The Big House...

This may come off as UM bashing, but I can assure you, college football for me is all about rooting for State and not really caring about what happens to anyone else. But I think it's noteworthy to mention that UM playing a game under lights shouldn't be garnering this much attention. They're lights people. They were invented a very long time ago and teams across all sports have been playing night games for over a hundred years. According to wikipedia, "The first night football game was played in Mansfield, Pennsylvania on September 28, 1892 between Mansfield State Normal and Wyoming Seminary." 1892?!!! That was 119 years ago!! Maybe it's just because ESPN is a shitty network and the only thing they can report on is a game being played under artificial light and it really isn't a big deal at all, but they've got a lot of people convinced.

The question should really be, why did it take so long for one of the greatest venues in all of sports to get lights?

If I were a UM fan, I'd be celebrating. I'd be pumped about a night game because I've attended a few night games at Spartan Stadium, and the amount of alcohol you can drink before a 7:30pm game seemingly increases exponentially every hour after 12. But aside from UM fans who will be at the game, is it really worthy of College Gameday (another grossly overrated waste of time) to be there?

To be fair, the only teams I feel that actually deserve any national recognition are Alabama (shit they're good - Roll Tide!), OU, Boise St, LSU and Oregon. These teams are way better than any other team in college football and it amazes me that anyone would care about two unranked teams playing a night game.

Anyway, maybe I'm just mad at ESPN for their terrible US Open coverage, but the madness has got to stop. And why doesn't anyone else HATE Andy Murray. That kid whines more than anyone I've ever seen.

Go big.

-M, p, z & shredder

Not Bad For A Basketball School...

So MSU finally lost on Saturday. Bummer. Huge bummer. Going 8-0 and being ranked number 5 is as exciting as our football team has been in my decade of following State football. I don't mind the loss so much, mostly because getting to 8-0 was unexpected. We have one of the hardest schedules in the country and we still have a shot at going to the Rose Bowl. I just wish we didn't drop 11 spots to #16 for one loss, while Iowa, with two losses, is ranked 15.

But I suppose those are the breaks. We will most likely win out and hopefully that is enough to get to the Rose Bowl, a game that means more to me than if we had gone to a BCS Fiesta bowl, though hopefully the Rose Bowl is a BCS game this year, because that would be nice as well. I doubt Ohio State will lose again, but I'm hoping for it. It would be great to be outright champs in the Big Ten. In any event, it's been a great season filled with hope, 32oz mugs at Tin Lizzie, the greatest trick play of the season and a lot of good times. I just hope they keep rolling.

In other news, MSU Basketball kicked off pre-season with a 44 point victory. We aren't #2 in the Country for no reason. Go big.

-M, p, z & shredder

Monday Two Three...

Few random things on my mind again. I seem to lack the concentration to just talk about one thing anymore.

One
For the last few years it seems every summer Tom Izzo is attached to some rumors about an NBA team wanting to draw him away from MSU. It's the only stressful time in my life. Izzo is my guy. He and Chuck Daly are my coaches. It would be devestating to me and to millions of other fans if he left. Apparently Cleveland is offering him a 5 year 6mil per year deal and though I'm fairly confident he won't take it, there's still a possibility. I guess the most frightening thing about it is that Izzo exudes loyalty and confidence. He is currently under contract for the next few years and has said that he wants to win at least one more National Championship with State before he ever considers leaving and I believe him. I believe him more than any other person even remotely related to sports. So with all my eggs in the Izzo basket, if he fails, society fails.

Two
Ants in my pants. Or at least my apartment. For those who haven't had the pleasure of living with me, I'm particular. I like things clean and I like things put back where they go. Ants don't care about this. They are coming out from the gap between the tiles and my bathtub which needs to be recaulked and it's starting to get annoying. I don't kill bugs and I'm not sure what to do. I keep cleaning everything hoping they'll go away on their own since there is nothing for them to feast on but if they aren't gone soon, I'm going to have to poison them which makes me sad. They aren't doing anything to me, but for lack of a better word it's just kinf of gross.

