Ski Masks Tomorrow Please Read
As a Michigan grad, lifelong Michigan Man and perhaps most importantly, longtime member and contributor to this blog, I feel as though I should be heard and my opinion seriously considered by all of Michigan nation. Having said that, here it goes:
No ski mask, dorm fight or little brother shenanigans tomorrow. Dantonio's thugs play us this fall, not tomorrow night. This is a huge game for our boys and I would hate to soil it with bullshit shit talk. Yes, it is a rivalry. Yes, MSU fans are probably the biggest perpetrator of ridiculous shit talk. But..
We are Michigan and pride ourselves on class. We are the leaders and the best. Izzo's program is solid...we should let our cheers be heard in a positive voice towards our team, not against theirs. Nobody in that building tomorrow is part of that whole dorm fiasco. And that little brother thing is just getting old and annoying at this point.
It would be great for us to win tomorrow. Great for our team and for our university. I think we have a great chance too, despite the dissapointing season so far.
Our future is bright. Let's get back to being Leaders and Best in the best way possible.
Save the shit talk for jawing with your boys or fighting with idiot sparty fans. They're beating us in bball and right now in football, but it won't be for long. They reached their zenith when caper crossed the goal line in OT in october.
Let's stay classy Michigan. Go Blue and Beat State
January 25th, 2010 at 11:10 PM ^
But it's so funny...
January 26th, 2010 at 1:34 AM ^
I didn't know ski masks could read.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:11 AM ^
There isn't a comma, therefore he isn't addressing the ski masks tomorrow.
January 25th, 2010 at 11:11 PM ^
I understand where you are coming from, I really do, but I also think ski masks might be funny. It can be taken too far, and the language needs to stay classy, but honestly I would die laughing if the whole student section was wearing ski masks.
January 25th, 2010 at 11:13 PM ^
...brother. I'd rather have Michigan become athletically irrelevant than be ashamed of the people that support it.
January 25th, 2010 at 11:18 PM ^
f'ing funny! +1
January 25th, 2010 at 11:15 PM ^
But its stupid though. And they can pretty much shut us up by beating us. Of course its funny if we win, but I don't like to tempt fate here
January 25th, 2010 at 11:19 PM ^
Classy poast.
January 25th, 2010 at 11:40 PM ^
What's a poast? Sounds cool.
January 26th, 2010 at 7:48 AM ^
which is a contraction of "peanut butter toast", which is very cool.
January 26th, 2010 at 11:50 AM ^
now that is really funny stuff.
January 25th, 2010 at 11:51 PM ^
I'm sort of on the fence about this. I'd love to laugh at that, but the most important thing is that we win the game, end their unbeaten streak, and shut them up, most of all.
January 26th, 2010 at 12:00 AM ^
Agree that ski masks are in bad taste though.
January 26th, 2010 at 2:09 AM ^
Well when the low road is flooded with ski masks, misdemeanors, guilty pleas and felons it is bound to encroach upon the high road. There is too much stuff to ignore at this time and perhaps a visual representation will add value to my message.
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"/>January 26th, 2010 at 12:43 AM ^
No matter what you are going to get bad apples at the game tomorrow night. Sure they might pepper the Michigan State teams with a couple chants about little brother, ski masks, etc but for those 40 minutes I guarantee you they will be rooting their heart out for our Michigan team. When Michigan goes on an 8-0 run to take a lead they will be a key component that makes Izzo call a timeout to calm down our racous crowd tomorrow night.
Win or lose, their horse voice at the end of the game will tell you all you need to know about their dedication in creating that home court advantage for Michigan tomorrow night.
GO BLUE!
January 26th, 2010 at 12:35 AM ^
and don't get thrown out.
January 26th, 2010 at 8:20 AM ^
I personally don't want to see any ski masks in the crowd tonight, however, if the students feel inclined to do it anyway (they probably will) it would be great to hear ESPN recant the dorm story during primetime for those in the sports world who don't know about it. Just sayin'.
January 26th, 2010 at 9:46 AM ^
during the actual bowl game, why would they bring it up during a non-related event? And, when they did mention it, it was in the context of "Gritty MSU, hanging tough despite being down 12 players" with little mention of WHY they were gone.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:07 AM ^
I didn't see the Alamo Bowl so if they didn't mention it there maybe you're right. Here are what I see as the possible coverage options by ESPN in the event that a bunch of students are wearing green ski masks:
- Pan to an up close shot (my argument above). ESPN probably has to say something on air as per why they're wearing it lest some/ most of the audience is left confused.
