This blog tends to be built around a lot of numbers and analytical whatnot. But, at the heart of it, I’m just a fan. And, I think, that’s what draws people like us together: a devotion to a cause, be it something as irrational as five guys in green tank tops playing a game against five guys in tank tops of a different hue.
So I thought it’d be fun to temporarily set aside the statistical mumbojumbo and share our greatest experiences as Spartans with each other by answering the following question:
What was your best day as a Spartan?
I’ve copied this idea from Bilfer at the Detroit Tigers Weblog (who is my personal blogging Jedi master). Earlier this year, he asked his readers, “What was your best day in baseball?,” lifting that line from the fabulous book, The Soul of Baseball, by Joe Posnanski. The book centers around Negro League great Buck O’Neil who made a habit of asking people he met that question, reflecting his unrelentingly upbeat attitude toward life.
I’ve adapted the question for our purposes. The topic of your response can be about an MSU basketball game, an MSU football game, an intramural soccer game on Munn Field*, or, really, any experience that involves (1) you and (2) that school that’s known to all, Michigan State University. It can be something you experienced in person or a moment of Spartan stupendousness you took in from your living room sofa. It can be short and sweet; it can be a novella; it’s all good.
*I chose this example since I once scored a goal with my head, well my face really, in an intramural soccer game on Munn Field.
The main goals here are to (1) reminisce about great Spartan moments of the past and (2) learn a little a bit about each other. But to add some incentive, we’ll make this a bit of a contest. From the responses received, the best 3-4 entries will be selected by the independent accounting firm of Mrs. Spartans Weblog and Sons according to ill-defined and entirely subjective criteria. Those finalists will have their entries posted on the front page of the blog and a poll of the Spartans Weblog faithful will determine the contest winner. Said winner will receive a free copy of College Basketball Prospectus 2008-09.
Post your entry in the comments section below. If, for some reason, you’d prefer to e-mail it to me, that’s OK, but the entry will then only appear on the site if it’s selected as a finalist. To be eligible for the prize, entries must be received by noon next Tuesday, October 21.
To get us started, here’s my best day as a Spartan:
My wife and I were season basketball holders for four years as students at MSU. As it happens, the only year we had seats in the lower bowl at Breslin was the 1999-2000 season. Fortuitous timing, to say the least.
Of all the great moments at Breslin that year, the greatest, of course, was the win against Michigan to close out the regular season. 31 points for Charlie Bell, 20 assists for Mateen Cleaves, a whopping 4 minutes of PT for my wife’s favorite player, Mat Ishbia, and a 51-point blowout of our in-state rival.
After the game ended, we flooded out onto the court with the rest of the students for the Big Ten championship ceremony and comments by Mateen. Those comments started with “Whaaaat’s Up?” and ended with a guarantee: “We WILL win the National Championship.” The rest, as they say, is history.
I have a photo I bought at SBS of the scene on the floor of Breslin as the word “Whaaaat” is leaving Mateen’s mouth. You can just make out the back of my head among the sea of students on the floor. It’s a great memento of a day of pure Spartan joy.
Now, what was YOUR best day as a Spartan?
It’s a tough call. There’s the no-hitter I pitched in intramural fast pitch softball (that kind of dates me, I guess), watching the 1965 drilling of UM football in the Auditorium on a movie screen, all of the 1979 basketball season during which I had somehow promoted seats in the eighth row just across from the opposing bench, the opening tip of the MSU-ND regional semi in Indy with the resulting Magic to Brkovich assisted slam from a seat two rows below the NBC main camera at half court, the sneaking into Jenison in the fall of 78 watching practice from the top row and the fast break drills they ran at the end of practice, but I think it was the OSU game in 79 when Magic came back from his twisted ankle and Jenison gradually built up to the loudest sound ever heard by man. Yep, that’s it.
There’s no doubt about my best day as a Spartan; it was the day of the Elite Eight MSU-Kentucky game. I remember yelling at the refs, telling them that Pat Sparks’ foot was on the line as he shot the three at the end of the regulation. I remember cheering as Abezuike (spelling?) was late on his shot at the end of OT. I remember holding my breath as Alan Anderson shot his free throws towards the end of the second OT to seal the Final Four.
