Reser Ramblings

Posted on January 14, 2014 by brent

I get positive feedback from my readers about my multiple topic blog posts so I don’t feel as guilty as I used to about writing them. You see, they are easier to compose and take less time to write than one of my normal posts. Because of this, I felt that I was subtly screwing over my readers as I dashed through a few topics, posted my ramblings to my blog, and then enjoyed the extra time that I had saved. But because of the reassurance from my loyalists that they don’t take my condensed blog posts as a slap in the face, I will still try to feature one a week. Tonight is that “one” of the week so let’s get started.

Week Two of Community Service with Griz Basketball Team: Last week I went along with the Griz basketball team as they ate pizza and played with kids from a local children’s center. Tonight I joined them at the Montana Food Bank Network where they volunteered for a couple hours. After getting a tour of the facility that holds 8 million pounds of food we went into a room where the players and coaches (Coach Rupp and Coach Jono made the outing this time) packaged macaroni. Two team members scooped macaroni out of what seemed like a bottomless bin, two other team members then weighed it (it had to weigh in at two pounds), and then two other members sealed the bags using a pretty sophisticated machine. Even with doing a somewhat mundane task the team seemed to have a blast doing it. Both Coach Rupp and Coach Jono are hilarious guys and they had a great time serving along with their players.

Players and coaches from the Griz basketball team volunteered tonight at the Montana Food Bank Network.

Lists Made for Facebook: You can’t scroll down your newsfeed these days without seeing numerous lists with random numbers covering certain conditional topics. You know what I am talking about, right? Lists such as “29 signs you know you were born in the 1980’s” or “34 characteristics of true hipsters” or “24 crazy facts about Disney World that you didn’t know”. Sure, many of them are farfetched and many are just a ploy to get you to click on the link so you can be treated to an onslaught of advertising but I don’t sweat them too much.

In my opinion, I find other past Facebook trends much more bothersome such as quotes smashed into hideous box graphics or “share this to show support for…” images/statuses. Mostly though, I am just thankful that now I am seeing more links for “22 ways to know if you and Taylor Swift would be best friends” as opposed to the drawn out “____ things about me” statuses that seemed to have a good two week Facebook run last month. I can tolerate lists that I have the choice of clicking on but I start to get a little annoyed when I constantly read about how many tattoos someone has or what their name would have been if they were born the opposite sex.

Colin Kaepernick Hatred: Okay, I admit it, the way Seahawks fans and the media in general have portrayed Russell Wilson as a saint and Colin Kaepernick as the anti-christ has gotten a little out of hand. Although Kaepernick looked absolutely ridiculous sporting his backwards-sideways hat and headphones during his postgame interview on Sunday, he pays his dues in the community. Although not as publicized as Wilson’s involvement, anyone can find documentation of Kaepernick’s good works past the football field. I think the guy deserves a little more slack than what he has received. Anyway, what I am trying to say is if you need to unleash more aggression on the 49ers please give Kaepernick a break and just send it Jim Harbaugh’s way.

Kaepernick puts his work in while not playing football.

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It seems like the flu is going around so I hope everyone is staying healthy or on the fast track to a speedy recovery. Have a great rest of the week and thank you for reading my blog. Don’t Blink.

Reser Notes

Posted on January 7, 2014 by brent

Since at least three weeks have passed since I last did one of these posts, this evening I want to rapidly cover a few random topics and then call it a night. I got to save up you see, tomorrow night I got a blog post that I am pretty excited about. Without boring you with a long intro, let’s dive right in.

Student-Athletes Making a Difference: I left the office today a little before 5 p.m. and I drove out to the Watson Children’s Shelter, a local facility where disadvantaged youth are given a place to stay. You see, our back-to-back Big Sky Conference champion Griz basketball team not only dominates on the court but in the community as well. Each Tuesday this month they will complete a community service exercise and today they were putting smiles on the faces of children who really need some joy in their lives.

I went out to the shelter and covered the service of our team. Basketball staff members Kurt Paulson and Joe Petschl brought pizza for everyone as the student-athletes and the children sat in the dining room together and shared a meal and lots of laughs. I sat back and admired the scene as our student-athletes naturally made those kids feel so special. After dinner, the players and kids went out to the play area and continued to connect and have fun. I don’t think there is anything that can end a day better than witnessing something like that.

Members of the Griz basketball team who volunteered at the Watson Children’s Center tonight.

