MSU Spring Football Attendance

I was reading around on Darren Rovell's Blog (which is one of my favorites BTW) and he had a short listing of some of the attendances of spring football games around the country. Much to my surprise, Michigan State was pretty high on the list. Here's the schools that Darren had listed:

• Nebraska: 80,149
• Ohio State: 76,346
• Penn State: 73,000
• Florida: 60,000
• LSU: 33,624
• Virginia Tech: 30,000
• Michigan State: 27,000
• Missouri: 26,322
• Oklahoma: 23,306
• Wisconsin: 22,000
• West Virginia: 18,000
• Colorado:17,800
• Rutgers:14,501
• Illinois: 12,531
• Kansas: 7,500
• Idaho: 5,100
• Utah: 4,500
• Arizona State: 3,000

After this piqued my interest, I did a little more digging and I found these figures from around the Big Ten at Spartan Tailgate:

• Illinois — 12,531
• Iowa — 13,352
• MSU — 27,000
• Ohio State — 76,000
• Purdue — 9,500
• Penn State — 73,000
• Wisconsin — 22,000

Overall, this looks very good for MSU. I'm shocked that places like Oklahoma could only draw 23,306. I haven't checked the weather, but I would have to assume there was a tornado ripping through town for the number to be that low.

Back to MSU, while they aren't on the same level as Penn State or Ohio State (we'll give Michigan a pass this year since they were at a high school this year) It seems that MSU might be at the front of that next tier. Wisconsin has had lots of success the past couple of years and they were a few spots behind MSU. And same on the Illinois fans. They just went to the Rose Bowl next year, and look to be an up-and-coming team, and all they could manage was 12,531!

I'm not even going to mention Arizona State. They just were co-champions of the Pac-10! 3,000 people?! Practically 3,000 people go to the Haslett vs. East Lansing girls softball game!

Overall though, nice work by the Dantonio staff on building excitement for this upcoming football season.

Get Ready for Red Wings v. Avalanche 2008

With the upcoming Detroit v. Colorado series coming up, why not relive a little bit of the past here?

The NBA's New Order

Here's a conversation that I had with a friend of mine this morning on AIM about some of the developments of the NBA Playoffs so far this year. The overwhelming theme is the dominance of the two new stars — Chris Paul and Dwight Howard...

halvor: "Since the last game (on Sunday) the only thing on my mind when I go to sleep at night, wake up in the morning and hit the gym with the guys is to dominate. For us to keep winning, I have to do that." --- Dwight Howard
pitch: he's been really good
halvor: Hes a freak!
halvor: 64 pts and 42 rebounds in 2 games, I love it
pitch: what did Paul have last night, like 32 pts, 17 ast?
pitch: yikes
halvor: so gross
That's so many baskets!!
and 17 assists on that team is outrageous
its not like hes dishing the ball to Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson like Kidd used to do
hes throwing it up to Bonzi wells and Tyson Chandler
pitch: i know hes got...Tyson chandler
and....(ugh)Jannero Pargo
halvor: They are so good at that move
and remember when Tyson chandler couldn't dunk when he was on the Bulls?
halvor: AND I HATE that people think KG is MVP
That team is unfairly good.
pitch: yeah, but he's the main reason that the team went from 22 wins to 60 this year
halvor: the main reason... besides a complete roster overhaul
pitch: Paul Pierce and Ray Allen together probably would have just squeaked into he playoffs
but he's the reason for the roster overhaul
halvor: You have Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, James Posey, and Rondo learning how to ball
that's pretty gross
rondo has been real good
not as good as Chris Paul accounting for 27 of 48 baskets scored by the hornets... and shooting 10/16
pitch: oh i agree
Paul should be the MVP
halvor: but good
He totally should
Remember when everyone thought the hornets needed "at least one more year" to get better
and then David West made people his bitch like some sort of junior Carlos boozer
pitch: yeah, i thought they would have a hard time with the Mavs
pitch: ...but i was wrong
Paul is just a nightmare for J-Kidd
he looks terrible
halvor: yup
the Mavs are terrible since the trade
pitch: yeah they're very just 'blah' now
halvor: i mean... Kidd is good... but he isn't better than the point guards they have to play
and in fact makes them look better
because they are all faster than him

The Five Worst Contracts on the Detroit Tigers

I was going to write my first (and possibly last) article for After the Buzzer about how to fix the 2008 Detroit Tigers. I figured that I couldn’t possibly do it without it turning into an angry, profanity laced rant about how I enjoyed watching 2003 Tigers more than I have enjoyed this team so far this season. With that team at least I knew before I started watching they were going to lose, so I could just sit back and enjoy the immortal Dmitri Young lethargically jogging after fly balls. Instead I’ll look ahead a bit to the contracts that will give us headaches now, and for many years to come.

