Photographs from the 1978 Michigan State/Michigan football game (taken by Brian Burd)

I have still been obsessing over the 1978 Michigan State victory over Michigan, and read some of the news coverage of the game in the Lansing State Journal. Here are a few great photos taken by Journal photographer Brian Burd. To the best of my knowledge, these pictures are nowhere in Google Images, so I decided to upload them here. I hope I don't get into any trouble, but I love these pics and want them to see the light of day and not trapped in obscurity. 

Brian Burd, if you are out there, I'd love to hear from you. Your photos are excellent.

This is "the other Steve Smith," i.e., the one who was not a basketball player at MSU from 1987-1991. This Steve Smith was an outstanding running back for the Spartans from 1977-1980.

A brief plea

Dear Michigan State football,

Please don't get torched by Maryland's passing game.

Sincerely,

The Spartan Attic blog guy

Michigan State beats Michigan

I really should have written this post right after the Michigan game rather than wait until the day before MSU's next game against Purdue. But since I'm a fan--and not a player or coach--I'm allowed to dwell on the game that happened six days ago.

As I've written in here previously, MSU/UM "rivalry week" (or, as some call it more accurately, "hate week") is not enjoyable for me. Absolutely the only aspect of the week I ever find enjoyable is when time expires and MSU has--if all has gone well--beaten that team down the road. 

I don't enjoy the back-and-forth trash talk between the fanbases. I don't enjoy the endless pre-game analysis. Often, I don't enjoy the games much while they are being played.

Late Saturday morning of the Michigan game, I went for a run in the neighborhood hoping it'd calm my nerves--and it seemed to have worked for the most part. I got back home at about the 11 minute mark of the first quarter, right after Anthony's 94-yard touchdown reception that put UM up 7-0.

The rest of the game was a back-and-forth heavyweight slugfest, with each team delivering haymakers. After MSU went up 37-33, the tension completely destroyed any "calm" my earlier run may have instilled. My heart rate was so high that my FitBit gave me credit for "active minutes" even though I was barely moving.

This was a great game, and one I can say I actually ENJOYED watching.

In an ideal world, both fanbases could shake hands (or at least "virtually" shake "virtual" hands) and marvel at what a great game this was, how hard both teams played, and how lucky we were to have such an important game in our state's backyard.

Unfortunately, that never happens in this rivalry. We can't have nice things in this rivalry.

Michigan fans--not all, but many--resort to their favorite post-loss pastime, complaining about officiating. This is because, as we all know, Michigan never loses games. They only have wins taken away.

It's funny hearing Michigan fans complain about the Payton Thorne non-fumble*--as if that call is essentially the main reason their team lost. Forget about blowing a 16-point second half lead or getting consistently shredded by Kenneth Walker III.

It was an exciting and joyous win, and now I must post this before the Purdue game starts.

My Spartan Memories, Volume 3: October 14, 1978

 

In the autumn of 1978, I was ten years-old. My dad had just taken a job working in the Thumb region of Michigan and was commuting every day from our house in Detroit. He'd do that for about 4 1/2 months until my parents finally moved us into our new house in Caro.

I wasn't happy about the prospect of moving from our home in Detroit to the boonies of Caro, and took little interest in much of anything that fall, including school. Compounding my disappointment about moving, my parents had enrolled me in a magnet middle school that I didn't like. Every day, I had to take the bus to and from Ludington Middle School. Some of the kids on the bus were annoying jerks, and school wasn't much better. Though I'd made some friends at school, they had as little interest in school work as I did, so we spent a lot of time screwing around, doing stuff like folding paper airplanes and ignoring the teachers.

Though I had become a Michigan State sports fan in earnest the previous year, after attending my first college football game ever (a 44-3 MSU win over Northwestern in November '77) and falling hard for Earvin "Magic" Johnson and the '77-'78 Spartan hoopsters, I wasn't paying much attention to the 1978 football team. Because of NCAA probation, they weren't on television and had gotten off to a slow start prior to the Michigan game.