Most of all, my favorite moment is running down Oakhill into downtown EL. I was in a mass of people screaming “FINAL FOUR! FINAL FOUR!” at the top of my lungs at the corner of Charles and Albert. There must of been at least hundreds of students on Albert, screaming GO GREEN! GO WHITE! chants at the top of their lungs from one side of the street to the other. I walked down to Cedar Village, there were just as many people there cheering. Exchange students were calling back home, trying to explain what was going on. Most of all though, the crowd as a whole did not misbehave. Tear gas didn’t need to be shot into the masses. Sure, the loss against North Carolina six days after hurt, but nothing could take away from the sheer exuberance in East Lansing that day. That, more so than my first day on campus, and even more so than my graduation, was my favorite day as a Spartan, because for one day, we weren’t 44,000 students with over 100 majors. We were all Spartans, one, high-fiving and patting each other on the back as we celebrated a victory few thought we could achieve.
Nice conversation starter. That was so good, I’m stealing it for my blog.
I was not alive for Uncle Omar’s favorite Spartan moment (thought I will always cherish the glory days of the best every basketball player Magic Johnson. My job includes me going into Lansing Public Schools and teach about “healthy choices,” and everytime I am in Everett I go visit “The Shrine” to the all time greatest. If you havent seen it before, go check it out. GOEL’s remembrance is one that I will treasure my whole life, but it still does not compare to my greatest.
For a long time it was April 2nd, 2000. The day after the championship. I was too young to be tipping them back during the championship (I’m only 22 now so I’m pretty sure I was in 8th grade at the time), but the day after was amazing. You see, my entire family are scUM fans. For some reason (most likely just to fight with my older brother) I have, FROM DAY ONE, bled green. Being national champions, and being able to rub that in the face of my father and brother was one of the greatest feelings ever. Still not the greatest.
You see, my grandfather was a die-hard Spartan as well (another reason why I wisely chose the green and white, you see). Well my grandmother, grandfather and me were very close. I was the youngest of their grandchildren for a long time. Well, in 2007 I lost my grandfather. He was the last remaining grandparent that I had. I have never felt worse in my life. I didn’t feel the kind of bad like I did something wrong, but the kind of bad that makes you think, I’m 21, and have no grandparents left to see my graduate college, get married, have kids, etc.
Needless to say, I went into the bedroom at my apartment in a very somber mood that evening. I looked on my wall, and say my poster from April 2nd, 2000. You know, the one that says “State of Glory. After 21 Years the Magic is Back at MSU.” There was only one thought that crossed my mind at that time. My grandfather. This was the hardest working man I have ever met, this MSU team was the hardest working team I have ever seen. I made this comment to him while he was alive early in the 2000 season. He told me, “They work so hard to win the National Championship, and they will win it.”
When I saw that poster that somber day, my heart was filled with joy. More for the thoughts of my grandfather than for the national championship, but that national championship was the reason that Free Press poster was there, which was the reason my grandfather crossed my mind. I will be forever grateful to Tom Izzo and MSU for completely brightening up my day during one of the hardest times I have ever been through.
And sorry KJ, I really don’t think you were looking for a sob story here. However, this was truly the greatest day I’ve ever had as a Spartan because being a Spartan meant so much more than a win or a loss, it mean remembrance of the greatest man I have ever known.
Wow that was long, sorry about that…..
ok….dont know why I started the long paragraph with “For a long time,” it really doesnt belong there, just ignore that.
Definitely the Iowa State game in the Elite Eight of the 2000 National Championship run.
I was in high school. We gathered in the basement of a friend’s house in a town nearby East Lansing, and I will never forget the pandemonium that ensued the infamous back-door alley-oop with the Spartans only up by 2 points late in the second half. One of the greatest Izzo timeout play calls, heck, maybe one of the greatest college basketball play calls, OF ALL TIME. There was much jumping up and down, shouting and hugging. After the buzzer, we ran down the streets waving a MSU flag. I still watch highlights of that game every year. The alley-oop was, without a doubt, the defining moment of that championship run.
A close second would be being able to come back home and watch the 2007 men’s hockey national championship game against Boston College with my friends at BW3 in E.L., over Easter weekend. Pretty amazing.
