Michigan State Football is Again Making the Wrong Kind of News

Keeping with my theme of sports or upbeat pieces lately, I come to you with a sports piece today.

So, I know it is going to seem like I am attacking Michigan State, and people will immediately assume that because I am a die hard Michigan fan, I just cannot escape all the bad press that is coming out from the football program in East Lansing since Mark Dantonio resigned a few months ago. It was reported last night that there are new allegations, and this is all that it is right now, allegations, that Dantonio had staffers film other teams practices.

This is wrong on so many levels. Do you all remember the first Patriots scandal, all the way back in 2001? The one where they were accused of filming the Rams practices ahead of the Super Bowl that year? You do. Well, this is just like that, except the report said they did it for every team they were facing. That is bold, it is the definition of cheating, it is morally wrong and it should be another blow to this football program that so desperately needs to get hit hard by the NCAA.

The NCAA, and Mark Emmert for that matter, come off so holier than thou, but with bigger name programs, lately, they seem to simply slap them on the wrist. At Michigan State and the University of Ohio State there have been reports of abuse in the wrestling and gymnastics programs, and nothing has come to light yet. The whole Penn State thing was a disaster, and they got a two year bowl ban and some scholarships taken away. Urban Meyer has been a proven cheater, and recruited some not so great kids, yet he is looked at as a legend. Ole Miss looked like they were going to get sanctioned to hell a few years back, but they were able to recently hire Lane Kiffin, for better or worse. It just seems like the NCAA doesn't really care if the school is making them money hand over fist, which Michigan State football has for the past decade. This is a team that was perennially ranked in the top 25, made a playoff appearance and won a Rose Bowl. They are NCAA darlings.

I think the NCAA feels like they don't need to do too terribly much because Michigan State became a household name under Dantonio. But, last offseason the whole Larry Nassar scandal broke, and that opened the flood gates to their sports programs. Every sport was seemingly involved, but especially the football program under Dantonio's watch. There have been multiple sexual and physical assault claims that directly involve former and current players. There were the excuses of injuries and the media as to why they haven't been as dominant. There were the multiple cover ups by coaches. There was steroid use with some of the better players. And now we have the filming accusation. All of this is bad, every single bit of it, and filming practices should be the straw that breaks the camel's back. And before all the MSU fans get all up in arms and call me a hater or whatnot, if this were Michigan you'd be so much worse about it. What MSU did is immoral and wrong on every single level.

As bad, or blight as this may sound, lets take away all the abuse and steroid stuff, and just focus on the filming. SMU's football program got destroyed for giving kids money to come play there. That is far less worse. Michigan basketball got crushed after the Fab Five era because of money. Reggie Bush had his Heisman taken away because USC gave his mom a house so she could be near him in college. These things are far, far less destructive than abuse, steroid use and filming practices. How immoral and gross and seedy do you have to be to film another team practice? Why do that? What edge does it give you? did they not think they would get caught? The Patriots, a professional football team, got caught. Of course MSU was going to get caught.

With each passing day since Dantonio's unexpected resignation, the stories get worse and worse. What I want to know is all the stuff. What else did he try to get away with while coaching that team, and who else was involved. All these stories coming out have already begun to tarnish any type of "legacy" Dantonio had as a coach. Now I wonder how the NCAA will respond. Are they going to go with the slap on the wrist, or are they going to make a big boy decision. Time will tell. But all in all, this doesn't give MSU a good look.

Not at all.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Should We Care that Mark Dantonio Has Retired as the Michigan State Football Coach?

Yesterday, as a shock to me, but maybe it shouldn't have been, Mark Dantonio stepped down as the head coach of the Michigan State football team. Now, since Kobe Bryant tragically died, I am trying to not be so judgmental about sports figures. They are people just like me, who happen to have their entire lives on camera. They are constantly in the limelight. But, this was a hard one for me to not be cynical, or laugh about.