Florida State vs. Auburn an Instant Classic? No Way!: I really enjoyed watching last night’s BCS National Championship. The game was played down to the wire in the best college football venue in the nation. It was a good game, no doubt. But it wasn’t a classic. In my blog post from Sunday night I said a classic must be an extraordinary game but the Seminole-Tiger game wasn’t. If the game went to overtime maybe it would have been. Or if Auburn scored on the final lateral-filled play* I might classify it that way. Or if the teams would have produced more of a high scoring shootout I could be talking classic. Or if it was an exciting game for all four quarters I might concede. But last night simply did not deliver on any of these.

But let’s not kid ourselves here. The 2014 BCS National Championship had its work cut out for it even before the game kicked off. Even though it was the last national championship game of the BCS era, the nation did not get up for it. I had never seen a less hyped championship game than this one, but for good reason though. It simply lacked a solid storyline. You had an ACC Florida State team that played a weak schedule competing against an Auburn team that had a loss on its record and that almost got beat by Washington State. Many people fell into the typical social media fueled emotional trap and called the game an instant classic. Nah.

Encourage Rather Than Scorn: My friend and fitness extraordinaire Saskia posted a New Year’s Day photo on Instagram asking regular gym goers to have tolerance, patience, and compassion for the new people walking through the facility doors as they begin their resolutions of working out and living a healthier life. While it is natural to become a bit peeved at the suddenly cramped gym quarters and while it is a bit too easy to look down on people we might not think will last, Saskia reminds us to think back when we were in that position and to have some empathy.

I agree 100%. So many of these people are really putting themselves out there. They are trying to make a positive change in their lives. What sense does it make to mock and shun them? No doubt most of these people are scared, intimidated, and a little lost when they first hit that gym floor. We need to do all we can to welcome them and encourage them. After all, we should all have a desire to see others succeed. If not, we probably live shallow and depressing lives and are by no means better than the new membership rookie we are snickering at because he is struggling to work a machine. Make a positive difference.

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With the holidays over, this first full week can kind of drag on so take to hear that you are 40% through it already! Have a great night and you will hear from me tomorrow. Don’t Blink.

An Amazing Day in Grizzly Athletics

Posted on March 19, 2013 by brent

Last week, in my mind I envisioned writing a recap of the crazy four days of dual Big Sky Conference tournament madness that I got to have a front row seat for. But, things happen and you change your mind.

I mean heck, I very well could have stayed true to my initial plan. I could have wrote about the 14 teams, the 12 games, the long days, the team personnel, the conference personnel, the fans, the crazy plays, the storylines, the promotions, the long nights, the challenge to keep the music fresh, the battle to stay awake, the task to block my hunger out, the duty to answer every question I received accurately, the obligation to stay neutral, and so on and so on.

But again, things happen and you change your mind.

Instead of composing a long, drawn out blog post covering my four days working the Big Sky Conference tournaments, I knew driving out of the arena parking lot late Saturday evening that I needed to do something different. While all four days were cool, nothing came close to how special and sweet that last day was. Championship Saturday at the Big Sky Conference tournament in 2013 will go down as one of the best, and most magical, days in Griz history. It deserves recognition all by itself.

My brother traveled to Missoula for Championship Saturday.

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Going into Saturday we already had the best case scenario. Both the Lady Griz and Griz basketball teams took care of business in the semis and had dates in the conference championship games with bids to the NCAA tournament on the line. However, the best case scenario in the morning didn’t count for much except that we would have great ticket sales. In all reality, both Montana teams could have dropped the championship games to very good opposing squads. Both the Northern Colorado women and the Weber State men were #2 seeds and had both beaten their respective Montana opponents once already. So while a good feeling circulated at the start of the day, we all knew that it could be replaced with disappointment come the end of it. The only thing to do was play the games out one at a time.

The Lady Griz took the court 100% focused on Saturday afternoon. Giving me a new playlist to cycle through during warm ups, the team was on a mission. The women didn’t really need to get fired up much more but during the National Anthem they did….as a surprise to our fans, we lit off fireworks during and after the Star Spangled banner. I think I am just getting more sensitive in my older age because when the fireworks went off, my eyes got watery. Here we were at The University of Montana, pulling out all the stops to make this experience for all involved as memorable as possible. The fireworks were beautiful, impactful, and for many, unexpected. It raised the adrenaline of not just the players, but everyone in the building.

The fireworks were spectacular.

