more slobbering over sparty's "powerhouse" in the making
http://www.athlonsports.com/college-football/17018/michigan-st-no-longe…
Yep, the new meme - Classy Classy Dantonio, the Spartan for life who makes short jokes about another team's player and who tries to rub its instate rival's face in tough losses (App State) and historically bad record, is building a powerhouse on ashes of the carcas of Michigan. He is dominating in-state recruiting, which of course has always been the determining factor of success (doesnt WMU have more Michiganders that MSU - they must be winning the State).
Not surprisingly, Adam Rittenberg, who linked to this story is one of the biggest proponents of this meme.
This meme will not end until we finally beat Sparty - what, you mean are 6-1 against them in the past seven years.
From reading this article, you would think that Sparty has been dominating us for years and that Michigan was not historically bad last year, but rather now in its proper place in the mitten state's pecking order.
Yep, unless Dantonio jumps to OSU - there is nothing that can stop them from returning to glory.
This MSU as the new "it girl" is hilarious and, but for an uncharaceristically good year for talent in the state of Michigan, would be an entirely non-story.
Get used to more of this stuff until we start winning again.
...I think this sort of article is inevitable in the media climate created by the internets. New content that is remarkable and hopefully controversial needs to be created every day to draw viewers (like us) to it and generate ad revenue and/or subscriptions. I mean, how much traffic is going to be created by an article entitled "UM still Michigan's dominant college football team; MSU historical second"? It's the same thing with the alleged turning tide on in-state recruiting.
The only way to squelch articles like this is to beat State in a decisive and humiliating way. I am reading very little about Wisconsin.
The writer seemed to have a major bias and agenda....calling Dantonio "classy" despite the inappropriate comments he always makes about Michigan?
Imagine if RR had said similar things about MSU...people would jump all over him...
but he wont because RR has more class than that...he is not going to call out an opposing player, coach or team.
I hope Barwis clips that article and puts it on the locker room wall.
This spin is getting me sick...lets hope the team sees it and goes to EL looking to rip Sparty a new Dantonio.
There has been plenty of pro Michigan spin from the mainstream media over the last 40 years. Articles that are Sparty friendly really shouldn't bother some of you people this much.
This one bothered me quite a bit, but I think it's more a product of this very pro-MSU msm lean of late. I'm considering boycotting fox lansing, as well as wilx.
EDIT: I know how crazy that sounds. It's because of the blatant twisting of the facts into this MSU nutsack licking.
that Michigan has almost always recruited more players from out of state than in state.... WAY more. I took a look at the 1997 roster recently and counted about 36 or 37 in state players out of the entire 97 man roster.
This year I counted 46 in state players on the current roster...
If you were to pick an example of the top players in Michigan football history you would see something like:
Charles Woodson - from Ohio
Desmond Howard - from Ohio
Anthony Carter - from Florida
Dan Dierdorf - from Ohio
Braylon Edwards - from Michigan
Jamie Morris - from back east, I think NY state
Mike Hart - NY state
Jim Harbaugh - California
Brian Griese - Florida
Chad Henne - Pennsylvania
Tom Brady - California
Jake Long - Michigan
Steve Hutchinson - Florida
Anthony Thomas - Louisiana
Mike Kenn - Illinois
Rick Leach - Michigan
Jim Mandich - Ohio
Reggie Mckenzie - Michigan
Butch Woolfolk - Illinois
Jumbo Elliot - NY
Ty Wheatley - Michigan
Tim Biakabatuka - Canada
Jon Jansen - Michigan
David Terrell - Virginia
Chris Perry - Virginia
Marlon Jackson - Penn.
LeMarr Woodley - Michigan
Leon Hall - CA
etc. etc....
anyone see a pattern here? A random sample of 28 All American football players at Michigan and only 7 of them came from In -State...
By far the majority of great Michigan football players in the past 40 years or more have come from outside the state of Michigan.
Nothing has changed.