First off, the entire Michigan State sports program is guilty of some seriously heinous crimes. I know they locked up that one monster, but still, many, many stories have come out about the other teams there, and the football team is one of the biggest culprits, and it all happened under Dantonio's watch. He has recruited, and stood up for, student athletes that have been accused of things like sexual and domestic assault, robbery and not going to class. He has stood up for these kids. He said glowing things about them. Hell, this season his best defender was suspended for steroids. And what did Dantonio do you ask? Well, he stood up for him, said the test was wrong, then when it was revealed that it was true, and only then, was he forced to suspend him. Note, he never kicked him off the team, just suspended him for the season. That player is gone now, but still, he should have been kicked off the team. But Dantonio never did that, and stuck by his side. You may read that and think, what a class act, but remember, he was standing up for a player that was knowingly taking steroids. Hell, I wouldn't be shocked if Dantonio himself not only knew about this, but encouraged this.

That is one of the many reasons why I find it so hard to say nice things about him. I will say, he did lead his team to the College Football Playoff one season, but their QB that year was a known racist, and he had a few sexual offenders on the roster of that team. And he did have a winning record against Michigan, but look at who was coaching those teams. In Dantonio's first year, he said some garbage, had a 14 point lead, but Michigan came back and won. This spawned the whole "little brother" thing, of which I am not a fan of, and Dantonio used this to amp his team up. And it worked. But, it worked against Wolverines teams coached by Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke. He got fat off of two of the worst head coaches that Michigan has ever hired. Harbaugh was 3-2 against him, and if it wasn't for a ridiculously muffed punt, he would have easily been 4-1. Also, the one was when Michigan had John O'Korn at QB. Take that as you may.

Outside of the Michigan rivalry, Dantonio was a fine coach, but a coach that constantly made excuses, and blamed everyone but himself. When the University of Ohio State would beat his good teams, he would blame officials, or injuries. Injuries have been his biggest gripe these past couple of years while MSU has struggled. I can't take this seriously because every team has injury problems. Alabama lost their star QB this year and still won 11 games. The University of Ohio State lost two QB's one season, and won the CFP. Clemson's star receiver, Tee Higgins, was in and out of both playoff games this year, and Clemson still made it to the title game. Every team suffers injuries, and most coaches don't blame their downfall of the team on that. Dantonio did all the time.

This resignation isn't all too wild given the accusations lobbied against the university I should suppose. I feel like this may be the start of something big, not in a good way, at MSU. I heard a report, and this is all conjecture at this point clearly, that Tom Izzo is thinking about stepping after this year. That wouldn't shock me. Izzo has been fervent that he isn't going anywhere, but so was Dantonio. He got his bonus, and two days before national signing day, he bounced. Who's to say Izzo won't do something similar when the basketball season is over.

Also, I feel like Dantonio is leaving the football team in a bad place. He said some nonsense when he took the job about never leaving them in a bad spot. But, they are coming off two very subpar years, they are still stuck in the past offensively, their defense isn't as feared as it used to be, and the Michigan State football job isn't a super desirable one. I already saw that Matt Campbell, Iowa State's head coach, has declined to interview. And looking at the names that are on their list, well, Luke Fickell is the "best" name on there. I honestly don't know why any major head coach, or coordinator, would want to take on a job like this. As I said, I feel like Dantonio saw the writing on the wall, got his money and bounced before his name could be dragged. It will still get dragged, but he is so oblivious to any of that, he probably thinks this will clear his name.

Finally, Dantonio compiled a nice record as a head coach, but he was also a major asshole, a curmudgeon that blamed everyone but himself and was starting to fall off. So, while this surprised me at first glance, after I thought about it for a day, it makes sense, and I am curious to see what happens from here. As I stated, I think this is the first of many dominos to fall at MSU. It has taken too long, but I think the walls are starting to close in now.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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All the Monsters at Michigan State Need to Go

We have a suggestion of where these monsters should go

A lot of stuff happened late last week and this past weekend in the sports world that I didn't have time to write about last week. This week that all changes. I will be touching on a number of sports related subjects like, the NBA All Star draft, Boogie Cousin's injury, college basketball at the midway point and the dumbass return of the XFL. But, today I have to start with the sports story that was everywhere and was rather damning. Of course I am talking about the Larry Nassar case, and what came out about the Michigan State football and basketball programs in the "Outside the Lines" story.

