The Bobcat Nation

At the Bobcat Bash in Nashville there were 7000 of us jammed in there but I BELIEVE that I heard our emcee, the great Bobcat Flint Rasmussen, politely ask the Bobcat fans gathered to get the griz out of our heads, get it out of our system, regarding the ESG chant.

After he said that the Spirit of the West band played our fight song and by god there were no gris inside anybody's heads! No ESG chant! Just GO CATS GO!
For the most part that was the case at the NC game but not always.

But think about it. We are playing Illinois State for the damn national championship. Why would we want to display that even in THIS game
the griz reside inside our heads when we chant ESG?? It makes no sense. I DON"T CARE if we chant it when we are PLAYING THEM, but I
hate to demonstrate to other teams that we allow the gris to reside inside our heads. When we are not playing the gris I couldn't care less about them. Which is why I have never ONCE even looked at their board, Egriz or whatever it's called. I'm focused on the Bobcats.

GO CATS GO!

I agree. If I had a magic wand, I would erase that stupid chant from everyone's memories.

Unfortunately, humans are lazy creatures of habit, and that chant is ingrained in many people's brains when they hear the end of the fight song, or Mony Mony. Similar to the "bop, bop, bahhhhhhhhh" part of Sweet Caroline that everyone sings along with. Its just habit at this point, its not that they are necessarily even thinking about the grizLLies.

But I'm with you, I hope it dies out soon.

The Streak will do that to us. That was a long, long time. And old habits die hard.

To put a finer point on it, I often see the ESG GCG chant as our battle cry. And while it does mention our loathsome rivals, it's become bigger than that.

Do I recognize the irony when we chanted it in Nashville? Absolutely. Did I happily join in? Every time.

Go CATS!!

I do agree with this post. Bar after bar in Nashville and trying to get Sara Evans to sing it. Let's move in please

I was going to wait a few weeks till the offseason to start a thread about killing the chant, making Mony Mony a thing we only do a few weeks out of the year. It's over. They no longer beat us in.... anything. It's time we started acting like it.

How this happens I'm not sure but I think the athletes could go a long way to come out saying its stupid etc. Get them to stop playing Mony Mony in the stadium until the week before the game. Students getting other students to stop doing it during the fight song.

It's pretty simple to me. If you don't like the chant then simply don't participate in it. If enough fans eventually agree with you it will die out, but nobody is going to be able to persuade or convince other fans to stop doing it.

Mony Mony is amazing, but it needs to be centered around Cat/Griz. If we are playing a home game the week before, and we are cruising in the 4th quarter, play it in the stadium as it's all but officially Cat/Griz week. Yes I know the opponent on the field is not the Griz but that is the earliest I'm okay with us starting it. And I say play it all week leading up to the first game after Cat/Griz, but stop by gametime. In this case, we beat them to get to the Natty so I get playing it at the bars and what not over the weekend, it's an extra "f you" to the Griz. But it had no business being a part of the NC game IMO, or downtown after the victory. I know it's our uniting song but I think it needs to chill.

As for chanting it during the fight song, well same thing. No need to be chanting it in September against EWU.

100% agree with all this.
I love it as much as the next guy DURING Cat/griz.

We don’t need to do it any other time. We’re better than that, we’re better than them. Let’s move on.

In our section at least, the chant was ES Redbirds GCG. But after we won I did hear the ESGGCG. My take is that it was kind of an "in your face" thing. Cats won, gris are losers! I wasn't following things during the streak, but I have witnessed the griz fan entitlement, the bragging on the record, and the litterbox/little brother thing, so it just seems like when winning, the ESG thing is just like that exclamation point statement. But I do agree it really should be reserved for when the Cats beat them. Means more then.

Prodigal Cat wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 08, 2026 10:50 am

I was going to wait a few weeks till the offseason to start a thread about killing the chant, making Mony Mony a thing we only do a few weeks out of the year. It's over. They no longer beat us in.... anything. It's time we started acting like it.

How this happens I'm not sure but I think the athletes could go a long way to come out saying its stupid etc. Get them to stop playing Mony Mony in the stadium until the week before the game. Students getting other students to stop doing it during the fight song.

Students are absolutely not going to stop the chant anytime soon. That’s a battle cry in the student section. At the national championship, there was a very drunk student-age guy that chanted it every 5 minutes no matter what was happening. Unfortunately, it’s not going away. It’s part of the ethos now.

Why do some gris fans wear “FTC” caps at non Cat-gris games. It’s just part of the rivalry. Not living in anyone heads at all. It’s not going to change.