Three
Kids, man. Kids. My bedroom windows face an adjacent condo that houses a family of four. A mom, a dad and two kids. Two little kids. Boys. Two boys about 3 and 5. By all accounts the 5 year old is normal. But man, that three year old loves to cry. Loves it! Like it's his job. All day and all night. In the winter it used to be funny. I would hear them go outside to play and within five minutes (literally) the kid would cry and I would laugh. But now that it's nice out, I keep my windows open and so do they. So I hear this kid cry all day and all night. Sometimes I wonder why this kid is up and I'm pretty sure it's to cry. I bet he sets his alarm to wake up and start crying. Anyway, if my kid cries like that I'm sending him to India.

Anyway, go big or go home.

-M, p, z & shredder

Now What?...

So April is now in full swing, the weather is heating up and the rain is coming down. March Madness ended with a thud for me. It was a great season and a great tournament, but regret comes with the name Raymar Morgan. He's been dogged by just about everyone these last few years, but I always believed (and still do) that he is/was our best player. I was so happy and proud that he was finally having the tournament he deserved and played great until an unsettling 5 foul 4 point end to his career as a Spartan. I'll miss his face in green and white, but I'm pretty sure he'll get drafted and be a nice role player for pretty much any team in the NBA. Next year is looking up with a couple great recruits that include Mr. Michigan and a McDonald's All American, not to mention that I doubt Summers or Lucas will leave for the draft, but sadness lingers and I'm really going to miss Raymar wearing that # 2.

So now what? Generally, for the past decade, March Madness ends in time to get ready for Pistons playoff basketball but this year is a different story. As of today we are tied for the third worst record in the league and worse than that, worse than anything really, is that we don't seem to care. The CV31 experiement didn't work and it looks like Ben Gordon has some sort of Lions Quarterback Curse on him. This is the first time I'm talking at depth about the Pistons this year and it's making me naseaus so I'm going to stop.

Good thing Verlander is off to a 1-0 start and the Tigers are looking like they're about to have a solid season. And of course, as always, we have the Red Wings. I'm glad I've gotten more into hockey over the last couple of years because I'm going to need to Wings without the Pistons to cheer for. So grab an Oberon and grab a friend, because Spring is here, the playoffs are nigh and I'll be damned if that wasn't an incredible fun and rewarding NCAA Tournament.

Go big. Carpe diem.

-M, p, z & shredder

Superman Returns...

Sorry for the extended hiatus, I know you have all been missing me so very much. India was fantastic, I had a lot of things to say about it but that can wait I suppose. Before I left for India, the only thing I wanted was to come back and find out that State was in the Final Four. Luckily India seems to be at the forefront for kick ass cell phone signals and I had service everywhere I went, so I was woken up in the middle of the night to texts after every single victory. I was in Detroit for the morning on Saturday and the atmosphere in the state is ridiculous. Normally MSU hoops plays second fiddle to UofM football in the state, but it seems that getting to this Final Four in Detroit is really having an emotional impact on the entire state. I've never seen so many people forget school alliances and rally around one goal. There's a good chance tonight doesn't end well. As Izzo himself said earlier, "If we're playing well and they're playing well, we're gonna lose." Do I think we're gonna win? Absolutely. But I think regardless, we've gone as far as we can possibly go and this last win would be amazing, but this time it really was more about the journey, because win or lose, after the game people will go back to normal and everything will calm down, but for right now, things are just kind of perfect in this great state.

