Gameday: One Sad Thing

It's Gameday in East Lansing, and the tailgating has already started. The weather is good, the band will be out soon, and it's almost time to start another season of Spartan Football. But unlike other first games the Spartans have had in the past, there is one sad thing about today. No matter what the Spartans do on the field, they lose a recruiting talking point when that ball is kicked off at noon.

That's because since the NCAA created the two separate divisions for football, MSU has never played a team from the lower division. MSU is currently one of only a handful of schools to be able to say that, and even if we pound Montana St. by 50 points, we will not be able to brag about that stat tonight. It's gone forever.

Freep: Michigan Violated NCAA Rules, MSU Didn't

A Detroit Free Press investigation that found Michigan football officials violated NCAA rules, including those on off-season workouts and contact between coaches and players, did not uncover any rule-breaking by Michigan State.

From the Freep's report:

Players on the 2008 and 2009 teams described training and practice sessions that far exceeded limits set by the NCAA, which governs college athletics. The restrictions are designed to protect players’ well-being, ensure adequate study time and prevent schools from gaining an unfair competitive advantage.

The players, who did not want to be identified because they feared repercussions from coaches, said the violations occurred routinely at the direction of Rodriguez’s staff.

“It’s one of those things where you can’t say something,” one current Wolverine said. “If you say something, they’re going to say you’re a lazy person and don’t want to work hard.”

My thoughts when reading the detailed violations laid out in Michael Rosenberg and Mark Snyder's comprehensive report were, in order, "Holy crap" then "I hope State's not a part of this." And according to three former players, including Javon Ringer and Otis Wiley, MSU plays by the rules. And thank goodness for that, because the NCAA penalties for this could be severe.

Major NCAA violations can carry penalties from banning coaches and players, forcing games off television, scholarship reductions and even bowl bans. The ultimate penalty, the so-called "death penalty", would be to ban Michigan from even playing football at all - but that hasn't been used since it killed off the once-dominant Southern Methodist program 1987, and these violations aren't nearly that severe.

This isn't a time to gloat at Michigan's misfortune, however.

The best thing for MSU football is to dominate a worthy opponent and earn its way to becoming the undisputed number one program in the state. I want to beat a great Michigan team, each and every year. Sure, a win is a win, but I don't want to win this way. Part of me hopes this isn't actually true - Michigan did deny the allegations in statements to the Freep - but I'm mindful that the state of Michigan's best newspaper did just get a Pulitzer for investigative coverage, and the two reporters on this story have a professional reputation beyond reproach.

The NCAA should take whatever steps are necessary to clean up Michigan's program, as well as any other program doing this. If that means getting rid of Rich Rodriguez and all his assistants, fine. But I'm hoping this doesn't kill off Michigan football.

I want the so-called leaders and best at their best. But cheating to get there is unacceptable. And while this is not a time to gloat over someone else's misfortune, MSU fans should be proud that Mark Dantonio hasn't done that.

Spirit Of Detroit

First off, sorry about no Final Four Friday. It should return next week.

This week the Wayne County Commission suggested that a $25,000 fee to dress the Spirit of Detroit statue in a jersey to celebrate the success of local sports teams be dropped after everyone was balking at paying such a high price for showing a little bit of team pride. The outrage was brought on by the success of both the Detroit Pistons and Red Wings, and the fact that the statue couldn't join in the fun. Fans of Detroit teams have grown accustomed to seeing the statue wearing their favorite colors come playoff time, and suddenly ending that tradition pissed many people off.

Thing is, I could honestly care less. It's not that I don't want the statue dressed up, cause I do. It's more that my outrage came and went back around the 1st of April.

It was back then that the question of putting a Spartan jersey on the statue was considered because of their success getting to the Final Four, also in Detroit. MSU was told "Sure, that will be $25,000 please" and they rightfully said "eh... no thanks."

Some of us were outraged. More people were not. And so the statue didn't dress up, and on went life. Now, just a month later, Detroit citizens are up in arms over the issue. What does this say about MSU's relationship with Detroit?

During the Final Four, MSU proudly adopted Detroit as it's second home, and they seemed embraced by a city that has fallen on hard times. Kalin Lucas went as far as lying to the NCAA (Just a little white lie) and had his hometown announced as Detroit, to show solidarity with the city (and perhaps to get a loud cheer during pregame).

MSU has also made Detroit area recruiting a top priority, scheduling basketball games at the Palace of Auburn Hills and Ford Field and scheduling (and then canceling) a football game for Ford Field.

In recruiting, there have been commitments recently that suggest this strategy is paying off. But, what is MSU's standing and status with the average Detroit sports fan? If measuring the fan outrage over the statue incident is any indicator, then the Spartans still have a long way to go to truly capture the hearts of those in Detroit.

Photo Courtesy of detroitbadboys.com

Tickets, Tickets, Tickets

There are plenty of stories floating around out there about tickets to the Men's Final Four this weekend, and to sum them all up, "You can get tickets if you have money."

Beyond that, there are actually a couple of interesting story lines involving tickets. The first is the Izzone snafu mentioned in the last post. This story isn't a big deal to many people, but to members of the Izzone, it most certainly is. Apparently when the Student Alumni Foundation sent an email to Izzone members about tickets, it contained a faulty link to the online ticket site that was contracted by the NCAA. The situation was fixed, but not everyone could be notified in time (or it was not fixed for everyone, do we ever really know when it comes to computers?). This led to a number of eligible Izzone members who felt they were not given a chance to get tickets. The situation was compounded by unconfirmed rumors that because SAF members knew the correct link first, they and their friends, and their friend's friends were the ones who actually purchased all of the tickets as the link spread by word of mouth. While not confirmed, this is not an unrealistic scenario.