We are the National Champions now. We are the best in FCS football, and we can be THE BEST AS PEOPLE.
I would prefer to see a movement by example to eliminate ESG and FTG in our cheering and in what we wear.
We can show that kindness and good sportsmanship can actually win out in this twisted, corrupt, hateful world.
If this happened, it could send shock waves that the entire nation would take note of.
Montana State University would become the greatest example of a university that makes a difference. Maybe ever.
Perhaps the victory symbol over your lips to the person doing the chanting would communicate the message.
"We are the champions, and it's more than just in football, it's by our character."
Yes, there is so much resentment from the past behavior of many Gris fans, but Cat fans have done things, too. Hey, with the Natty, and our superior program, maybe we're even now. The best reaction to their taunting would be to show who's the better person.

It's not even worth a discussion really cause it's never going away. It just isn't. We could all hate it to death and it's not going anywhere. The fact that it is talked about SO much, and even though griz fans say it doesn't bother them but they just think it's weird; is the EXACT reason it's not going anywhere.

I think people take this kinda stuff too seriously. Who cares. It's a song. A jingle. It's catchy. It's fun and annoying at the same time. Just because it's a chant in a dumb song doesn't mean the griz are in our heads. That's silly too.

What about Alabamas' Dixieland Delight? They say ****** Auburn. And LSU. Meaning ****** LSU. And Tennessee too. Meaning ****** Tennessee too. 3 teams that get called out in EVERY one of Alabamas games. And it means nothing. It's fun.

People sure seemed to be loving Mony Mony that was played in every bar in Nashville! It all means nothing.

AFCAT wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 08, 2026 11:02 am

Why do some gris fans wear “FTC” caps at non Cat-gris games. It’s just part of the rivalry. Not living in anyone heads at all. It’s not going to change.

I for one can’t stand the description of “living in our heads”. No Bobcat fan should ever feel that way. Do we hate our rivals the Gris? Absolutely! Do we let them consume all of our thoughts? He11 no!!! Mony Mony and ESG are now ingrained as a Bobcat tradition. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It is a definitely meant as an “in your face F off” toward our rivals. But I did tire of Mony Mony in Nashville though. It was way overdone. Doesn’t make much sense when we are in the middle of a game playing another team - in the National Championship of all places.

Cataholic wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 08, 2026 11:11 am

AFCAT wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 08, 2026 11:02 am

Why do some gris fans wear “FTC” caps at non Cat-gris games. It’s just part of the rivalry. Not living in anyone heads at all. It’s not going to change.

I for one can’t stand the description of “living in our heads”. No Bobcat fan should ever feel that way. Do we hate our rivals the Gris? Absolutely! Do we let them consume all of our thoughts? He11 no!!! Mony Mony and ESG are now ingrained as a Bobcat tradition. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It is a definitely meant as an “in your face F off” toward our rivals. But I did tire of Mony Mony in Nashville though. It was way overdone. Doesn’t make much sense when we are in the middle of a game playing another team - in the National Championship of all places.

The funny thing is, the gris can’t stand that song. It’s obviously in their heads.

The house bands in Nashville were playing Mony Mony for the tips. I swear I heard every version of the song down there and dropped some money for each one. Really just trying to help out the struggling artists.

We had a small contingent in our area chanting, "We got the natty, Go Cats Go" after the game. I liked that one.

JoeCatsJoe wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 08, 2026 10:58 am

Prodigal Cat wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 08, 2026 10:50 am

I was going to wait a few weeks till the offseason to start a thread about killing the chant, making Mony Mony a thing we only do a few weeks out of the year. It's over. They no longer beat us in.... anything. It's time we started acting like it.

How this happens I'm not sure but I think the athletes could go a long way to come out saying its stupid etc. Get them to stop playing Mony Mony in the stadium until the week before the game. Students getting other students to stop doing it during the fight song.

Students are absolutely not going to stop the chant anytime soon. That’s a battle cry in the student section. At the national championship, there was a very drunk student-age guy that chanted it every 5 minutes no matter what was happening. Unfortunately, it’s not going away. It’s part of the ethos now.

You'd be surprised how quickly things can fall out of vogue with young people when they become unpopular with the cool people.

Yes, I did it as well. But we should probably end it outside of Cat/Griz (where it's 100% on point).

Stop making it sound like everyone does the chant. Some do, most don't. The ones that do are not going to stop. Cats fans continually bringing this up just gives griz fans the fuel and victim complex they seek.
I have stopped doing it outside of Cat/griz, and after 3 nights in Nashville I have heard enough Mony Mony.
Let it go, it isn't going away.

Buzz Brainard talked about it on his radio show the next day. His comments were understandably negative in nature as a live radio show had to do a lot of editing out. He even said he didn't understand why you'd be thinking about a team you aren't playing. It's an embarrassing look on the national stage and I also wish it'd go away. Don't know how successful the movement will be though.