Do Griz Fans Enjoy Tailgating More Than Christmas?

It's a rarity these days in to attend a Montana Grizzly football game when Washington-Grizzly Stadium is not sold out. We love our football in Western Montana... but we also love our tailgating.

Missoula's gameday tailgating scene rivals the best cities across FCS Football. Missoula and Fargo take the FCS title of "Best Tailgates." Even looking at the FBS ranks, Montana stacks up with many universities. I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again, but Missoula resembles Green Bay, Wisconsin. The city shuts down for the game. You'll stick out like a sore thumb if you aren't in maroon and silver.

But does Missoula love tailgating more than the game itself? According to SWNS Digital, "Seven in 1 tailgaters look forward to tailgating season just as much, if not more, than the holiday season." A study asked 2,000 adults about tailgating and found they loved the heck out of it... perhaps too much.

A couple of things: 1) That's hilarious. 2) It wouldn't shock me if there are Griz fans out there who picked a Griz gameday over Christmas. Heck, I might be one of them.

Since beer isn't sold in the stadium fans leave at halftime to crush a brewski at the GSA Tailgate outside the stadium. When play resumes in the second half, the stadium is rarely at full capacity because everyone is tying on one.

Ironically, the RedditFCS Twitter page just asked the world why Wa-Griz is empty after halftime.

Oh, my sweet summer child. It's because BEER. ICE COLD BEER.

The study also found that 24% of respondents have partied at a tailgate without tickets to the game. I'm guilty of that.

What say you, Griz fans? Is tailgating half the fun of gameday? A quarter fun? One hundred percent fun? Let us know in our mobile app.