In other random news related to me, Friday Night Lights was picked up for a 4th and 5th season. I know none of you ever take my advice and watch this show even though you can watch every single episode online for free at nbc.com or hulu, but this is saying something. I'm a huge nerd and I love following stats and numbers for tv and movies, and there is this rating system that Neilsen puts out every week called the cancellation index. Friday Night Lights does terrible in the ratings. It's on in a terrible time slot and up against powerhouses like NCIS and Law & Order (don't ask me why those shows are 'powerhouses' because I'm pretty sure it's the same people who are watching Two and a half Men). Despite the fact that it consistently bombs, the fans are die hard and so is NBC. DirectTV stepped up again and is paying for half of it. Two more 13 episode seasons are on the way and I couldn't be happier. The season finale is this friday so get caught up and watch it. From the beginning. It's worth it.

In news about me, I'm still trying to get a job here in Michigan. People don't seem to know anything though and it's starting to make me mad. No one seems to have any real idea of a time frame for the new studios and even worse, no one seems to know anything about who to talk to to find out a time frame. I'm gonna keep calling around but this is seriously getting ridiculous. I know some of you have been in the same situation of trying to find a job when there really isn't any place to go apply for one, any advice? I need to think out of the box a little.

Okay well, I'll get regular on here again. Hopefully next time I blog it'll be as national champs. Go big...

GO STATE!!!!!!!!!

-M, p, z & shredder

Good Sports...

March Madness is probably one of the greatest times of the year. Not just because of college basketball, but also the playoff race starts to heat up in the NBA and in the NHL. The only bad part is that spring training started and we are already being inundated with terrible highlights from meaningless games.

Sorry for being terrible about blogging these last couple weeks. I've been kind of busy running around and drinking. I'm trying to get a job here in Michigan but people are still being unhelpful though things are looking up. I'm headed to India with the fam on saturday and I'm trying to get an interview with anyone when I get back. It sounds like the new studios are picking up some steam so we'll see what happens.

I went 16/16 in my bracket today. I am pretty awesome. Last time I did that was junior year of high school when I went 31/32 in the first round. I think I ended up getting third in that pool. Unfortunately, this is the first time since 1996 that I haven't payed to be in a pool. I didn't want to enter a pool and not get to watch any of it (on account of being on a farm in the middle of nowhere in India) and I knew that I was going to have a good tourney this year. I am in one pool but we didn't put any money in, just our egos. I really don't care as long as State makes it to the Final Four. I'll be back in time for it, and if they make it, I'll be at Ford Field dressed as a Spartan.

I'll blog again before I take off. Go big.

-M, p, z & shredder

Countdowns...

Or count-ups I should say. Three things I'm keeping track of right now and I figure that writing it down on here will let everyone be interactive with me, in fact I think I'll add a poll to see how long people think I will last. First there's this old stove on the landing in my stairwell. Fire hazard much? It's already a small landing to begin with but this old ass stove is taking up at least half of it. It's been here since I got back from Michigan on the 29th, so it's already just been sitting there for 9+ days. Brown Guy mentioned that it would still be here the next time he came back to NYC which probably won't be for a while.

The other count-up is my no more drinking pledge. I don't have an exact count of last years but it was somewhere around a month and a half. This year I'm hoping to make it to two, though that is kind of a reach, but hopefully I can do it. So far it's only been 4 days which isn't even quite a work week. But every streak has to start somewhere. The other one is my less-chicken diet I make every year. I am only going to allow myself to eat chicken 5 times a week. That means of the 21 meals in the week, only 5 of them will contain chicken. I'm not sure if this is a lot or a little, but for me it's definitely a little. So far I'm doing pretty good this week. I haven't had it in three days so I'm kind of ahead of schedule.

I'll keep us updated pretty regularly. As always, go big or go home....

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - since there are some quality shows on tv again (and by tv I usually mean the next day on the internet ( I didn't turn on my tv for 2 1/2 weeks in december)), I'm going to use this space to tell everyone what to watch for the night. PTI does it every night at the end of their shows so I'm going to as well.

Tell em what to watch: MSU vs OSU at 7pm on ESPN2. Michigan State tries to push their conference streak to 3-0 for the first time since 1999-2000 when we won our last national championship.

Bailout...