Montana came out and just kicked butt. The same focus and intensity in warm ups carried over to the game. I had never seen so much emotion out of the team before. While scoring efficiently and shutting down Northern Colorado’s best player, D’shara Strange, the Lady Griz never trailed in the game and won 70-56. In yet another example of striving to make the tournament as special as possible, confetti fell from up above on to the Dahlberg Arena floor. The Lady Griz went from losing in the opening round of the tourney last year to champions of it this year. The players celebrated, Robin Selvig smiled, and the Lady Griz punched a ticket to the NCAA tournament.

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I think after the Lady Griz victory, some weight was lifted off the shoulders of a lot of us. We knew we would not get shut out on our home floor. We knew at least one team was going dancing.

During the short period after the Lady Griz game and the start of the men’s championship game, the reality of possibly having both teams going to the NCAA tournament seemed real for the first time. The whole last half of the season I thought about how cool it would be for it to happen, but I knew so many things had to fall in place for it to be a reality. With the women advancing to the Big Dance, only one win was needed to send both basketball programs to the most prestigious collegiate competition there is.

Of course, that “one win” was going to be maybe the toughest of the season.

We have an amazing group of seniors on the Lady Griz.

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One word to describe the atmosphere of Dahlberg Arena on Saturday night: Electric. Fans packed the place. Students crammed into the bottom section behind the north basket and overflowed the upper section. Two bands (ours and Weber State’s) went back and forth filling the place with sound. Natalie Jones belted out the National Anthem while fireworks once again blasted through the air. Everybody’s hands went UP when I played “All I Do Is Win.” Come tip off, you couldn’t hear yourself think. Finally, the ref threw the ball in the air and the game started.

The Griz got off to a great start, building a 9 point lead at one time in the first half. However, Weber State clawed back and once halftime hit, the score was tied at 34. After the Super Skippers and UM Dance Team performed during the break, Montana and Weber State came out to play the 24th and final half that had been played on the Dahlberg Arena floor over the last four days.

The first five minutes of the first half went back and forth before Weber State went on a run to lead by five with 12 minutes left. However, the Griz never panicked and with five minutes left, the game was once again changing leads.

Wayne Tinkle was named Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year today. It is no surprise. Coach guided the team through those final minutes and despite some big shots by Weber they could not top Montana. At about the 20 second mark when it became apparent that the Griz would hold on, I left my place at the music table to get ready to go out on the court to cover the celebration. After Weber’s last second half court desperation three-pointer fell short, I hugged our athletic director who was standing right next to me and then ran out on the floor, taking pictures and video of the mosh pit at center court created by the UM student body who had rushed the hardwood. Just like the women’s post-game celebration, confetti fell, awards were given out, nets were cut down, and a ticket to the NCAA tournament was punched.

Members of the Griz basketball team celebrating after the game.

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Two championships and two tickets to the Big Dance on one floor during one day. For a department and a community that has sufferered their fair share of blows over the past 12 months, we needed this. On Saturday, March 16, Grizzly Athletics once again proved that it is the cream of the crop in the Big Sky Conference, perhaps in one of the most dominating fashions ever. The day that Montana punched two tickets to the NCAA tournament on its home court will be remembered and talked about for a long time. The ten games I worked to get to the point of the two championship games? Absolutely worth it…I would have worked 200 games to be a part of what transpired on Saturday. Don’t Blink.

WE ARE MONTANA!

Sports Marketing at its Finest

Posted on March 8, 2013 by brent

We do a lot of cool, fun things in the marketing department at Grizzly Athletics. So many, in fact, that I don’t have the time to write about each one as they occur on a daily basis. However, when we do something extra cool, I do try to shine some light on it. This morning, Christie and I plus our army of interns set out on The University of Montana campus and hid 200 wallets over one of the most scenic places you can go to school at.

But before I go on about our morning, I do want to give credit to the inventor of this crazy idea. Kenny Dow, the marketing director at Portland State, thought up this concept while thinking of ways to increase attendance at Vikings’ sporting events. Don’t ask me how all the elements came to him but they did…and then he implemented it. Because Kenny’s idea had great success with the PSU students, and because he used to work for the Griz, and because Christie and I respect him so much, we borrowed his idea. Thanks, Kenny!

So what we did was we ordered a bunch of wallets for cheap. We then slapped Griz emblems on them and then we filled them with coupons for free frostys, free chili, free t-shirts, and a chance to win an i-pad (sorry for using the word “we”…I actually did diddly squat when it came to the preparation of the wallets…thank you interns!). In order for students to redeem the coupon for the free t-shirt and to receive entry into the drawing, they had to come to tonight’s Griz basketball game and turn in the wallets they found.

