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Last week, I used this space to try to extend an olive branch from Montana to Great Falls native Ryan Leaf.

Since he graduated from Great Falls Russell in 1994, Leaf proclaimed that he is no longer from the Treasure State. Instead, he says he is from Pullman, Washington, an assertion that residents of Pullman have not always agreed with, by the way.

In the column, I proclaimed that not only do I like Leaf, but I also admire the former CMR quarterback who rose from the ashes of rock bottom to become a bit of an inspirational character.

The proclaimed biggest draft bust in NFL history responded to the column by blocking me on Twitter.

Luckily, I have a strong cast of family and friends to help me get by, but I could still use lots of thoughts and prayers to help me through this difficult, difficult time.

One of my friends asked me if I was going to write a retraction to last week’s column now that Leaf will no longer engage in any discourse with me on Twitter.

The answer to that is obvious. I will not. Most of what I wrote about Leaf last week still rings just as true this week.

The point of the column was not to try to get Leaf to like me. I had long known that he was not an agreeable character. When a broadcaster friend of mine invited him to be a halftime guest on the radio during a game that involved Butte High and Leaf’s brother, Brady, he did not politely decline.

Instead, he said something that was closer to “Get the hell out of here.”

I also already knew that Leaf rejected an induction into the Montana Football Hall of Fame, which honors players from our state who played professional football. Nobody associated with that Hall ever did anything to hurt Leaf, but he rudely pushed them away.

So, no. I did not think I would become friends or even friendly with Leaf by writing a column about him. He is not the kind of person whose company I would enjoy.

I still have tremendous admiration for how Leaf transformed his life after he found himself in a cell at the Montana State Prison. He has done an incredibly admiral job of transforming into a person who contributes positively to our society.

How many people have you ever heard coming out of prison a better person?

A large percentage of prisoners learn how to be better con men when they serve their time behind bars. They head back to the streets with a few more tricks up their sleeves, and many quickly find themselves right back in the system.

Some prisoners, though, leave and do great things. Leaf definitely falls into that category.

While he was still in prison, Leaf started to turn things around when he helped illiterate inmates learn how to read. He said the feeling he got from helping prisoners was freeing.

Later, Leaf spoke out about the addiction problems that lead him to prison. He wrote about his poor attitude that led to him flaming out in the NFL in legendary fashion.

He proved to be a really good football announcer. His perspective on the game and on life make him a very interesting listen.

Leaf even filled in as guest host on the Dan Patrick Show last week, and he did a really good job.

More than a quarter of a century since Leaf was drafted No. 2 in the 1994 NFL Draft, however, he still shows that he can be quite childish.

No, I’m not talking about him blocking anyone on Twitter.

For some reason, he started trolling fans and players of the University of Montana football program. His rationale was that he has always hated the Grizzlies.

The only thing the Griz ever did to Leaf was beat the pants off Montana State year after year of Leaf’s childhood. Maybe that made him feel that he had to use his big platform to attack Griz fans. For a 48-year-old man to do that, though, is puzzling at best.

When he received backlash for his trolling, Leaf repeated his assertion that everyone in Montana is a jerk. Well, he says a few people in Bozeman are fine, but that is because they are “tourists.”

Incidentally, most people who have visited the state would most likely classify Montana as being the exact opposite of Leaf’s description.

Sure, Montana possesses is share of jerks. We have a lot of people who laughed at and mocked Leaf when he came tumbling down following his magical run to the 1998 Rose Bowl with Washington State.

Many mocked him when he went to prison for breaking into homes and stealing pain pills.

But it is not fair to judge an entire state with such a broad brush. It is also crazy to say that everyone in an entire state is the bad guy, and he is the good guy.

If every person in the state hated me, I would probably take a good, hard look in the mirror before I started sling insults.

If every one of his teachers and coaches said my son was a problem, I might start to suspect that maybe my wife and I raised a dud. I would not just make a blanket statement that all teachers and coaches are bad people.

This is not to say that Leaf does not have reason to resent Montana. He said the Great Falls Tribune ran a cartoon mocking him when he was released from prison.

He said the state shamed him, and there is probably some truth to that. Montanans laughed at Ryan Leaf’s failures and his troubles. Many still look down on him.

But that could be said for a lot of people from the other 49 states, too. Big Sky Country hardly corners the market on people who laugh at the misfortune of others.

When SportsCenter showed the rookie Leaf screaming at a reporter in the San Diego Chargers locker room, people all around the nation noticed there was something not right about that guy. When he continued to act like a jerk, it made people in every state — and beyond — laugh at him each time he was cut by an NFL team.

That laughing only magnified when he ran into trouble with the law because he was such an easy character to dislike. So, he did not garner much sympathy in San Diego, New York, Billings or anywhere in between.

Yes, the cartoonist who poked fun at his addiction is a jerk.

If you laughed at Leaf for his arrest, you were being a jerk, too. Addiction is a problem that can affect anybody, good or bad. It can make great people do bad things, and nothing is funny about that.

But Leaf still gives us reason to laugh at him when does things like troll the Grizzlies, trash 99 percent of the population of Montana and block a writer who suggested that the people of the state recognize him for the man he became instead of the adolescent brat that he was.

Yes, I still admire the man Leaf became after hitting rock bottom. I still respect his courage that helped others. I will still listen when he calls a game or fills in for Dan Patrick.

As far as that olive branch, though, we might as well throw that on the fire. Leaf clearly is not interested in accepting it.

Washington, he is all yours.

 — Bill Foley, who will never be asked to fill in for Dan Patrick, 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.