No recession in Griz Nation

Economy won't keep die-hard fans away from title game

Recession or not, here they come.

Tough economic times don't seem to be stopping die-hard University of Montana Grizzly fans from heading to Chattanooga, Tenn., for the Football Championship Subdivision's national title game tonight.

The Grizzlies will be making their sixth championship appearance, seeking their third title.

Chattanooga Times Free Press sports reporter David Paschall marveled at Grizzly fans' loyalty in a story he wrote Tuesday, declaring "they're recession-proof."

Montana sold more than 2,000 tickets before releasing about 1,750 tickets to Finley Stadium in Chattanooga. A stadium spokeswoman said Thursday that Finley had sold all of the tickets it had and rapidly was selling Montana's released tickets, with roughly 330 left to sell.

Davidson Travel in Missoula filled up a 198-seat charter flight immediately after word was out that the University of Montana Grizzlies would play the Richmond Spiders for the title. The $1,459 ticket includes airfare, two nights' lodging, game tickets and transportation to Finley Stadium.

"We've just added another flight and are frantically trying to sell it," travel consultant Kim Lewis said earlier this week.

"With the economy we were wondering how it would go, but there seems to be as much interest as ever," she added.

AAA Travel also filled its charter flight from Missoula.

And some fans are cashing in air miles to fly on commercial flights to Tennessee.

Rick and Barb Cunningham of Kalispell are among the fans who will make the 2,057-mile journey to cheer on the Grizzlies.

"It's the Griz Nation," Rick Cunningham said. "Once you start going to these games' it's hard to turn back.

He graduated from UM in 1977 with a degree in athletic training.

"In those years we were terrible," Cunningham said with a laugh about his favorite team. "The happiest event was if you had some MD 20/20 [Mogen David wine] to make it through."

The Cunninghams have been avid Griz fans for a decade since they returned to Montana after spending a number of years in Minnesota.

"We have the opportunity and the time to do this," he said about heading to Chattanooga. "We figured what the heck."

So many other fans have asked him to bring back memorabilia that he jokingly said he may need to take three extra suitcases.

Rod Leese and his 7-year-old son, Dylan, are making it a triple-header this weekend, starting with the Griz game in Chattanooga, then heading down the road to Rome, Ga., for Carroll College's clash on Saturday with the University of Sioux Falls for the NAIA football championship.

After that it's off to Nashville on Sunday for a key AFC pro football matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Tennessee Titans.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime deal," said Leese, a 1988 UM business administration graduate.

It goes without saying that he's a huge Griz fan; his office at West One Bank attests to his loyalty to the team. And he's been a Steelers fan since he was a boy. Now his son is equally zealous about the Steelers.

"His bedroom is a little Steeler museum," Leese said.

The father-and-son fans will be sitting 13 rows from the field, right behind the Steelers' bench.

This won't be Mick Hagestad's first trip to a title game. He's been to four of them.

"But I'm one for four," he lamented about the team's win-loss record at title games. "This time we've got to make it two for five."

Hagestad is taking his son-in-law, Kelson Ramey, cashing in Sky Miles to fly Delta.

"Basically it's a free trip," Hagestad said. "We had to decide, do we use the miles to go to Hawaii or to the Griz game?"

Griz football trumped Hawaii.

Hagestad, a business graduate who attended UM in the late 1960s, said he and his wife, Patty, have been season ticketholders for many years, but she's staying behind this time to get ready for Christmas.

Grant and Diane Compton of Whitefish likewise are flying south for the big event. It's their first-ever championship game, and they're pretty excited.

"We're pretty proud of them this season," Grant Compton said.

The Comptons, both Havre natives, have been particularly interested in wide receiver Mark Mariani, who's from their hometown.

The couple recently retired and now have time to go to as many Griz games as they want.

"We do go to a lot of the games," he said.

For those not going to Chattanooga to cheer on the Griz in person, tonight's national championship football game will be televised on ESPN2. Game time is 6 p.m.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com