Gary Sheffield
2008:$14M, 2009:$14M
This one is by far the worst of this group. Sheffield was acquired in the off-season following the Tigers improbable run to the World Series in 2006. He is a former Florida Marlin, which seems to be a requirement for any player General Manager Dave Dombrowski trades for. Be worried if Dombrowski picks up former Marlins reliever Antonio Alfonseca to shore up their inept bullpen. Probably better known for his extra digit, than anything he accomplished in his moderately productive career. I’m not sure if Tigers ownership would be willing to buy him out of his contract with Barnum and Bailey. Back to the rant on Sheffield. The Tigers offensive woes in 2008 can be directly linked to Gary Sheffield hitting third in the lineup, with an average hovering around .190. How is it a good idea to bat Miguel Cabrera in the five spot? Does Jim Leyland think batting the players in this order optimizes run production or is he afraid that Gary Sheffield’s ego can’t take the hit of batting anywhere but the best spot in the lineup? The only solution I see is trading Sheffield for Dmitri Young. At least Dmitri won’t clog up the DH spot and we can have the added adventure of watching him aimlessly roam the outfield.

Brandon Inge
2008:$6.2M, 2009:$6.3M, 2010:$6.6M
Oops. Inge signed an extension prior to the 2007 season, but has been replaced at third base by Miguel Cabrera, making him baseball’s most expensive utility player. Once was probably one of the more popular answers to the Who’s Your Tiger ad campaign, now seems to have caused more than a few fans to sour on him since he began whining about playing any position that isn’t third base. Going back to catcher would seem to make the most sense being that Pudge Rodriquez’s contract is up at the end of the season and the Tigers have no viable options coming up through their farm system to replace him.(I sincerely hope nobody is saying “Well what about Vance Wilson?”) Inge claims that catching hurts his offensive production. In 2006, his first season playing exclusively third base he hit .253/.313/.463, which is passable considering his stellar defense at the hot corner. But last season he dropped his averages to .236/.312/.376. I’m going to subscribe to the there’s nowhere to go but up theory.

Kenny Rogers
2008:$8M
I don’t know if my opinion of a player has ever done as much of a 180 as it has with The Gambler. The camera incident moved him into the company of guys such as Stephen Jackson, Roger Clemens, and Claude Lemieux as some of my most disliked athletes out there. I was less than ecstatic when the Tigers signed him prior to the 2006 season. But after an all star regular season, he faced the Yankees in game 3 of the ALDS in 2006 and basically decided that there was no way in hell he was losing even if it meant cheating… allegedly. That season he was worth the eight million bucks that the Tigers shelled out for him. Last year when he pitched a total of 63 innings, he was not. This season, when he becomes eligible for the senior discount at Old Country Buffet, he isn’t.

Pudge Rodriguez
2008:$13M
Another former Florida Marlin. The signing of Pudge in 2004 was the first in a series of moves that made them the team that they are today. This gave Detroit credibility again after one of the worst seasons in the history of baseball. Things like leadership and handling the pitching staff cannot be measured. Things like hitting and throwing out base runners can. He has steadily declined in these categories over the last three seasons. While elite catchers are very hard to come by, Pudge is most certainly not worth 13 million dollars, even by today’s standards.

Nate Robertson
2008:$4.25M, 2009:$7M, 2010:$10M
Don’t get me wrong, I like Nate Robertson. He wears athletic glasses, works his ass off, and started the gum time phenomenon. Speaking of gum time, where the hell has that gone? Shoving an entire package of Big League Chew into your mouth is a hell of a lot more fun than turning my hat inside out and attempting to balance it on my head. Why has nobody figured out that the reason the Tigers haven’t been good in the last year and a half is directly linked to dugout BLC consumption? My thought is that mediocre prospects like Armando Galarraga, Virgil Vasquez, and Jordan Tata could fill the fifth spot in the rotation with an ERA around five just as well as Nate Robertson will be able too. I know for sure they could do it for less money, and I bet, with time and practice, they could learn to chew a whole pack of Big League too.

