A Big Year Ahead
I don't consider myself a professional when it comes to sports. Despite what you might think, I'm just an average guy with average opinions that doesn't really have a sporty bone in my whole body.
In high school I mostly spent my time in orchestra or at church and I only played tennis my senior year because they needed people for the team. I'd never picked up a racket in my life, but I made the varsity team.
As I said though, I have a fair share of opinions and in my opinion, this year is going to be a make or break year for the Michigan State Spartans. Living in Michigan, we have two main options on who to cheer for when it comes to university sports. There's that crappy school in the godforsaken town of Ann Arbor called the University of Michigan, and then there's the good old salt of the Earth down home school called Michigan State.
I didn't attend Michigan State, but I am still a pretty big fan. They have a cool mascot and I like the colors, it's a pretty great school in general too.
The past several years have been a struggle athletically though.
It seems that after the scandal with the gymnast trainer that was tied to Michigan State, things just sort of went downhill. I don't think the two things are tied together at all, but I would imagine it's harder to recruit athletes when you have that hanging over your head.
Then we had all the drama last year with football coach Mel Tucker. I don't think he even stepped on the sideline more than half of the season.
Hopefully, this year will be different. Mel is gone and Michigan State has a new coach from across the country. Former Oregon State coach Johnathan Smith is now calling East Lansing home and I think a lot of people have some high hopes that he is going to turn this program around.
At the peak of the Dantonio years, the Spartans were virtually unstoppable in the Big 10. That's going to be a tough order these days with reigning national champion Michigan being right down the road and a handful of new schools from the former PAC 12 conference joining the Big 10.
Meanwhile, even though we haven't started football season yet, college basketball season is just around the corner as well. While it's a building year for Smith, Tom Izzo is going to be facing a little less forgiving fan base. Once again, in my opinion, this is a make or break year for Izzo.
It's safe to say a lot of faith is being tested after the past five seasons or so. Teams that have been ranked quite highly with a decent amount of talent have failed to perform. Questions about Izzo's recruiting style and decisions have been at the forefront. Will this be the year he puts together a team that "gels" the way it needs to?
Only time will tell, but I hope he at least paid a little attention to the criticism and picked up some strong players for deep in the paint. We need a reliable big man and we need him ASAP!
I'm fully prepared for another lackluster season from the Spartans, but I really hope I'm wrong.
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