Obviously this made many students upset, and members of SAF (which is overseen by the Alumni Association) worked with the Athletic Department to see what could be done. The NCAA was able to release an additional 79 tickets, and those tickets were allocated by lottery to eligible members. Problem solved...

Another situation is involving the number of allotted tickets and hotel rooms. According to the Lansing State Journal, each school's overall ticket allotment is 3,250. This is down from 4,500 in 2005 even though Ford Field holds many more people than any previous arena used to host the Final Four. This simply means less tickets for everyone associated with the program, including students families and friends, MSU administration, donors, past players, local celebrities, etc. Compounding the problem is that each school is on the hook for 500 hotel rooms for four nights each. It seems that many of the State fans don't really feel like spending that much time in Detroit (or simply don't need the room and don't want to pay for it). Unless MSU can work something out, the athletic department is on the hook for the cost of those rooms. It was suggested to me that they could offer the rooms to fans of other schools who do need to travel, but then again, wouldn't that hurt our home court advantage?

Finally, Tom Izzo was asked in his Tuesday press conference about ticket requests. He said that he has been overwhelmed by ticket requests, and has found an easy way to handle it. He said he has basically stopped checking his email and phone messages, using the theory that he doesn't have to say no if he never gets the message in the first place. So if your work buddy promised you a ticket because he's got that "awesome connection with Izzo," you might just want to look into plan B.

A Day Off In Indy

Louisville and Michigan State fans steamed out of Lucas Oil Stadium late Friday night and quickly filled the downtown Indianapolis bars to celebrate. For one night, the fans could drink together, both excited about their team's victory and advancement to the Elite Eight.

Saturday came, and the mood for MSU fans changed somewhat. Everyone was still excited, but the realization that those people wearing red were no longer friendly was evident. "Go Green Go White" and "C-A-R-D-S Cards!" could be heard echoing throughout the downtown buildings.

On the day off in Indy, fans of both schools headed out into the city to see the sights and have some fun. It was a busy day at the NCAA headquarters and Hall of Champions, where an MSU student ID would get you $2 off admission. There, you could see exhibits about all NCAA sports, view banners honoring current NCAA champions, and even shoot some hoops. On the second floor, replicas of the trophies that the Men's and Women's teams are hoping to win are in a display case for fans to see.

Another option for some of the more restless fans was the Civil War reenactment taking place outside of the Indiana State Museum. There, about 15 actors portrayed soldiers from the North and South on the museums large front lawn. Crowds of Michigan State, Louisville and Kansas fans were gathered around, trying to stay out of the way of the gunfire. Michigan State fans quickly started rooting for the north, leaving the South as Louisville's only option. We all know how that worked out... Visitors to the Museum could see a traveling exhibit on African American imagery, or learn about the history of Indiana.

Some of the more adventurous fans ventured out away from the downtown area, and saw famous Indy landmarks such as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While there was no race today, there were still crowds of fans taking photos.

Late afternoon shifted fans attention back to basketball, where fans packed bars both downtown and in Broad Ripple to watch the Men's games first, and then the MSU women's game against Iowa St. While a evening rainstorm tampered down the mayhem slightly, crowds of fans still could be seen on the street well after 3AM.

Saturday was fun, but Sunday it is back to business. MSU tips off against Louisville today at 2:20 p.m.

Why Was It Here?

The MSU Women's Basketball win over Duke on Tuesday night was a classic game that will be remembered for a long time, not only because of the dramatic victory, but because of the stories involved: McCallie returning to the school she ditched, the improbable victory of a #9 seed beating a #1 seed, and Duke having been to 11 consecutive Sweet 16's.

Not lost in the discussion of MSU's victory was this question: Why did #1 seed Duke have to play at their opponents home court? McCallie insisted that the game location could not be blamed for the loss, but it still raises interesting questions of fairness and logistics. According to ESPN:

The women went to a field of 64 in 1994, with all games in the early rounds at the better-seeded team's gym. The next year, the setup for the first two rounds was that the top four seeds in each region would host. So four teams would play at 16 sites, with home-court advantage being rewarded because of your seeding. The only time that didn't happen was if a school had a conflict with its home arena or some problem with hotel-room availability. But those circumstances were rare.

Then, in 2003, the system was changed to make the first 16 sites predetermined. The reason given was supposedly to allow schools to market the subregionals all year, rather than waiting until they knew for sure they were hosting when the bracket came out.

However, promotion of games was far less a factor in having big crowds than just plain having the host team playing. There was no evidence that predetermination did anything to boost attendance.

What it did do -- and the reason behind its being used still -- is to pave the way for television to broadcast all 64 games of the tournament. It was neither logistically nor financially feasible to do that if TV had to wait until the bracket came out to know where the 16 sites were.

In 2005, a switch was made to try to create more neutral games: having eight sites with eight teams each. That system stayed for four seasons, but it had a negative impact on early-round attendance.

So this year, the tournament went back to 16 predetermined sites, and that's why there was a situation where a No. 1 had to play on a No. 9's home court. At the time bids are accepted for schools to host future games, it's obviously unknown whether their team will even be in the tournament, let alone where it might be seeded.

So basically the NCAA has to weigh fairness for the schools against paid attendance and television contracts. And while fairness is great, it doesn't pay the bills...