I had a drink called Kryptonite over the weekend. Not only was it delicious, but it was very aptly named. I woke up feeling like Superman when he fought the guy that came from Superman's hair and the sun, Nuclear Man. It wasn't so much that I was dying, just that I lost my powers and was useless.



Not a whole lot on my mind (actually that's not true there's just not a whole lot I wanted to mention) other than some concerns I have about the auto industry. There has been a lot of discussion lately about bailing out GM and the Big Three to help them out. What I don't get is the opposition to this. I understand the theory that a lot of people have about how when the airlines declared bankruptcy, they actually ended up on top in the end. But this is not the airlines. The fact is that GM could be bankrupt by the end of the year if the government doesn't step up and do something.

The situation is probably closer to me than the the rest of the country who is not from Michigan, but the sad fact is that the auto industry, despite it's horrible state, is still the only industry Michigan can 'rely' on. Michigan will blow up if the big three fold. So will a lot of the country I assume. I don't know why there is hesitation to give them the 25 billion they ask for, when they've given 300 billion to the financial sector. Are these hundreds of thousands of jobs not as important as banks being able to hand out loans?

I think the right way to do it is to give them the money with a lot of stipulations. Now I don't know how these things actually work, but I assume that if you are giving someone money, you can tell them how to spend it. I think the government needs to step in with a fistful of cash and tell them to spend it on developing cars for the future. Low emission, feul-cell, hydrogen powered cars. Anything. I know that bio fuel is not the answer and I hope that people stop thinking it is. But if the govt made a mandate on how the money had to be spent, it wouldn't just save the industry, but it would create jobs. It would actually be a huge step in creating an industry for eco friendly fuel and isn't that what we're trying to get to anyways?

Just thinking out loud here. Also wanted to quickly mention how excited I am for State's game this weekend. The last time State went to the Rose Bowl I was 8 (and a Michigan fan). In the 6 years since I have become a State fan, this is the first time we've not sucked after the first 6 games or so. If we beat Penn St. we go to the Rose Bowl. It's that 'simple'. Also, it's supposed to snow tonight here in NYC. I'm so pumped. It's about time. It was 67 degrees on saturday. It was so gross. It's mid-November. I expect snow and sold winds and dry air. It's about time. I love how people freak out here when it snows. People seriously lose their s***. They can't function. If you've ever seen it here when it's raining, people go crazy. They run around staring at the ground scrambling for taxis and holding newspapers or umbrellas over their heads like it's acid rain. It's hilarious because I love walking in the rain and watching people be crazy.

Good night sweet prince. Parting is inevitable - Lex Luthor

-M, p, z & shredder

Finally...

So this is the first time since I have been a State fan that we beat U of M. It feels great. Actually, my first year as a State fan was the first of 6 straight losses to Michigan. Call it my curse, or just chalk it up to the fact that we lost a couple close games, but I can't describe the joy I had saturday afternoon. I love sports and I love rivalries, but this is one of those rivalries that's not so friendly. The reason I stopped being a Michigan fan was because I couldn't stand the majority of the people at UofM and their attitude toward people that went to State. Not just when it came to football but life in general. Wow, you got better grades than me in high school, congrats. Doesn't really give you the right to be an asshole. Not to say they all are because I have many friends, classmates who went there who are awesome and met many people who are equally awesome.

Ever since I started to root for State I noticed more and more how much people at Michigan looked down at us and it made me go from just rooting for State, to also rooting against Michigan. I'm happy they have a 2-6 record. It's hilarious. It warms my heart. I feel like in this scenario, State is the nice kid in school and Michigan is the asshole jock who everyone hates and he just got the sh*t kicked out of him at his house even after he had help (fake touchdowns are lame). Rules.

