Tom O'Neill

I am taking Montana over Wisconsin. Partly because of the team. Partly because, well, I believe Montana is just a tougher state altogether. Let's do some other comparisons, shall we?

To be honest, the prime rib or chicken cordon bleu along with a beautiful Montana spring weekend would be enough to get most folks off the couch and on the road for the short drive to the Wise River Club, but we'll have more on that in a minute. The big draw is that the boss man, Tim Montana will be back in town, guitar in hand, with his good friend and right-hand man Kyle Rife right beside him performing the songs they made famous and sharing the events, memories and emotions that inspired them.

Coming to Butte over the weekend for St. Patrick's Day? Well, you are in for a good time as events and parties are going on all over the Mining City. Here are a few places and events you definitely need to check out while you're here.

With St. Patrick's Day falling on a Monday this year, many revelers and guests will be using a sick day and turning the annual celebration in the Mining City into a raucous three-day weekend. Many people from Butte included. While Butte loves to play host and nobody loves a good party like the Mining City, there are a few things you should keep in mind if you plan on tearing it up in Butte this St. Patrick's Day.

Since the 1980s, one of the most popular parts of St. Patrick's Day in Butte, Montana is the annual visit from the Pipe and Drum Corps of the Edmonton Police Service. Again, this year over the course of the weekend-long St. Patrick's Day celebration going on throughout Butte, you will have several opportunities to catch these incredible musicians (and amazing people) performing throughout the Mining City. Here is a look at this year's schedule:

Any hope of high school state basketball tournament hardware now lies on the shoulders of the Butte High girls' team as they head to Brick Breeden Fieldhouse on the campus of Montana State University in Bozeman for the State AA tournament which runs through Saturday. With the Bulldog boys and both Butte Central teams seeing their seasons come to a close last week, the Butte girls have qualified for the tournament by beating Helena Capital last Friday for the third seed out of the West. They will face the second seed out of the Eastern AA, the Gallatin Raptors in the tournament's first round Thursday at 6:30pm.

Today, the landmark neon M&M sign, saved from the fire's destruction, finally went back up, filling a big void on the Uptown Butte landscape.