First off, Larry Nassar is a horrific human being and he deserves all the horrible things that will happen to him in prison. He is a despicable and disgusting human being and what he did is terrifying and awful. I thought it was perfect when the judge told him that she was "signing his death sentence", and then proceeded to drop the pen as if it were a microphone. That was amazing. Also, Aly Raisman is a hero. I try not to use the word hero when talking sports, but what she did in coming forward and being the face of bringing this monster to justice, that makes her a hero. She is so awesome and she is going to do great, great things with the rest of her life. She is someone that I want both my son and daughter to look up to. I want them to know that they can speak up when they feel they are being treated wrong or bad in anyway, just like Raisman did. She is a wonderful person and I wish her nothing but the best.

While doing this Nassar case, and then "OTL" getting involved, more very bad stuff came to light about MSU sports programs and the people involved. First of all, after Nassar was sentenced, the president of the university "retired". I more think she got fired, but they said "retired". Then, only mere days later, the Athletic Director resigned. I was a little stunned by this. I figured something was going to happen with the AD, possibly a suspension or payment being docked, but he resigned. This was a brutal blow to begin with. When an AD resigns it is usually a sign of bad things to come. It usually means that they were involved with some kind of wrong doing. Then, a few hours, I say again, hours, not days or months, hours, a report came out that the AD resigned due to undisclosed and not followed up on sexual assault cases brought to him from the basketball and football programs. Apparently he was having multiple documents redacted to protect players that were essential to the program's success.

Spartans basketball has always been a top 20 team. Ever since Magic was there, and especially when Tom Izzo came aboard. They have been, not only a premiere Big Ten program, but a national program. Under Izzo they have been to 7 Final Fours, and they won the title in 2000. They currently sit at, I believe, number 6 in the country right now. They are one of the many favorites for the title this year. Then the "OTL" report came out. During one of their runs in the early 2000's a female student accused two of their key players, Adrien Payne and Keith Appling, of rape. She went into detail during the "OTL" airing, and it sounded horrifying. And when she went to report them, she was told, in not so many words, that she was going up against a giant, and she would not win. You may ask, what was the punishment for these players? Nothing. They missed 0 games and Payne is currently in the G League. Appling is in jail for a different charge, gun charge I believe, but he denied the report vehemently from his cell. When the female student that accused them was asked how they were disciplined, she said she heard that the program, Izzo included, handled it within. That means these guys probably had to do some running, and maybe got yelled at for a bit. A third player, that we know of, who was a captain on the team in the early 2000's, and then became a coaches assistant after his playing days were over, was accused of gang rape twice. When he was accused, and the police were working the case, was he suspended or fired? Nope. He was allowed to stay on the staff, with no limitations. Again, he has denied all the allegations, but it is beginning to pile up.

When it gets to be 6, 7 and 8 women accusing people of the same thing, that is a pattern. That usually means that what they are being accused of is true. It becomes systemic when more and more women feel like they need to come forward. and everyone who hid this, and didn't make the people accused of these horrific crimes suffer any consequences, that is a problem, and that includes the once Teflon Tom Izzo. He is complicit. He has allowed this to happen under his watch. He did nothing to the accused players because they were too important to his team and to him winning and to him being talked about as one of the great college coaches of all time.

When all this stuff came out and he gave his first press conference, I was disgusted. He tried to seem confused and troubled by the allegations, but he came off as sleazy and almost cocky. He would preface every question about the allegations by saying, "I will not talk about that any further", followed by, "I'm going to get my team ready", then finally, "we will help the survivors". So, he covered his own ass, then talked about his team, then brought up the students that were accusing his former players of rape. My wife watched some of his press conference with me, and all she could say was, "what a creep" over and over again. He said he has no intention of "retiring", but time will tell. We have to wait and see what the Michigan Police Department comes up with, now that they are involved.

