This is a memo to Michigan State fans, Michigan State University, Michigan State alums and Michigan State students. Y’all need to come together and stop this DUMB “tradition.” Burning things in the street after losing a college basketball game is classless and reflects POORLY on MSU. And this is a Spartan (sort of, I’m an Illini first and foremost) talking. I did my first semester of graduate school at Michigan State, and that happened to be spring 2000, the same exact semester the Spartans won it all.
The Big Ten has not won a national title since, and a small group of Michigan State “fans” have acted like IDIOTS just about every year when MSU gets eliminated from the NCAA Tournament. Following last Marcht’s 71-61 loss to the Duke Blue Devils, at least seven couch fires were reported in East Lansing. This also happened in February after Michigan State lost to the Indiana Hoosiers. And this “ritual” goes back to 1999 when MSU was eliminated by Duke (the more things change, the more they stay the same) in the Final Four.
Congratulations cadre of Michigan State morons, you’ve done the impossible: made Duke more likable.
The picture I led this post with is from an edition of The State News, March 2000. The Michigan State University student daily covered the riots of the previous year quite well. And I thought that would help provide a lesson for how to behave in the future. I distinctly recall the University handing out buttons with pictures of Tom Izzo that said “Spartans act with class.”
But obviously some of you up at Michigan State don’t care. It’s happened in Chicago too. Some of the Chicago Bulls NBA championship “celebrations” in the 1990s included the scum of our city turning over cars in the street. And there were “celebrate safely” PSAs in full effect the next year when Michael Jordan and the Bulls made their run.
In 2003, when Michigan State was bounced from the Elite 8, images of E.L. streets resembled the scenes CNN showed us from Baghdad. And although this year was “mild,” with no major damage or injuries reported, this still shouldn’t happen in the first place. A college basketball game shouldn’t make a campus town look like some place U.S. military drones are repeatedly striking.
And now it happens when Michigan State wins too. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Look at this AP snippet
Michigan State ROWDY CROWDS
Dozens of fires, 15 arrests in East Lansing
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) – East Lansing police say at least 15 people were arrested during a rowdy celebration of Michigan State’s victory over Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game.
The police department’s weekend report says 12 people arrested were students and one was an alumnus. East Lansing police say there were at least 57 fires, especially in a neighborhood of apartments just off the eastern edge of campus.
The Lansing State Journal posted video online (https://on.lsj.com/1iQcJRG ) showing thousands of revelers cheering loudly as a couch was tossed on a fire. The street scenes early Sunday occurred after the Spartans defeated the Buckeyes and earned a Rose Bowl bid.
Michigan State President Lou Anna Simon says the behavior was disappointing.
Miles away in Ypsilanti, police reported two couch fires related to the game.
If this continues, I may have to spend the rest of my life as a University of Illinois graduate who completed his MBA at Loyola; not an Illini who did some grad work at MSU and is a fan of Michigan State. And that’s a shame because Tom Izzo is quite admirable and affable; both for what he’s accomplished and how entertaining/accommodating he is with the media. He did an AWESOME Jimmy “B. Rabbit” Smith style mic drop at the Big Ten Tournament.
We can’t let a bunch of drunk losers who watch basketball ruin it for everyone else connected to Michigan State. Or “Jerks” as the headline of a Lansing television station put it.
aul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also an analyst for multiple news talk radio stations across the country; with regular weekly segments on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and RSS Catch him Tuesdays talking Illini and Northwestern for KOZN 1620 The Zone, Fridays talking Chicago Bears for WAOR 95.7 The Fan