My dad was--and still is--a history buff. I assume he learned of the Sanilac petroglyphs, near Cass City, when he started working in the Thumb. He decided that we would all drive up there from Detroit to see the petroglyphs the day of the MSU/UM game, possibly because he didn't think MSU had a prayer of beating the #4 and undefeated Wolverines.

We tuned in the football game on our 1975 Plymouth Valiant's radio on the way up to the petroglyphs. The Spartans got off to a good start and had a lead when we arrived, but since I literally could not remember the last time MSU had defeated UM in football (1969, when I was a toddler), I knew not to get overly excited. 

I recall the afternoon of October 14, 1978 at the petroglyphs as sunny and pleasant. The ancient stone carvings were--and I assume still are--quite fascinating. However, I was itching to know what was happening in the game. By the time we hiked back to our car for the long drive home, the game was in the 4th quarter. MSU was leading 24-7. I remember Michigan scoring a late touchdown and 2-point conversion to make it 24-15. I have a distinct memory of staring intensely at the Valiant's radio, willing the Spartans to victory. When the game ended and the Spartans had won, that was one of my happiest car rides ever, and one of my few highlights of autumn '78.

The Spartans went on to win six consecutive games and their first Big Ten football title since 1966. I don't remember anything about those games, but do recall the disappointment that the Draconian NCAA probation prevented them from representing the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl. Michigan, who tied MSU for the conference title, went instead. I doubt few were happier than I when USC beat UM in Pasadena.

I continued to largely ignore school in 1978 (and part of 1979). That school year was my absolute worst. It took me at least a year to get used to living in Caro. 

Whenever I think of that '78 MSU/UM game, I immediately remember our daytrip to the petroglyphs and that joyful ride home to Detroit--a place I've always considered my spiritual home.

This blog is back from the dead for the MSU/Michigan game

Life events, both personal and global, had made me uninterested in this blog. Also, the older I became, the less I cared about obsessing over the ups-and-downs of 18-22 year old college athletes.

Commence the "record scratch" sound effect.

So last year, in Mel Tucker's first year as MSU football head coach--flying by the seat of his pants in the bizarre COVID season--finished with a 2-5 record. The five losses ranged from embarrassing (Rutgers) to  blowouts (Indiana, Iowa, Ohio State). The Spartans' two wins were improbable victories against Michigan and Northwestern. (Northwestern was actually good last year). 

Michigan's 2020 season wasn't much better than Michigan State's. UM was 2-4 and they were only saved from a fifth loss when their game against Ohio State was cancelled due to COVID.

In 2021, Michigan State has exceeded all expectations--except maybe their own--and are 7-0. Michigan is also 7-0, but it's hard to say if they've exceeded expectations because the hype surrounding Michigan is extreme every year whether it's warranted or not.

I have no idea what will happen on Saturday. I have to assume it will be a close game, probably decided by less than ten points. As usual, I will likely have to imbibe massive quantities of alcohol to numb myself from the anxiety and agony of the game.

Apparently it's been so long since I've posted here, I can't access Brainsplotch on my PC, so I guess I have to do it from my phone. I don't know what the heck is going on, but I have to figure it out.

The dark cloud hanging over Dantonio and Izzo

I have tried to write this post a few times, but events at Michigan State seem to change on a daily basis, rendering my thoughts and impressions immediately dated.

 

Let me get right down to it: I am depressed. I am sad. I am infuriated. Infuriated with MSU's leadership void and incompetence, but also infuriated with unfair and vindictive shots MSU is taking from outsiders (and I don't necessarily mean ESPN, but mainly people on social media).

 

I don't know what to make of the dark cloud over the basketball and football program. How much of this is really malfeasance by Izzo and/or Dantonio, and how much is it an opportunistic ESPN with an axe to grind? How much of my reaction is knee-jerk defensiveness that my alma mater is under the microscope? Is it just that I can't handle the ugly reality and am taking out my anger on a media outlet that is simply trying to report a story?

