1979

No, not the song. This is another post about basketball. I was ni high school when I was Magic and Kelser put on their show at Jenison. There were some ups that season and a few downs (losing to Northwestern comes to mind) but I remember the big game. I got to stay up and watch the whole thing, And what I remember most is not Magic's long passes to Kelser waiting by the rim, by Terry Donnelly scoring 15 points, sinking his free throws at the end and giving a big grin to his teammates.
And then they came back to East Lansing. I went to the rally at Jensison-my Dad had to go to make sure everything was okay-and I think I left school early. I remember getting there and almost no one was there yet-and I sat at center court, first row. I only realized recently (this week) that my Dad proabably put me there so he could keep an eye on me while he walked around talking to his people. And who sat next to me? Zeke the Wonder Dog-the frisbee catching star of Michigan State football games. It was a good day.

Go State!

Yes, I went to Michigan State. And when I was in grade school, high school and college, I went to all football, basketball and hockey games. Of course I did-we had season tickets for all of them, my brother and sister had moved out by then and it was difficult for my Mom to go, so I went with my Dad. Freezing cold football games, hot basketball games and cold hockey games. Sometimes we did well (the Rose Bowl in the late 80's, hockey NCAA champs in 86, basketball in 79 and 2000) and not sometimes not. More often not and more often we were mocked by people down the road in Ann Arbor.
But not this year. This year, MSU is going to the big game on Monday night-and they are doing it in Michigan, a scant 90 miles away from East Lansing-and to do they beat:

1) The reigning champs

2) The #1 seed

3) One other #1 seed and a team ranked #1 most of the season

Honestly, UConn looked like they thought they were just going to walk all over MSU and didn't happen-and by the end of the game, they just looked tired.
So, thank you, Spartans. Thank you for bringing some cheer to a state that's been going through a hard time lately. Thank you, Kalin Lucas, Travis Walton, Goran Suton (who barely scored and still won), Draymond Greene and especially Raymar Morgan. Michigan needs something positive right now and you brought it. Boy, did you bring it.