Professional Teams that Shouldn't Exist

NHL
1. Atlanta Thrashers
2. Carolina Hurricanes
3. Florida Panthers — Are we sure that the state of Florida needs two hockey teams? I haven't thought of the the Panthers since John Vanbiesbrouck and the 1996 playoffs.
4. Tampa Bay Lightning — On second thought Florida doesn't need any hockey teams.
5. Nashville Predators
6. Anaheim Ducks — I'm willing to give LA one team, but a second team is just too much.
7. Dallas Stars — The move a team from Minnesota, which is pretty much Canada, to Texas? The NHL is weird.
8. Phoenix Coyotes
9. San Jose Sharks
10. Columbus Blue Jackets — Such a meaningless team that I almost forgot to include them on the list, and I'm pretty sure that no one on Wikipedia is aware of their existence either.

Here's one thing I would do to try and fix the NHL's problems. The NHL should get rid of (pretty much) every team west of the Mississippi or any team where ice doesn't occur naturally. That way the league can be sure that every team they have is well supported. The flipside of this, is with a team made of meaningful teams, is a league full of rivalries and meaningful regular season games, both good things.

NBA
1. Memphis Grizzlies
2. New Orleans Hornets — You take a team from one of the most popular basketball markets in America to one that could care less? Move them back to Charlotte and make George Shinn sell the team.
3. Charlotte Bobcats — With the Hornets moving back to town, there's no reason for the Bobcats. Unless their owner sees potential in the Omaha, Nebraska market...wait, nevermind, you didn't hear anything.

MLB
1. Florida Marlins — Single biggest crime in sports? The Marlins own two World Series rings.
2. Colorado Rockies — Before last season when was the last time you had even heard the word 'Rockies' on ESPN? I'm guessing not since 1993. Not even Rockies fans want to pay any more than $4 dollars to see the team play.
3. Kansas City Royals — Not so much their own fault, but can you really see them ever competing again? With the economic system in baseball, they'll never be able to pay anyone. As soon as their young players develop, they'll have to trade them away for prospects. The cycle repeats and repeats and repeats and repeats.
4. San Diego Padres

NFL
1. St. Louis Rams — Just go back to LA.
2. Baltimore Ravens — Just go back to Cleveland
3. Arizona Cardinals — Just go away.

What the #%$?!

Bill Simmons just wrote an article about the NHL. And the worst part, just reading his article actually made me want to watch last nights Bruins/Canadiens game (if I had Versus.)

Maybe this is one of the first steps that the NHL is taking towards being relevant to the normal sports fan again.

What better way to get into the average sports fan's head than to get into 'The Sports Guy's' head. If I was the NHL, I'd be peppering Simmons with lavish gifts to make sure he knows that hockey is still around.

My Girlfriend Hates Sports

Lets get something straight. I love Sportscenter. From my days as a kid, getting up early before school to watch an hour before I had to get up, to today where on a sick day I can watch 4 hours of Sportscenter in a row. It never occurred to me that people might not like it. I mean what's wrong with Sportscenter? It's UnAmerican not to like it.

That's what I thought before 'The Offical ATB.com Girlfriend' weighed in on some issues. She said that Sportscenter causes headaches. She commented on how all of the hosts spoke very loud and very fast. It was just plain unpleasant for her to listen to.

It got me thinking...Is my Sportscenter, my BELOVED Sportscenter really that bad. Is it not the great institution that I once thought it was?

Is she just crazy or is there something behind her madness?

Tim Duncan is Great!

The Suns/Spurs Game 1 was one of the best basketball games that I have seen all year. I don't particularly like either one of the teams involved, but I found myself rooting for the Spurs, in an attempt to anger my roommate. The back-and-forth nature of the game was enjoyable enough, but it was this play that truly made the game memorable...



Talk about one of the greatest shots in NBA history. Tim '0 for the season' Duncan spotting up for 3 to tie the game at the end of OT. It doesn't get any better than that. And I don't care what anyone says, that was a designed play. He may not have been the number one option on the play, but he was definitely part of the marker board draw-up.

I looked up Duncan's career stats and they're not good. He's 24-126 for his career for three pointers. (BTW, who would have ever have known that Duncan has attempted that many three-pointers in his career. The most astounding stat was his epic 2000-2001 season where he shot an amazing 27 three's!) But that is what makes Spurs coach Gregg Popovich the best coach in the league. Who do you want handling/shooting the ball at the end of OT? Your most clutch players of course...so why not give the ball to Ginobili and Duncan, two of the most clutch players alive.

NBA. Where Amazing Happens.

(Except when you have to suffer through the Atlanta Hawks playing on national TV in the playoffs with something like a 32-50 record.)