MSU = Jennifer Grey?

I swear, David Jones needs to start paying me for all the promoting I'm doing for him. Here's another Jones piece you should read, on Dantonio, which gives an interesting glimpse at how MSU football has been perceived nationally.
    Question: Does MSU's growth also parallel Jennifer Grey's maturation in "Dirty Dancing?" And who does Patrick Swayze represent?

Comments

[JReid]

Patrick Swayze is obivously um. Once a powerful presence, now an aging, dying relic longing for another shot at glory.

[Stone]

DRod = Swayze. He's obviously soooo smooth and charming.

[Stone]

It's not a bad article, but it has a couple decent sized errors in it.

1. "A state school that's easy to get into in a state loaded with high school talent, it always had to take the borderline academic kids to compete with haughty neighbor Michigan" is not necessarily true on all levels, and hasn't been for a while.

2. The JLS slap was after the Ill game, if I remember correctly. Not after the ND game.

Inaccuracies in the print media?

[JReid]

Correct on that Illinois game, he also mentioned that Bobby said "I don't know" after the 2003 um game, it was 2002.

[bradford]

my dislike for michigan is paralleled by my dislike for swayze. and a dirty dancing reference? really?

[Some guy who went to MSU]

Interesting analogy Joe, but I'm a little confused. Who was it that got the money we borrowed from our dad to get an abortion? Iowa?

But clearly U of M was our irritating big sister who got played by that jerk waiter until she walked in on him with some other girl, right?

[MayoSpartan]

Fella's don't slam Jones for his inaccuratr account of pathetic events in Spartan history. It's a great article of our image around the big ten media (Stewart Mandel hates us) and very complimentary of Coach Dantonio. Our recent past is too sorry to keep track of even for loyal fans and alum.

Joe, jennifer gray and patrick swayze? I haven't had enough Genniuss, or should I drink another hot port?

Gor GREEN & renegotiate Coach D's contract NOW!

[zing]

Joe started this so someone has to finish it:

Swayze is a combo of Tressel/Saban; Swayze is Jennifer "I got a nose job and it killed my career" Grey's b!tch. Plus, Swayze is shorter than those two little midgets.

JG's dingbat sister is JLS

The old fat slob that ran the joint is George Perles

The bandleader (black guy) has to be Bobby W; he's more interested in scoring w/ all the white women.

But really? Dirty Dancing? why not Red Dawn?

oh...

[xwing]

intersting article...i wouldn't ever discount the job nick saban did at msu. if he would have stayed i wonder how different msu would have been between 2001-2006. saban accomplished what he did with ncaa sacntions and against a better notre dame and michgan programs every year. i like dantonio and hope that he is here for a long time. i do agree with the writer that he has picked up things from both saban and tressel. dantonio says that he learned from saban how important "attention to detail" is and from tressel how to "trust his players and coaches". it is great that he was able to coach under tow different guys who have won national championships.

[xwing]

i have noticed dantonios tendency to play "tresselball" as it is called. it is hard to knock it because it has worked. it seems like it forces the other team to beat you. many games this year the team msu has played agaisnt has made crucial mistakes. i.e. turnovers by NW, IN, and IA and penalties by WI. playing conservative and close to the vest seems to work against teams with equal or lesser talent.

[Psyc]

Could not care less how we are viewed by the other Big Ten media. WE ARE WINNING, THEY ARE LOSING!!! THEY FEAR US!!!

Thank you Coach D! GO GREEN, GO WHITE!!!!

[Psyc]

By the way xwing: Turnovers get forced! Wiski was holding both our D linemen and WR's the entire game and the zebras finally found thier hankies.

[AYFKM]

The fact is that we have a class act in Coach D. We are fortunate to have him for as long as he is good enough to grace the sidelines of Spartan Stadium for us. We will look back in time to the time that Coach D spent in East lansing and compare him to Biggie and Duffy. Revering him in the same light and hoping that it does take us so long to find another one just like him if that will even be possible. Thanks Coach D for making us relevant again.

[Stan]

Great post xwing ... I too have wondered how msu football would have fared for at least the next two/three years had saban stayed until going to the nfl (it was his goal from the start and you can't fault that). not only did his last team have great offensive talent, but robaire smith, julian peterson and arric morris were defensive studs on that team.

can you imagine tj duckett, smoker and stanton w/ a real coach?? poor kids ....

[spartanforever]

Absolute rubbish and I almost stopped reading-talk about getting thru my diatribes!This is not a national perspective-its a big ten apponents perspective,and some one who is living in a thin glass house as of the last ten seasons.

The rest of the nation hardly know we exist and those that can spell'MSU,'are old timers-so the only thing I can get from this is that this is how you feel Mr. Rex
as you are presenting this trash.

Sure enough MSU has had some problems over the last 40+ - seasons,and we are not ones to talk trash(have the nerve to I mean)-on second thaught maybe you are looking to fire-up the partisans here,right mr. rex?Why would anyone want to read its foibles?

Complements to coach-D????If I was MSU coach and some one wrote such a nasty report--woolvy has been better to us...I would not gloat on this trash.The truth hurts-you damn right it does and I (if I were not a casual reporter that just happens to have a JOB reporting on these-sprtns-or what ever the heck they call themselves)would be not telling spartan fans ,"hey look how far you have come." I would be
be taking this bozo to task-at least letting him understand that glass houses should not be the first to drop anvils from bi-planes.

