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Our hometown is not haunted
Jimmy Carr is a great comedian with a funny laugh.
He also has a great take on ghosts.
“It’s actually easy to tell if your house is haunted,” Carr said in one of his recent specials. “It isn’t. Grow up.”
Since I watched the first episode of “Ghosts of Devil’s Perch” on the Travel Channel, I have been reciting Carr’s line to anyone who will listen. (Click here for a podcast version of this column.)
I have also been paraphrasing the words of the great Bill Burr from his appearance in Bozeman in the summer of 2013.
A ghost can go wherever he wants. He can go to the Super Bowl. He can go to the women’s locker room.
Does he do that? No.
Instead, the idiot stands by the boiler in your basement just so he can give you an “oooooh” when you walk by every three years.
If you are older than 13 and still believe in ghosts, then you are probably not going to like this column. But you are the one who should be reading it.
Before you start telling me your ghost stories and why I am wrong when I laugh at you, answer me this. Why do you only hear about ghosts at night?
Is there any kind of explanation as to why you never see or hear from Casper in the day time?
Also, how do you know that the ghost in the closet was not Sully or Randall from Monster, Inc? That seems to be just as believable as a soul of a dead person.
I cannot remember who said it, but “Ghosts of Devil’s Perch” is our “Tiger King.” It was a horrendously silly show, but we could not take our eyes off of it.
For other more gullible people out there, the show was a confirmation of what they have always believed.
To be fair, the eight-part series did some good things. For one, it showcased the beauty and history of the Mining City.
Dillon native and retired teacher Chris Fisk did an outstanding job helping Dave Schrader, Cindy Kaza and K.D. Stafford intertwine Mining City history and ghost stories.
However, the television series showed me that Dave, Cindy and K.D. are, with all due respect, monumentally fully of crap.
Remember, I said, “With all due respect.”
That is not to say that they are lying. It is possible that a person can be genuine and still be very much full of crap.
Maybe Dave experienced some kind of medical issue when he claimed to have been injured in a “paranormal shooting” at the Cabbage Patch cabin. Maybe he thought he really was shot by a ghost bullet.
Maybe he really thought he was pushed by the ghost of Michael Hickey when he tripped while walking into the Orphan Girl Mine.
Then again, maybe that carnival worker really does believe that the ring toss game he is running is on the level. It is not, but maybe he believes the line of B.S. he is giving you.
When it comes to tracking down “ghosts,” I would take Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Raymond Stantz and Dr. Egon Spengler over Dave, Cindy and K.D. any day.
Actually, I would go with Fred, Velma, Daphne and Shaggy before I would believe in Cindy’s “automatic writing.”
I am not saying she is lying, but I would buy some oceanfront property in Arizona before I would believe that the “medium” is actually channeling the thoughts of the ghosts when she puts her Sharpie to her yellow legal pad.
The “ghost box” is another thing that would not get out of the Scooby-Doo writer’s room. Did you get a look at that thing? It looked like an old boom box from the 1980s.
As silly as the “ghost box” appears to be, it is the way they used it that makes it hard to believe.
Supposedly, Dave, Cindy and K.D. have been hunting ghosts for quite some time while using such cutting-edge technology from the Reagan years. So, they likely saw some crazy things.
Then why are they shocked to profanity every time they heard some radio static that they say was a word?
That leads me back to my full-of-crap theory, and it shows that Sheriff Ed Lester was not the worst actor in the series.
While “Ghosts of Devil’s Perch” was must-see television for everyone from Butte, it did not enhance the image of anyone who appeared on the show.
It likely had people from all over the country laughing at Butte and Dillon native Chris Fisk.
It did not make the sheriff or “mayor” J.P. Gallagher, who is actually the chief executive of Butte-Silver Bow, look particularly good. It did not make the adults who said they saw ghosts look good, either.
It was fun to see some of Butte’s history, and it made me want to read Jake Sorich’s book about the Cabbage Patch.
Between Sorich and Dillon native Chris Fisk, the show told lots of neat stories about Butte.
It was fun to learn about the Axe Man of the Cabbage patch and the men who were hanged in the courtyard behind the courthouse.
