brainsplotch

I know that all of you Big Ten football fans and loyal readers were just dying for the annual tradition handing out my Brainsplotch Big Ten Football Awards. Unlike the previous two years, in 2010 I will honor more than one defensive player. In 2008 and 2009, I was too flat-out lazy to break down defense and distribute multiple awards. I'm sure the Big Ten was extremely disappointed by my lack of comprehensive analysis. Hey, it's not like I'm getting paid to do this! You were restless with anticipation to see the players I selected, as I'm sure the players themselves can hardly wait to receive their "virtual" awards. Never fear, your wait is over...drum roll, please: Most Valuable Player: Denard Robinson, Michigan. There was not a single player in the conference who was more valuable to his team than Denard Robinson, the Wolverines' quarterback. With Michigan's defense and special teams as terrible as they were, it's hard to imagine how miserable t...

The last time Michigan State won a Big Ten title in football, I was 22 years old, and still (sort of) a student at MSU. I had (so I thought--it's a long story that I'll get to some other time) finished my coursework, and was awaiting placement as a student teacher, so I was sort of in limbo during the autumn of '90. I still had friends on campus, so I drove to MSU a few times that Fall to hang out. (I was living at home that autumn, and missed campus life terribly). I recall that the big popular song that autumn of '90 was Bell Biv Devoe's "Do Me!", I was on the MSU campus the day the Spartans beat Michigan in the "Number one vs. No one" game (and joined an impromptu crazed-but-happy rally at the "Sparty" statue following the game), I had a couple crushes on two girls--neither of which panned out (due mainly to my then-cluelessness with the opposite sex), and that I had a youthful scrape with the law--during Thanksgiving weekend--that...

"Don't get your hopes up," "don't get your hopes up," don't get your hopes up". That is my mantra as a Michigan State football fan. It was once my mantra as a Michigan State basketball fan, until Tom Izzo came along and essentially changed all of that. Is it possible that Mark Dantonio may do the same for MSU football? Time will tell if MSU's football fortunes are truly changing under Dantonio's tutelage. For now, though, I still find myself almost always thinking, when Spartan football has a chance to do something good, "don't get your hopes up." Since I first became truly conscious of MSU football back in 1977, when I was nine years old, the years have been riddled with one disappointment and mediocre season after another. Sure, there have been the periodic moments of glory, like the 1978 Big Ten championship (which, as I've mentioned before, only seems like a rumor now, since there seems to be no visual proof of it...

I will be off to my sister-in-law's house in East Lansing for some great food, family, and those exasperating Detroit Lions. Can they pull of the upset against the Patriots? Highly doubtful even if Brian Hoyer has to play for Tom Brady. Anyway, I wish all my millions of readers a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I work at a library in the blue collar Midwest. We get an extremely broad mix of patrons: everyone from families, to elderly people, to folks desperately trying to find jobs and who use our computers in order to fill out applications and create resumes. I see so many people come in the library who have little idea about the very basics of using a computer. They don't know how to use the internet, they have no idea how to set up an email account, or use Microsoft Word. One would think that by the year 2010, most people would know the basics of computer usage, but this is not the case. There are so many people who are being left behind by our increasingly technological world. I'm not just talking about older folks, either. There are people in their thirties and even a few in their twenties who struggle with new technology. This is an even bigger issue recently because many companies and businesses only accept online applications. On Tuesday, a...

This wild and wooly Michigan State Spartan football season just keeps going. What an amazing come-from-behind win. We went to my parents' house in the Thumb for a (pre-Thanksgiving) Thanksgiving family get-together. When I stepped in the door a little after 12 o'clock noon, my dad announced that State had just scored the first touchdown. It seemed at that point that the Spartans would go on to roll the Boilermakers and have a fun, relaxing senior day...how wrong I was. The game went gradually downhill from there. By the time Michigan State was down 28-13 at the end of the third quarter, I was writing off the game as yet another of a long line of headscratching MSU football losses. The Spartans could do nothing right and nothing was going in their favor. Kirk Cousins was banged up and briefly left the game, meanwhile MSU had suddenly forgotten how to tackle, and were committing stupid penalties left and right. Once again, I thought (and said to my dad at one point) the Spartans...

I had a particularly long and grueling day at work, it wasn't necessarily bad, it just wore me out and it was such sweet relief to finally get in my car and drive home. My normal habit on the nightly drive home is to listen to NPR, generally WUOM 91.7 out of Ann Arbor, because that NPR station has a nice clear FM signal. However, the night before I'd been listening to the MSU basketball game on the way home, and hadn't bothered to change it to nice, staid, calm, relaxing NPR. Instead of the BBC NewsHour (or whatever is on at 6:00 PM), I was greeted by The Beatles' "The Ballad of John and Yoko." That was a pleasant surprise. I stopped across the street from work for gas, and when I finished it was John Lennon singing "Watching the Wheels," a song I didn't much like when it came out in 1980 but a song I've come to appreciate much more the older I become. I turned up the volume a little on that one. It soon became obvious that this was a L...

Two years ago, I apologized to those who may be reading this blog (and at this point I believe I've bored everyone to death and they've long sinced tuned out) about my football obsession. I'm truly sorry that I'm presenting myself as completely narrow-minded, but I have to admit that this time of year, with my favorite team and alma mater MSU having an excellent season, football is my obsession right now. My plan is to try and sprinkle this blog with a few non-football posts (we'll see how that goes). I want to write a post regarding the recent election and my observations of the political atmosphere in Michigan. Many blogs out there are devoted to the emotional lives and personal angst of the blogger. Hey, if that's what they want to write about, that's great. I'm all for it if it's done well, and there are some bloggers out there who do a wonderful job writing personal confessionals. I just don't think I'm comfortable with airing my dirty l...

It was a little dull, a little vanilla, but Michigan State got the job done against a team in turmoil, the Minnesota Gophers. Now, the Spartans get a much deserved and much needed bye week before the final two-game push of the season. I really can't find much to say about this game. Really not much to say. I will give credit to Minnesota for playing hard and not quitting. Adam Weber is a talented quarterback, and MarQueis Gray (who split time between quarterback and receiver) showed a real upside, but the Gophers made too many mistakes to make it a competive game. As far as the Spartans go, the coaches probably kept the playcalling deliberately conservative because they could. MSU's focus was to simply get through this game with a victory, as few nicks and bruises as possible, and get the guys healthy for November 20 against Purdue. Special mention goes to Edwin Baker, who had a tremendous game for the Spartans (admittedly against an extremely weak defense) with 179 yards...