Let the zaniness begin! Make that outrageous bet as you search through the drawer for your favorite game day shirt.

It’s that time of year again — ALREADY — for the annual event known lovingly to Montanans as the Brawl of the Wild.

The yearly fist fight in pads between the Montana State Bobcats and the University of Montana Grizzlies.

Good versus Evil — the perspective is yours.

At stake are statewide bragging rights and a 306-pound “trophy” that is outweighed only by its ugliness.

The winning team traditionally parades the pile of “rocks” known as the Continental Divide Trophy around the field, giving them one more workout for the day. The losers take solace in the fact it’s someone else carrying the hideous pile of what many people initially think looks more like a giant cow-pie than a geographical icon.

Nonetheless, Missoula will be alive in rivalry splendor this Saturday, while the rest of the state and much of the region watch the spectacle in living color from the safety of their living rooms or the comfort of their favorite watering hole.

And this year the stakes are as high as they get.

The Big Sky Conference regular season championship goes to the winner, as the two rivals are locked into a first place-tie with 6-1 conference records heading into the regular season finale.

The Griz finished the season with a 9-1 overall record, while the Bobcats, who lost the national title game to South Dakota State last year, are 8-2. One of those Cats’ losses was to SDSU in the season opener on a play that clearly went against Montana State on a valid last second touchdown catch that showed the Bobcats beat the defending champs.

The Cats also lost to Idaho on a last second field goal.

The Griz’s only blemish this year, other than that narrow escape at Mother of Mary’s School for the Deaf and Blind, was to Northern Arizona, whom the Cats blew out.

Yes, if you haven’t guessed, I am an MSU guy...I bleed blue and gold.

I think the Cats will claw out a typically tough win over the stinky old Griz, but that’s why they play the game.

I missed a year of this rivalry. As the Cats had righted a bad ship with a long string of losses to the Griz via a 24-17 streak-busting win in Missoula 2016, things were suddenly looking up for my Cats. They followed that with wins in 2017, 2018 and 2019 before Co-vid halted the rivalry in 2020.

In 2021, which is a year I feel slipped by with me living in another dimension due to the effects and after-effects of open-heart surgery, I did not record the game in my memory banks.

I’m doing fine these days, but I was stunned to see that in my “absence” the Griz had won the 2021 game, 29-10.

I faintly remember being picked up by a great friend and driven to the VFW to watch part of the game, but it was all a post-surgical narcotic blur at that point. I lasted only one quarter before the room started to spin.

Better that way, as it turned out.

So last year, as my world got better, I was back on Earth for the Bobcats’ 55-21 thrashing of the Griz in Bozeman.

Maybe the lost year was a good thing, I don’t know if my then fragile heart would have held up to the sight of Griz parading around Washington Stadium with a giant bronze cow pie on their shoulders.

I probably would have popped some sutures somewhere laughing at the sight.

Seriously, however it turns out, this is probably the best football rivalry in the land. Both of these teams are heading for the national playoffs despite the outcome, with the winner earning a higher seed in the tournament.

So let’s hope for a great game...mindful that in the end, it’s only a game.

Yeah, I hate that phrase too.

And in the meantime, maybe some artistic type out there will be inspired to craft a better trophy.

Let’s see, are there any Montana animals involved who could be featured on the trophy?