It was also great that people were introduced to the story of Willie Corette, a 10-year-old boy who died while playing baseball in Butte in 1891.
According to newspaper reports, Corette made a spectacular jumping catch of a line drive down the third base line and disappeared with the ball tight in his mitt. He fell 110-feet into an open mineshaft and died.
In a Rat Chat column in 2004, Matt Vincent called Willie Butte’s “Say Heeeyyyyy Kid.”
As good as it was to hear Willie mentioned, it was not fair to portray him as a ghost in the Hennessy Mansion.
For 131 years, Corette’s family — and he still has family in Butte — was comforted by the thought that the young boy was resting in peace. This show made it look like the boy was still suffering in the afterlife.
While the other ghost stories were fun and harmless, I saw the painting of Corette as the friendly ghost looking over the players for the Mining City Tommyknockers as an insult.
We have all heard things go bump in the night. We have all felt the cold spots, and we have all seen lights flicker.
I have seen things in my house that I cannot explain.
But why do we jump to the conclusion that it is a ghost if we cannot explain it?
Isn’t there just as good of a chance that it is a goblin? Or a vampire? Or Frankenstein?
Oh yeah, you are right. That would be silly.
And why do we assume that it is the ghost of a human terrorizing our city? It is just as likely that the ghost is Dino the dinosaur is telling us to get off his prehistoric turf as it is Michael Hickey whining about not getting recognition for finding the Anaconda Mine.
Oh, I almost forgot. The bullet that was teleported to Dave and K.D. in the courthouse showed that it was former humans doing the haunting.
Dinosaurs lived with strict gun-control laws. That is why they went extinct.
There is no way the cast or crew of the show could have planted the bullet next to the gallows that they planted in the basement of the courthouse.
Yes, a very reliable source at the courthouse says that the old hanging gallows are not normally just lying around in the basement. We take better care of our history.
That makes me think that they just might have also faked the “paranormal shooting” and the front door to the Hettick house opening on its own.
In the final scene of the final episode, Sheriff Lester said the number of calls to police reporting ghost sightings completely disappeared after Dave, Cindy and K.D. did their thing.
But just what was their thing? Commissioning a third-grader to paint a portrait of Hickey to hang in the courthouse and telling the ghosts to leave is what did the trick?
Everyone knows that you have to cross the streams to get rid of a monster ghost like that. Either that or you demask the disgruntled owner of the old amusement park.
Just like those were not real ghosts in Scooby-Doo, those are not really ghosts in the Mining City.
If you are over the age of 13 and the series “Ghosts of Devil’s Perch” and Dillon native Chris Fisk made you think they are, then you should really consider the words of Jimmy Carr and grow up.
You should also check out some of the oceanfront property I have for sale.
— Bill Foley, who blames Dillon for the pointing and laughing at Butte following eight episodes of “Ghosts of Devil’s Perch,” can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74.
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Podcast No. 11: Ethan and Eli Worblewski
Butte boxing brothers Ethan and Eli Wroblewski have turned out to be quite the role models for the youth of the Mining City.
Even though they come from a tough upbringing thanks to drug and alcohol problems in their family, they never touch either. They are too busy working on the clothing brand and their boxing careers.
They hope to one day fight in the Olympics, and they plan to be professional boxers.
https://www.markovichconst.comScreenshot The brothers were set to fight in the Murderers Row Boxing Event Oct. 29 at the Butte Depot. Unfortunately, they learned shortly after recording this podcast that they will not be able to fight because it conflicts with USA Boxing rules.
Still, Ethan and Eli have many more fights in their future.
Click here to listen in as we get to know two of the Mining City’s finest. Hear about their intense training regimen and how boxing helped keep them out of trouble. Also, check out their knowledge of boxing history.
They bring up Iron Mike, Money Mayweather and Mining City legend Eli Thomas.
Listen on Spotify or the Apple Podcast app.
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The moral police got it wrong, Barry Bonds is still the king
Without question, Aaron Judge is one of the greatest home run hitters of all time.