1) April 2007 … the hockey team is in the Frozen Four in St. Louis, the same weekend that I’m going on a grad-school visit at the University of Illinois. Champaign to St. Louis is only a three-hour drive, so I clearly have no excuse for missing out on this. The trip went as follows:
- Drive to Champaign after class on Wednesday. Get in around midnight due to late classes, food, and fog/snow on the interstate.
- Spend the morning at the grad school program, duck out at 11:00.
- Drive to St. Louis. Spend an hour finding a parking spot. Pick up ticket at will call, hear enormous cheer, and walk in to find MSU down 2-0 to Maine.
- MSU comes back to win 4-2; go to Union Station for dinner with friends and watch the second semifinal.
- Drive back to Champaign Thursday night. Get to the hotel around 1:30 am.
- Spend all day Friday at the grad school program.
- Drive to St. Louis again Saturday morning; attend prep rally before the game and then the game itself. Shout “YOU GOT LERGED!” for a full minute after the ridiculous 2-on-1 save Lerg made to keep it at 1-0 BC. Go nuts when Kennedy puts in the tying goal due to a defensive mixup on a brief 4-on-3. Turn to friend and ask “did that really just happen?” after Abdelkader atones for that deflating shot off the crossbar by camping out on the edge of the crease and putting away a beautiful pass from Kennedy. Completely lose voice by the time Mueller puts away that empty-netter to clinch it.
- Celebrate with friends for hours and stay at hotel overnight.
- Drive back to East Lansing on Sunday. Total: close to 24 hours on the road in a 5-day span. And it was totally worth it.
2) The Wisconsin hoops game in ’07. I was in the front row of the Izzone, one section over from the visitors’ entrance. Neither team led by more than 3 for about a 30-minute span in the middle of the game. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an intense game. When the Neitzel 3 finally quit bouncing on the rim and dropped through, it sounded like the place exploded. I could hardly speak the next day, and my hearing wasn’t too good that night either. Again, totally worth it.
3) The Wisconsin football game in ’04. Wisconsin is coming in 9-0 and allowing 9 points a game; we have to win our last three just to make a bowl. And yet, the entire week leading up to the game I just had a funny feeling that we could pull this one off. We jump out to a 14-7 lead midway through the first thanks to a blocked punt. Still up 7 right before the half, Wisconsin gets to 2nd and 1 at the 2 yard line. We stuff them on second, but they pick up the first down on the next play. First and goal at the 1 … run, stuffed. Second and goal, stuffed. Third and goal, incomplete. Fourth and goal … stuffed. We go in up 7 at the half, already having put up double the average Wisconsin had allowed per game. But Wisconsin gets the ball to start the second half, right? Well … not exactly. We kick off, all right – an onside kick. Recovered. Then Stanton, injured two weeks earlier in the “WILL SOMEONE @#$%ING COVER BRAYLON?!” game, walks out to lead the offense. By early in the fourth, it’s 42-14 and the “overrated” chant is already making the rounds. Too early, knowing what we’re capable of (having blown a 17-point lead in half that time two weeks earlier). Sure enough, Wisconsin goes on a long drive. First and goal … and we stop them again, then add a 99-yard TD drive just to add insult to injury.
4) The ’04 Izzone campout. Sure, the football game we saw that day stunk (it was the Iowa game where our WRs dropped about five TD passes). But the campout was a blast. Trying not to hit tents while playing football, no less than three separate games of Ultimate Frisbee, grilling burgers, tossing a frisbee with Goran Suton, listening to Izzo speak, listening to the Wisconsin-Michigan game on a satellite radio someone brought and thoughtfully hooked up to the big speakers (Wisconsin won on a last-second TD) … and then finally going to sleep when it was about 35 degrees out and waking up in a frost-covered tent the next morning. I went to the ’05 and ’06 campouts as well, but the first one was special.
(Wow, that was long.)
Freshman year @ MSU 1999-2000. Watched 2000 Men’s Basketball Title Game on the Big Screen @ the Breslin with a ton of friends. Rushed the court, cut down one of the nets (Security didn’t seem to mind, it seemed like a good idea at the time.) Looking back, seems a bit odd.) Enjoyed watching Mateen doing the running man on one leg.