"OTL" also brought up the football program during their story. Since their coach, Mark Dantonio, took over in 2007, 16 of his players have been accused of either rape, assault or sexual assault, all against female students. 16 players. In 11 seasons. That is alarming and appalling. Hell, not even Miami in its heyday of the early 90's had 16 players accused of what the MSU football players have been accused of. It was also reported that Dantonio knew of these allegations, and either swept it under the rug, or handled it internally, much like Izzo. He did kick a few players off the team 2 years ago, while MSU was 3-9, but none of those guys were important to the team. MSU football has gotten much, much better since he took over, but to what limits does he value winning over the safety of other students? MSU basketball, according to "OTL", had at least 3 players named. MSU football, 16. That is a big, big time problem. Of course in his press conference after the "OTL:' report, Dantonio called it all "completely false". Again, if it is 1 person, maybe. But 16 that we know of, the accusations are all true. 16 people would not make up a story about being raped or sexually assaulted. That would never, ever happen. Dantonio, much like Izzo, came off as sleazy and cocky and said he would refuse to "retire". Just like with Izzo, he may not have a choice after the MPD does their investigation.

To make matters even worse, Mark Emmert, president of the NCAA, knew about all of this stuff as early as 2010 and chose to help the cover up. That is horrendous. He should have already been fired. He is a horrible person and if the NCAA had any kind of backbone, they would have released him of his duties already. This whole story is a very disturbing trend happening in college athletics now. Coaches at major universities, that achieve some form of success, are now going to great lengths to cover up sexual assault allegations to keep important players on the field or court. The fact that this MSU story has led all the way to the president of the NCAA being involved in the cover up is alarming. The NCAA is already corrupt, but now, it is criminal. This is very, very bad.

The only way the NCAA can save face, and right now that may be impossible, is to hammer down MSU, especially their basketball program. They had a chance with the whole Penn State thing a few years back, and what they did to them was akin to a slap on the wrist. They need to come down hard on MSU athletics. I mean, Michigan basketball was crushed for paying players during the Fab Five era, and they have just recently become relevant again. USC was hammered because they gave Reggie Bush's mom a car and a house. SMU football got the death penalty for paying players and they still haven't recovered. The NCAA needs to come down very, very hard on MSU. Izzo has got to go. Same with Dantonio. This is a very disturbing problem, and the men at the top of their 2 best sports programs are involved with all the torrid details.

Don't take this as a lifelong Wolverine fan bashing MSU. That is not the case at all. What has been alleged to have happened at MSU is horrible and tragic and sad and scary. Do the right thing NCAA and fire Mark Emmert, then hammer down MSU athletics. Players and coaches that sexually abuse and assault and cover up the problem do not deserve to be at the university. This is a problem.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. 

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Michigan's Satellite Camp Upset the Wrong Group of Crybabies

The look the NCAA gave to Jim Harbaugh

As was expected, last Friday the stupid NCAA, and their equally stupid president, Mark Emmert, deemed the satellite camps that Jim Harbaugh was running illegal. They didn't really give a quality reason, but at this point, why would we expect a good answer from the corrupt NCAA. All they and Emmert had to was get some big named SEC, ACC and other Big Ten, high profile coaches, to complain that this was "unfair". They didn't think of it, so it had to be unfair, right? The NCAA's rule book is so thick and filled with some of the dumbest, most inexplicable rules, these satellite camps had to be illegal? Wrong to both of those questions.

There was no rule saying that coaches couldn't hold camps like this over spring break. If the players wanted to give up their free time and the coaches wanted to give up their free time, they were allowed to do that. It lasted for two years. After this second one was completed, these big name coaches came out and started to complain. Guys like Will Muschamp thought it was unfair. Gus Malzahn chimed in with his two cents. Even Big Ten colleagues, like the two biggest douchebags in the conference, Urban Meyer and Mark Dantonio, first complained, then decided that they wanted to bring their players to a camp like this. So, they didn't like it at first, but when they found that they could recruit in the South, in the offseason, they wanted to come aboard. What a bunch of lemmings.