 

I have never met Mark Dantonio, so I have no idea who he is as a human being. Perhaps he is capable of covering up sexual misconduct/abuse. I really have no idea. Certainly, Dantonio's program has been checkered by bad behavior by his players, so I regret to admit this is not a far-fetched notion.

 

On the other hand, I have met Tom Izzo twice, both times in everyday situations in which he could have easily "big-timed" me or ignored me. Instead, he was gracious and friendly. He struck me as, deep down, a hard-working blue collar guy from Iron Mountain. I felt like I got the measure of the man and insight into his character. It's hard for me to imagine Izzo ever knowingly covering up bad behavior by one of his players.

 

But what do I know? Clearly the culture at Michigan State is not what I thought it was just one or two years ago. It's an institution that enabled a predator like Larry Nassar, so who knows what else it has allowed?

 

All I really know is that if It's true that Izzo is guilty of a cover up, it will be one of the saddest days of my life. I will no longer feel like I can trust any public figure.

Thoughts about the Larry Nassar scandal

I'd be remiss if I didn't spend some time writing about the Larry Nassar scandal.

It has been a time of embarrassment and shame for the entire MSU community. The scope of Larry Nassar's abuse of his patients certainly stupefied and horrified me, and probably everybody else who has been paying attention to the trial. What is even worse is that Nassar was able to engage in this activity for decades without being stopped by anyone.

All of the women who came forward to testify in court deserve a tremendous amount of credit for their bravery, and Judge Rosemarie Aquilina also deserves praise for allowing anyone who wished to speak the opportunity to come forward.

I called for Lou Ann Simon to step down as president, and I am satisfied that she did so yesterday. Though I do not think she should be vilified (at least not yet. Who knows what will be discovered in the independent investigation of the scandal) her leadership has been lacking throughout this ordeal.

It has been terrible to see Michigan State University, a place I hold dearly, raked through the mud in the national news throughout the last several weeks. But I can't say it wasn't deserved. I hope that the university can learn from all the mistakes that were made and begin the healing process.

Catching up again...and adventures at the Maryland game

Catching up from where I left off...

The Ohio State game did not go as planned. Perhaps the less said about it, the better.

The following week, the Spartan men's basketball team lost yet again to Duke. The Blue Devils are MSU's kryptonite, and losing to them is agonizing. I'm sure it's far worse for Tom Izzo than it is for us fans.

Last Saturday, I scored two tickets to the home finale football game against Maryland. The weather that day was abysmal, so my wingman--my elder son--bailed on me about a half-hour before we were to leave for Spartan Stadium. I can't say I blame him.

Allow me to take a moment and complain about how college sports have become a slave to the whims of television. There is no way a mid or late November football game in the upper Midwest should kick off at 4:00 PM. And to make it even worse, the constant television timeouts are interminable.

So I trudged my way through the mucky, wet, already dark at 3:30 campus of MSU to the stadium. Nobody--and I mean NOBODY--was tailgating in this grey gloom.

Having zigzagged up the ramp to Section 105 in the east upper stands, I found my seat on the wet aluminum bleacher and decided it may be best to stand. Rain turned to sleet, but I survive the first quarter. By midway through the second quarter, it was clear that the knitted gloves I wore were useless in the damp conditions, as they were saturated with water and I may as well have wrapped wet cold towels around my hands. The gloves were removed and relegated to my coat pockets.

Then there was my miscalculated choice of footwear: running shoes. My feet were frozen and I could barely feel my toes. Never again. Note to self: wear winter boots in all future November football games in which the temperature is under 45 degrees.

At halftime, the Spartans held a 14-0 lead. I seriously considered abandoning the game, but then I remembered how my son and I had left for home during the weather delay of the Penn State game. I decided to walk around the upper deck concourse and attempt to warm up at least a bit.

The third quarter started and I was resolved to take it a quarter at a time. Maybe fewer than 30 people remained in the upper deck. At the risk of sounding insensitive to a real tragedy, it was as if we were on the Titanic going down with the ship, having declined opportunities to escape in lifeboats.