Hell...I would be worried if RR was having trouble recruting out of state lol... but thankfully he is not, and that is par for the course baby!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Wolverines_Football_All-Americans
Can same ol' Spartans go bowling? - Michigan State Spartans Sports: News, Blogs, Photos, Audio, Schedule & Stats - MLive.com
http://www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf/2007/10/can_same_ol_spartans_go…
No excuses, Spartans just choked - Michigan State Spartans Sports: News, Blogs, Photos, Audio, Schedule & Stats - MLive.com
http://www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf/2007/10/spartans_have_no_excuse…
MSU better but will probably still lose to U-M - MLive.com
http://www.mlive.com/sports/grpress/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1224848715…
It does go both ways, you know.
Doh. That was supposed to be a response to the guy who complained about a lack of objectivity in sports coverage.
Um, which one of "us" has resorted to that response, exactly?
If Lloyd were still here, would he have recruited Boisture? Are there players that Lloyd would have recruited that RR will not recruit? Will those players end up at MSU now, and make them a better team, when they would have been blue back in the day? Is it inevitable that the two schools playing a different style (spread v. pro) will always result in MST getting some instate players we would have snagged, and therefore be a better national team? I say yes, and I am not bothered by the result. Isn't the Big Ten kind of a bush league if our only true worry each year is Ohio State? Doesn't it become a real, nationally competitive league when Little Brother joins the fold and could actually win bowl games on a regular more than once a decade basis? Doesn't this bode well for us, where victories over MSU mean something and prepare us for something, when MSU is way more competitive than they used to be?
MSU fans have been loudly beating their collective chestal regions 24/7 over the past year (aided and abetted by sports "journalists") over how the Spartoons are dominating in-state recruiting. This argument is virtually always coupled with a criticism of UM for its out-of-state recruiting, with the implicit criticism that getting players from states other than Michigan is a bad thing that the Sparties would never stoop to.
Here are some notable names from MSU football history, and where they hailed from:
Bubba Smith - Texas
Tony Banks - California
Javon Ringer - Ohio
Ike Reese - North Carolina
Tony Mandarich - Ontario
Plaxico Burress - Virginia
Gene Washington - Texas
Billy Joe Dupree - Lousiana
Lorenzo White - Florida
Mark Ingram - Illinois
Sedrick Irvin - Florida
Flozell Adams - Illinois
Morton Anderson - Denmark
Jehuu Caulcrick - New York
Deandra Cobb - Nevada
Julian Peterson - Maryland
Jonal St. Dic - New Jersey
Brian Hoyer - Ohio
Given the names on this list, I can only hope that Dantonio follows the current lead and stops recruiting out of state.
The general perception is that Sparty usually got the leftovers from instate. With Baker & Norman from the '09 class and Gholston, Hicks and, potentially, Olaniyan in the '10 class, one could argue that Michigan is no longer a lock to get "first dibs" on elite recruits from instate. I do think that we are actually going to have to battle Sparty for these types of instate players on the recruiting trail, moreso than we have had to in the past. It's something that our fanbase is going to have to get used to. If we don't, than some of you are just going to drive yourselves insane by obsessing over what some in the mainstream media are saying about Sparty.
Just ignore MSU. Too many people care too much about MSU & Dantonio. I refuse to worry about this. We might lose, might win, this year. But from 2010 forward, I fully expect the natural order of things to be restored.
They will pound the ball alot and they will be disciplined because Mark D is a solid coach. This sets them up to be around 7-9 wins a yr if they find enough wins in their nonconference schedule and will get them into bowls. This will be an improvment over the generall yuck of this decade. That said I think they overachieved last yr and I jst dont see them being close to taking that next step. JMO
They will have a very good defense this year and could be looking at another New Year's Day bowl bid.
The article seems biased to me but why let it get to you.
1) All the argument about who is recruiting better and which program is on the rise will eventually get settled on the field. All this hoopla now doesn't amount to a hill of beans.
2) This is obliviously an article written specifically for overly giddy Sparty fans to further their journey into fanatically unrealistic expectations. They are no more going to replace Michigan in the ranks of college football than we are going to replace Sparty as perennial big ten favorites in basketball. Unfortunately in a world where internet hits and magazine sales are how many sports writers make a living, these rabid fan bait articles have become a good way to pay the bills. Lets not encourage them. I feel a little dirty myself for checking the article out.