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Sports | 1117

SPORTS

Monday Musings

Tom Keller
October 23, 2006

Starting next season, several Major League Baseball teams will sell caskets marked with their team colors and insignia. Among the early buyers: The Kansas City Royals, who will use the caskets to house their playoff hopes once the season is a month old. Almost half of baseball fans want Barry Bonds to fall short of Hank Aaron's home run record, according to an Associated Press-America Online poll released last week. Worse for Bonds, almost 98 percent of fans hope he doesn't break Placido Polanco's record for biggest head in the league. In other baseball news, MLB players and owners reportedly have reached a tentative agreement for a new labor contract.

SOCCER

MSU gets 1st conference win in 2OT

Brendan Bouffard
October 23, 2006

After 90 grueling minutes of regulation play, the MSU men's soccer team entered overtime against Northwestern, needing a clutch goal to capture its first Big Ten win of the season. With less than three minutes remaining in double overtime, MSU junior midfielder Ben Pirmann lifted an impressive pass into the box.

SPORTS

No postgame praise for Smith

• The players are usually the first to credit the coaching staff after a big win, but there was hardly any mention of coaching moves in the post-game press conference.

SPORTS

Word on the street

"I've been a Tigers fan since I can remember — I'd do whatever it takes, as long as it isn't life threatening.

SPORTS

MSU's task: Replace Shimek, Bowen

Eric Fish
October 19, 2006

The MSU women's basketball program established itself as an organization of national superiority two seasons ago when it reached the national championship game. Last year, the team made it to the Sweet 16, further cementing the success of the program. But gone are the days of Kristin Haynie, Kelli Roehrig, Lindsay Bowen and Liz Shimek, and now it's time for senior captains Victoria Lucas-Perry, Rene Haynes and Katrina Grantham to lead the team into a new era of basketball as the upcoming season looms. Five letterwinners from last year — including Shimek and Bowen, MSU's all-time No.

SOCCER

MSU blanks Valparaiso, 2-0

Matt Bishop
October 19, 2006

With a Big Ten showdown against Northwestern looming on the horizon, the MSU men's soccer team could easily have looked past its Wednesday opponent, Valparaiso. Instead, the Spartans came out and played suffocating defense from the first whistle to the last, crushing the Crusaders, 2-0, at Old College Field. "Today was what we call a Spartan effort," MSU head coach Joe Baum said.

SPORTS

Spartans learning from Tigers' success

Joey Nowak
October 19, 2006

The last time the Detroit Tigers won a World Series title, most MSU athletes were in diapers or had not even been born. "None of the players on our team have experienced the Tigers win," MSU baseball head coach David Grewe said.

SPORTS

Come together, right now, over sports?

Grown men were brought to tears. Homeless people and residents from places like Farmington Hills united with fist pumps and chanted cheers. More than 40,000 people decked out in navy and orange flooded the streets.

VOLLEYBALL

Schatzle named Big Ten Player of Week

Matt Bishop
October 17, 2006

Junior outside hitter Ashley Schatzle was named the Big Ten Volleyball Player of the Week after leading the Spartans to wins against Michigan and Iowa. The honor is the first for an MSU volleyball player since the 2003 season. Schatzle averaged 6.5 kills per game and hit .423 for the week.

FOOTBALL

Spartans secure Ohio offensive line recruit

Matt Bishop
October 17, 2006

The MSU football team has received another verbal commitment from the class of 2007, this one from Mark Wetterer, an offensive lineman from Anderson High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. Prior to the season, Wetterer had offers from 12 Division-1 schools, including West Virginia and Maryland, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. He is ranked 28th in the state of Ohio by recruiting service Rivals.com. The Web site also ranks him as a three-star recruit out of five.

FOOTBALL

Heisman hopeful Smith shines

Ethan Conley
October 16, 2006

Many questions are up for debate in college football, but there's one truth that is nearly indisputable: Regardless of where he's playing or whom he's playing against, Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith is always the coolest guy on the field. Smith proved himself unflappable in early-season road games against Texas and Iowa.