Wednesday, December 24, 2025

Take a peek behind the curtain and test drive the NEW StateNews.com today!

Sports | Volleyball 1000

VOLLEYBALL

Long road ahead for undefeated Spartans

Long road trips can be difficult and overbearing, but as the No. 20 MSU volleyball team stares down a monthlong stretch of games away from Jenison Field House, head coach Cathy George is optimistic her team will develop a good road routine in time for the tough Big Ten Conference schedule ahead.

SOCCER

Freeman hopes to help lead soccer team back to NCAAs

The State News caught up with MSU women’s soccer forward Cara Freeman on her small break from the workout room this week. Last year, the zoology junior started every game and was ranked third on the team in points and goals. This year, she has one goal and one assist in the team’s first two games.

FOOTBALL

Second half: Tail end of schedule challenging

Five of MSU’s final six opponents went to a bowl game and four of them won at least nine games. But this season, the schedule actually sets up pretty favorably for the Spartans. Four of the final six games are at home and the two road games typically aren’t at hostile environments.

FOOTBALL

MSU football begins fall camp, Dantonio returns to basic skills

At the beginning of the MSU football team’s fall camp, everybody wears a name tag — even Mark Dantonio. With a “Coach Dantonio” written on tape across his stomach, Dantonio kicked off his third season as MSU head coach with the team’s first practice Monday and noted not much has changed from his first two fall camps in East Lansing.

FOOTBALL

Ringer reflects on career so far

NFL rookies around the country have been working on their game, and Tennessee Titans running back Javon Ringer is no different. The former MSU workhorse, Ringer was selected in the fifth round by the Titans in April’s NFL Draft. The State News caught up with Ringer during Titans-organized team activities to ask him about adjusting to the NFL, his time at MSU and being a professional football player.

FOOTBALL

Spartans voice their choice on student section T-shirt designs

There’s no place for Democrats or Republicans with an important vote facing MSU students — it’s time to decide the 2009 football student section T-shirt. Voting for the upcoming season’s student section T-shirt can be done at http://www.msuspartans.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/062209aaa.html, and the voting period ends July 17.

SPORTS

Advancing Athletics

By now, you’ve seen the Pure Michigan advertisements on TV. In the commercials, there usually are images of Michigan’s Great Lakes, lighthouses and fresh harvests coming in. It shows all the openness, the nature of the state, the beauty that shines through the mere landscape and topography. But all the nature, as beautifully mesmerizing as it is, cannot hold the attention of the most freewheeling minds.

BASEBALL

Roof only Spartan MLB draft pick, joins father in Detroit

Eric Roof has never played baseball for his father, but he’ll get his first chance in the next couple months. Roof, who played catcher for the Spartans, was the only MSU player taken in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. He’ll be playing for the organization where his father, Gene, has spent more than two decades — the Detroit Tigers.

ICE HOCKEY

Michigan made

The Michigan-made man is dying as we know it. As the state’s auto companies file for bankruptcy and merge with foreign manufacturers, the Michigan-made man is disappearing from the nation’s architecture. The car dealers offering low prices and zero money down will become less diverse on TV and radio airwaves during the coming months.