Your favorite Spartans
As a long-time lurker, occassional poster, I thought I would offer some friendly banter during hate week. I know from various comments on here which of my fellow Spartan brethren you collectively despise.
Out of curiosity, who among the Spartan community does MGoBlog collectively admire or respect (if any)?
I'll start it off and will admit that I did like watching Trey Burke (except when he played us), Biakabutuka and the A-Train, and also Jeremy Gallon for his accomplishments. Also, it's really hard to hate or disrespect Beilein.
This might be a disaster, but what the hell. Who are your favorite Spartans (if any)?
(Cue the "the guy always hooks me up with extra fries at McDonald's...durrr" posts)
October 14th, 2015 at 5:17 PM ^
the name, the facemask and he was good.
October 14th, 2015 at 6:47 PM ^
October 14th, 2015 at 5:17 PM ^
October 14th, 2015 at 5:18 PM ^
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October 14th, 2015 at 5:18 PM ^
Magic. And Adreian Payne did some great things for that little girl who died from cancer.
October 14th, 2015 at 7:27 PM ^
October 14th, 2015 at 7:42 PM ^
I've got no beef with Magic, as he was something special on the court and mostly seems like a good guy. But Adreian Payne?
- Exhibit A - www.huffingtonpost.com/katherine-redmond/madness-surrounding-michigan-state_b_1338066.html
From all appearances, he raped a girl and got away with it (his teammate - Appling, IIRC - corroborated the victim's story, for God's sake). Payne's a piece of shit in my book.
October 14th, 2015 at 7:56 PM ^
your username is ironic.
October 14th, 2015 at 8:42 PM ^
Yeah, just like rain on your wedding day.
The fuck, man.
October 14th, 2015 at 8:49 PM ^
Did not know this. Consider me schooled.
October 14th, 2015 at 7:59 PM ^
October 14th, 2015 at 5:18 PM ^
I actually find myself turning the corner on Spartan players after they graduate. A lot of Spartans have been good-to-great Detroit sports players as well, so of course in that context I find myself rooting for them. I've enjoyed watching Draymond Green and don't really even think about the State angle with a guy like him anymore.
The stink doesn't seem to carry on with them as much as it does with OSU players for me.
October 14th, 2015 at 5:41 PM ^
October 15th, 2015 at 1:13 AM ^
I don't really follow him on Twitter so wouldn't know. I guess what I mean is I don't watch him play basketball as the guy who played at State.
October 14th, 2015 at 5:19 PM ^
October 14th, 2015 at 5:26 PM ^
Bobby Williams, Gibby, Scott Skiles (gritty as hell dude who could ball) and Steve Smith (seems like a geniune as hell guy). So apparently I can't think of a single player of the past 20 years - maybe Percy Snow who seemed cool.
Felt 0 emotion to him but thought Andre rison was probably the most talented MSU football player I've seen. He ave 24 ypc his senior yr - sick. If he played in a modern offense could have had 2k yards.
Magic is an obvious answer but he was a Lansing guy who went to MSU so I never felt a connection with him plus being a Pistons fan he was the enemy.
October 14th, 2015 at 5:21 PM ^
As others have said, I've got to go with Magic Johnson as well.
October 14th, 2015 at 5:22 PM ^
Doug Karsch
October 14th, 2015 at 5:24 PM ^
This guy?
or this guy?
October 14th, 2015 at 5:24 PM ^
October 14th, 2015 at 5:25 PM ^
I always thought Drew Stanton had a great set of skills and respected that he played hard.
October 14th, 2015 at 6:54 PM ^
tackled Drew and he inadvertantly got injured and the Spartans wanted a Spanish inquisition to find out if that player tried to hurt him. I wonder if these same people seen Denards head get twisted on purpose in his helmet. A far cry from being tackled hard.
October 14th, 2015 at 5:25 PM ^
Won one of the most underrated dunk contests ever
October 14th, 2015 at 5:26 PM ^
Abdelkader and both Millers
October 14th, 2015 at 5:27 PM ^
From all I could tell, great player, fine person, excellent school representative.
October 14th, 2015 at 6:23 PM ^
I watched a lot of Spartan basketball during Draymond's career in EL and he was a joy to watch play the game. He played so hard, was unselfish, rebounded bigger than his position, passed better than most big man, and would D you up. I'm happy for him that his game has translated so well to the NBA, and not sure why so many scouts missed on the best player in the best basketball league in the country. Also - it helps that Michigan beat his MSU teams just enough for me to not be a sore loser and hate him regardless of how much I respected his game.
Draymond is the easy answer for me.
There are a few other Spartans I really enjoyed watching:
Drew Stanton - loved his enthusiasm
Antonio Smith - he helped Izzo build the program with toughness and grit. It sucks for Michigan fans that he blazed the trail and helped build the program, but he was a tenacious and good player.