Started the long trek back to our house on Spartan Street. Ran into approximately 10-15,000 friendly people on Cedar Street. Television crews were everywhere basically hoping everyone would riot (one year after the big riots that started the ongoing, ridiculous tradition of rioting if we lose in the tourney). Didn’t happen. The party didn’t stop until the sun came up.
No fair kj, that was my favorite moment! I’ll have to go with my second favorite which was watching the 1999 elite eight game against Kentucky at the Breslin. Later on after the game we heard when the team would be arriving at the airport and went to welcome them. There was a good size crowd so they had us blocked off from the plane. When they opened the doors to the plane everyone just ignored the boundries and swarmed the plane! We shouted the fight song with the players as they walked down from the plane. Izzo was a little overwhelmed since Lupe and his little one were with him. But he quickly put a smile on his face when he saw we weren’t a hostile crowd. I would have never guessed that would be our first of three straight final fours.
Kj, a couple more thing about that scUM game. There was not a person in the house that didn’t believe Mateen when we said “We will win the national championship.” The other thing I remember was scUM’s “star guard” Lavell Blanchard coming out of the lockeroom to watch us cut down the nets. The only possible thing he could’ve been thinking was “why in the hell did I not go to MSU” Truly an unforgettable moment.
I remember Lavelle coming out to watch the ceremony, too. He remains my all-time favorite Wolverine (which sounds like a paradox, I know). He rebounded like a Spartan.
I just remembered another one–I am getting old–The Grateful Dead concert in Jenison in 1971. Four and a half hours of jamming madness. Jerry Garcia and Bob “Ace” Weir going nuts. The whole place absolutely, clinically insane. Worth ten times the price of admission–and I had no money. But, still not as fine as the ’79 OSU game.
The day of the 2000 national championship game we started early by abusing an innocent children’s toy.
One of my roomates had gotten the bright (presumably Miller Light-fueled) idea the night before to go to Meijers and buy an inflatable Gator that was meant for kids to float on. We ended up hanging it from the front of our house in the 100 block of Milford St. and loitering out in the front yard grilling and drinking during the day. We’d yell out to anybody that came by to come and “Kick the Gator.” So, people would cheer our Gator kicking, or some run up on our yard and kick the Gator themselves.
So, yeah, we were ready for that game. We went and talked to the old lady who lived down the street to make sure we wouldn’t disturb her. She told us that she just would turn off her hearing aid if that was a problem. (She wasn’t the source of noise violations on that street. I tend to think it was the guy two doors down who got up early Sundays and blasted Cher’s “Believe” album in his backyard.)
So come around game time and we pack probably 15 people into the living room of the house. It was pretty difficult to get up and move, so we established a pitcher brigade from the keg, so we could just pass that around and nobody had to get up for refills.
I remember not so many specifics from the game, but the Spartans were on and we had our house rocking every time the Spartans did something. By the time that Teddy whatever took out Mateen in a fit sore loserness we were going crazy and pretty soon after the horn most of us ran over to Cedar Village and danced around and yelled and carried on.
That was just a great day. It was just a feeling of joy, togetherness and ‘Yeeaaaaah’. I firmly think that college sports is the best thing our modern world has next to the feeling my Irish ancestors got from painting themselves blue, getting all rared up and raiding the next tribe’s cattle herds. I think our way is probably better.
The bastard of a gator that took out Mateen was Teddy Dupay. I read online earlier this year that he was charged with raping or assaulting a women down in florida. she must have turned him down and that “sore loser” in him came rearing its ugly head once again.
[...] still time left to take a shot at winning a free copy of College Basketball Prospectus 2008-09 by sharing your best Spartan [...]
I think one of my best days as a Spartan would have to be the MSU-PSU football game last year.
To set this up, you have to understand that my four years as an undergrad corresponded to the John L. nosedive that culminated in a rather forgettable 2006 campaign. 2007 held the promise of a fresh start. Close losses to Iowa and NU seemed to indicate that the team was, yet again, one year away from breaking through. But a offensive explosion at Purdue brought the Spartans to six wins and a shot at bowl eligibility against the Nittany Lions. A trip back to East Lansing and tickets to the Penn State game seemed like a chance to see redemption.
