The New Landscape of the Rivalry

It felt strange this week to hear Michigan State veteran Draymond Green claim that his Spartans “own” the state of Michigan. Equally bizarre was the feeling last month when Green’s hoops team failed to beat its archrival, the Michigan Wolverines, for the second straight time. But to those who have been paying attention recently, not much has followed the status quo in the Michigan – Michigan State rivalry.

It doesn’t feel right that Michigan State’s football seniors are one home win away from sweeping Michigan’s seniors.

It doesn’t feel right that the Wolverines are the ones counting down to October 15, receiving daily motivation to beat a team they’ve beaten nearly two-thirds of the time in their history.

On the other hand, it’s shocking to think that only four players on the Spartan basketball roster will enter next season with a winning record against the Wolverines (3-2), a team they have dominated since the late 90’s.

It’s surprising that the Maize ‘n Blue will have the more proven roster heading into next season and will be expected by many to outperform the Green and White for the second straight year.

And though all of these points are hard to believe, aren’t they, dare I say, fun? Isn’t it great for the rivalry to have the tables turned, and to change the old, tired arguments of “we’re a basketball school” and “we’re a football school?”

Doubtless, it angers Michigan fans that their tradition-filled football program is struggling. And it infuriates Michigan State devotees that Coach Izzo’s machine did not produce this season. But, what can be better for a rivalry than anger? Anger means people are emotionally involved. It means there’s something at stake. It means it matters. 

And guess whom we have to thank for this resurgence in the rivalry? Each other. Yup. Fans of the rivalry need to admit that, on some level, we need each other.

Fans in Ann Arbor should actually be grateful for MSU football coach Mark Dantonio. Why? Because he beats them – three straight times, in fact. And guess what those bitter defeats create? Hate. Resentment. Annoyance. And an urgency to beat their intrastate rival.

Similarly, the folks in East Lansing should appreciate what Michigan basketball coach John Beilein has done for the rivalry. Specifically, he led his team to a season sweep of the Spartans for the first time since 1997. And how have Michigan State fans responded? With disbelief. With disgust. And with a revenge factor that has not been present on that side of the basketball rivalry in quite some time.

Certainly, coach Dantonio has done more to turn the tide of the football rivalry than Beilein has done on the basketball side of things, but both coaches have done a lot to earn the respect of their own fan bases, while gaining the disdain of their rivals.

Michigan fans hate Dantonio’s scowl, and they hate his public comments. But even more, they hate his record against them (3-1), his improved recruiting, and the positive vibe he’s created in the state of Michigan.

Conversely, Michigan State fans scoff at John Beilein’s clean-cut image, and they despise the floppy-haired, baby-faced guys on his team. But what they really can’t stand is that Michigan basketball is becoming relevant again (NCAA tourney wins in 2 of its last 3 years), and that Michigan point guard Darius Morris actually had something to talk trash about in March.

The reality is that hatred, when controlled, is good for a rivalry. It may even be necessary.

Furthermore, recent events in the rivalry have taken away each fan-base’s sense of security. Gone are the days when Spartans and Wolverines alike can defend a loss by saying, “Just wait until (insert dominant sport here) season.” Fans simply don’t know what to expect anymore. And for those willing to embrace change, that may just be a great thing.

El Maestro

Sunday

Michigan’s loss in the national championship game last night was disheartening yet not as devastating as I would have expected for a Wolverine fan. Minnesota outplayed Michigan in every facet of the game. While M-D was perhaps a one line team offensively, Michigan certainly didn’t stop them, add the fact that Michigan took dumb penalty after dumb penalty and it becomes surprising that the game was even that close. Hunwick once again stood on his head in this un-Berenson-like effort; you have to feel for the kid with his career ending like that. One can take at least some solace in the result though. As a good friend of mine put it through a static-filled, cell phone call deadened by the noise of an East Lansing house party, “it’s a fucking coin toss.”

The Tigers lost to the Royals 3-1 yesterday. The key play? Wait for it… Magglio popping out with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the eighth with the Tigers down two. Yes, he hit .363 a few seasons back, but as I have said before, he becomes more of a liability with age. It’s tough to bash a fan-favorite from the pre-2006 Tigers but performance is the bottom line. Baseball is back and its great, however soon this springtime honeymoon will be over and the potential flaws of this team will become more and more aggravating to fans. I like the makeup of this year’s team but I’m not convinced that the Tigers are built for the post-season quite yet.