Even though he plays for the Antichrist Yankees, he seems like a really good guy, too. He did grow up a Red Sox fan, so, like Vader, there is some good deep down.
Judge is a physical specimen who hit 62 home runs at the best possible time. In a contract year.
With his 62nd home run, Judge became the king of the American League, passing former Yankee greats Babe Ruth and Roger Maris.
Maybe you heard of them. (Click here to listen to the podcast edition of this column.)
That dinger also brought out the moral police on social media.
Judge, they say, is the real single-season home run record holder. Those three men who hit more home runs in a single season, they say, are cheaters.
We cannot let cheaters hold records.
Since we cannot put Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa to death, we need to put giant asterisks next to their names.
Oh, sure, it doesn’t matter that Bonds, McGwire and Sosa never failed a drug test because their biggest moments came before Major League Baseball tested for performance-enhancing drugs.
The media, politicians, prosecutors and a lot of fans, however, said they are cheaters. So, case closed. They are treated as if they stole something from the soul of the game, even if the best government prosecutors could not gain a conviction.
The thing is, they are probably right. We can almost say for sure that we know Bonds, McGwire and Sosa used steroids.
In the case of Bonds, you do not have to be a rocket scientist to see something was up. All you had to do is look at a guy. A baseball player on the back nine of his career suddenly does not have his head grow three sizes.
Physically, McGwire and Sosa are highly suspect, too. In addition to their change in appearance, their testimony to grandstanding congressmen was also incredibly pathetic. Sosa even forgot how to speak English when asked if he ever took PEDs.
Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez somehow became the face of the “Steroid Era” of baseball. They are the bad guys. They are the cheaters. Shun them while we celebrate the players who are clean.
Those five men, and maybe a few more, have had to shoulder the entire burden of the “Steroid Era,” which many highly-gullible people think is over.
On the flip side, we praise players like Ken Griffey Jr., and Aaron Judge because they do it the “right way.”
No way Griffey ever cheated. He has a nice smile.
We also know there has never been such a thing as a crooked judge in the history of America.
So, Aaron Judge is the real home run king, the self-righteous tell us.
Bonds’ 73 home runs in 2001 do not count. He will never make the Hall of Fame.
McGwire’s 70 home runs of 1998 are also null and void, just like the great seasons put up by Sosa.
It does not matter that the magical summer of 1998 — when McGwire and Sosa were chasing the most prized record in all of sports — just might have saved the game, which was in trouble after a strike canceled the 1994 World Series.
The television deals and the high salaries of today’s players might not exist if it was not for those two. It does not matter. No Hall of Fame for you.
If only we treated the sexual assaulters, domestic abusers and obstructors of justice in murder cases with the same vitriol.
If Ray Lewis would have flunked a drug test while hitting home runs instead of pleading guilty to his involvement in a double murder, maybe then we could keep him out of the Hall of Fame.
The really dangerous thing we do when it comes to judging the pureness in baseball players is to assume that only a few cheated.
As painful as it is to admit, the most credible voice about the “Steroid Era” is Jose Canseco. In his book, Canseco claimed that up to 85 percent of Major League Baseball players took steroids.
Even if he doubled the figure to sell books, he is way more credible than the thousands of baseball writers and media members who collectively buried their heads in the sands as player BMIs shot up and baseballs shot out of ballparks.
Was Griffey one of the 15 percent of clean players? We sure hope so. I will always believe that he was. He is a nice guy, and I once shook his hand.
But will we ever know for sure? Not a chance.
The same goes with Judge. We can hope like crazy that he is clean and we can definitely give him the benefit of the doubt.
But we will never know for sure.
For one thing, Judge has been suspect since his rookie year. In three seasons playing in the minor leagues, Judge hit a total of 56 home runs while facing minor league pitching.
Then, in 2017, he belted 52 home runs in his first full season in the big leagues, where he was facing the best pitchers in the world.
Maybe it is the Red Sox fan in me, but that reeks to high heaven.
Granted, Judge was probably aided by playing in a Little League park in the Bronx, but that is a drastic, and highly-suspect jump.