It was freezing cold. MSU trailed 24-7 in the third quarter. The Penn State fans in front of us were having a blast, and I was contemplating the long drive home. I had done something wrong, it was never in the cards, will I ever be happy?, at least we have Izzo’s squad to numb the pain, etc. etc. Same old Spartans.
Then Hoyer, Davis, Caulcrick, and Thomas decided enough was enough and the offense awoke. The crowd became electric, and the cheers of GO GREEN GO WHITE had never seemed louder. Penn State tacked on another TD, but the Spartans were determined to have the final say. “Down by 17″ became “up by 4.” The Penn State fans in front of us who had been mumbling that “it’d be just like Sparty to blow this” quietly found their way to the aisle. My arm was sore from violently pumping it in the air and clapping to the fight song. My voice was shot from yelling and cheering. When the clock finally hit zeroes, I couldn’t stop smiling. A comeback victory! Bowl eligibility! Vindication for years of support!
It was glorious. Amidst the celebration in the stands, a lone figure knelt on the block S at midfield under the stadium lights, giving thanks for what had just transpired. The display of determination, teamwork, emotion, joy, and a final act of humility combined to make it my best day as a Spartan.
This moment is a bit unconventional, and perhaps it wasn’t my best day as a Spartan in all respects, but it is the moment that still symbolizes all that is right with the Izzo program in my mind.
After three consecutive final four teams, the 2000-01 Spartan team was inexperienced and undermanned. The team had graduated five seniors the year before and sent Jason Richardson and Zach Randolph to the NBA as well. There was only one senior on that 2000-01 team–Mat Ishbia. The backcourt was Marcus Taylor and the freshmen (and many of us will remember the painful Northwestern game that MSU lost with Taylor out with a concussion). Adam Wolfe suffered that nasty career-ending injury at the beginning of the Big Ten season too. That MSU team was thin and the season was a long struggle. (That season marked the end of the 53-game home win streak too.)
So fast-forward to senior day–which was for that one year called ‘Mat Ishbia Day’. The Spartans were 18-10 going into that game. They were facing Iowa; they had lost to Iowa earlier (the same game that they lost Wolfe, in fact). And to my admittedly untrained eye, MSU was no lock for the NCAA tournament. They might lose to Iowa, lose in the BTT, and finish 18-12 and visit the NIT. (As it turned out, 19-11 earned them a 10 seed in the NCAAs.)
I had wondered for a few days whether Mat Ishbia would get to start on Senior Day. Certainly he deserved his moment in the spotlight–how many practices had he fought the starters for rebounds, played man defense, mimicked some opponent’s offensive moves? He’d helped to make those Final Four teams what they were.
But there was the matter of winning the game and getting back to the NCAAs.
No matter. Ishbia started. About two minutes into the game by my recollection, Izzo scripted a play for Ishbia and the walk-on made a 3-pointer–the only 3-pointer he would ever shoot when the outcome of the game was actually in doubt while he wore the MSU uniform. But hardly the only *meaningful* 3-pointer he’d ever shot in the green and white. He’d been shooting those in practice for four years, making his team a little bit better with every one.
MSU won the game handily. What was so great about that day for me, though, was the recognition that this was the kind of program that Izzo was building in East Lansing. This was a program that didn’t have to trade in classiness when it came time to win. Mat Ishbia had earned the right to be on the court as a winner in his own right, and the team as a whole would elevate its play to make sure that it happened.
I enjoyed Spartan basketball long before that day. I reveled in the victories, the national championship. I have some great memories from the years before that (and the years since). But that was the day I fell in love with this program.
Nick, that’s a shameless attempt to take advantage of the fact that Mat Ishbia was Mrs. Spartans Weblog’s favorite MSU player.
Transferred into State in 1997 and graduated in 2000, so I was there for all the early basketball glory of the Izzone era. My roommate and I had seats in the lower bowl right next to the band (back when they really couldn’t give the things away) in 97-98 before we were bounced for the Izzone in 98-99.
(Aside…at least how I remember it…the Izzone came out of nowhere…I don’t remember hearing anything about how to join, the next year when we went to get our tickets we were in the upper deck…love what the Izzone has become but it was painful for some of us…still went and rooted though).
