State's football fans deserve better

Montana college football got another black eye this week at a time when football fans usually are celebrating the "big game" - Cats vs. Griz.

The rivalry will continue, of course, but meanwhile we thought we should encourage the University of Montana and Montana State to end their apparent competition to see which football team can get more players arrested.

Three UM players got busted Sunday after returning home from the team's win over Idaho State. The charges are unbelievable. Supposedly, these guys and several other men broke into a house to steal marijuana, pistol-whipped a man and used a stun gun on him, and tied up a woman with duct tape.

We are confident the police and courts will sort it all out, but what matters to most Montanans is that our university sports programs get a handle on their players, and do it now.

This is not an isolated incident.

Last June, a University of Montana cornerback was arrested on murder charges in Los Angeles. The previous month, Montana State football coach Mike Kramer was fired after several of his current and former players had been arrested on a variety of charges. Late last year, MSU cornerback Andre Fuller and two former players were arrested on charges of selling drugs. Earlier, another former player was arrested and charged with murder and kidnapping in the shooting death of a suspected drug dealer.

This string of incidents is sordid and tacky. Montana deserves better.

If coaches and sports programs are going to recruit players from urban areas where crime is a way of life, they are going to have to take seriously their responsibility to do background checks and to monitor their players. Previous disciplinary violations must not be glossed over. Our universities should not be breeding grounds for gangsters.

Football is a game; life isn't.

But meanwhile, it's game time Saturday in Bozeman.

It probably will be a welcome relief, particularly for Griz players and coaches, to return the focus to the gridiron and not the court docket.

Saturday's 107th meeting of UM and MSU football teams promises to be another emotional rivalry. The Griz are trying to finish the regular season undefeated; the Cats are trying to be spoilers and finish their season on a high note.

Go, Cats. Go, Griz.