In 1998, I hoped with all my heart that McGwire and Sosa were clean, but common sense told me they were not.
In 2022, I hope with all my heart that Judge is clean, but my gut tells me it is dangerous to proclaim that he is pure as rain while we cast stones at home run heroes of the past.
As much as I dislike Bonds, McGwire and A-Rod, they were hitting home runs against pitchers who were using steroids and other illegal substances. There is virtually no doubt about that.
Clemens was striking out guys who were taking steroids. We also know this to be true.
And since we are not going to shun quarterbacks who are accused of abusing 22 women, why are we so worried about baseball players taking a shot in the butt?
Would you take that shot if it meant making $20 million-plus in a season?
The problem with being the moral police, is you almost always set yourself up to be a hypocrite.
Like them or not, Bonds, McGwire and Sosa hit more home runs in a single season than Aaron Judge.
Bonds is the record holder. He is the all-time home run king.
Standing on your holier-than-thou soapbox will never change that.
— Bill Foley, who has a vast collection of soapboxes, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74.
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Podcast No. 10: Cathy Tutty
Cathy Tutty can name off all 10 of the children of Tom and Kay Tutty without hesitation, Good Will Hunting style.
Unlike Will, however, Tutty’s siblings are real.
“Real” is a good word to define Cathy, the older sister to the Tutty clan of Butte. A bright and talented lawyer, Tutty dedicates most of her time helping others.
While she helped send many criminals to prison in her days as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, she found a better life living close to her roots in the Mining City.
She is the public address announcer for Butte High volleyball matches, and she follows in the footsteps of her late father by running the pole vault competition at local track meets.
Tutty is also a past president of the Montana District of Kiwanis, an organization dedicated to improving the world one child and one community at a time.
If you drive past Tutty’s home on the North End of Butte, you will find an old refrigerator painted blue with a Kiwanis logo and handprints from students at Kennedy Elementary. Inside that refrigerator is a free library and free school supplies for neighborhood children.
Every neighborhood should have someone like that.
Tutty is a motivational speaker who helps others live their best life, and she is writing a book about Zach Bunney, who might be Butte High’s all-time leader in inspiration. She is also a certified laughing yoga instructor.
In short, she is a very interesting person who helps make the Mining City great.
Click here to listen in as we get to know Cathy Tutty.
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Podcast No. 9: Mickey Tuttle
On St. Patrick’s Day night in 1984, Butte High beat Great Falls High in the championship game of the Class AA State boys’ basketball tournament in Missoula.
After the game, Bulldog star Mickey Tuttle climbed up and sat on the rim, giving Bulldog fans a lasting memory and an iconic photo to cherish forever.
In the ninth episode of the ButteCast, we caught up with Tuttle, who is living well in Pennsylvania.
In this episode, we find out that Tuttle still keeps in touch with all of his teammates, coaches and trainers from the championship winning team. He talks about his father, a D-Day hero during World War II. He tells us about the success of his children.
He also explains how he got up on top of that rim, and how he says his grandson, Butte High freshman Hudson Luedke, will do the same if he can help lead the Bulldogs to their first state title since that magical night on St. Paddy’s Day in 1984.
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Podcast No. 8: Jack Prigge
Jack Prigge is Butte High’s first boy state champion golfer since 1963.
Last week, the Bulldog senior overcame a nine-shot deficit with nine holes to play to win the Class AA crown at a cold, wet and windy Green Meadow Country Club in Helena.
On the course, Prigge has it all. He is a great ball striker with a clutch short game. More importantly, the 4.0 student is mentally tough and wise beyond his years. To overcome a nine-shot deficit, you would have to be.
Today we caught up with Prigge for a conversation from the vault at Metals Sports Bar and Grill, and got a great glimpse into the mindset of a golfer whose future is as bright as it comes.
Click here to listen in as we get to know the City of Champions’ latest champion.
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Bad shots and really unlucky breaks don’t keep Jack Prigge down
Jack Prigge handled it like a pro.
As a promising sophomore on the Butte High golf team, Prigge looked like a lock to earn All-State honors, which means finishing in the top 15 at the Class AA State tournament.