That 98 FF team really came out of nowhere (17-12,6-6 in ’97 & NIT) and getting to watch them come together was pretty awesome. My roommate and I rooted hardest for “Mo” Pete…we watched his struggles (the cast/club) and hoped for the best…
I lived at 162 Gunson St. in 98-99. The “Gunson riot” would have been in my front yard had I lived there the previous year. 162 Gunson and Mo Pete play a part in both my favorite Spartan memory (FSM) and my best day as a Spartan (BDS)…
FSM: Went to a Halloween party on Evergreen dressed as Hulk Hogan (old school…Blonde wig, Blonde goatee (which I had to dye to do so) Yellow shorts/cut up t-shirt…in Michigan in late October…as I was walking home on Albert by the Hamster cage drunk and cold a 4 door ’84 or ’85 Olds Delta 88 stops next to me and the driver rolls down the window…
Driver: Hey man do you know how to get to Spartan Street?
Me (maybe a little slurred): Yeah it’s like 6 or 7 blocks straight ahea…Hey you’re Moreese Peterson…
Driver: It’s Morris.
Me: Cool, yeah it’s like 6 or 7 blocks straight ahead (bright idea!!)…hey I live on Gunson…Spartan is three blocks after that…give me a ride to Gunson and then it’s just three blocks after that.
Mo Pete: I don’t know man…(the other three guys in the car: Give ‘em a ride man…give him a ride…).
Mo Pete: Ok.
So I climb into the back seat, for some reason they make me sit in the middle. We do introductions, although for some reason I don’t remember two of the guys…as Mo says and points to the guy sitting to my right…that’s Jason Richardson he’ll be coming to school here next year. I shake his hand and say cool, good luck.
True to my word when we reach Gunson. Driving down Albert I felt like the best “White Trash” Hulk Hogan ever. Driving in 84 Olds dressed as Hulk (I’m about 6’2″ 175 dripping wet surrounded by four very large African American gentle men was looking back surreal.
The best part was when I would see Mo Pete occasionally on campus he would get that smirk of his…and give me a head nod and say “what’s up!” He was cool…we weren’t best friends…we just shared a funny moment and he recognized that. I’m really happy they are retiring his number this year.
BDS: After beating Kentucky to advance to the Final Four (which we would lose to Duke and would open its own pandora’s box) I had 300 people on my lawn,\ serenade my house with the fight song. I don’t where they came from or where they went or even why it was important to do that at the site of the “Gunson riot”. No ugliness, no violence just heartfelt excitement, exuberance and cheer. Celebrating with 14,000 of my closest friends after the ’00 final was great but hearing a bunch of Spartans impromptu rendition of the fight song was my best day as a Spartan.
The required Ishbia reference: I had a few accounting classes with Matt’s brother Justin (the rumor was Justin was taking 2 classes a semester to maintain his 4.0 point GPA) as such during study groups, group projects with Justin, I would sometimes see and talk to Matt. Good classy, guy.
Give the book to Rewerts. Glad the Spartans and his memory of the NC could help him through a rough patch.
[...] to all of you who took the time to share about your best day as a Spartan. It was a fun way to learn a little bit more about each [...]
No mention of “clockgate” in 2001?
I was 15 at the time and watching the game from the corner of the south end zone with my cousin. I will never, ever forget those last two plays, looking up and screaming in exasperation that we had one second left, and going absolutely nuts when T.J. Duckett caught that last pass. I’ve seen the replay a hundred times, but the memory of seeing it live from those seats is something I’ll remember as clear as day.
Then of course we haven’t won since. But to be honest, having transferred here and only getting two years in before I graduated, my favorite memory was the 2007 UMich game, even though we didn’t pull off the victory. It was just a day where everything was perfect – minus the final outcome – it being my senior year of undergrad, 21 years old, the game in East Lansing… I think I had been looking forward to that since I was born. A lot of cool things happened that day at the tailgate and at the (somber) partying afterwards, so in a personal sense it was actually my favorite day as a Spartan. If only they could have won, what a day it would have been.
[...] Weblog readers everywhere (after first capturing the heart of Mrs. Spartans Weblog). Nick’s “Best Day as a Spartan Story” took home 19 of the 43 votes cast by [...]