And who the hell is swaize and dirty dancing????Yea-yea but segwe and I see I am not a polite little nazi falling in line with this filth.I guess this is one of your buds on the circuit though-the guy you have a beer with and denegrate those you(how should we put this?)don't like?Shame on you both...and go State and beat these Bas,beavers.

[spartanforever]

B-4 all the trolls come out of the woodwork to blast me and defend this fine example of objective journalism-I thaught we are playing penn state this week-end???If I want to hear negatives about MSU-maybe some objective journalism of reporting how administratively we got into such an embarassing tail spin would be in order,and not a glowing report on coach-D,at the expense of MSU's image -again not a not a national image-people know as much MSU LORE as they know Carlisle and jim thorpe-this only a report (to his readers) in the b-10.And that so many are o.k. with this????

I don't need to hear from a should be HOMER-that we have been horrible.That slug that wrote that article certainly is not being objective,and I wouldn't expect him to be,but if you can't do better than that rexrode-turn in your SPARTAN pass-I'm sure we have some journalism majors, who just barely made it out of HS,and MSU scooped them-up because hillsdale,cmu,ferris and others didn't want them and woolvy would not think of it.

You let this guy get away with that?????Is it true rex -what he said???? Is MSU enrolling jr.college material? I wonder how many of your following here picked-up on that.If MSU studants are O.K. with that insult?-I'm sorry for you.Then again maybe I'm behind times and MSU is NOW a 2nd rated University masquerading as a top rated University (thats what the SEC hates about the big ten anyway-they will love this news).Maybe some one can put a nice SPIN on it for you,meanwhile VICTORY FOR MSU!!!!!!

[1/2 Full]

Overall a good article, a few errors in fact (as pointed out above).

I believe Spartanforever has taken Jones' comments about "state school, easy to get into" a little out of context. I read it that Jones is referring to the athletic dept. in general and the football program specifically, not the student population in general. And with that I have to partially agree. On occassion, we have taken some marginal students who are good athletes. Both football (Charles Rogers for example, a partial qualifier) and in basketball; Izzo has done it. My son had a class with a b-ball player who is now in the NBA. And let's just say the player wasn't a gifted student. The problem is, it was obvious he wasn't going to be on campus very long just by how he failed to apply himself to his studies.

Jones' perception of MSU is pertinent in that I do wonder how we are viewed by the outside world. No one can argue that in football, Michigan is (was) the gold standard to aspire to; successful on the field and off, a program with integrity and principals (that was under Bo/Mo/Lloyd, and I am NOT referring to the fan base, but the program itself). I think we have the perfect coach for our school, situation and this time. Coach D has done, and I believe will continue to do, an excellent job and will have us competing for BT championships on an annual basis. I don't think we will be as dominant as OSU, but on the level of Wisconsin and Iowa...yeah, I expect that.

[susanne]

slow news week

[avim]

First of all thank you Joe for posting this and other blogs. I find your articles and these blogs the most trustworthy information anywhere. Unlike some reporters in the D, I have full confidence that if you print it then it is so. Keep up the good work and I'm glad to see you got a little vacation on the bye week, you deserve it.

Spartanforever… all I have to say is wow. You seem very passionate and that is good to see in a Spartan. But I do have to respectfully disagree with you and say that it is important to read what others, even our opponents, have to say about out program. It’s the kind of thing that affects recruiting and getting this program where we want it. If the perception is that the facilities and coaches are outstanding but the game day atmosphere is a bit lacking, as reported by a potential recruit at the Purdue game, then we need to try and address those things.

[MayoSpartan]

An honest and well stated respnse 1/2 full!

Spartanforever, you're wearing your heart on your sleeve and the trolls will stomp on it. You are not thinking rationally MAN !

It is understandable during hard econimic times to displace anger and whe it comes to MSU football, our emotional rolloer coaster will test your mettle MAN. I am probably wasting my time here, but here goes:

First, where and when did a sports writer ever have to be an objective journalist? Sports is the truest form of drama and allows for all knids of tolerated inaccuarcies and hacks; thus, Drew Sharp and Rob Parker. Even Eric Lacy is a columnist ( they're allowed to be opinionated).

Second, the best defense is not always a good offense when insulted. Sometimes, the fewer words said the better, even if it is the truth and it hurts....whoa is me.

Third, I need another drink... without an idea of our preception you don't have an understanding of the situation to develop an effective strategy to refectify the problem. Coach D would not have publicly stated over and over again, that he is recruiting character guys: acedemically, socially responsible and tough-minded kids that want to be Spartans. JLS fielded a bunch of JC transfers over the years as well as the borderline acedemic recruit.

2008 is a very good year for the rebuilding Spartan football program. Next year may be tough with no clear offensive backfield and the anchors on the right side of the O line gone. So enjoy this while we can.

What is really insulting is Joe asks us to compare our football program to a girl... Now that's insulting! Lighten-up dude!

[Duffy Perles]

PSU, don't put baby (MSU) in a corner. Or something like that, I only really pay attention to Swayze classics like Red Dawn and the world's greatest film: Roadhouse.
I think the Jones article was fine, Dantonio needs only a hoodie to totally become a Belichick clone (I'm sure they're reasonably priced at the campus book store). I think the only thing he said on the field after the Purdue game was "We're 9-2"." Nuff said, Go Green and go Spartanforever whose occasionally verbose and vitriolic posts leave me laughing, shooting milk from my nose and generally agreeing with them).