Obviously it would have been nice to beat a better team than the one from this season but hey, a win's a win. The best part about this season is that if we can win our last three games (our last one is against Penn St.) and Texas and Alabama both lose at least once, then hopefully Penn St. will go to the BCS Championship game and State will get to rep the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl. That's sort of a pipe dream but still very much a possibility as we're tied for 2nd in the conference right now. Anyways just wanted to spread some Spartan love. Go big or go home...

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - speaking of Spartan love, if you love Halo and 300 re-mixes, check out this clip. Awesome. Also for you Halo fans out there, next fall there is going to be a new expansion called Halo 3: Recon. It's going to be awesome. Seriously.

Octoberfest...

Sorry I haven't blogged in a bit. If you recall I was reliving my youth back in Lansing for homecoming. I've never actually been to homecoming when I didn't already live in Lansing so it was always more of a home-staying. But it was an awesome drunken weekend and state won again and is finally ranked. This season is going kind of awesome so far (fingers crossed) and I'm kind of jealous of other schools that get to have a good football team ever year. Although a lot is to be said about rooting for a bad team forever and being there when they are good. Not that they have won anything or whatever, and we have been ranked at least a few years since I've been a fan, but not usually 6 weeks into the season. I tried to make a documentary about the weekend and homecoming and I tried to capture what it was like but it turned out pretty bad. Essentially it started out the way subarau diaries starts out but then rapidly evolves into me being drunk and/or tired and getting drunk for almost all of it. I'll still try and piece something together because there are some funny parts but it's kind of silly.

Other than that I have pretty much lost all respect of McCain. As I pointed out before, he is senile, but now he's added crotchety, creepy and liar to that list. Did everyone watch the debate last night? He was pretty much hunched over, stiff and creepy throughout the whole thing. Whenever someone asked a question he sort of waddled over and got uncomfortably close without touching them but kind of like the close-talker in Seinfeld and then would spout off some contorted lie about Obama and what he wants to do. I think there were maybe 3 times when Barack stopped Brokaw from talking and pretty much said McCain can't get away with saying what he just said. Overall I thought Obama did great and was very clear and calm and I think any undecided middle class voter would be an idiot not to vote for him. I do think somehow McCain held his ground a little bit and through his bitter old man routine, got through to some republicans.



Sarah Palin is a hot mess though. Seriously. Aside from accusing Obama of hanging out with terrorists in his spare time, she is lying about all of his plans and what he wants to do. I don't see how she or McCain can constantly keep trying to tell people that he is going to raise their taxes. It's absurd. It seems more absurd than usual. Blatantly lying to people by telling half truths is always how you win elections but Palin is like a bench player talking trash during a championship series; they really have no idea what is going on or how to play the game but they feel like they are the truth.

Anyways not a whole lot is going on otherwise. It's kind of silly. I need to do something. I'm still applying to non-profits and have found some really good ones and I'm hoping to hear back but chances are I'm not qualified. I promise next blog I'll talk about something other than myself. I'm out. Go big..

-M, p, z & shredder

Finally...

There are a few things that lets me know fall is fast approaching. The leaves start to turn, humidity becomes scarce, previews for upcoming tv shows start popping up, but perhaps best of all is tonight. The kickoff for college football. For being such a great time to play sports, the summer really sucks for watching it. Unless you are a die hard baseball fan there isn't a whole lot going on. I watch the tigers. When I'm around. And I'm not doing something else. But unlike the Pistons, the Lions or the Spartans, I don't plan my life/week/day around it.
















It all starts to change now though. Every saturday for the rest of the year is pretty much booked for me. Sure I'll go other places and have plans, but for 3 hours every saturday I get to root for a team that I love. It's something that I miss a lot during the summer. Once it's past mid-June and the NBA finals are over, thee really isn't anything going on in the world of sports until today. The Olympics are an exception. It's more than enough to hold me over until Oct. 28th when the NBA tips-off. I have long held the belief that the best time of the year is in November when you get to watch all of your favorite teams play, but waiting with anticipation for the season to start is also a pretty great thing.















