 4 with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Teagan Duffy singled in Cayde Stajcar. Then Duffy scored on an error.
The Bulldogs thought they were out of the top of the sixth unscathed. But a close pitch did not go their way, and Louis Musial made the Bulldogs pay. The Gallatin short stop doubled in Grayson Herz and Graysen Trenka to break the tie.
The Raptors tacked on a run before breaking the game open with four runs in the top of the seventh.
Musial went 3 for 4 with two runs scored and the two RBIs. His day included a triple and two doubles.
Rolen Quezada joined Herz with a pair of singles, and Braeden Matthews and Cody Smith each hit a double.
Duffy went 2 for 4 with two RBIs and a run scored to lead the Bulldogs. Logan Carden, Cole Solomon, Calvin Cunningham, Gunner Bushman and Evan McEwen added singles for the Dogs.
Chase Lubick and Noah Powers both pitched better than their lines might indicate in a game that saw the Bulldogs commit four errors.
Gallatin also reached on a pair of hits that were perfectly placed into the sun.
In Bozeman, it looked like Butte High would escape with a win a couple of times. Stajcar hit a no-doubt home run to put Butte High up 3-2 in the top of the fifth inning. Thins really looked good when the shortstop took a relay pass and gunned out a runner at the plate in the bottom of the inning.
A passed ball allowed the Hawks to tie the contest at 3 in the sixth, and Duffy singled in Stajcar for a 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh.
But the Hawks knotted the game when Luke Zundel singled in Caiden Pershing with the tying run.
Zundel then scored on an error as the Haws walked off with the win.
Duffy went 2 for two with a walk and the two RBIs. Carden, and Cunningham also singled for the Bulldogs. Grady Foley, Stajcar, Solomon, Duffy and Tucker Kissell were hit by pitches.
Brooks Vincent, Hunter Davies, Solomon and Cunningham pitched for the Bulldogs.
BC impresses in track opener
CORVALLS — Butte Central’s track teams opened the season Saturday at the Blue Devil Invitational. (Results)
Three BC boys placed second in an event to lead the Maroons to 25 points and an eighth-place showing in the 16-team meet.
Corvallis won the boys’ title with 96 points. Hamilton was next at 72, followed by Darby at 68.
Junior Danny McCarthy ran to second place in the 100-meter race, crossing in 11.55 seconds. Sophomore Palmer Kellicut took second in the 110-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 16.34 seconds.
Freshman Henly Mansanti cleared a personal best mark of 5 feet, 10 inches to take second in the high jump.
Senior Will McGree jumped 36-1 ½ to place sixth in the triple jump, and junior Grady Button placed eighth in the 400 meters and high jump.
Frenchtown scored 102 points to claim the girls’ title. Hamilton took second at 84, and Polson finished third at 66. The Maroons scored eight points.
Harper McGree placed fourth in the high jump, clearing 4-6. That beat fellow BC freshman Evyn Tippett, who placed fifth, by two inches.
Tippett also placed sixth in the 200- and 400-meter races. She took eighth in the 100.
Senior Caden Tippett placed ninth in the shot put with a mark of 29-6.
Next up for the Maroons is the April 11 East Helena Invitational.
West tops Dogs on courts
Billings West’s boys and girls swept past the Butte High tennis teams Friday at Stodden Park and the West Elementary courts.
The Golden Bears won the girls’ battle 8-0, while West’s boys won 7-1. The match was the first under new Butte High coach Paul Miranda.
Tashi Hanley picked up Butte High’s lone win on the day. He beat West’s Nash Koffler 6-4, 6-4 in a No. 3 singles match.
Butte High’s Matthew Weldon played in what might have been the match of the day. He dropped a 6-2, 2-6, 10-7 decision to Owen Thayer in a No. 2 battle.
Joshua Schrader and Phillip Russo also played singles for the Bulldogs.
Butte High’s doubles teams were James Pearston and Max Pearson, Hunter LaPier and Kanyon Flynn, Briggs Joseph and Caleb Bradley, and Bryce Gratton and Jaxon Jonart.
Gratton and Jonart dropped a 3-6, 7-6, 10-6 battle to Jonah Schmaltz and Raleigh Kindsfath at No. 4 doubles.
Avery Blue, Carleigh Donaldson, Avya Williams and Alissa Pennock played singles for the Bulldog girls. The Butte High doubles teams were Chloe Jewell and Sienna Bradley, Bella Babb and Aubrey Allmendinger, Rory Trafford and Kenzie Read, and Lucy O’Leary and Emily Allred.
Butte High is back in action Saturday in Bozeman, where they will take on Bozeman and Gallatin.
Central’s tennis team will play see its first action next Tuesday at home against Stevensville.
