Spartan Bob - 10 Year Anniversary

it was like every time they had a big third down and four williams would take duckett out and give the UM defense a chance.  i agree - lesuer and co. gave them that game much earlier in the game.  the ending hurt but we deserved it. 

to the fact that Jeremy Laseur went WWE on Charles Rogers' facemask, already double teamed and out of the play completely, on 4th and 62 on that same drive, and we don't have much of a gripe.

But to the point, I think the hold was the bigger outrage than the 1 second.  I frame by framed that game, and while it is more likely than not that the clock stopped to soon, the video is actually more inconclusive than one may think.  If the clock ran out, State would have had a legitimate, while far fetched, gripe that they got shafted too.

The hold on the other hand, holy shit, and it went on for like 5 seconds right in front of the referee.  I am all for refs not deciding the outcome of the game, but that call simply had to be made.

Agreed...they got pounded by ND and their they have to prove themselves against a quality opponent. Go blue.

And, talking to people who watched it on tv, I got the sense that they were a little less outraged than I was.  Remember the Beckmann radio broadcast of that game?  How he was screaming like Bob Ufer on meth?  It was because that for anybody who was there, watching the between-play rhythm and watching the clock tick down, that final play was an abomination that easily ranks alongside Eddie Brown's (admitted) intentional interference with Desmond Howard.

True story; as the clock ticked down on the previous play, I started yelling happily, "That's it!  It's over!  There can't be enough time to run another play!"  Only to have the Sparties in front of me turn and sneer as they scored on the next play.

It was an outrage.  Everybody knew it was an outrage.  It was theft.  You never forget that stuff.

i can't stand him either, but you can't hate people in velcro shoes-   denard wears velcro cleats.

We won 6 straight from 2002 to 2007.

And I never accused him of being a robot - I accused him of cheating.  And being unrepentant about cheating.

The rule at the time was that the clock could not be stopped until the official on the field signaled "time-out".  At the time, the host stadium supplied the timekeeper.  Acting as timekeeper Spartan Bob ignored the rule, stopped the clock before the official signaled time-out, and was very smug about the whole thing afterward.  He also made himself a public figure by appearing on talk shows, etc., after the fact.  He was lionized as a hero by the Spartan fanbase.

The LSJ piece is very sympathetic to the guy, and I fully get that (gasp!) it is just a game.  But his attitude after the game, which could fairly be summed up as "tough shit, Michigan, I was controlling the clock" is a bit different than what you see in the LSJ.  And if he's matured a bit over the years, I sincerely think that's great.  The undertone of the LSJ article is that since he was stalked, etc., he doesn't feel bad about what he did.  IMO, the issue of whether he purposely ignored the rule is separate from the issue of whether some Michigan fans reached out to him.  And much of the hostility he suffered seemed to be driven by his overall "too bad for you, Michigan" attitude at the time.  And that attitude was echoed by much of the Spartan fan base.

Finally, anyone who contacted this guy to bitch him out or otherwise threatened him in any way displayed a total lack of perspective and should be ashamed of themselves.  Just to be clear on that.  The point of this post was to engender some discussion of the notorious event with the benefit of some perspective.  Also, it's Junior Hate Week.  (Real Hate Week is in November, of course.)

I see nothing in the article that convinces me that he is not a pile of circuitry. I am currently still hating on his dumb android butt. I don't mind losing (much) but losing because of a cheat? That stinks bad. He cheated and is proud of it? He is what is wrong with sports.

I have no sympathy or understanding for that guy.  Fuck him.  I don't care if he was an orphan or Captain of the Enterprise.  I don't hate him because of his family background and I sure as hell don't respect him because of his family background.

Frank Beckmann is right, and I was an eyewitness.  I wouldn't  shake Spartan Bob's hand for any reason.  I actually like the fact that he continues to think he was right, because I can go on hating him unapologetically.

saying is that because he had no father and a semi tough childhood it's OK for him to cheat? Awesome.

His own account of that play is his own admission of doing it wrong. You don't watch the play, you watch for the ref's signal. Plain and simple. But, hey his father was a piece of shit so I guess we should just eat it.

Don't let out go! I hope this team kicks the shit out of effing mother effing Sparty.

Go Blue!

Those two plays were the worst of the worst. Spartan Bob, violated the rules to favor his team, it ranks higher on the offense list. The saftey that tripped Desmond freely admits it, but I don't blame him, he had to do it as he was beaten. The issue there was how did the ref not throw the flag.

what did we ever do to you to deserve bringing up so much pain in one post? Gosh

(total sarcasm Sir, I am an avid admirer of your work)