American Football, Sparty Style

My plans to do very little of anything today (except maybe laundry and some filing) was waylaid by an invitation to attend the MSU-Northwestern game at Spartan Stadium (followed by a round of really bad golf) with my brother.

It's not secret I'm not a very good Spartan. Having graduated from Michigan State, it is expected that I should have working knowledge of current Spartan athletics. The truth is that I don't know the names of any of the key players, have only a vague idea of how the Spartans have performed thus far in the football season and, really, don't care as a general rule. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to jump at the chance to spend an afternoon with my brother.

Even if I was his last choice for the spare ticket.

And discovered that, despite how many college t-shirts I have, I don't have a single MSU ones. Sweatshirts, yes. A long-sleeved tee, sure. But no Spartan t-shirt. I've got shirts from Oklahoma State, Central Michigan, Colorado State, Western Michigan, Ohio State, University of Michigan -- all part of my collection of shirts from schools I didn't go to -- and not a single MSU t-shirt.

At least I've got a green tank to wear. It was expected to be 86 degrees and sunny. I may be cold but even I get warm sometimes.

The weather during the game was just as hot as expected -- for the first half, anyway. Then there was a freak monsoon during half-time that cooled things down nicely for the second half. Seriously. It was a monsoon. Okay, maybe it wasn't a monsoon but it was definitely freakish and it rained hard for about twenty minutes -- soaking me quite throughly while my brother was off getting Melting Moments ice cream sandwiches. We actually had a similar freak rain storm yesterday, which I informed the family next to me of because I like striking up random conversations with complete strangers.

Speaking of, my brother and I made friends! It's doubtful we'll exchange holiday cards but I did enjoy chatting with the father and son seated behind us.

There were things going on down on the field that I enjoyed as well.

I witnessed probably one of the best fakes in the history of football (or at least in the history of games Joy has ever watched). There was a pass-off and I'm totally intent on watching this guy run with the ball -- only to see the ball go flying out of the quarterback's hands behind him. Maybe this particular Spartan has a future in acting because I really believed that he was cradling the football to his chest as he ran toward the field goal. The fact that the QB never let go of the ball still floors me. It was bloody amazing.

Tackles are something else that amaze me. The way these big burly bodies collide with one another and knock each other to the ground is nothing short of astonishing. Or when a player gets thrown back several yards by the colliding of other players. Or, a particular favorite, is when two guys -- the tackler and the tacklee -- go down and bounce off the turf. Is it wrong that I love that?

Though the Spartans lost in overtime, I enjoyed the game. I've been pretty fortunate that I've found something exciting about all three matches I've attended at Spartan Stadium. Does that make me a better Spartan -- or, at least, less bad?