I found it was more tolerable to move around to keep my blood flowing, and the third quarter went quickly. When an usher encouraged us few upper deck stragglers to move down to the lower deck, I gladly did so.

The tiny crowd remaining in Spartan Stadium acted punch drunk, practically delirious from the wet, cold, icy, snowy conditions. Maryland mounted a bit of a rally in the fourth quarter, scoring a touchdown to cut the score to 17-7. The Terrapins later threatened to make it a one possession game when they lined up for a field goal. Suddenly, a ho-hum game became tense, which helped stave off the cold weather. The Terps missed the field goal and the Spartans survived with a 17-7 win.

And I also survived.

There were moments during the game when I wondered, "Am I endangering my life being out here?" I could barely wiggle my toes when the game ended and I had images of me having my frostbit toes amputated because I was too stubborn to leave a college football game.

Thankfully, the walk back to my car worked wonders, and I could feel all of my extremities after the 20 minute trudge had concluded. Ones favorite team winning also helps get the blood flowing.

So today the Spartans will be finishing a better than expected regular season in New Jersey against Rutgers. I will watch it from the climate controlled warmth of my house.

What a football season it has been!

The Spartans have played three games since I last wrote in here, and they've won two of them.

I was at the October 21 Homecoming victory against Indiana: a warm, gloriously sunny Saturday. I have never seen a Homecoming game as festive as this year. The stadium was so packed--and security so tight--that it took us until about midway through the first quarter to get to our upper deck seats. The game itself was painful until MSU woke up late in the fourth quarter to score two touchdowns and sneak out with a 17-9 win.

Last week, very little went right in a 39-31 overtime loss to a good Northwestern team in Evanston. But the Spartans more than made up by bouncing back to beat #7 Penn State 27-24.

There hasn't been anything overwhelming about MSU's Big Ten wins this season. They have won five games by a combined 25 points. Even if it isn't pretty, the team finds a way to win.

My son and I were at the Penn State game, but I regret to admit that after the stadium was evacuated, we didn't return to the see the conclusion. We had prior engagements that evening, so I watched the second half from the warmth of my living room. But here is a salute to the hardy people who stuck around to cheer the Spartans on. Well done!

There is a lot to like about this year's team. Just the fact that they have more than doubled last year's win total is reason enough to rejoice.

Brian Lewerke has thrown for 400 yards in two consecutive games. He established a new single-game passing yardage record against Northwestern and threw for another 400 yesterday against Penn State. Considering he still has two more seasons left at MSU, he could end up as the most prolific passer MSU has ever had.

The Spartans have a slew of excellent young receivers, but Felton Davis III has established himself--at least for now--as the number one guy. He was seemingly all over the field yesterday and made phenomenal catch after phenomenal catch.

So with Iowa blowing out Ohio State yesterday, the Spartans find themselves amazingly playing for the driver's seat in the Big Ten East race next week against the Buckeyes. For the fourth time in the the last five years, it is Michigan State--not Michigan--who goes up against Ohio State with a potential championship on the line.

I admit that after last season's 3-9 debacle, I wasn't sure if Mark Dantonio could get the program back to championship level. How wrong I was. He has to be a prime candidate for national coach of the year.

I fully expect the Spartans to be underdogs in Columbus next week, and I think that's the way they like it. Ohio State has proven themselves to be fallible, and though I don't expect them to look as bad as they were against Iowa, in no way do I think they are a guarantee to beat Michigan State. I have finally learned not to doubt Mark Dantonio.

Spartans escape 30-27

I am doing something I should do more often and posting on my phone right after the game.

Well, the good news: the Spartans won.

The bad news: they damned near blew it.

In a game in which it appeared that MSU was in control and cruising to a relatively dominant victory, the bottom almost fell out in the 4th quarter. With MSU up 23-6, I had actually gone to the kitchen to pour a glass of wine. I couldn't have been gone more than five minutes. I came back to the living room in time to see Minnesota score a touchdown and cut it to 23-13.

MSU answered the Gophers with a touchdown of their own and all looked well again. But Minnesota refused to die. They marched down field and scored yet another TD.