Right now I am filled with so much hope and anxiety. Is this gonna be our year? MSU has a tendency to start out hot and then sort of fizzle away, but I can't help but feel that this is going to be a great year. National Championship? I don't know if I'd go that far; but I hope so.

Anyways, I just wanted to make sure I got this in before Saturday's big game ( @ Cal, 8pm on ABC). Go State! As always, go big or go home.

-M, p, z & shredder

March Not So-Madness...

Historically, I have always been very into March Madness. It seems like if you love basketball it's a pretty great thing. 12 hours straight for 2 days in a row followed by some really close games as the field gets smaller. But for some reason this year I haven't been that into it. I love MSU and I love watching State and I'm super pumped we made it to the sweet 16, but as far as other teams go, I couldn't care less. I am actually still alive and doing pretty well in my pools so that's not the problem. I think I just don't really care anymore. I don't care that Davidson beat Georgetown. I didn't even watch the game. I didn't care about either team all season and while this would usually be an occasion for me to root for one of them, this year I chose not to watch.



I'm glad Davidson won. I love upsets. I'm glad U-Conn lost. I had both of them and Duke in the final four in at least one of my brackets but I still don't care. I love when the underdog wins. That's what the Madness is all about. Rooting for the underdog. I have always taken the first day of the tournament off from whatever I'm doing and sit and watch all day. This year the only reason I did was because State played at 12:30 and I had to watch that. I am pretty sure though that if we ever lose it'll not only be the end of their tournament but mine as well. If it's not State then I could care less who wins.

Anyways, just rambling but I'm not sure if this means that I'm just over March Madness or this is a stage of growing up when you stop caring about things that really don't matter at all. Maybe a little of both. As always, go big or go home...

Go Green!

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - Anyone have any tips on working out lower abs? I've tried many things but can't seem to do anything that works them out really well.

Confessions...

I've had this problem in my life with loving bad music. It doesn't just extend to the depths of loving all that is R-Kelly but it also embraces terrible artists like Ashlee Simpson, Kellie Pickler, Juelz Santana and even Lil John. I used to get teased a lot in high school and middle school for loving people like Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and N Sync. All of whom are great but when you are a 16 year old boy, not so much. Never one to want to be 'cool' I would not only like them but listen to them while at school.

So in keeping with that tone, I must admit one of my darkest loves.




















Danity Kane. Better known as MTV's Making the Band 3. You know the all girl group. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's the stranglehold Diddy has on me. But whatever the reason, after purchasing the new album Tuesday, I realized not only did I own both albums but I bought them both on opening day. As if my world revolved around the release of those albums.

The worst part is the first one sucked, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear their new and improved sound. It's wayyy better than the last one.

I'm pretty terrible I know but I justify it with the amount of completely awesome semi-obscure music I listen to/purchase. For example the reason I was at the record store in the first place yesterday was to buy the highly anticipated She & Him album which is in the running for best album of the year already (and I've only listened to it once so far).

Anyways, live and love is my motto. Among others I guess. Go big or go home...

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - as it's now past noon, I can divulge my secret to winning my NCAA pools, MSU is going to the final four. Count it.

oh pps - If you like the new making the band all boy band as much as I do, they're called Day 26 and their album drops next tuesday.

The Pope Didn't Go To State...

Obviously.

Last week the Pope changed St. Patty's day from the 17th to the 15th because he felt that the 17th would have been to close to Easter. Or something along those lines. The idea was that people shouldn't be drinking the same week as Easter. The Pope didn't go to State. Instead of what would have normally been a tame weekend before a St. Patty's day that would have landed on Monday, by moving it to Saturday, Mr. Pope turned it into a three day binge drinking weekend here in East Lansing. State kids know how to party so rather than change their plans of drinking on Monday to Saturday, they just added two more days filled with green beer.

