Squirrel Thoughts

All right Griz fans, I know this season was tough. We’re hardly used to losing one game in a season, let alone four.

And standing outside in 6-degree temperatures watching our beloved Griz (if that’s who were playing in those god-awful uniforms…) lose to the Cats at home? Worst. Day. Ever.

Half of Griz Nation is probably still in bed, commiserating the loss and the no-playoffs-for-the-first-time-in-18-years announcement. It’s been a rough couple of days.

But the good news is we still have a shot at the national championship. “But how is that possible, Squirrel? HOW?!” By voting for Monte in the Capital One Mascot of the Year competition, of course!

That’s right — Griz fans have done such an awesome job voting so far that Monte has moved on to the playoffs! This week, he’s up against defending champ Bearcat of Cincinnati. If he loses, he’s out, and our dreams of winning a national title will deflate for good.

I mean, if our football team is out of the running for a championship, we can at least vote our mascot to one, right? Right!

Let’s do this, Griz Nation. We Montanans don’t give up that easily when the going gets tough; we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps (or ballet-flat straps, in my case) and get the job done.

So vote. Daily. Or hourly. Or during every single free moment you have. Bookmark the website and vote whenever you’re just messing around on Facebook or I Can Haz Cheezburger or whatever site you frequent when trying to avoid productivity.

(Unfortunately, you MUST vote online for the rest of the contest, as the text-message option has been eliminated, so be sure to click on capitalonebowl.com several times a day.)

If you’re still not convinced we can do this, let me give you one last incentive:

I really am taller than him, I swear.

See that adorable little fella? That’s Mo. Mo is Monte’s little brother, who dreams of filling his big-brother mascot’s shoes some day.

All Mo wants for Christmas this year is for Monte to be the Capital One Mascot of the Year. Unlike the rest of his mini-mascot friends, he doesn’t want a Squinkie or an XBox 360 Kinect or a Sing-a-ma-jig or anything.  He just wants his big brother to win the championship.

Now, look into those big brown eyes and tell Mo you’re not going to vote for Monte every chance you get. Just try.

That’s what I thought.