This is a classic article of 2009
Thank goodness General Motors still managed to buy advertisement time with the NCAA tournament, after bailing out on the Super Bowl. That meant there weren’t GMCs anywhere near Tampa Bay. But, of course, at the Final Four there are plenty of Pontiacs, to give out nominations for this year’s game-changing performers.
With economic downturns continuing to depress a myriad of dispirited citizens, a chance to host the Final Four at home is a gratifying moment Detroit needed. The deprival populace gets to root for Michigan State, the home state team representing green pride, which unexpectedly advanced to the Final Four and placed a smile on sad faces.
Lately, news from Detroit is mind-blogging and startling, sadly most of the news is related to homicides, foreclosures, higher unemployment rates and higher suicides rates. It’s tragic and devastating to hear people receive pink slips, or families who can’t afford to pay mortgages and angry people starting charity frauds as well.
Times are hard everywhere, but in Detroit it’s tough, and people everyday are either committing suicide or committing murders. Well now hopefully there will be less murders and suicide rates, and just good spirit, along with Michigan State pride. When the Spartans, stunningly beat Louisville, the top overall seed in the tournament, in the Midwest Regional Finals on Sunday, a despairing Detroit wore a smile.
And once again felt a rejoicing moment that hasn’t been felt for a long-time. It’s something the people of Michigan needs, to relish the NCAA festivities and embrace their Spartans. It’s a community long overdue in major championships.
Perhaps, mostly everywhere across the nation, have out shadowed the underrated Spartans, as mostly everybody over hyped the Detroit Tigers, who overspent a year ago, when they acquired slugger Miguel Cabrera or the Detroit Pistons, when their moronic trade for Allen Iverson sent their poise leader Chauncey Billups to Denver.
Or yet, worst the Lions 0-16 season, to become the first team in NFL history, finishing a season winless. Yes this is a dismay town that seen everything, from economic failures to sports failures. After all they’ve lived up to their name Hockeytown as the Red Wings are the closest to winning a major championship. But now, we can put Michigan State in that equation as the nearest dominant team in the state faced with much turmoil.
More than ever, the Spartans drifted through the tournament, surprising everyone. Heck, they busted my bracket. Come to think about it, I didn’t even have Michigan State getting past West Virginia. Yes that sounds a bit awkward, but I just felt the Mountaineers had enough firepower to upset the Spartans.
Oh, don’t listen to me. Well, I think it’s acceptable to just admit that Michigan State has a great advantage to upset Connecticut. In the contest, the Huskies will miss the guard play of injured Jerome Dyson. And in this battle of the Bigs (Big Ten versus Big East), the nation will witness an underrated Kalin Lucas. As tip off approaches, the Spartans are heavily favorites to win, in front of mainly their home crowd, a factor for momentum and confidence level.
A portion of Ford Field will be filled with lathers of green, to remove themselves from tumult reality and embrace Tom Izzo, an excellent speech teller, which perpetuated an upset of the Cardinals. Standing at 5-foot-10 really doesn’t say too much, instead it just says Izzo has the loudest voice among his players, though all of them are taller than their self-motivated coach.
By bringing back and sporting the “Izzone T-shirts”, is a sign of encouragement and support for a coach who believed in the Big Ten conference for an entire season, unlike Dick Vitale, who anointed the Big East as the powerhouses of college basketball. Oh, some of it is true.
But there are always two sides to a story, so some of that is false. Look, it’s no mirage the Spartans are as good or maybe better than UConn, Villanova, or even more powerful than the ACC dominators North Carolina. Natives of Michigan or enormous fans of Michigan couldn’t careless about the horrific unemployment rates.
And they probably couldn’t careless about General Motors and Chrysler argument with President Barack Obama. This is a shining moment that Michigan needed and this is a moment for them to win the title by surprise, when most picked Louisville or North Carolina to win the title. Putting Izzo’s boys under the radar wasn’t such a brilliant notion.
The Spartans dominance, in the tourney tells the nation that just because there isn’t a much-dominant Indiana or Illinois, doesn’t mean the Big Ten is a horrible conference. Apparently, it’s good enough, just from the looks of Michigan State, a team made of green, and a team that has delighted a city facing tough crisis. No fluke, just a talented Spartan team that has prepared for battle. Izzo gives speeches on mental toughness and defensive balance, to a dangerous team that’s fundamentally sound, with penalty of weapons that are propitious.
The Spartans specialty is guards, explosive guard Lucas is their floor general. Connecticut’s 7-foot-3 center Hasheem Thabeet will have his hands full, dealing with the 6-foot-10 center Goran Suton, a native of Bosnia who has a nice outside jumper, which will force Thabeet outside often. Surely, coach Jim Calhoun has done his homework in the past week, as Suton will probably be defended tight by a physical Jeff Adrien or Stanley Robinson. Their heights are suitable enough to defend Suton from being a dangerous inside disturbance.
But the sensational guard matchups should be intriguing, to see A.J. Price fair against Lucas, as both are very versatile and can drill them from outside. So Detroit will be buzzing, as their will be lathers of green everywhere.
And more jubilant faces in a city that’s in need of sanity. Though, the Huskies have shown they can play through adversity, the Spartans have shown they aren’t a fluke, just a team that has a large chance upsetting UConn. Then, everyone in the Motor City will erupt into endless joy. It’s great for a city that has downtrend during a miserable recession.
This big shining moment is big in Detroit.