Max (and Riley, and maybe Byron someday) Bullough - He's probably hated on this blog, but I know him personally and always enjoyed watching him play as a result. From TCSF kids, I'll take Joey Kerridge all day though!
October 14th, 2015 at 5:28 PM ^
October 14th, 2015 at 5:28 PM ^
She's terrific - far better than I deserve. Any real race would be for silver.
After that, I dunno. Maybe A.J. Sturges for bravely calling out Glenn Winston.
October 14th, 2015 at 5:29 PM ^
Football
Percy Snow
Lorenzo White
Alan Hallard (went to my first HS)
Derrick Moore (went to my first HS)
Tico Duckett (went to a cross town HS and I lifted with him a couple times.)
TJ Duckett (Tico's little brother. He was around the gym as a [7th] grader when I lifted with Tico.)
Bubba Smith
Mandrich (love that he went from a 220 lbs freshman to a 325 lbs junior and then flamed out when the steroids wore off.)
Basketball
Magic Johnson
Mateen Cleaves
My Mom and Uncle.
October 14th, 2015 at 5:30 PM ^
October 14th, 2015 at 5:31 PM ^
Kidding, guys. Kidding.
Seriously, it's probably Magic Johnson, Drew Miller, and Justin Abdelkader. And that's pretty much it. I can appreciate the caliber of coaches of both Dantonio and Izzo, but I don't like them. And actually now that I think about it, I do kinda like Nick Saban, especially when he yells at the media.
October 14th, 2015 at 5:31 PM ^
October 14th, 2015 at 5:33 PM ^
As a Lakers and a Dodgers fan, gotta go with Magic and Kirk Gibson. They were huge parts of great childhood memories watching sports with my dad.
As a Red Wings and US hockey fan, Justin Abdelkader and Ryan Miller.
Generally think highly of most of the basketball players, just don't like Izzo that much.
October 14th, 2015 at 5:32 PM ^
Draymond Green. You help deliver a championship to the dubs and you're forever forgiven. Thanks Big Dick Dray.
October 14th, 2015 at 5:33 PM ^
magic johnson was a great player and is a solid dude - fun to watch him play and actually have enjoyed following his post-hoops career, hes made some great moves and obviously inspires many.
draymond green is / was also fun to watch and seems like a genuine dude. difficult not to respect those guys that stuff the stat sheet and do whatever they can to help their team. i enjoyed eric snow too - the guy struggled to shoot and put the ball in the hoop yet still somehow carved out a nice career for himself (though iverson mightve helped a bit)
October 14th, 2015 at 5:34 PM ^
My godfather is a veteranarian - helped fix up dogs for the Army in Vietnam as a matter of fact - and ran a successful practice in Farmington Hills for many decades. He may have went to the incorrect school in this rivalry, but he's a pretty cool dude. Even let me hold the blunderbuss that he keeps hanging on the living room wall once....and I was seven at the time.
October 14th, 2015 at 5:35 PM ^
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October 14th, 2015 at 5:36 PM ^
Steve Smith is one of my favorite college basketball players of all-time. Also liked Kirk Manns, Andre Rison, Blake Ezor, and John Miller. Had a soft spot for Mike Peplowski.
October 14th, 2015 at 5:36 PM ^
KING LEONIDAS!!
October 14th, 2015 at 5:37 PM ^
I'm a UM alum, but Magic Johnson is my all-time favorite Michigan-born college athlete, period. The next Sparty player on that list isn't in the top 1,000,000.
October 14th, 2015 at 5:38 PM ^
I always like the way he played, and it is hard to dislike a person who donates over $3 million to a university. That is true, even if the funds are for a new weight room.
October 14th, 2015 at 5:40 PM ^
I respect Dantonio and Narduzzi for putting together the 2013 team, which was something else. As a scheme nerd, Narduzzi's defense was super interesting. I'm glad we don't have to play against it anymore. :P
In terms of players, I guess it would be Calhoun, Le'Veon Bell and Lorenzo White.
...and if we're talking basketball, then it's got to be Magic.
October 14th, 2015 at 6:00 PM ^
October 14th, 2015 at 5:40 PM ^
Big and a very scary guy on or off the field.
October 14th, 2015 at 5:40 PM ^
I'd go with Scott Skiles. I remember skipping out of school with my Dad in 1986 and watching Skiles and MSU beat Georgetown in Dayton, OH. Good stuff.
October 14th, 2015 at 5:42 PM ^
My what now?
October 14th, 2015 at 5:44 PM ^
October 14th, 2015 at 6:12 PM ^
Well played sir.
October 14th, 2015 at 6:12 PM ^
Well played sir.