Michigan State Needs To Stop Whining About Michigan In Football

Every year, when University of Michigan and Michigan State University play in football, we have the usual trash talk. Clearly, that is part of any college football rivalry. The biggest rivalry for Michigan is, of course, the one with Ohio State. As part of that rivalry, there has been some historic trash talk that has taken on almost legendary status through the years.

This year, the U-M vs. MSU rivalry lacks a little bit of buzz. Michigan is undefeated while State has struggled with losses to Central Michigan University, University of Notre Dame and University of Wisconsin. The Wolverines are coming off a pitiful 2008 season (its first under Rich Rodriguez). Meanwhile, Michigan State has seen its program become more stable under head coach Mark Dantonio (frankly, there is no need to panic because of a few bumps in the road this fall).

Even last year, as Michigan State beat Michigan fair and square in Michigan Stadium, players, coaches and fans of the Spartans still persist on this working-class hero thing and trying to portray Michigan in a certain way (as arrogant, elitist ... which is silly since you know MSU fans, coaches and players thumb their nose at some schools ... like say, uh, CMU).

Anyway, this brings me to some comments in an article written by Shannon Shelton of the Detroit Free Press. Shannon compiled some quotes from some MSU players:

"This game is personal, and we need to win it," sophomore quarterback Kirk Cousins said. "And we better win it."

That was one of the milder comments. When players were asked how they felt about the U-M rivalry, they didn't hold back.

"Before the game last year, Coach D told us that if you haven't played Michigan, within 30 seconds you'll realize why we don't like them," defensive end Trevor Anderson said. "After about 15 seconds, I realized why I didn't like them. Just the total lack of respect that they have for our school in general. Not just the program, but the general lack of respect they have for us.

"As an athlete you go out there ... we're always taught as Spartans to respect our opponent. And just the lack of respect they have, period, is just sickening."

And from left tackle Rocco Cironi, an Ohio native, when asked if he grew up with a hatred for U-M: "Yeah, I think everybody has a hatred for Michigan."

I know, I know ... Dantonio and his Spartans are trying to fire up their base. I get it.

But ...

Dantonio has sparked this persistent bitter pettiness and it's frankly beneath him and the Michigan State program to constantly whine about Michigan. Dantonio needs to get control of himself and his players. Remember these are some of the same guys crying about former U-M running back Mike Hart's stupid comments a few years back. Michigan and Ohio State players, over the years, have said far worse to each other. But, both schools go out on the field and battle it out. Some of these whining MSU players need to let it go, grow up and be better on the football field. State did a good job of it last year, but this crying stuff has to go.

So far (or so it seems), Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez is trying to take the high road in this rivalry:

That doesn't mean a whole lot to second-year Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez, however.

"The only one we're involved in (as a) staff was last year," Rodriguez said. "Players may say, yeah, we owe these guys and all that kind of stuff. They won the game fair and square last year. And we're going to try to win it this year. But I don't ever look back and say oh, this happened 20, 30, 40 years ago, it's really not relevant to this year. Every year is a new year."

A rivalry should be intense and trash talking is OK. Keep the trash talking and ditch the hypocritical crybaby stuff. I am pretty sure people in the Mid-American Conference perceive pretty much all teams in the Big Ten the way MSU seems to think it is perceived by Michigan. You think Michigan State fans see their loss to Central Michigan as no less embarrassing than their losses to Notre Dame or Wisconsin? Of course CMU is going to be looked down upon when compared to Notre Dame and Wisconsin (whether it's fair or unfair). So, if MSU players or U-M players cry about respect ... remember what student-athletes from the MAC think when they're looked down upon by Big Ten schools.

Blount Punishment By Oregon Hard To Argue, But …

When Oregon football player LeGarrette Blount chin-checked Boise State player Byron Hout (after Hout struck Blount to get his attention and then trash talked him a little following Thursday night’s game) I thought the suspension would be stiff. At first I thought … four or five games … some people I know talked me off the ledge and thought it might be a little less … two to three games. We were all wrong … VERY WRONG! The furor this mess created as the video was replayed over and over again on ESPN, other media outlets and YouTube probably did Blount no favors as Oregon elected to suspend him for the remainder of the season.

From ESPN:

EUGENE, Ore. — A day after Oregon’s college football season opened, it ended for running back LeGarrette Blount.

Blount was suspended for all remaining games on Friday for punching Boise State defensive end Byron Hout in the jaw following the 16th-ranked Ducks’ 19-8 loss to the 14th-ranked Broncos the night before.

Because he is a senior, Blount’s playing days in Eugene are over.

Oregon’s first-year coach, Chip Kelly, told a sobbing Blount about his decision after reviewing tape of the altercation.

Celebrating the victory on the Broncos’ trademark blue turf, Hout yelled in Blount’s face and tapped him on the shoulder pad. Before Boise State coach Chris Petersen could pull Hout away, Blount landed a right to Hout’s jaw, knocking him to his knees.

I can’t argue with that suspension. Blount did it to himself by losing his cool due to the words of a trash-talking opponent.

Now, it appears Blount’s college football career might be a wrap.

I know it’s wildly popular for people to pile onto Blount and get their shots in on this young man. What he did was a horrible mistake in judgement and there is no question he needed to be punished for the punch and for the reaction as he was leaving the stadium. But, there are some other things I do wonder about: (1) What responsibility does Boise State or whomever have for reportedly replaying the video of the punch on the stadium scoreboard and firing up the crowd as the Oregon players were leaving the field and (2) will Hout receive any significant discipline for his role in starting the fracas on the field (not suggesting a suspension, but he needs to be held accountable for getting something like that started on a weekend when the American Football Coaches Association was emphasizing sportsmanship among teams).

Just a few additional thoughts to think about.

Fox News Quotes Right Winger In Story About Bias On College Campuses

Well, leave it to Fox News to write and publish a one-sided and biased story about speaker bias on college campuses. Fox News decides to quote the right-wing activist David Horowitz in a story about college campuses inviting more liberal than conservative speakers.

Here’s an excerpt from the Fox News story:

“The colleges have been transformed,” said Horowitz, whose organization, Students for Academic Freedom, tracks ideological bias on campus. “They’re now these partisan institutions. They’re not going to change.”

Horowitz ran a study in 2003 that looked at commencement speakers at 32 top institutions in the U.S. for the previous 10 years. He found that liberals and Democrats were favored over conservatives by a ratio of 15-1. And then he stopped counting.

“It’s permanent. It’s not going to change, partly because there’s so little attention being paid to it,” he told FOXNews.com.

Horowitz, however, can not be trusted (unless you’re from Fox News) to present an unbiased perspective on this issue (or, for that matter, many other issues he and his group are affiliated with). He has a significant credibility gap and, thus, anything he says is suspect.

That being said, however, I encourage different perspectives on college campuses in terms of lectures over the course of the academic school year. Students should have opportunities to hear speakers coming from reasonably different perspectives.

Fox News:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/14/conservative-speakers-widely-shunned-graduation-ceremonies/