Ron Mason (1940-2016)

I was stunned Monday morning to wake up and learn of Ron Mason's passing. He was probably the youngest-looking and hardiest 76-year-old man I'd ever seen.

Mason was, if not the greatest coach in college hockey history, one of the greatest coaches. He is certainly in the top two or three.

One fact is certain, he put Michigan State hockey on the map.

Before Ron Mason arrived in East Lansing in 1980, Michigan State hockey was completely average. Amo Bessone did have his moments as Spartan hockey coach, but not that many. In 1966, the Spartans came out of nowhere to win an unexpected national title. But in Bessone's 28 years as coach, he compiled a fairly pedestrian overall record of 367-427-20.

Ron Mason changed all of that quickly. The Spartan hockey program went from being merely competitive to being one of the elites of the collegiate world.

In the early 1980s, Spartan football and basketball had fallen precipitously. Muddy Waters' gridiron gladiators were Big Ten also-rans, while Jud Heathcote was unable to sustain any momentum after the 1979 championship season. Hockey, however, was another story.

Ron Mason built a perennial championship-caliber program, and hockey was easily the biggest ticket on campus. When I arrived at Michigan State in 1986, students waited in line for hockey tickets. Munn Ice Arena was sold out for every home game. Beginning on December 19, 1985, MSU hockey had 323 consecutive home sellouts. (As a student, I went to a handful of hockey games, and that was only because I know some friends who'd managed to get season tickets. Otherwise, there's no way I could have ever made it into Munn).

MSU sports in the 1980s was the reverse of what it is today. In the '80s, you could fire a cannon in Jenison Fieldhouse--then the home of the basketball team--and not hit anyone, while Munn was standing room only. In 2016, they can't give hockey tickets away, while basketball (and to a lesser extent, football) are the hot tickets.

Anyway, one person was responsible for MSU's powerhouse hockey program--and that was Ron Mason.

I won't bother with a recitation of Mason's accomplishments as a coach. All you need to do his "google" his name to find that information. Suffice it to say that he was one of the greatest coaches in the history if college hockey. Perhaps THE greatest.

After retiring as hockey coach in 2001, Mason was MSU athletic director from July 1, 2002 until January 1, 2008. Although he takes some heat in retrospect for his hiring of John L. Smith as head football coach back in December 2002, I've always felt that criticism to be unfair. Although Smith's football schemes ultimately ended up unsuccessful in the gritty Big Ten, he at least cleaned up the program. And in fairness to Ron Mason, he recognized the Smith failure (firing him in 2006) and, along with the assistance of Mark Hollis, Tom Izzo, and Lou Anna Simon (among others) found a great new football coach in Mark Dantonio.

Through his tremendous successes as a hockey coach, and even in his failures as A.D., there's no doubt that Ron Mason always had Michigan State's best interests at heart. So farewell to a great Spartan.

Putting the Middle Tennessee State game to bed, and what is going on with hockey?

In case you're wondering, I'm over the Middle Tennessee State loss. In fact, for whatever reason it never bothered me nearly as much as it apparently did my fellow MSU brethren. Don't get me wrong, it pretty much ruined the tournament for me (I've barely watched since the loss), but nobody has had to talk me off any ledges.

Even if MSU had made it past the first round, I'm frankly not convinced the Spartans were any guarantee for the Final Four anyway.

Speaking of the Final Four, my NCAA bracket is completely shot to hell. All of my Final Four picks have bit the dust. At this point, I'm reduced to finding the teams that would bother me least if they won it all, and pull for them. Those two teams are, in order, Villanova and Oklahoma. (I am most certainly NOT pulling for either North Carolina or Syracuse)

In other news, Mark Hollis has thrown his public support towards Tom Anastos and Anastos will get at least one more year as Spartan hockey coach. I really don't follow the hockey program closely enough to decide if this is a good idea, though allegedly Anastos has a good recruiting class coming in. Part of me cynically believes Hollis doesn't want to admit he screwed up the Anastos hire in the first place.

All I know is that if the hockey team has another season as awful as this one, the screws will turn much tighter and the small but vocal hockey fan base will clamor even more vociferously for a change.

Hockey is an absolute shell of what it was when I was a student (1986-1991). Students waited in line for season tickets, and the demand was so great that two different half-season packages were doled out. Of course, a large factor in hockey's popularity back in the '80s was that basketball then was woeful and football generally mediocre.

With Tom Izzo turning the basketball program into a national power, and Mark Dantonio (maybe) doing likewise in football, hockey's struggles are less noticeable. Frankly, outside of a handful of hockey diehards, I don't get a feeling that current students give a hoot about hockey. I'm not sure if the athletic department feels much pressure to improve the program. It feels like an afterthought these days. Perhaps this will only change if basketball slips in the future, or enough disgruntled hockey fans put up a big enough fuss.

Spartans blow out the Wolverines

I'm not sure that anybody saw that coming.

Michigan State absolutely hammered Michigan 89-73 at Crisler Arena and it wasn't really that close. Bryn Forbes impersonated Stephen Curry once again, Matt Costello continued his hard-nosed spirited play, Denzel Valentine showed everyone that he's back to his old self, and Michigan State looks like they officially have their mojo back.

I fully expected Michigan to give the Spartans everything they had, and thought the game may not be decided until the last one or two minutes of the game. Instead, the game was essentially over after about the first five minutes. Michigan did go on a bit of a mini-run late in the first half to cut the lead to eleven, but that was as close as they got. The Spartans led by 16 at halftime, got out of the gate quickly in the second half, built the lead to 30 late in the second half, and the deceptively closer score was a result of sloppy play by MSU's bench players.