It looked as if MSU would respond with another touchdown, but one of the weaker holding calls I have seen negated a great LJ Scott run. The Spartans then missed a field goal and I had a bad feeling.

Minnesota, naturally, drove down field on some improbable plays (including their backup QB faking out one of our defensive players) and scored yet another TD to cut the score to 30-27 with about 1:13 left. They did this with no timeouts left.

Suddenly I had images of the Nick Saban years when his teams seemed especially adept at blowing leads and losing in improbable ways. (Look up "1997 Michigan State/Purdue" to see what I mean).

Thankfully, MSU recovered Minny's on-side kick and that was that. As stated before, the Gophers were out of timeouts.

The Spartans had escaped with what was suddenly an ugly win.

(Did I mention that I spent the last several minutes of the game loudly cursing my television? Some things never change).

The positives are as follows: the Spartans won and are now 5-1 (3-0 in conference); LJ Scott had a truly great game despite his one turnover. It was one of the best games he has had since the 2015 Big Ten title win over Iowa. Another positive: the defense played well for about 80 percent of the game.

The negatives: too many turnovers (though the weather WAS bad); too many youthful mistakes; and the defense was woeful down the stretch.

I contend, however, that this is a young team still finding its way.

Elevated expectations

I literally have not been able to get to a computer to blog until now, but am taking a few minutes to type a few thoughts now.

So I haven't written anything since before the Notre Dame game. That one didn't go as I thought, with turnovers doing the Spartans in. The following weekend I was in Seattle and followed the Iowa game on my phone while traipsing around the "Emerald City." We returned to our hotel room when the game was in the fourth quarter and I was amazed to discover that the game was actually on television in the Pacific Northwest. It was a sludgy ugly nail biter, but the Spartans hung on for a 17-10 win.

And then there was Michigan this past Saturday. I thought MSU could and should make it a close game, but I didn't necessarily think they'd win. Well, I have to learn to stop doubting Mark Dantonio and company in this game. Dantonio is now 8-3 against Michigan. Even in the games that MSU has lost, the Spartans have been in every one of them, including last year's game in which a struggling team pushed Michigan to the fourth quarter.

So MSU's win Saturday should have come as no surprise. This is what Dantonio does. He gets his teams prepared to compete against Michigan and they never doubt their ability to beat the Wolverines. In fact, I think they assume they will beat Michigan. And with pompous Michigan alumni like Desmond Howard offering bulletin board material every year, Michigan State players don't lack for incentive to beat the Wolverines.

As someone who has followed this rivalry since the mid-'70s, and experienced his share of Michigan losses, it's still hard for me to get used to this new reality, But believe me, I'm enjoying it.

So now expectations for the season are suddenly elevated. Is this a team that can seriously contend for a Big Ten title? Who knows? Maybe they can. It all depends on how the team handles its big win over Michigan and how the young players mature over the course of the season. The next test is tonight on the road against a beat-up but still dangerous Minnesota Gophers team. It could be a struggle, but I will pick the Spartans to win 23-16.

Notre Dame Saturday, and a trip down memory lane

I will spare you any prediction of who will win tonight's Michigan State/Notre Dame game, because I really have no idea. And do you really want my opinion anyway? Probably not. (All I will say is that it should be a close game, maybe not decided until late in the fourth quarter),

Instead, I want to look back on this rivalry, because after tonight's game it will most likely not be renewed for another eight years. For these two schools that have had a long and storied football series, this is an unfortunate state of affairs. However, it's the sad reality of modern college football. Conference realignments (with Notre Dame obligated to play several ACC teams each season) and emphasis on money and recruiting (games in California against the likes of Stanford and USC are more lucrative in these regards than MSU in East Lansing) have pretty much killed one of the game's oldest rivalries.

So I thought I'd take a trip down my own personal memory lane and revisit the Spartans' wins (and memorable losses).

Though the Spartans beat Notre Dame in 1975, I have no specific memory of that game. I'm sure it was on television and I'm sure my parents were probably watching it, but at best it's a blur.