None of these coaches voices mattered. It wasn't until early last week when Satan himself, Nick Saban, came out and said he thought that theses camps were illegal and unfair. As soon as I read that Saban was upset with what Harbaugh was doing, I knew these satellite camps had little to no time left. That was all the NCAA and Mark Emmert needed to hear. The NCAA and Emmert do not want to upset the "mighty" SEC and the "mighty" Nick Saban and their partner in crime, ESPN. These three were the loudest, biggest whiners and dissenters when talking about these camps. Mike Wilbon would openly berate Jim Harbaugh on "PTI" for, "taking these kids away from their families to work on Spring Break". I would always think to myself, had Pat Fitzgerald come up with this idea, he would never be this clever or innovative because he is an idiot, Wilbon would love this idea. But, since it came from a coach at Michigan, he was opposed. Speaking to Nick Saban complaining about this, he is just jealous that he didn't think of it first. He would have abused this to no end, had he set up satellite camps in the Midwest and the North, to recruit and make his team even better. And, the NCAA would have praised him for doing it. He would have done it year round as well. Harbaugh only did it for one week of the spring. Saban would be doing right now, had he thought of it first.

Yes, I'm a Michigan fan, we all know this by now, but I truly believe that what Harbaugh has done, in less than 2 years, has the "mighty" Nick Saban worried. Saban is a great college coach, but he has never really been challenged by anyone at the college level. People usually cower in fear of him. He is a bully to his players, his staff and sports writers, but they never challenge him. But, Harbaugh is openly going after him now, specifically setting these camps up in his territory and I think that has scared him. That's why he came out and condemned the camps. This is the first time since he rejoined the college ranks that he has been challenged by another coach and he is scared. He knew that if he ran to the NCAA and Emmert and complained, they would bow to his request. That is the move of a coward. The SEC is filled with cowards that are terrified of being challenged by an outsider. That is why guys like Muschamp and Malzone complained too. They are scared, especially Muschamp after what the Wolverines did to his "vaunted" defense in the Citrus Bowl this year. Then, to have coaches in your own conference complain, I mean, what a dick move.

I expected this from Urban Meyer because he only knows how to cheat the system. He illegally recruits and passes players with poor grades and lets players with multiple arrests continue to play with no repercussions. He is a world class cheater, so naturally he'd be upset that Harbaugh found a perfectly legal way to recruit in the South, in the offseason. But Dantonio complaining, that is straight up sour grapes. He is as bad a curmudgeon as Saban, but not nearly as good a coach and doesn't hold the levity that Saban has with the NCAA. He is a whiner and complainer and thinks he is way better than he truly is. He has gotten very lucky the past couple of seasons, and looked what happened when his team got in the playoff last year. I believe they got beat 1,000-0. He is not an upper echelon coach, no matter what he thinks and may say. He missed his best, and probably only chance, to win a title last year.

What it all boils down to, the NCAA and Mark Emmert are spineless and they couldn't care less about what these student athletes, whom they make millions upon millions of dollars on, choose to do with their free time. The NCAA wants to now control how these kids spend their free time. This is one of the biggest crocks in the decision making history of the corrupt NCAA. Why would they care about these kids all of the sudden? That was the reasoning, that these kids needed to have some free time away from their sport, but when do they ever really have free time? I've known people that play college sports, and no matter what level of competition, be it division 1 or division 3, they all let me know that it was a full time, year round job. They were either in the weight room, the film room, study hall or had a meeting with their coaches all school year and during the summer. I knew people that lived in the town where they played collegiately in the summer because that's what the coaches wanted them to do. So, no this has nothing to do with the NCAA suddenly worrying about these kids free time or their spring break, they weren't making any money off of the camps and the "almighty" Nick Saban was unhappy with the camps.

The NCAA, the SEC, Urban Meyer, Mark Dantonio and, most importantly, Mark Emmert are so gutless and so jealous and just out right ridiculous in deeming these camps illegal. Decisions like this are why people HATE the NCAA and why we all think the NCAA is corrupt. If they can't make money off of something, they will deem illegal and that is the biggest problem. Yes, I'm pissed that Harbaugh found a legal loophole to recruit the best players to come and play at Michigan, but I'm more pissed at the NCAA for giving in to some whiny, bratty coaches that were jealous that they didn't think of it first.

What a crock.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is angry that he has to be angry about college football in the spring. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.