From this fan's perspective, this is exactly what I needed after Michigan stole all the attention on football signing day. It actually was a great week for Spartans sports, with the MSU women's hoops team throttling Michigan mid-week, and the Spartan hockey team recording a rare victory when they slipped past the Wolverines in overtime, 3-2 on Friday night. (Unfortunately, the Spartan icers fell back to earth...or ice?...on Saturday night when they lost 4-1 to the Wolverines at Munn. Of course, I was glowing from the basketball win so I took this loss quite well).

But back to Spartan basketball. If you're a fan, you have to feel good about how this team looks right now. Clearly, the road game against Purdue will be a tough game, but one the Spartans can win, With the way the senior triumvirate of Costello, Forbes, and Valentine are playing, a win at Mackey Arena is certainly not out of the question.

Bye week, basketball, hockey, soccer, and the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum

There was no Spartan football this past Saturday, and that was just as well because the MSU football team could probably use a weekend off. I hope they can regroup after that horribly painful Nebraska loss, get healthy physically and mentally, and take out all their frustration on Northwestern this coming Saturday. For what it's worth, I will be at this Saturday's final home game against the Wildcats. It's the second consecutive Senior Day in which I will have my butt parked in Spartan Stadium. I bought the tickets way back in September (from StubHub) not knowing what was in store for this game. I had no idea at the time that the Spartans would enter this game simply trying to get a sixth victory and bowl eligibility.

In other Spartan news, basketball season started on Friday, November 10 at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany. Unfortunately, the MSU basketball team lost to UConn, sending the Spartans' "gimmick game" record to winless. Listen, I agree that scheduling these unique games is great for MSU's national profile, but at some point it sure would be nifty to actually win one. Thankfully, the Spartans more than made up for this loss by beating Kansas on Tuesday night in what was an outstanding team performance. Gary Harris looks like the best MSU freshman hoopster since Jason Richardson (at least in this blogger's humble opinion) and Keith Appling made some brilliant plays in crunch time. After feeling really down about the team on Friday evening, I know am greatly encouraged after the Kansas game. Thus is the up-and-down roller coaster life of a sports fan.

In this past non-football weekend, the MSU hockey team split with Michigan (losing on Friday but pounding the Wolvies 7-2 on Saturday) and the Spartan soccer team defeated Michigan 2-1 on Sunday to capture the Big Ten soccer tournament. Clearly, as you have no doubt gathered from this blog, I'm primarily a football and basketball fan (though I have been to a handful of games at Munn Ice Arena and usually watch the MSU icers when they are on TV), but I always enjoy it when MSU wins in any sport.

This brings me to the non-sports segment of our program. On Sunday, my wife and I took our two boys to the brand-new Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum on MSU's campus. The museum had its open house that day. Like many other Lansing-area residents, I was a bit dubious of the building as it was being constructed. The architecture brought to mind the image of a dented sardine can. However, as the building neared completion, my opinion softened. By the time the museum approached its grand-opening, I was actually excited. For a museum dedicated to contemporary art, the architectural style made perfect sense, and I suppose I simply got used to seeing it alongside Grand River Avenue. It's odd metallic appearance was no longer quite so jarring.

As we walked towards the museum on Sunday, I felt myself becoming emotional--but emotional in a good way. I have seen many changes to MSU's campus in the last few decades, most of them positive. However, I never thought I'd see a modern, cutting-edge cultural addition like this. I was suddenly struck by how far Michigan State University has advanced since I was a student in the late 1980s, and now we have this wonderful museum that may attract art patrons from around the globe.

Entering the museum and looking at the art pieces and installations, many of which were highly conceptual and challenging, I pondered the juxtaposition of this avant garde art and sleepy Midwestern East Lansing. Old EL, though it is not by any means a hick town, may have to play a little catch-up to meet some of the demands of the hip art patrons who may be invading the city. I suppose time will tell.

Next up, the Northwestern Wildcats

With the Thanksgiving holiday, I've been a stranger lately, but I've made it back in time for today's football game against Northwestern.

I've heard some people say that, since the Spartans have already clinched the Legends Division, this game is not important and MSU should rest some players.  I agree with Mark Dantonio that this talk is ridiculous, and I'm happy that Dantonio has stated this publicly with conviction.

As we know, college football is a popularity contest, so any blemish on MSU's record would hurt them when it comes to BCS rankings and national polls.  It doesn't matter to the BCS computer or the pollsters if the game "doesn't mean anything".

Additionally, what message is sent to the players if the coach downplays the importance of a game?  The Spartans need to treat this game just like any other on their schedule.

Northwestern is a dangerous team, with Persa, Ebert, and Colter on the offensive end.  The Wildcats beat Nebraska in Lincoln, so that should tell you everything you need to know about what Northwestern is capable of doing.  The Wildcats make me nervous.

The Spartans, though, are on a mission for not only an outright Big Ten crown, but a BCS bowl game.  I fully expect them to play at their best, and I look for the Spartans to win this one, 34-24.

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In other Big Ten action, Michigan should finally end a seven-year drought and beat Ohio State.  Purdue should roll over Indiana, and in a mild upset Minnesota will beat Illinois in Minneapolis.  Wisconsin will beat Penn State and the Badgers will be MSU's opponent next week in the Big Ten championship game.

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One final note, congratulations to the MSU hockey team for their stunning victory over the Minnesota Gophers.  Tom Anastos has the Spartan icers playing extremely well.