Some observers thought he had a chance to win the tournament, or at least place in the top five at State.
Prigge, though, became the victim of an incredibly unlucky break. A classmate who sat close to him tested positive for COVID-19. (Click here for a podcast version of this column.)
While Prigge himself never tested positive or never had any symptoms of any illness, he was considered a close contact.
In the days before the COVID vaccination, that meant Prigge had to quarantine for two weeks. There were no exceptions made for professional athletes, so a high school golfer never had a chance.
Those two weeks of isolation just so happened to include the Western AA Divisional and Class AA State meets.
An auspicious season ended with Prigge locked away in his bedroom.
Wise beyond his years, Prigge handled it like a champion golfer who just three putted on the last hole. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, Prigge looked ahead to a brighter future.
“No, no, not at all,” Prigge said when asked if that ending to his sophomore season still haunts him. “That was something that happened, obviously. Immediately, I put it behind me. I thought, ‘I’ve got two more years, and I’ll go do my best.’”
In doing so, Prigge demonstrated the perfect mentality of a championship golfer. We all want to do it, but putting the last hole behind us is the hardest thing to do.
For so many, one bad hole or one bad shot can derail an entire round.
Missing out on the postseason as a sophomore could have been a devastating moment for a young golfer. Prigge, though, would not let that define him.
Instead, he will be remembered as one of six Butte High boys to ever win a state championship.
Prigge made an improbable comeback to capture the title Friday at a chilly Green Meadow Country Club in Helena.
He followed a 1-over-par 72 with a 1-under 70. He sank a 40-foot birdie putt on the last hole — which was the par-3 No. 9 because the boys started on the back nine — to force a sudden-death playoff with Tyler Avery of Kalispell Glacier.
Prigge birdied the first hole of sudden death, sinking a sliding 14-foot putt. A moment later, Avery missed his birdie putt, and Prigge was Butte High’s first boy state champion since Gary Koprivica won it all in 1963.
“I knew I had to make it,” Prigge said of the championship-winning putt. “I thought I had to make it to play another hole.”
The championship came 363 days after Prigge placed third at the Class AA State tournament in Bozeman, finishing below only Gallatin superstar brothers Jordan and Justus Verge.
“Oh, it’s not even real,” Prigge said less than an hour after he was handed the championship medal. “I just might hit a wakeup call at the hotel and do it all over again. It feels like a dream.”
It was definitely an unlikely title, considering Prigge trailed Helena Capital star Joe McGreevey by seven shots after the first day.
It really seemed unlikely when he trailed by nine shots at one point during the final round.
It still felt highly unlikely going into the last hole, when Prigge still trailed by two shots.
Then he hit his tee shot to 40 feet from the hole.
“I thought that I honestly had zero chance,” Prigge said. “My only chance was to play golf, have fun and leave it all out there and see what happens.
“Even walking up that last hole I didn’t think I had a chance. Even reading that putt I didn’t think I had a chance. That didn’t keep me from trying my best.”
The cold weather did not bother Prigge at all. In fact, he said he welcomed the rain and dropping temperature.
“When I started the day seven shots behind, I wanted it to rain as hard as it could and blow as hard as it could,” he said. “If it would do that, I knew my opponents scores would go up.”
John Regan won the title for Butte High in 1928, and Ruday Merhar won three times — 1929, 1930 and 1932. Ed Woodland took the title in 1952, and Ed Zemljak won the crown during a snow-shortened tournament in 1955.
Eight years later, Koprivica won, and the Bulldogs went 59 years without a boys’ title before Prigge.
“The day I die, I hope I’m one of 60,” Prigge said of the small group of Bulldog champions.
Bulldog girls to capture state golf titles are LuJeanne Gronley (1941 and 1942), Gerry Pochervina (1949 and 1950) and Ashleigh Ogolin (2009).
Butte Central golfers to win titles are Jerry Lyons (1976), Louie Bartoletti (1979) and Tricia Joyce (2018).
Talk about an impressive group that Prigge joined in the Helena rain.
Now a senior, Prigge seems to be just as happy with his team placing third as he was with his individual success. Butte High’s third-place trophy is the first hardware for the Bulldog boys since 1974.