This morning at 7 a.m. we had seven of our eight interns show up to hide wallets. We met in our offices and then walked to The Oval, the center part of The University of Montana campus. After taking some pictures, the interns plus Christie divided into four teams of two people each. Each team took one of the four quadrants of the campus. Since I was the official photographer I acted as the rover and roamed from team to team, taking pictures and watching the hiding strategies of each group. Our marketing team hid wallets on benches, in trees, on the ground, under plants, and on top of signs. They hid them inside the library, the dining center, the University Center, the lecture halls, and the business building. They hid them in cacti, inside doors, and on statues. Yes, a great job was done by our team scattering the wallets in creative hiding places all across campus.

Our interns setting out to go wallet hunting!

The interns met back in the office after the distribution of the wallets and they were all excited. They chatted happily about where they hid their wallets. They talked about encounters they had with the few people who were on campus at the time who had no idea what was going on. They explained why they either decided to hide their wallets in tough to find places or in spots where they would more easily be found. Everyone had a wonderful time this morning, including Christie and myself.

I am lucky to have such a great group of marketing interns!

After the distribution of the wallets was complete, I transitioned into my main duty of the whole operation…connecting the promotion with social media! When we arrived back inside and out of the cold, I started to relay the rules and purpose of the wallet drop to our followers/fans on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Using lots of the photos I took, I tried to make sure that the students who had not found a wallet now had the heads up to find one while conveying at the same time to the students who had already found one what they needed to do to totally optimize their wallet discovery. After the ground rules were set, we started to have a little fun. We encouraged students who found a wallet to take a picture of them with it and then either post it on our Facebook page or Tweet it at us. Those who did so won one of our coveted social media t-shirts. We got a great response and once again it reinforced the power of Griz Social Media.

McKell and Andrew found a great spot to hide a wallet!

Finally, game time arrived. The student section filled up extremely fast as it was full fifteen minutes before the game was to tip off. From my vantage point at the music table, I could see lots of people with the shirts we were giving out for returned wallets. Things inside the arena started to pick up and I kind of forgot about the promotion for a little bit as I worked the game and watched our first place Grizzlies tangle with Sacramento State. But as things slowed down a little bit once the game entered the second half, I was able to quiz our intern Andrew on how many wallets were returned. When I asked him he said “Uh, only about 20.” Disappointment filled me. But then he added, “But we got a whole bunch of t-shirt slips back, well over 100.” You see, besides all the coupons we put in the wallet, we also put the basic rules of the promotion as well, much like the ones I put out in social media. However, on that sheet of paper we mistakenly omitted anything about students needing to return their wallets at the game in order to redeem their coupons/get entered to win the i-pad. So, what happened was that students found the wallets, took the goodies out of them, stashed the wallet in their apartment/dorm, and then just brought the paper coupons to the game. While we felt a little dumb because we would have definitely liked to get the wallets returned so we could just use them again next year instead of buying a bunch more, we got the satisfaction in knowing that the promotion worked. People found the wallets and then came to the game.

Word on the street is that the wallets did not last long at all after they were hidden.

Right now as I write this, I only have Andrew’s estimation to go on in terms of quantifying our success. But soon I will have a more specific number to report and I will share it with you. The success of the wallet promotion combined with a great home win by the Griz and then topped off with the Lady Griz winning the Big Sky Conference championship has me grinning ear-to-ear right now. But what makes my smile extend even further is having the knowledge that our team of interns, working primarily free of charge, would sacrifice precious hours of sleep in their warm beds to help us hide wallets on a freezing Montana morning. Thank you so much Andrew, Brian, Gianna, Kylie, McKell, Mike, and Zach. Don’t Blink.

I had a great time hanging out with a great group of hard working, motivated young adults today.

March: A Wonderful Month

Posted on March 1, 2013 by brent

February 2013 treated me well and I used the month to improve myself personally. However, I would be lying if I said I am not happy to see it go. For me, February is kind of a depressing month. Sure you got the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day but besides that it is a pretty gloomy time. The cold still lingers, the freshness of the new year fades, and a feeling of restlessness creeps in. It doesn’t hurt my feelings at all that February is the shortest month of the year.

Thankfully, I always find consolation in the fact that after one of my least favorite months passes, one of my favorite months emerges. Besides the summer months, March is my favorite month of the year. I like March for many reasons but I think the overarching appeal of it is just that the cold is leaving and brighter, warmer, longer days are arriving. Throw some great basketball in that mix as well and you got a pretty spectacular month. For this post I would like to briefly highlight some of the great things that make March so spectacular.

