MEDIA BIAS AGAINST MSU EVIDENT IN LANSING AREA

Just when you thought things were starting to even out in so many ways on the MSU-vs-UM front, we come across yet another example of the sometimes subtle media bias against the Spartans. This one comes from the Lansing State Journal (LSJ).

The LSJ is the largest newspaper in the Lansing market, with a significant web presence and a long history of extensive local sports coverage. It is arguably the "cradle of columnists", having produced the great Joe Rexrode most recently, and before him, Lynn Henning and Jack Ebling.

But this latest little feature includes an embedded bias against MSU. This is a poll that asks readers to vote for the "best game at Spartan Stadium". There are ten choices, many of them classics. They have the 10-10 tie, the Levi Jackson game, and most recently, the "Little Giants" and "Rocket" walk-off wins. I voted for the 1974 game, as I was there and Jackson broke through a hole right in front of us and blazed down the sideline into pandemonium.

You might find a similar reader poll in different cities about their own home school team, with an array of big-game memories to choose from. On the surface, seems pretty tame.

But a closer look reveals that three of the ten choices were games that were lost by MSU, two to Notre Dame and one to Iowa. All three were nasty, gut-wrenching, heart-breaking losses. How do these choices make their way onto such a list?

For comparison, consider the same reader poll if it appeared in the Ann Arbor News, asking what were the best games ever played at Michigan Stadium. And suppose that three of the choices were the 28-27 loss to MSU in 1990, the 34-32 loss to Appalachian State in 2008, and any of a zillion times that Woody crushed their seasons in the final game. Would that make sense? Do you think people might question the sense of the local newspaper to suggest that such terrible games - - - from the local perspective - - - should ever be considered on a list of ten from the hundreds that have been played?

I can't believe any such article would appear in the Ann Arbor media (including Detroit) and I don't believe one ever has. I can't prove a negative, but until somebody shows me evidence of such a piece, I'm asserting here and now that it hasn't. Let me add that it won't in the future, either.

Most folks don't notice such a local insult because they just make a different choice and probably only think about a few of the games in the list afterwards, anyway. But don't overlook the fact that people in this area are exposed to what amounts to a "low-level of radiation" of anti-MSU bias in the mainstream media on a consistent basis. That same media then labels Spartan fans and supporters as having an "inferiority complex".


Bottom Line: It doesn't make sense to suggest that Michigan State folks would enjoy or in any way prefer a home loss to a home victory. With hundreds of home wins on record, why would a major news agency offer not one, but several losses on a short list for fans to vote on? The underlying message from such original media pieces influences the way people think about MSU, almost as if by design.




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THE DETROIT SPORTS MEDIA "BLUE WALL"

Joe Rexrode is the best sports reporter in the Detroit market, let's get that out of the way right here at the top. We are not criticizing the work of Rexrode, nor are we saying he is part of a pro-Michigan conspiracy at the Detroit Free Press. But he works in a blue-biased-bubble at the Freep (though that publication is not necessarily the worst offender in yellow-and-blue journalism).

So it wasn't surprising to see a very unflattering picture of Spartan Football Head Coach Mark Dantonio topping an article that claimed he was somehow inadequate because he wanted to talk about the Cotton Bowl at a Cotton Bowl press conference. You may recall only a few short days ago how the sports media was trying to hijack every interview with every sports figure and turn it into a Jim Harbaugh Retrospective. Dantonio was the only one to put a lid on such attempts, closing off the impulse to distort every American sporting event into a showcase for the University of Michigan.

He was right to do so. Dantonio knew that he wasn't a guest on the Jim Rome Show in Dallas, he was coaching a team to play in the Cotton Bowl.

Dantonio wanted questions about his team and/or

his coaches, and maybe a few about Baylor as well.

Not another episode of "All About Michigan".

Shawn Windsor of the Freep attacked Dantonio the next day, claiming he was deficient for not playing along with the sports media bias in favor of UM. Windsor essentially was saying that the MSU Head Coach should have bowed down, bent over, and taken it with a smile. When Dantonio didn't play along, Windsor slapped him around in a nasty article with an even nastier picture of the Spartan leader who was obviously squinting in the sunlight when the photo was taken.

Nobody seems to have a picture of Harbaugh with his player's blood smeared all over his own face, so such a photo would be a rarity. The Freep, however, has hundreds (if not thousands) of photos of Dantonio in which he's not squinting in the direct sunlight. For "SOME REASON", they chose a bad photo of Dantonio to publish the day after Harbaugh's hiring and the day before MSU's bowl game.

