Dr. Green and White Sports Authority

It has been a long semester in East Lansing, full of ups and downs. Over the first few weeks Michigan State did well on the first few biology assignments on nocturnal birds of prey, aquatic reptiles, and large predatory felines. But then they really struggled in the last few questions on the quiz on east coast birds of prey, despite staying up late to study. That seemed to send the Spartans into a bit of a funk as they proceeded to bomb the assignment on poisonous nuts before losing their homework on water foul due to a weekend trip out west. After that break Michigan State got back into a groove and aced the mid term on 19th century American literature. (It's a good thing the Spartans boned up on James Fenimore Cooper.) But after that, the Spartans struggled once again on the assignment on members of the weasel family. Then they seemed to just phone it in on the module on native peoples of the American Midwest. But last week, Michigan State managed a C+ in shop. Now the Spartans a...

Following Michigan State's 24-17 win over Purdue on Friday night, head Coach Jonathan Smith referred to the game as "a tale of two halves." The fans who brewed an extra cup of coffee and stayed up late to watch the end of the game can certainly confirm that this was far from a scalding hot take. In the first half against Purdue, Michigan State scored on all four drives and amassed 24 points on 220 yards of offense. Meanwhile, the defense gave up just three points and 134 yards. But in the second half, the defense surrendered 14 points and 204 yards while the offense was forced to punt on five consecutive drive, the longest of which gained just 18 yards. In many ways, the Purdue game was a microcosm of the season as a whole. Half of the time, the Spartans look pretty good. Half the time, they look like a competitive Big Ten team with significantly improved coaching and schemes. Examples include the wins against Iowa, at Maryland, and large portions of the games against Bos...

Back in the 60s, the 1860s that is, there was a certain leader of men named David Farragut. He was a coach of sorts. OK, technically he was a admiral, but at the time his team was facing a major challenge.  Farragut was attempting to capture the port of Mobile, Ala. during the during the U.S. Civil War, and he had a problem. The Confederacy had placed naval mines (referred to as "torpedoes") and Farragut had sustained several loses as his navy attempted to enter the bay. But Farragut was a bold man, and despite the adversity, he gave a clear order to his troops: "Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead!" His team pressed on and eventually won battle. Farragut's victory allowed the Union to complete a blockade on the Gulf of Mexico, a key step for the Union to defeat the Confederacy. While the stakes are certainly much lower, Michigan State football head coach Jonathan Smith may find himself in a similar position. After a strong start to the season, the Spartans hav...

I have an opinion about the city of Champaign, Ill. I used to travel there for business periodically. That opinion is not positive. Champaign is my least favorite Big Ten college town, and I spent four years in West Lafayette. For fans, it is virtually impossible to get there in any reasonable amount of time. The options from southeast Michigan include two flights, one of which might involve a plane with propellers, one flight to Chicago or Indianapolis followed by at least a two-hour drive, or a six hour drive, much of it over the flattest, most boring Midwestern scenery imaginable. Once one arrives in Champaign, I will admit that the University of Illinois has a lovely campus, but there is not much else. A quick search for descent restaurants in the area on OpenTable results in three Red Lobster locations in the top six, two of which are literally in different cities an hour away. I am sadly not joking. With this in mind, I can somewhat understand why the Spartans were flat and unins...