The Spartans' 28-23 win in 1983 was the first memorable Notre Dame game for me. In George Perles' first season, and second game as coach, he took what were essentially Muddy Waters' ragtag recruits and quite improbably beat the #4 Irish in South Bend. As it turns out, Notre Dame was highly overrated at the time, and finished '83 with a pedestrian 7-5 record. Still, the 4-6-1 Spartans had no business beating Notre Dame in South Bend. It was George's first big win as coach, but placed some unrealistic expectations on that team and Perles.

The next MSU win came in 1986, my freshman year at MSU. I have previously written in this blog about my 18-year-old idiot self almost provoking a fight before the game with a guy in a Notre Dame t-shirt. I may be lucky that my college career didn't come to a crashing halt before it had even begun. Instead, I made it back to Shaw Hall and watched the game in an upper classman's room with a bunch of other people. It was my first moment of fun in college, watching Dean Altobelli, Todd Krumm and company eek out a 20-15 win at Spartan Stadium.

Then we had a long drought. There was the nightmarish loss in 1987 (one of the few dark clouds in an otherwise bright sunny Rose Bowl season), heartbreaking and freakish losses in 1990 and 1994.

After a two-year break in the series, Nick Saban's 1997 team registered a dominating 23-7 win in South Bend. Thus began an unexpected five-game winning streak over the Bob Davie led Irish.

 I can remember how shocked I was to come home from work late on Saturday night in 1998 and see that the Spartans had built a 42-3 lead over the Irish AT HALFTIME. That schizophrenic Spartan team had been blown out the previous week at Oregon and I had little hope that they'd be competitive with ND, much less win--but they pulled out a stunner. (Befitting that 1998 team's nature, they lost focus in the second half and were outscored 20-3, but had built such a huge lead that it didn't matter).

The Spartans continued the streak with a 23-13 win in 1999 (Gari Scott with sprinting down the sideline for a TD is etched in my brain), 27-21 in 2000 (freshman QB Jeff Smoker connecting on a last ditch 4th down TD reception to Herb Haygood in one of MSU football's most memorable moments), and a 17-10 win in 2001 that I barely remember.

The only Notre Dame game I have ever attended in person was in 2002. It looked for all the world like MSU would extend the streak to six when Charles Rogers made an acrobatic catch in the north end zone to give MSU a 17-14 lead late in the game. But on the ensuing kickoff the Irish ran the ball all the way back for a touchdown. From that point on, the 2002 season went in a tailspin.

In 2005,  the Spartans won a dramatic overtime game with Jason Teague taking the ball in for the decisive score. This was followed by the controversial "flag planting" at the 50-yard-line of Notre Dame Stadium. The Irish claimed revenge in 2006 in the "monsoon game" when the Spartans blew a 16-point lead and saw the '06 season flush itself down the toilet.

There was the "Javon Ringer carries the team" game in 2008 when he rushed for over 200 yards in a 23-7 win. And who can forget Little Giants in 2010, one of the most exciting wins in Spartan history that was also one of Mark Dantonio's defining wins as MSU football coach.

I could go on about the next few games after Little Giants, but the power of my computer is dying, and Little Giants seems like an appropriate place to end. Who knows what excitement 2017 will bring?

It has been an eventful rivalry and one that will be missed.

First post in forever. Western Michigan game.

It's been a long time since I wrote in this blog. I'm still not sure if I'm entirely feeling it, but here's a shot.

We are already one week into the football season. The Spartans opened up last week with a workmanlike 35-10 win over Bowling Green. At least it was a much better performance than last year's season opener against Furman, a game MSU sleepwalked through (though they did win. But it was a harbinger of the disaster to come).

Today MSU takes on Western Michigan. The Broncos were 13-1 last year and just came off an impressive performance on the road against USC, in which WMU ran for over 250 yards and put up 31 points against a team that is allegedly top five in the nation. This game could be a litmus test for MSU. Are they improved from last year's disaster? Or are they where they left off last season. We shall see.