Great Montana Basketball: As you will see as I list all of the reasons for liking March, most of these items that make the month so awesome are constants …with the exception of this one.

Well, I should rephrase that last sentence in regard to my subject. The University of Montana always has great basketball, it is just that this season we have really, really great basketball. Both our Griz and Lady Griz teams are in first place and have great shots at ending the regular season in those number one spots. If this occurred, we would get to host both Big Sky Conference tournaments and I would be in absolute Heaven. But let me not get ahead of myself…

Big Sky Conference champions or not, the first ten days in March will be very exciting as both teams play in crucial games that will decide the outcome of the league. To have the opportunity to travel to Bozeman tomorrow for Griz-Cat basketball and then to work the final two Griz home games next week is something very special and something that I am looking very forward to.

Christie and I in Bozeman last year after both Montana basketball teams swept Montana State.

Daylight Savings Begins! – On Sunday, March 10, we will move the clocks forward and trade in sixty minutes of sleep for longer days. Immediately, we will have an hour more of daylight on that Sunday evening and from there on the days will just get longer and longer. I can’t express how much it elevates my mood when I leave work in the evening and it is still perfectly light out. Waking up to the sunshine is another coveted luxury that Daylight Saving’s brings.

Longer days make me happier and more productive with my time out of the office. I notice a change in the people around me too. I can’t wait for the time change to come!

NCAA Basketball Championship Week – Last year I devoted a blog post to Championship Week so my love of this time is well-documented. The NCAA Tournament is awesome but Championship Week just has a whole different element to it. The ten days of conference heroics, court stormings, unknowns made into heroes, storylines, and the allure of having automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament up for grabs makes for incredible basketball.

The playing stakes and the different atmospheres make me adore Championship Week. What makes Championship Week even better? When I get to participate in it! Last year we hosted the Big Sky Conference tournament for men’s basketball and it was an absolute blast. With the chance to host both the men’s and women’s Big Sky Conference tourneys this year, I could potentially have the best Championship Week ever.

St. Patrick’s Day – Who doesn’t love St. Patty’s Day? Sandwiched perfectly right in the middle of the month, I have never not had fun on March 17. Last year I got to experience the craziness of Butte American on St. Patrick’s Day and had a memorable time to say the least. I have also had many good times in Missoula on the holiday as well. Nothing beats dressing up in ridiculous green gear and celebrating the Irish. It is something I look forward to every March 17.

In Butte last year! Melissa, myself, and Misti.

The Start of Spring – On March 20 the season of Spring officially begins. Even though Montana weather won’t always recognize this change in seasons, just the indication on the calendar means a lot to me. Winter is officially over and even though if it happens slowly, conditions will only improve. Spring symbolizes new life and brighter days. All I can say to that is AMEN.

The NCAA Tournament – There could be a month marked by natural disasters, famine, and death but as long as the NCAA Tournament still took place during it, many people would consider it the best month of the year. The NCAA Tournament is obviously one of the best sporting events in the world and what helps make it so fun is that the excitement lasts for a couple weeks, even spilling into April! Of course nothing really compares to the first Thursday and Friday of the tournament where the whole field is in action, making it two of the most exciting days on the calendar year.

Remember how I said there was a certain condition that would make Championship Week even better? Well that condition applies for the NCAA Tournament too! If the Griz or Lady Griz happens to make the Big Dance, the excitement goes up exponentially.

Myself at The Pit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the NCAA Tournament.

Easter – This year March will conclude with my favorite holiday. Easter falls on March 31 this year and will provide an excellent ending to what is going to be a great month. Easter to me is such a bright, hopeful holiday that brings a lot of peace and joy to my soul. The most significant date on the Catholic calendar, Easter has a lot of meaning to me and my family. Nothing beats Easter Sunday mass and nothing beats the time I get to share with my family afterwards. Easter is not about presents or a huge meal, it is about being thankful for the saving of humanity.

As with the whole theme of March in general, Easter is about renewal and the coming back of life. It is an optimistic holiday filled with brightness and joy. Luckily for me, Easter will be here in no time because this month is going to fly by with all the fun things going on.

My brother and I on Easter Sunday last year.

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Have a blessed March everyone! Make the most of it and improve yourself. Good luck to your teams and have a good one. Don’t Blink.

Don't Blink

By Brent Reser

Tag Archives: Griz Basketball

Reser Ramblings

Reser Notes

An Amazing Day in Grizzly Athletics

Sports Marketing at its Finest

March: A Wonderful Month