The Red Wings play Chicago today and most likely will rest players in preparation for the playoffs. Maybe we should have rested Zetterberg on Friday. I’ve seen too many Red Wings teams sleepwalk into the playoffs and have trouble with first-round matchups. Hopefully, this season will be different.

Sorry about the pessimistic tone on a Sunday, but as far as athletics go, there isn’t a lot for me to cheer about at the moment.

T Kaminski
twitter.com/tkaminski16

4.8.11 - Notes

Michigan beat North Dakota 2-0 last night in the Frozen Four semi-finals and will play Minnesota-Duluth tomorrow night for the National Championship. Ben Winnet scored the eventual game winner and Scooter Vaughn sealed the deal with an empty net tally in the dying seconds. Shawn Hunwick stood on his head. Great (very physical) game to watch. Big W for the maize and blue.

The Tigers lost to Baltimore last night 9-5, blowing three leads in the process. Penny struggled with control issues throughout the night (I'm not passing judgment on the guy yet, but it certainly hasn't looked good so far) but Avila hit another bomb, which is encouraging. The Pistons host Brandon Jennings and the Milwaukee Bucks tonight at the Palace for some painfully irrelevant basketball while the Red Wings begin a two-game series with Chicago tomorrow.

CBS, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated released their annual "way too early" preseason rankings this week. Michigan is ranked 16th, 16th, and 13th respectively. Remember last time this happened?

Finally, a HAPPY OPENING DAY DETROIT, from BTH.

T Kaminski

Michigan vs. North Dakota - Frozen Four

The Michigan Wolverines take on North Dakota tonight at 8:30 on ESPN2 for a spot in the NCAA Championship Ice Hockey game. I may be the only one who cares, but I’m excited.

Hockey in general takes a backseat to the other major sports at the professional level, let alone college hockey. The games aren’t regularly televised and there is only small followings for only the most proud and established programs. While these games are not high-grossing events, there is something to be said about the experience of the game. Examples being the raucous student section at Michigan’s Yost Ice Arena or Minnesota’s devoted fan base.

When women’s college basketball gets regularly televised on ESPN and its affiliates and college hockey does not, there is something wrong with our world.

Oh well. I’ll still be watching.

T Kaminski

M ‘15

BP's American League Picks

 American League Season Predictions

AL East

Division Champion: Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox are absolutely loaded this year. Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Jacoby Ellsbury, and David Ortiz return and are joined with key offseason acquisitions Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez. With a solid pitching staff returning and the addition of Bobby Jenks, the BoSox are poised for their first AL East Division Championship since 2007.

Wild Card: New York Yankees

As much as we love to hate the Yankees, there’s no keeping the Bronx Bombers out of the playoffs this year. I see veterans Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and Curtis Granderson using their experience to clinch a Wild Card playoff berth. Robinson Cano will make another push towards the AL MVP and Mark Texeira will add an All-Star caliber bat to an always-deep NYY lineup. Look for CC and Burnett to both win 15-20 games and trusty veteran Mariano Rivera to be reliable as always.

Don’t be surprised if:

The Baltimore Orioles have a season like the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays. The O’s quietly picked up Derrek Lee, Vlad Guerrero, Mark Reynolds, and JJ Hardy. Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, and Brian Roberts all will contribute as the Orioles could really turn some heads this year. Baltimore could make a serious playoff push, even in the loaded AL East.

Rest of the Pack:

The Rays just lost too much talent and don’t the overall depth to make a playoff run. Young stars Evan Longoria and David Price will continue to shine. The Blue Jays will be an exciting team to watch as they’ll again provide big power numbers. However, a lack of pitching depth holds Toronto back from competing in this year’s star-studded AL East. The Rays and Jays will battle back and forth to stay out of the AL East basement.

AL Central

Division Champion: Detroit Tigers

Yes, the Tigers should be playoff bound, and this is not just some Detroit biased prediction. Victor Martinez was a key pick-up for the Tigers as they finally found a solid bat to put behind the dish. Miguel Cabrera will have another MVP-like season in Detroit with a solid lineup around him. Magglio Ordonez should have one solid season left in him. Joaquin Benoit was another great pickup for Detroit as he adds depth to our bullpen. Austin Jackson is geared up for another great season in CF and Verlander, Porcello, and Scherzer will all push for around 15 wins.