- Avoid any up-close shots of the students and leave them out of the frame for the entire game. If ESPN does this the point is moot anyway and M doesn't suffer any of the negative reputation problems the OP outlines in it's nationally televised coverage. Stadium audience is a different story.
- Avoid an up-close, however the students are in the game frame for most of the game in the Maize Rage (probably what the OP is worried about). Again, confuses some of the audience who don't know the dorm story but skews the student reputation for those who do.
January 26th, 2010 at 8:46 AM ^
but the act that prompted is far worse. The focus should be the act and how the thug actions could have been prevented by the coach.
January 26th, 2010 at 9:56 AM ^
Root for our team and, if necessary, bring out the "Can't Read, Can't Write" chant and serenade them with "If you can't get into college, go to State."
Also, if he's there - a nice loud "we want Ziegler" chant might be nice.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:21 AM ^
I think we can honestly and begrudgingly admit, as my friend and fellow Michigan alum just gchatted to me: "Izzo is probably the best well rounded basketball coach in the nation in terms of top talent, development, and running a classy and clean program even though it is sparty."
Jeering Michigan State basketball and Tom Izzo about the recent thuggery on their football team just seems outright neither witty, smart, nor intelligent - items which I like to pride myself for being a former Maize Rage and student hockey season ticket holder.
If Spartan fans made fun of Lloyd Carr and his football team in 1997 after the Ed Martin basketball scandal was plastered all over the media, wouldn't we laugh at the short sightedness of Spartan fans for giving Lloyd Carr's football program flack for lack of control and classlessness? It would have been absurdly ridiculous and would have been fodder to chuckle, once again, at the expense of Spartan fans.
It may be fun to make fun of MSU in this situation, but behaving intelligently, looking at the big picture, rather than just doing something because its "fun" in the moment has been what has separated Michigan from other institutions and specifically our in-state neighbors.
Do we want to hold ourselves to a higher standard or do we want to lower ourselves to Sparty's level?
Michigan Arrogance? Damn right.
January 26th, 2010 at 11:20 AM ^
Not that it really matters, but why do you assume Izzo runs a clean program? He might, but we have no way of knowing either way. He's never been investigated, but NCAA enforcement is incredibly spotty, and it's generally accepted that for every program that gets nailed, there are many who get away with it. (Even when programs are investigated, they often get off because the players can just refuse to talk.) Given the nature of college basketball recruiting, I'm not sure it's possible to recruit the caliber of talent MSU has lately while abiding by all the rules.
January 26th, 2010 at 12:25 PM ^
You have to go by the track record.
Surely there may be stories to prove me wrong here, but I cannot recall off the court incidents to show anything other than MSU runs a clean program in basketball.
In regard to MSU's recruiting, its not like they're bringing in top 5 classes every year...
According to Scout's Top 25 Team Rankings:
2005 - Not Ranked (NR)
2006 - 12
2007 - 9
2008 - 17
2009 - NR
2010 - 7
Do those numbers seem reasonable for a team with a national championship and 5 final four appearances in the last decade? Or perhaps a team with a well respected coach? Or perhaps a team with top-flight facilities?
With all those assets I'd probably expect a team or coach or program that cheats to bring in higher ranked recruits, to be honest.
You have to go by the track record. That's all you have until proven otherwise. With your mentality we should just assume that all big-city politicians must be dirty, that all CEO's of corporations are greedy money-grabbers who don't care about their employees, and that every celebrity and famous athlete cheats on their spouses.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:22 AM ^
Oh the ski masks make a ton of sense.
Considering that nobody on MSU's basketball team was involved, their basketball program has never had any sanctions, and the dorm fight had nothing to do with the basketball team.
Geez, by attempting to paint MSU as a bunch of thugs, it's almost as if they and not Michigan are the program with a history of paying players, NCAA sanctions, domestic abuse, and most recently a star player assaulting his teammates at practice.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:45 AM ^
I personally would like to see a, "Glenn Winston is a talentless thug" sign, and I'm sure most of you will know what this is in reference to.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:52 AM ^
C'mon...student shenanigans at the game can be fun. The football players are tough enough (obviously, they can even whoop ass at a potluck) to take a lil friendly ribbing. And, given that two more sparties got charged today, they deserve an extra something special.