Catching up with Spartan sports

I haven't been too engaged with MSU sports this winter, certainly not as much as I have in the past. As I wrote in my previous post, events in our country and the world have rendered sports not as important or noteworthy as they once were.

Ironically, this season I have tied my personal record for Michigan State men's basketball games attended in person. I've been to eight games this season, and it would have been nine if my younger son's birthday hadn't been on MSU's senior day. (I decided to stay home and hang out with him). The Spartans have won every game I've attended this year, and my overall "in person" win-loss record is 46-3.

However, when I'm not at Breslin, I haven't been watching Spartan hoops that much. I think I've watched about one or two games on television. I just can't sit still long enough to watch a 2+ hour game on TV.

It's been a bumpy, rocky season. There have been key injuries and a young core of players who've had to learn how to play together, but it looks like maybe they are finally doing that. Miles Bridges has been excellent almost all year, but it's taken Nick Ward, Joshua Langford, and Cassius Winston most of the season to come into their own. After all the ups and downs they've been through, the MSU hoops team remarkably sits at 10-6 in the conference with an outside shot of tying for the regular season title. Who really saw that coming? Before we get too excited, though, the Spartans' final two regular season games are tough road contests against Illinois and Maryland. 10-8 is a real possibility.

The other news on the MSU sports landscape hasn't been as uplifting. The Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal has given Michigan State unwanted publicity, and the football program has a dark cloud hanging over it with a sexual abuse investigation of its own. It seems that ever since getting demolished by Alabama on December 31, 2015, the football program has hit the skids both on and off the field.

Oh, and the hockey program is a complete train wreck.

So the only reasonable bright sides this winter have been men's and women's basketball. But even the women's team has had a scare with Coach Suzy Merchant's health problems.

That's where we stand right now. I'll revisit this blog when March Madness begins.

Sports don't seem very important right now

I've been away from this blog for quite some time. The truth of the matter is I just am not in the mood.

I don't want to get political here, but current events in our nation have made sports not seem particularly important. At least not important enough to write about.

I am not necessarily putting this blog in mothballs, but I may not write in here nearly as much as before. My impression is I don't have many readers anyway, so it may not matter much to anyone.

But while I'm in here, I may as well acknowledge the MSU basketball game against Michigan tomorrow. It was a game about which I felt fairly comfortable until the Wolverines demolished Indiana by 30 points. I still think that the Spartans should find a way to beat Michigan at home, but it could be a death struggle. I will go out on a limb and predict a 73-67 MSU victory. But if Michigan won, I would not be shocked.

I don't know the next time I'll write in here, maybe I'll surprise myself and write immediately after the MSU/UM game, but I really don't know.

End of the year wrap-up

There's no way around it, 2016 was a rough year for Michigan State sports. Consequently, it was the least active year I've ever had in this blog. Quite simply, there wasn't much of anything fun to write about, so I didn't write often.

I suppose the tone for 2016 was set on December 31, 2015, when the Spartan football team was completely destroyed by Alabama in the College Football Playoff.

Though the Spartan basketball team had a reasonably decent Big Ten season in 2016, injuries prevented them from achieving everything they could have achieved, though it's hard to get too angry about a second place finish in the conference and a 13-5 Big Ten record. Though winning the Big Ten tournament was a highlight, the first round loss to Middle Tennessee State brought the season to a resounding thud of an end.

Meanwhile, the Michigan State hockey program is a far cry from what it has been in the past. The team muddled its way to a fifth place conference finish (out of six teams) in the 2015-2016 season (6-12-2 in the Big Ten, 10-23-4 overall). I don't follow hockey enough to know what it is going on under Tom Anastos, but based on the results on the ice, it's not good. Hockey at MSU doesn't have near the buzz it had in the '80s and '90s when the late great Ron Mason was coach, and has even fallen far below the standards set by Mason's successor Rick Comley.

And then there's football. 2016 was a disaster. It was so bad, that the high water mark, the pinnacle, the highlight, came in week two when the Spartans hung on to beat Notre Dame in South Bend. It was a game that, at the time, we thought was a big win. As it turned out, the Irish would go on to have a sub-par season, and the Spartans would only win one more game the rest of the year.