I have often touted my old age as the reason I can't drink like I used to and try as I might, I still can't keep up. I had planned on doing a big Saturday and Monday but the first day killed me. I remember hitting the bar at 6am back when I was 21 and staying out all day. By the time I was 23 I didn't make it out til 10am and had to take an afternoon nap before drinking again at night. Now at 25, I got to the bar at 1:30pm, hot another one around 4 or so, then back to the apartment for a round of Power Hour. It was by far the toughest Power Hour I have ever done and I ended up passing out shortly after it was over for about 2 hours before we went out again. I was tired. Very tired.




















(Much too old to be acting like this)

I am resigned to the fact that not only am I not capable of weekend long drinking binges anymore, but I don't want to do them. So far this year I have only been drunk on 4 occasions. That's pretty good considering last year I was probably drunk at least once a week, but being in NYC will do that to you. One of my resolutions was to drink much less this year in accordance with my "get healthy" regime, and I gotta say, drinking is the easiest of my 'vices' to give up. Unlike cookies, ice-cream, chips and wings, giving up alcohol isn't hard. It's pretty easy actually. All you gotta do is not do it. Sometimes I crave a chocolate chip cookie, and that usually results in me buying a pack of the "break and bake" nestle chocolate chunks. Delicious. But I never crave alcohol.

I digress. A lot. Actually I either forgot my point or didn't have one in the first place. Either way, I'm done. Go big...

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - I hate green beer. I finally avoided any this year, but for some reason it makes me sick. I know. It's just food coloring. It's got nothing in it to make me sick. But perhaps it's my kryptonite. Who knows. I can't deal with it though and I don't have to.

Yes, We Will?...

Seriously Hillary? You can't think of your own hook so you steal my boy's? That's a little pathetic right? In case you didn't see her speech last night, Hillary ranted for a while about Barack's 'empty' speeches and figured the best way to make her point was to steal his catch phrase. Crazy.

Anyways...Sunday was senior night for the MSU basketball team and I saw something that reminded me why I love sports so much. I have never really been a huge college basketball fan. In high school I used to only watch March Madness and got more into it after going to college at a school that had a great basketball team. Over the years though, I have come to appreciate NCAA hoops a lot more. While there are still many things I don't like about it (35 second shot clock, most players suck, can't shoot, 3 point line is too close (though it's changing next year)) there is so much about it that is basketball at it's best.

Oftentimes in the NBA the 'love' gets lost. Players forget that they get to play basketball for a living and make more money than would ever be necessary. People decide that they are going to turn down a 3-year 27 million dollar contract because that's "not enough money to feed their family." They lose the love and claim that their 'heart is in their chest' and not with a team and leave a beloved team and city for more money with a rival. They bicker about every single call or no-call to the refs and argue with their coaches.

College basketball is different. It is people playing basketball because they love it. Because they love to be on a team and compete. Sure winning is important but it's not everything. At least to most schools. If you aren't a top tier school, the odds of even making the tournament are pretty slim given the number of D1 schools. People play because they love the sport. They respect the other teams, the other coaches and best of all, they go 100 percent on every single play. You never see people walk up the court getting back on defense or play lazy, partly because they have a short schedule but mostly because they want to play hard.
















So at senior night on sunday, en route to blowing out 12th ranked Indiana by 30, Drew Neitzel and Drew Naymick played their last games at home for the Spartans. I remember when they were both freshman and talking about how good we were going to be with Neitzel and while we haven't won a championship we got to the final four under him. It was sad to see them go because they always played their hearts out and on their way off their home court for the last time they each kneeled down and kissed the "S" at center court. It was a pretty touching moment I think for any Spartans fan and hopefully for basketball fans in general. They loved the game so much and appreciated every second on the court so much that they kissed the floor of a gym where they spent 4 years working their asses off for free. That's why I love basketball and that made me love not only the Spartans, but basketball in general a whole lot more.

Anyways, that's all for now. Go big...

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - if you know what's good for you, you'll go buy Vampire Weekend. Best cd I've purchased in a long time. For realz.