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?
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