MISSOULA, Montana — The Grizzlies own this town under the big “M” on Mount Sentinel.
Their “Go Griz” slogan and trademarked maroon paw print are on convenience stores, billboards, bars, restaurants, newspapers, and jackets. Of course the Grizzlies are from the University of Montana, not Memphis.
If a team longs to be embraced, it helps to be good. The football team went 14-1 in 2009 and lost in the national championship game in Chattanooga for the second year in a row. It also helps to be the only game in town. The closest pro sports teams are in Seattle, Salt Lake City, and Canada.
Other pleasant surprises about Montana: no sales tax, free samples of Trout Slayer Ale and Moose Drool beer, snowshoes, the Clark Fork River, the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, books about mountain men, George Winston’s CD “Montana: A Love Story,” and the discovery of a disparaging word for immigrants — honyocker.
