Being a Michigan State fan means having always having a chip on your shoulder.
Actually, that chip defines them. It’s like being a Chicago White Sox fan. In that fan base, the chip is also the defining characteristic. Whether it’s the Chicago Cubs in the case of the latter, or Michigan and now Ohio State in the case of the former, there’s always a “favorite” to define yourself in opposition to.
There’s always a mill to find some grist, a side to be a thorn to, some gears to grind against. For MSU football, it’s even there in within their own University. Remember, this still a so-called “basketball school.”
It’s cool though: MSU QB Connor Cook feels your pain. As he explains in this interview.
Here’s a video on how Mark Dantonio plans to manage the raised expectations in East Lansing. Cutting through all the coachspeak and meaningless cliches, the only way to improve upon last season now is to reach the college football playoff.
Big Ten Media Day was a “slow news day” this year. You’ve probably noticed that given the lack of interesting articles and segments that emerged from that day in Chicago at the end of last month. If I didn’t ask Bo Pelini about his cat, I’m not sure any of us would have had much to say at all. In six hours of stump speeches, and a sprinkle of Q&A, nothing Earth shattering was unveiled.
Jim Delaney and Urban Meyer, the most powerful and polarizing figures in the league, were probably the least interesting of all. The lack of compelling narratives from that day long affair left the only new addition to the Michigan secondary, Jabrill Peppers, as one of the top headlines of the day.
Yes, a freshman DB that no one, outside of hard core college football recruiting geeks, and the most devoted in #GoBlue Nation, had heard of, was one of the best topics of discussion.
So I apologize if there wasn’t anything more insightful about MSU football from Big Ten Media Day or MSU football media day. Also, the MSU football sports information department is pretty bad at their job, so that doesn’t help either. If they were even moderately accessible, or halfway decent at providing the services that their job requires, we would all have more services to provide you with more and better MSU football stories this preseason.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports and Yahoo! He’s been a guest on news talk shows all across the world. He’s also a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Banks has been featured in numerous media outlets including NFL.com, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Deadspin, ESPN, NBC, CBS, the History Channel and more. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)