At least there won't be any riots at East Lansing this year.
But seriously, it's sad that one can see a silver lining in something as disasterious as a first-round loss to some third-level basketball team playing badly.
Having attended Michigan State University and lived in and around East Lansing for a few years after that, I would love to be able to consider their winning a good thing, but there's been this undercurrent of riots during March Madness for the past seven years.
I could give you a history of the MSU "riots" from the 1983 "Sorry Cops, You're Not allowed" bottling to the 1986 Cedarmess (where they listened to the city and cops saying "you're going to shameful" and took the words to heart) to the events leading to the 1999 Final 4 loss riot (from a spontanious block party and its aftermath to a protest gone wild from lack of an allowed venue). All those I understood.
But the shit that started happening after the final four loss in 1999...sickens me to no end.
To the people at Michigan State University: You're under a stronger microscope than that other college to the south and east of you. Always have been, always will. That means you have a higher set of standards to live up to, not the freedom to crap yourself in the pants when you get the chance.
I should be proud every time the MSU football and basketball teams do good. I shouldn't have to sigh with relief when MSU loses to Northwestern or George Mason, nor should I be ashamed by the actions of its students when the teams do well.
Understand this: most people in the United States base their opinion of colleges on how sports teams do and how their students express their school spirit. Potential students may make an effort to look at what a school can get them, but most of the decision has already been made thanks to the sports teams and ran reaction.
And in the last seven years, MSU students have made a case that they deserve second-class status for themselves. And guess
Thus ends my (what would probably be annual, had this thing been out for a few years) end-of-the-basketball-season rant on MSU fans' behavior. I would love to have been able to sing the praises of a happy celebration after a championship (or a semifinal loss), but at this point I'll have to settle for sarcasm over a quasi-dissapointing ending.
Edited post, original (much smaller) posting done 10pm March 17th, full posting 10am March 18th.
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