During this weekend's NFL Draft, you'll hear familiar names like Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart and Vince Young called early in the first round. But for MSU fans, there could be other recognizable names in this year's draft.
By Brittany Ghiroli For The State News Going into the women's Big Ten Rowing Championships this weekend, spirits couldn't be higher for the No.
The State News caught up with former MSU guard Charlie Bell on Thursday over the phone. Bell is now playing in the NBA for the Milwaukee Bucks, who are battling the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
Oh sure, he grew up playing baseball in Royal Oak, played for a year at John Carroll University and then started for three at Dayton.
MSU head coach Rick Comley has added four players who are expected to fill the voids left by graduating seniors Jared Nightingale, Corey Potter, David Booth, Colton Fretter and Chad Hontvet as well as compliment the returning athletes of the program. Here's a look at the incoming Spartans set to debut this fall: Forward Matt Schepke: At 5-foot-9 and 196 pounds, Schepke scored 37 goals and 56 points with the Omaha Lancers of the USHL in 2005-06.
By Yvette Lanier For The State News He was getting on her nerves. No, for that matter, she said he got on everyone's nerves in class.
Coming into Wednesday's game against MSU, the Toledo baseball team was giving up fewer than six runs a game. The Spartans had that many before most of the fans found their seats. Propelled by an eight-run first inning, MSU (20-18 overall, 8-8 Big Ten) turned in its best offensive performance in years, setting season highs for runs and hits in a 23-4 hammering of the Rockets at Kobs Field. "They kept the pressure, and they kept the fire inside and put together quality at-bats," MSU head coach David Grewe said.
Women: No. 6 seed MSU vs. No. 11 seed Wisconsin What: Big Ten Tournament preliminary round matchup When: 2 p.m.
A couple of hours after Liz Shimek finished her final college paper on April 19, she packed the past four years of her life into a couple cardboard boxes — sorting old clothes she hasn't worn in a while from keepsakes of her time at MSU. The next day, she left East Lansing and headed to Chicago, where she began a new chapter of her life at rookie orientation in the WNBA. "I'm never going to move back down to East Lansing," the former MSU forward said.
The following is the transcript of a confrontation that may or may not have taken place at The State News office: Hey!
A little bit of home cooking didn't do the MSU softball team any good Tuesday when it dropped a 2-1 nonconference contest to Western Michigan at Old College Field. The loss extends the Spartans' winless streak to five games — their longest of the season.
The MSU football team hasn't been to a bowl game in two years, finishing with a 5-7 record in 2004 and 5-6 in 2005. The consecutive losing seasons and lack of a postseason berth haven't dimmed the players' morale, however.
Lansing — With the way the rain was coming down at Oldsmobile Park on Sunday, it looked like the Lansing Lugnuts and Beloit Snappers might not even take the field. After a 30-minute delay the two teams did finally get out on the dampened grass and play a game. In fact, they nearly played two. Holding a 1-0 lead in the top of the seventh, the Lugnuts surrendered a tying run the Snappers' Andrew Thompson scored from third base on a sacrifice fly by Paul Kelly. The teams remained deadlocked at 1-1 through the bottom of the ninth, and the game stretched into extra innings. The Lugnuts found themselves in a hole in the bottom of the thirteenth, trailing 3-2.
In 2005, MSU's special teams were anything but special. Senior John Goss and sophomore Matt Haughey combined to go just 5-of-16 on field-goal attempts last season, and senior punter Brandon Fields averaged about six yards less per punt in 2005 than the year before. The feeling this spring is that someone other than Goss or Haughey will be the kicker come fall. At Friday's spring scrimmage, sophomore Todd Boleski handled all the field-goal duties, connecting from 23 yards, 32 yards and twice from 52 yards, which drew the loudest crowd eruptions at Spartan Stadium. Boleski, who shared kickoff duties in 2005 with Fields, also was good on all of his extra points Friday, sailing two over the net behind the goal posts. "He's had a pretty good spring," head coach John L.
The State News caught up with freshman outfielder Kyle Day. • His favorite baseball movie... "I'll keep it young and go with The Sandlot.
Mother Nature kept the MSU baseball team from turning a good weekend into a great one. After walk-off wins in the first two games of their series against Minnesota, the Spartans (19-18 overall, 8-8 Big Ten) managed only a split after losing the rain-shortened finale, 6-3, on Sunday. With a spring shower steadily sprinkling at Kobs Field, the Golden Gophers (20-17, 8-8) scored in each of Sunday's first three innings to take a 4-1 lead. MSU started its comeback with one out in the fourth when junior outfielder Adam Tripp homered off Minnesota starter Cole DeVries.
Gonzaga's Adam Morrison announced last week that he plans to forgo his senior season and enter the NBA Draft. He's rumored to be drawing interest from Portland, Seattle, and the Hair Club for Men. For the second straight season, the NBA broke its own attendance record. Meanwhile, for the sixth straight season, attendance at Mark Cuban's house parties remained at zero. The Chinese government will not pressure Yao Ming, who's recovering from a broken foot, to play for the national team, The Associated Press reports. Instead, Yao will be asked to fill in for a portion of the Great Wall of China that's undergoing construction this summer. The New York Yankees are worth $1 billion, according to estimates released last week by Forbes magazine. About $200 million of that, the magazine finds, comes from the sale of Johnny Damon posters to teenage girls. Deena Kastor, a 33-year-old American, won the London Marathon last week. Not bad for a colonist.
Drew Stanton put an end to the back-and-forth trash-talking featuring suggestions for Slim-Fast and winter hibernation jokes from MSU head coach John L.
There's an old saying that goes "Beware the fury of a patient man." In the case of the Edmonton Oilers, it's more like the fury of a patient team which is exactly what has Red Wings fans nervous after splitting the first two games of the playoffs with their Canadian nemesis. Two giveaways were enough for the Oilers to win 4-2 on Sunday, and two power-play goals nearly propelled them to a win in the series-opener on Friday night. How did the Oilers do it?
Ron Artest's New Year's resolutions, Sebastian Telfair's gun-filled purse and the Kobe Bryant Image Recovery Plan were all just foreplay.