Don’t be surprised if:

Those pesky Minnesota Twins try to crawl out of 3^rd place as the season concludes to make a playoff push. Mauer and Morneau are among the most dangerous 3-4 combos in the league.

Rest of the Pack:

The White Sox have a very powerful lineup, but they have some aging bats. Look for Chicago to lead the division most of the year but cool off after the season passes the All-Star Break. The ChiSox and Twins will be on the Tiger’s heals all season, and this will be a very close finish. The Indians and Royals will be among the worst teams in the American League, and I’ll leave it at that.

AL West

Division Champion: Texas Rangers

The defending American League Champions will have no trouble winning this division and look to make another playoff run. The Rangers are looking past the departure of ace Cliff Lee and will rely on their consistent lineup. CJ Wilson will lead the pitching staff and once Brandon Webb is off the DL, Rangers fans will soon forget about Cliff Lee (who will probably get traded from Philadelphia at some point anyway). Josh Hamilton will put up MVP-like numbers again with a strong supporting cast of Adrian Beltre, Nelson Cruz, Ian Kinsler, and Michael Young.

Don’t be surprised if:

The Rangers win the division by 15 games. The Mariners, Athletics, and Angels look to be pretty irrelevant in this year’s MLB playoff race.

Rest of the Pack:

The Angels should finish 2^nd in the division, most likely with a sub .500 record. The Mariners and Athletics will spend another season in the AL West basement until they make some serious moves to get back into contention.

League Awards

MVP: Miguel Cabrera, 1B, Detroit Tigers

Cy Young: CC Sabathia, SP, New York Yankees

Manager of the Year: Ron Washington, Texas Rangers

Rookie of the Year: Jeremy Hellickson, SP, Tampa Bay Rays

Postseason Results

ALDS: Texas over New York, 3-1

ALDS: Boston over Detroit, 3-2

ALCS: Boston over Texas, 4-2

World Series: Boston over St. Louis, 4-1

-BP, BTH guest writer

Don't Ever Forget

After years of irrelevance, the Chicago Blackhawks suddenly became a threat again for the first time in years during the 2008-09 season. The addition of two young superstars coupled with high profile free agent signings made the Hawks not only competitive, but briefly in control of the Central Division. During this time, the Red Wings continued to care of business in their usual manner; scouting Europe heavily, preaching balanced, finesse hockey, and being efficient with special teams.

In 2008-09 the Blackhawks finished a close second within the division and lost to the Red Wings, four games to one, in the conference finals before the Wings would ultimately lose a Stanley Cup finals rematch of the year before to Pittsburgh. 2009-10 brought the Cup back to Chicago for the first time since 1961 while Detroit was knocked out in disappointing fashion in the second round. However, this is where the story becomes telling of how these rival franchises really function.

As anyone reading this blog knows, professional sports in general is a game of numbers, more specifically, dollars. The NHL put in a new salary cap system for 2010-11 and it had its effect on all of the league's franchises. Here is Wikipedia’s summary:
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Revenues for the six Canadian teams have all increased significantly since the lockout, and due to the fact the US dollar fell to relative parity with its Canadian counterpart, league-wide revenues measured in U.S. dollars have been inflated accordingly.

As a result of these factors, the cap has been raised each year to its current figure of $59.4 million for the 2010–11 season, with a cap of $11.88 million for a player. The CBA also contains a salary floor which is formally titled the "Lower Limit of the Payroll Range", the minimum that each team must pay in player salaries. The lower limit was originally set at 55% of the cap, but is now defined to be $16 million below the cap, therefore the 2010–11 minimum is $43.4 million. The difference between the salary cap and a team's actual payroll is referred to as the team's "payroll room" or "cap room".

Each year of an NHL player contract, the salary earned contributes to the team's "cap hit". The basic cap hit of a contract for each year it is effective is the total money a player will earn in regular salary over the life of the contract divided by the number of years it is effective. This, in theory, prevents a team from paying a player different amounts each year in order to load his cap hit in years in which the team has more cap room. Teams still use this practice, however, for other reasons. Performance bonuses also count towards the cap, but there is a percentage a team is allowed to go over the cap in order to pay bonuses. A team must still factor in possible bonus payments, however, which could go over that percentage.