Let's just hope 2017 sees a reversal of fortune for MSU sports.

A fitting end to a disastrous season

It's been 16 days since I last posted here, because what is there really to write about? The Spartans followed up their uninspired and anemic loss to Illinois with a 49-0 blowout of Rutgers, one of the worst teams in FBS. They then played a tough, competitive game against Ohio State but just didn't have enough to get over the top and lost 17-16. In the (mercifully) last game of the season, MSU was able to hang with Penn State for one half--actually maintaining a 12-10 lead at intermission--before the bottom fell out in the second half and getting blown out 45-12.

In what seemed like a fitting twist of fate, Damion Terry was knocked out of the game in the first half after suffering a concussion. Terry was playing his best game of the season, and though it was disappointing that the Spartans had to settle for field goals, Terry was at least leading the offense down the field and looked as confident as he had all season. When Terry couldn't return after getting hit in a helmet-to-helmet collision, I certainly had a sense of impending doom. But then again, the entire season has been about impending doom.

By the time the score was 31-12 in favor of Penn State, I'd had enough and went for a run to let off some steam. By the time I'd finished, the game was over and MSU had lost 45-12.

So the football season comes to a merciful end. I don't have a heck of a lot to add right now, just that this season seems to have mirrored what has been a fairly putrid 2016.

Is this rock bottom?

With the recent election results, sports are about the furthest thing from my mind, but here goes:

 I don't know what to say about Michigan State football anymore. I watched the entire MSU/Illinois game and I was shocked. Shocked at how anemic the Spartans looked against a weak opponent. Shocked at how uninspired the whole team played after having played a good game against Michigan.

I gave up the opportunity for free tickets to today's Rutgers game. I just can't take this anymore, and I can't become further depressed by freezing in a half-empty stadium watching the Spartans in a death struggle against an equally pathetic Rutgers team.

I don't even know how much of this game I will watch on television. I suspect not much.

I am so out of sorts that I completely forgot about last night's basketball game against Arizona. I'm disappointed that the Spartans lost--I suppose that eventually MSU WILL win again in a major sport--but encouraged by how well Miles Bridges played. This is a Spartan team that is still learning to play together. I assume that once they gel, they will be outstanding.

Back to football, I don't even know if I should give a prediction for today's game. Honestly, I don't have much faith in this team anymore. It saddens me to write that. Just for the heck of it, I will drink a large glass of green Kool-Aid once more and say that somehow, someway, the Spartans actually find a way to win at home today. Final score: MSU 23, Rutgers 20.

Signs of encouragement?

I'm waiting until the last second to publish my weekly Spartan dispatch. The Cubs' World Series championship and this train wreck of a presidential campaign have dominated my attention.

I did take time early this week to watch the BTN replay of the Michigan game. Count me as one of the "sunshine blowers" who was encouraged by how MSU played. I didn't expect the Spartans to rack up 217 rushing yards against one of the nation's best defense (or allegedly one of the best). For the second week in a row, MSU's offense, and in particular its running attack, looked fairly efficient.

The defense, on the other hand, still has issues. Though it limited Michigan to three points in the second half (the bizarre 2-point conversion return for a touchdown doesn't count against the defense), the Spartans couldn't stop Michigan in the first half. They got little pressure on Speith, but even when they did he came through with some great on-target throws. There's not much even the best defenses can do when a quarterback reacts well to pressure.

Like most other fans, I was disappointed in some incredibly vanilla playcalling in the red zone. I don't know why Dave Warner/Mark Dantonio didn't at least try some deception. Josiah Price is one of the conference's best tight ends who has delivered big plays time and time again since 2013 and he was never utilized.

But all-in-all, it was an encouraging performance. If the Spartans can bring just 75 percent of the focus they had against Michigan, they should beat Illinois today by two touchdowns.

So even though my predictions have been terrible this season, I'll call this game: MSU 31, Illinois 17.