Weekly Treat — Remembering Fall 2008

By: Jacob Carpenter Posted: 12/05/08 12:53pm Comments: 0

What can I say? Writing about sports every weekday during the Fall 2008 semester has been a treat.

It’s not hard to ramble and give my mostly unsolicited opinion five days a week when there is so much going on in sports that makes you laugh, cry, smile, frown, yell and rendered speechless. Rarely does a period of a few months disappoint in sports, and Fall 2008 was no different. From football to basketball to, yes, even hockey, every day brings a new debatable topic. Some are of great importance (and most are not), but what makes writing about and reading and watching sports is that you never know what’s going to happen next.

As a result, it’s been a treat to write about sports every day this semester because:

— I genuinely believed in my Izzo-Dantonio presidential ticket.

— You can’t make up Plaxico Burress shooting himself in the leg. (As a friend pointed out yesterday, how much better would it have been if Plax shot himself in the foot?)

— Michigan did lose to Toledo. In football. Not basketball.

— The Lions really will go 0-16.

— The Tampa Bay Rays gave hope to all fans of perennially awful teams (see: Lions fans).

— Kwame somehow outlasted Millen in their respective offices.

— The MSU football team won nine games and lost none by less than a touchdown.

— There are no Spanish numbers on the back of a Cincinnati Bengals jersey.

— Pacman Jones was in and out of trouble more than Amy Winehouse.

— The Yankees didn’t make the playoffs.

— There is now reason to hate the BCS even more.

— Joe Dumars is either smart or dumb, but definitely fearless.

— Everyone now appreciates what Tiger Woods does for golf. (Did they actually play tournaments without him this year?)

— A baseball season ended without Barry Bonds in a uniform.

— I have a reason to hate myself every day after cheering for Michigan football this year (only once, of course).

— A recession can’t keep fans away from the stands.

— You know tomorrow will be a new day in sports.

Weekly Beef — Avery Suspension Bogus

Posted 12/03 @ 8:57pm (1 comment(s) )

You’ve got to love how many role models there are in sports.

On Campus — Favorite MSU Alumni

Posted 12/02 @ 6:32pm (10 comment(s) )

For every 500 MSU athletes who graduate with honor and class, there’s one Plaxico Burress.

The Question — Takebacks on AI Deal?

Posted 12/01 @ 10:20pm (1 comment(s) )

If hindsight is 20-20 in the real world, then it’s got to be somewhere around 20-5 in the sports world.

On Campus — Big Ten Bowls Need Realignment

Posted 11/30 @ 8:28pm (4 comment(s) )

Complaining about the BCS is so cliché, so I’m going to complain about the college football postseason a different way.

Weekly Treat — Mussina Goes Out Right

Posted 11/20 @ 11:03pm (0 comment(s) )

I suppose ESPN’s SportsCenter is only appeasing our taste for the salacious in sports, but even I found this morning’s show noteworthy in its presentation choices.

Weekly Beef — Sports Illustrated Being Outplayed

Posted 11/19 @ 9:30pm (2 comment(s) )

This week’s sign of the apocalypse? Sports Illustrated has been benched as the best source of sports media.

The List — Best & Worst College Nicknames

Posted 11/18 @ 9:34pm (11 comment(s) )

In middle school, I used to pride myself on the fact that I knew every Division I football team’s nickname. It was one of my greatest accomplishments, up there with graduating from elementary school and perfecting cursive in fourth grade.

The Question — Worst Last-Minute Betting Beat?

Posted 11/18 @ 2:23pm (0 comment(s) )

After several minutes of discussion and heaping amounts of confusion, Sunday’s game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Diego Chargers ended in an 11-10 Steelers win. The game’s final few seconds were screwed up by a touchdown following an attempt by the Chargers, trailing by one, to lateral the length of the field for a touchdown. When the Steelers scooped up an errant lateral, they returned the fumble for a touchdown to go up 17-10.