Salary for players sent to the minors, under most circumstances, do not count towards the cap while they are there. If a player has a legitimate long-term injury, his cap hit is still counted; however, the team is permitted to replace him with one or more players whose combined salary is equal to (or less than) that of the injured player, even if the additional players would put the team over the salary cap. If the team's cap room is larger than the injured player's cap hit, they may take on as much as their cap room; however, the injured player may not return to play until the team is again compliant with the original cap.

The NHL has become the first of the major North American leagues to implement a hard cap while retaining guaranteed player contracts. Guaranteed player contracts in the NHL differ from other sports, notably the NFL, where teams may opt out of a contract by waiving or cutting a player. NHL teams may buy-out player's contracts, but must still pay a portion of the money still owed which is spread out over twice the remaining duration of the contract. This does not apply for players over 35 at the time of signing; in this case a team cannot buy out the player's contract to reduce salary. Any other player can be bought out for ⅓ of the remaining salary if the player is younger than 28 at the time of termination, or ⅔ of the remaining salary if the player is 28 or older. Trading cash for players or paying a player's remaining salary after trading him have been banned outright in order to prevent wealthier teams from evading the restrictions of the cap.

Players, agents or employees found to have violated the cap face fines of $250,000 - $1 million and/or suspension. Teams found to have violated the cap face fines of up to $5 million, cancellation of contracts, forfeiture of draft picks, deduction of points and/or forfeiture of game(s) determined to have been affected by the violation of the cap.
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Dolla dolla bills, y’all.

Fast forward to today. It is April 6^th, 2011. The Red Wings play Carolina tonight then a two-game series with Chicago to end the regular season. Detroit is in its usual position; their ninth division title in the past ten years is clinched and the Winged Wheelers are battling for the second seed atop the Western Conference. Where is the upstart and momentous Chicago? Sitting at eighth in the West and only two points ahead of Dallas at ninth; barely in the post-season.

Chicago and Detroit are considered rivals as a natural consequence of geography. The two cities will always see each other as bitter foes, regardless of how competitive the athletic clashes between the two really are. Trust me, both fan bases are quick to let you know the animosity they have towards each other. For instance, last off-season Detroit became the butt of jokes in the Blackhawks blogosphere now that Chicago had hockey’s ultimate crown back. However, this new sense of arrogance was short lived. This season's lackluster performance can be accredited to the Blackhawks being absolutely decimated by the new cap. Maybe opposed to being a true, up and coming franchise, it is possible that Chicago was built for one magic run; which to their credit, they achieved. Yet a look at the Red Wings shows that this season’s roster is very similar to the rosters of the past three (which brought a Stanley Cup, a Western Conference title, and two division titles) while Chicago has been a revolving door for players as a result of financial obligations. Good bye: Kris Versteeg, Dustin Byfuglien (spelled that correctly with my first attempt), Cristobal Huet, Ben Eager, etc.  

Detroit has struggled through much of this season; battling injuries and goaltending issues the entire year and still eclipsing the 100-point mark once again. Meanwhile, Chicago is in the midst of a major push to make the post-season.

While Chicago fans will remember the magical campaign that brought a Stanley Cup and a division title, Detroiters will look back on 2009-10 as a minor speed bump in the midst of a dynasty. In the words of Mark Dantonio, “pride comes before the fall.”

T Kaminski

M ‘15

Believe the Hype: Roderick Smith

Word out of Buckeye camp ever since the 2010 Sugar Bowl practices is that you should expect very big things from RS freshman running back Roderick Smith. Now that it is time for spring ball in Columbus the Buckeyes must replace 1000 yard back Boom Herron for the first 5 games.


According to scouts via Bucknuts.com
"• Redshirt freshman Rod Smith is worth the hype. He “looks like a linebacker but runs like Ted Ginn.” The scout was also impressed with his hands out of the backfield and then he said the following. Please finish eating or drinking briefly before reading … “This guy could be better than [Beanie] Wells. And you know how I feel about Wells.” No pressure, Rod."

Regardless whether or not Smith can be "better than Wells" or not, Buckeye fans have the powerful back they have been looking for ever since Beanie took his talents to the NFL. Standing in at 6'2 -6'3 watching Rod run the ball will give Buckeyes flashbacks of former great Eddie George.

                                   Rod Smith running over starting Linebacker Andrew Sweat.


-Leo