Basking in the afterglow

It's been a great week to be a Michigan State Spartan fan.

I slept like a baby on Saturday night, visions of Spartan sacks of Devin Gardner in my head. Sunday morning, I woke up and enjoyed reading various Michigan fan meltdowns on Facebook, wrote my celebratory blog post, and then caught the highlights of the game on our local Sunday sports show, Staudt on Sports, while reading the Lansing State Journal Sunday sports section.

The fun extended throughout the week, as I listened to practically every local sports radio show, re-living the game. The most enjoyable schadenfreude of my life came on Tuesday, when I listened to podcasts from WTKA, the Ann Arbor sports radio station. Sam Webb, Stanley Edwards, and especially Rick Leach sounded like they were attending a wake.

I'll spare you the minute details of all I have taken in this week regarding MSU's rout of the Wolverines, but suffice it to say that the last six days have been wonderful. The best part is that, as a fan, I can continue to bask in this win and don't have to worry about getting ready for Nebraska on November 16.

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Today, while outside raking leaves, I thought of Mark Dantonio's "Pride comes before the fall" comments after the 2007 Michigan loss. At a time when MSU had lost six straight to Michigan, and suffered through the aimless Bobby Williams and John L. Smith eras, Dantonio's declaration was exactly what Spartan Nation needed to hear. It may have rubbed some Michigan people the wrong way, but too bad. The man understands this rivalry--and the cold fact is that the MSU/UM series hasn't been the same since that heartbreaking '07 loss when Mike Hart ran his mouth with the "little brother" crap.

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Michigan State played its first official (i.e. one that counts in the won/lost record) regular season basketball game tonight, a 98-56 blowout win of McNeese State.

The college basketball season starts far too early. I miss the days when the the first game wasn't played until late November, coinciding with the end of the football season. Heck, I just made the transition from Tiger baseball to Spartan football, so I'm definitely not in a basketball mood yet.