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Episode No. 335: Debbie Shea
Debbie (Bowman) Shea is a retired teacher who spent 26 years educating the youth of Butte.
She also spent 11 years in the Montana Legislature, working to make lives better for the people of the Mining City and the State of Montana.
There, she got to work with great Butte statesmen like Fritz Daily, Bob Pavlovich, Joe Quilici and J.D. Lynch.
The fact that Debbie is retired, however, does not mean she gave up her work to impact the next generations. She is an author who has been a part of releasing four books.
Like her previous work, her latest book focuses on history. This one, “Walking With an Irish Immigrant,” is a book about the grandmother she never knew. It is a tribute to her grandmother.
Abigail “Bina” Harrington Healy moved to Butte from Ireland and lived an exceptional, but relatively short life. She passed away before Debbie was born. She lived through the Irish Revolution and the Great Depression. She was even briefly part of a bootlegging operation in Butte, and that is all in the book.
Debbie asked questions about her grandmother, but it wasn’t until recent years that she really dove into researching her for the latest project.
The book can be found The Corner Bookstore (1877 Harrison Ave.) and on Amazon. It is also likely available at other Butte bookstores.
Now a resident of Boise, Idaho, where she can be closer to her grandchildren, Debbie is still — and always will be — a Butte girl.
She grew up in Muckerville, living in her family home on the corner of Montana and Woolman until she was what is now considered middle school age. She attended St. Mary’s Grade School and has always embraced her Irish heritage. Later this spring, she will make her 10th visit to “The Emerald Isle.”
This morning, I met with Debbie over Zoom for a fun conversation. Listen in as she talks about her grandmother and why she was so fascinated with her story. Listen as she talks about the Butte neighborhoods and why preserving that history is so important.
Today’s episode is presented by Casagranda’s Steakhouse. Eat where the locals eat.
It is also available on YouTube:
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Snow wipes out Bulldog track, softball
Butte High’s season-opening track meet and softball games have been called off because of snow in Southwest Montana, the school announced this morning.
Butte High’s home track meet with Missoula Sentinel, Missoula Hellgate and Butte Central was called off. So were Butte High’s softball games at Gallatin. Those games will be made up, but no date has been announced.
The Bulldog softball teams also saw their Thursday home games with Glacier rescheduled. The Bulldogs will now play those games on April. 7. Butte High will open again attempt to open the season Friday against Flathead at Stodden Park.
Butte High announced yesterday that the baseball game against Butte Central set for today was also postponed. No makeup date has been set.
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Missoula thieves steal joy of Duke loss
Sunday, Jan. 3, 1993 saw a high of 19 degrees in the Mining City.
That was also the day the Buffalo Bills battled back from a 35-3 deficit in the third quarter to beat the Houston Oilers, 41-38, in overtime of an AFC Wild Card playoff game. That still ranks as the biggest comeback in NFL history.
I did not get to watch that comeback, however, because my grandpa had me outside in the bitter cold working to improve the steps on my aunt’s deck. It was a job she asked him to do, figuring he would do it when the weather warmed up.
But my grandpa was always in a rush to get things done.
He called me after I watched the first half of the Bills-Oilers game. Since it was a blowout — and because I always helped my grandpa when he asked — I went along with it.
When I got home, my dad asked me if I saw the Bills’ game.
“The Oilers killed them,” I said.
“No,” my dad said. “Buffalo came back to win.”
“I’m going to kill grandpa,” I said. Then I walked down the alley to his house to have a talk with him about a game he made me miss.
That was back before there was an NFL Network to show the game again that night, too. If you missed the game, you missed the game.
Sure, I got to watch the highlights on SportsCenter, but that is not the same. That was a once-in-a-lifetime game to watch, and I had to miss it.
It was the most regrettable game of my lifetime. Until Sunday.
Thanks to a thief or thieves stealing a wheel off my daughter’s car in Missoula, I missed the University of Connecticut’s incredible comeback to beat Duke to earn a spot in the Final Four.
I was on the couch watching Duke get all the calls. I watched every Duke game of this year’s tournament, and they seemed to get every call as they squeaked out victories that ruined my day.
I have despised Duke ever since the Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley days. I still can’t stand Laettner, even after the “I Hate Christian Laettner” 30 for 30 documentary was made to try to turn hearts like mine.
It didn’t work. The Blue Devils are still the Dallas Cowboys of college basketball.
Laettner should have never even made that shot to beat Kentucky and send Duke to the 1992 Final Four. He should have been ejected from that game for his dirty play long before the final seconds.
Even though the Blue Devils built a 19-point lead, I kept the game on Sunday. I watched that lead dwindle to 10 before my 22-year-old daughter called me in hysterics.