“I love these guys,” Prigge said. “It’s been a hell of a journey.”
He was talking about freshman Chase Choquette, sophomore Brenner Booth, senior Gavin Roesti and senior Jacob Sawyer.
Choquette placed 16th, missing All-State by one shot, and Booth and Roesti tied for 23rd.
With Booth and Choquette back to anchor the Bulldogs in 2023, the future appears to be bright for the Butte High golf team.
It is also extremely bright for Prigge, who received 14 college offers to play golf before he won the state title.
Those offers were also before he shot what is believed to be a school-record 65 at a tournament in Bozeman.
As he weighs his options, which are sure to expand before he makes a decision late this year or early next, Prigge keeps his Bulldog career in amazing perspective.
In doing so, he shows that he has what it takes to take his golf game to the next level and beyond.
It seems nearly impossible to keep Prigge down, whether it is a bad shot, a bad round or a really unlucky break.
“I’ve had a lot of really good experiences — a lot of failure and a lot of success,” Prigge said. “It set me up to know I have to stay in the moment, try my best and let the results speak for themselves.”
— Bill Foley, who was always a headcase on (and off) the golf course, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74.
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Podcast No. 7: Mike Hamblin
Today, we get to know Mike Hamblin. I promise, you will not find a more interesting man in Butte.
Mike is a renowned artist whose work can be seen all over town, around the state and beyond. He painted portraits of Bob Green, Colt Anderson, Pat Kearney and the legends of Naranche Stadium.
Mike turned his Walkerville garage into an incredible studio/hangout area/living area that seems to take you back to the 1800s. If you’re interested in checking it out, you can find it on Airbnb.
In this episode of the ButteCast, we get the full Mike Hamblin experience. We also learn a whole lot about the process of how Mike creates a work of art, and we learn that he does not care if you like it or not. We also learned that he has a heck of a time drawing a straight line.
Click here to listen in as we get to know Mike Hamblin.
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Sometimes college football lacks common sense
If Zach Trumble didn’t celebrate that touchdown, we would have assumed there was something wrong with him.
Instead, one of the biggest touchdowns scored by the Montana Tech Orediggers in recent years will serve as an example that college football has a problem. (Click here for the podcast version of this column.)
Sometimes, it lacks common sense, and the fun police seem to be trying to ruin our Saturdays.
Montana Tech beat archrival Carroll College 26-10 on a blistering Bob Green Field Sept. 3 in Butte. The play of the game came courtesy Trumble and running back Kaleb Winterburn.
Trumble is a junior defensive lineman from Valleyford, Washington, and Winterburn is a junior running back from Helena.
Since Winterburn played for Helena High, you better believe the score against his hometown school will be one he talks about for the rest of his life.
Trumble, too.
After all, how often do you see a defensive lineman catch a touchdown pass from a running back?
Oh yeah, and the play pretty much clinched a win in one of the best rivalries in the NAIA.
The Orediggers were leading the Saints 19-10 early in the fourth quarter when Carroll forced a Tech fourth and 1 at the Carroll 31-yard line.
Tech went with its jumbo package, which included defensive linemen like Trumble playing offense, presumably to block. Winterburn lined up as the lone back in the “Wildcat” formation.
Everyone in the stadium assumed the Winterburn was going to run straight forward, and he took the snap and appeared to be doing just that.
All 11 Carroll defenders went after Winterburn, and Trumble blocked down for a second before slipping past all the defenders. Winterburn stopped running and flipped a pass to Trumble. It seemed like forever as the 5,000 or so fans watched the ball float into Trumble’s wide-open arms.
It was the easiest touchdown you will ever see. It was also a touchdown that told the Saints to march on home, and Carroll fans started heading for the exits.
The Oredigger fans were happy as could be. So were the Orediggers.
According to the rules of college football, they were too happy because Trumble drew a flag for “excessive celebration,” costing the Orediggers 15 yards on the ensuing kickoff.