She left her apartment at an off-campus complex owned by the University of Montana only to find a jack under her car and her front, driver’s-side wheel missing. The lug nuts were gone, too.
It was like a scene from the TV show “Everybody Hates Chris,” but in Missoula, not Bed-Stuy.
We put studded snow tires on her car in November, and I had her normal set of tires at our house in Butte.
Trying to calm her down, I told her I would be there as soon as I could. I said I would bring her those tires and put the donut spare on for her. Then she could go to the Honda dealer, where they would find her a rim and put the regular tires back on.
I loaded the tires into my truck and strapped them down. Then I drove away, heading to Missoula. As I pulled away from my house, I turned on KBOW to see if I could catch a final score of the Duke-UConn game.
The refs would bail the Blue Devils out from the UConn comeback bid, I figured, but I still wanted to hear the score.
Right when the radio came on, I heard the announcer screaming that UConn just took the lead on an incredible play with three-tenths of a second left on the clock. It turned out that it was .4 seconds on the clock, but it still was not enough time for Duke to answer with a miracle of its own.
UConn freshman Braylon Mullins stole a tipped pass that should have never been thrown, passed to a teammate, then got the pass back and sank a 35-foot 3-pointer to give the Huskies a 73-72 win.
For the record, I also don’t normally cheer for UConn because I can’t stand head coach Dan Hurley. That isn’t because he is Bobby Hurley’s brother, either. It’s because the UConn coach is the biggest crybaby this side of UCLA coach Mick Cronin.
The play and shot by Mullins were simply incredible. That will be replayed more than the shot Laettner should not have been allowed to shoot.
But I didn’t get to see it live because of some thief or thieves in Missoula. In the middle of the night, they stole a wheel from a girl who is working hard to pay for school along with the high cost of living in Missoula.
The thieves got an assist from a school that constantly gouges its students. At night time, the complex a few blocks south of the campus is only as bright as the moonlight. There are no street lights, and only about one in four of the lights above each apartment door work.
The ones that do give out light, however, are dim or flickering. That gives the complex a nice Cabrini-Green, Candyman kind of vibe.
I’m sure that is exactly how the highly-paid administrators at the school like to live at their homes. The school paid former president Seth Bodner around $350,000 a year to not answer emails, so it apparently cannot afford lightbulbs to help keep the students safe.
That, though, is a rant for another day. It is a conversation I cannot wait to have with Bodner now that he bailed on the students to run for the Senate. I bet he will now actually talk to the people since he wants our votes.
It was still kind of light out, but raining like crazy, when I got to Missoula to put the donut spare on the car. I went to O’Reilly’s Auto Parts on Broadway Street and bought a full set of anti-theft lug nuts for the car.
As they say, I was yesterday days old when I knew there was such a thing. Steeling wheels, I figured, was something you only see on television.
I also had to buy a wrench to lower the black-and-yellow hydraulic jack left behind without its handle.
The very nice UM Campus Security officer assured me that the jack would be sent to forensics and dusted for fingerprints and DNA. They would get all their best people on the case, and it would be solved in about 42 minutes, like we see on TV.
At least I took his laugh at my request for that as an assurance that it will be done.
He said the officers were going to be on the lookout for a car with a mismatched Honda wheel or a vehicle with one studded tire when they are patrolling the area. My daughter will be looking for that tire, too, when she walks to campus or takes walks around the neighborhood.
If you are in Missoula, maybe you could keep an eye out for that, too. Or maybe you know someone who mysteriously got a new Honda wheel for his or her car over the weekend. Thieves are not the smartest people, and they tend to talk. Maybe you will hear something.
If you do, please call the police. Better yet, contact me and let me know the name of the thief or thieves. They owe us about $600 for the rim and another $200 or so for the studded snow tire.
More importantly, I want to meet these people. I don’t want to fight them or hurt them.
I just want to have a little talk with them about a game they made me miss.
— Bill Foley, who would not vote for Seth Bodner for dog catcher, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 or Bluesky at @foles74.bsky.social. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
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Butte-BC baseball game washed out
Tuesday’s baseball games between Butte High and Butte Central have been postponed because of the wet weather, Butte Central announced today.
The games will be rescheduled, but no makeup date has been set.
Butte Central was set to open the season, while Butte High dropped games to Gallatin and Bozeman Friday and Saturday. We will have more on those games in this week’s SportsCap.
Other prep action is still on for Tuesday, however. That includes Butte High’s track meet with Missoula Sentinel, Missoula Hellgate and Butte Central. The Maroons were a late addition to that meet.
BC’s softball team is still set to play at Three Forks on Tuesday. The varsity will play at 3 p.m., with the junior varsity following at about 5.
The ButteCast with Bill Foley 