When Matt Stepan, who is now Montana Tech’s director of athletics, played defensive end for the Orediggers, he scored one career touchdown. As he headed toward the end zone, he planned to spike the ball — penalty be damned.
Stepan, though, had the ball slip out of his hands before he could spike it, saving Tech from a penalty.
Trumble did not spike the ball, though he could have since he did not have butter fingers as he put six on the scoreboard. He did not do an end zone dance or high step his way across the goal line. He did not taunt the Saints in any way.
He did not talk trash like nearly ever receiver and every cornerback do on nearly every play of nearly every college football game.
No, Trumble’s crime was being as happy as you would expect of any defensive lineman who scored on a touchdown pass.
“I got a little over-zealous and will be running for it on Tuesday,” Trumble told Bruce Sayler of Butte Sports. “I won’t do it again.”
Lesson learned. Don’t be so damn happy.
Trumble probably won’t do it again because a touchdown reception for a defensive lineman is usually a once-in-a-lifetime sort of thing. If he is lucky.
If he does score again, though, he should spike the ball and do a little dance.
Having fun should not be a crime in college football. Or pro football. Or flag football.
The reason athletes play football in the first place is just that. To have fun.
Rules makers of college football, however, would rather have football be more like golf.
Old school golf, too. From back when having a personality was frowned upon.
When Rocky Mountain College came to town and beat the Orediggers two weeks later, the Battlin’ Bears were called for “excessive celebration” after two touchdowns.
Neither was the result of a spike or end zone dance.
The worst celebration call of all time came when Bob Green’s Orediggers played a thriller against Tommy Lee’s Montana Western Bulldogs in Dillon nearly 20 years ago.
Western scored on an 80-yard hook-and-ladder play just before time ran out. The TD tied the game, sending it to overtime.
The Bulldogs and their fans went crazy, as they should have. It was pandemonium on the Cow Pasture that is Vigilante Field.
The officials threw flags because the Bulldogs on the sideline celebrated with more than a golf clap for the highly-improbably score.
The Bulldogs were penalized 15 yards, and common sense took another blow to the head.
On the flip side, volleyball players are allowed to have all kinds of fun. That is probably why the sport has been exploding in popularity in recent years.
Even the losing team gets to have fun in volleyball.
If a college volleyball team gets beat 25-10, 25-10, 25-10 in a match, the team still had 30 choreographed celebrations along the way.
Every time the ball hits the court, one team celebrates like an NFL defense after a fumble recovery or a baseball team after a walk-off home run.
It is the same way in high school volleyball. And people wonder why volleyball has passed up basketball in popularity.
It is because the girls are having fun.
The NFL dropped the “No Fun League” garbage a few years ago and decided to stop policing enjoyment. Now the players and fans have more fun.
College football, though, still wants robots. So does high school football, where the eye black of players is regulated.
Can you imagine if volleyball referees were so uptight, taking the fun away from the girls and women, while the boys and men were allowed to have all the fun they wanted on the football field?
Can you imagine all the lawyers that would bring out?
No matter what Cyndi Lauper says, boys and men want to have some fun, too, and they should be allowed to do it on the football field.
Especially when a defensive lineman scores a touchdown.
— Bill Foley, who celebrates like Rod Tidwell when he watches his team score a touchdown, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74.
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Podcast No. 6: J.P. Gallagher
J.P. Gallagher was an unlikely academic All-American on the football team at Montana Western. At least it was unlikely according to former Montana Tech coach Bob Green.
“Mayor Gallagher,” as he is called on the super silly show “Ghosts of Devil’s Perch” on the Travel Channel, is a Navy veteran. He was a teacher, principal and Butte’s parks and recreation director before becoming our ninth chief executive in January of 2021.
In the sixth edition of the ButteCast, we talk about Gallagher’s days at Butte Central, his role in the Yellowstone prequel being filmed in Butte, and how he became known as the chief executive who called the Ghostbusters. Well, sort of.
Does our “mayor” really believe in ghosts? Where does the 1923 money go? What can we do about the rising cost of housing in Butte? Will he run again in 2024?
Click here and listen to what J.P. Gallagher has to say.
The ButteCast with Bill Foley 