So I logged in to the Rexrode weekly chat to ask about it. We bring you the text exchange for your review.

---

JOE REXRODE WEEKLY CHAT - DECEMBER 31, 2014

• 
  Michigan folks have behaved disgracefully on a regular basis towards Michigan State, both formally and informally, officially and non-officially, for decades. Mark Dantonio is repeatedly criticized for standing up LIKE A MAN against such nonsense. In your professional opinion, what is he supposed to do under these circumstances? It was a Cotton Bowl press conference, not an end-of-year summary with all topics on the table.

  by SpartanMan82 2:25 PM yesterday
  • Permalink
• 
  First of all, some folks on both sides of this rivalry act disgracefully. And again on Harbaugh questions -- the news was official yesterday, an hour before Dantonio spoke. How in the world would anyone think that doesn't get asked? Urban Meyer got asked. Rich Rod got asked, etc., etc. Come on. It's news.

  by Joe Rexrode 2:26 PM yesterday
• 
  You deny the "Blue Wall" at the Freep because YOU'RE NOT PART OF IT. You obviously do a great job and everybody knows it. But how can you ignore the snarky article by Shawn Windsor, and especially the incredibly unflattering picture of Mark Dantonio along with it? That's a bad picture, man, one that should not be used in a professional publication. He is obviously squinting from the sunlight, not a good shot. This was a "smear-article" concocted only to hurt the image of MSU. Was Harbaugh also asked to comment on every other conference team that has played in, or will play in, a bowl game? Of course not, he's treated with kid gloves. NOT YOUR FAULT, JOE, BUT YOU ARE WORKING IN A "BLUE WALL WORLD".

  by SpartanMan82 2:26 PM yesterday
• 
  See, you're wrong there. I was in the top-secret Free Press meeting in which we talked about the best way to put out this "smear article" to help continue aiding Michigan and undercutting MSU. I have now been promoted to Blue Wall Lieutenant from Blue Wall Private.

  by Joe Rexrode 2:27 PM yesterday
• 
  THAT'S FINE, WE CAN GO THERE ALL DAY.

  by Joe Rexrode 2:27 PM yesterday
• 
  (Sorry, sometimes I think I'm having a mid-life crisis. This Reese's Cup should help).

  by Joe Rexrode 2:28 PM yesterday
• 
  If you don't answer questions about Michigan during this chat, why should Mark Dantonio answer questions about Michigan during his COTTON BOWL PRESS CONFERENCE???

  by SpartanMan82 2:28 PM yesterday
• 
  YEAH, GREAT LOGIC.

  by Joe Rexrode 2:28 PM yesterday

• 
  Could not agree more of SpartanMan82 take on Shawnie's article. That is not even close. Glad to see Coach Dantonio put an end to the "bright shinny object" adoration going on on the Eastern side of the State.

  by USMCSPARTAN(Ret.) December 31, 2014 at 2:41 PM
  • Permalink

• 
  Final attempt on the Shawn Windsor smear article. I understand that the question was asked and I accept that reality. I also understand the answer that was given, and I appreciate that reality. My objection is to the feature article that was written and published, condemning Dantonio for being real, and especially THAT AWFUL PICTURE. The picture is the giveaway to the media (bias) agenda.

  by SpartanMan82 December 31, 2014 at 2:45 PM
• 
  Oh, absolutely. That was a key part of our #BlueWall meeting.

  by Joe Rexrode December 31, 2014 at 2:46 PM

• 
  Thanks for participating in the New Year's Eve chat, everyone. Enjoy the holiday, please -- please -- be safe tonight. And next week I'll bring the minutes from the #BlueWall meeting so you can see what we have planned next! But seriously, thanks and take care.

  by Joe Rexrode December 31, 2014 at 3:04 PM

---

Rexrode did a stand-up job defending his colleague while dodging the main point. I made it absolutely clear that I wasn't charging him with complicity, but he just laughed-off the whole idea. That's okay, as we can count on him to continue to produce outstanding work on a regular basis. But it remains quite possible that one reason the Freep (finally) hired/promoted him was to establish an easy and convenient counter-strike to claims of media-bias in favor of their beloved University of Michigan.

Joe Rexrode provides excellent professional coverage of MSU Football and Men's Basketball, and we can all appreciate that very much. His employers, however, have not consistently shaken the habit of bowing down to the Blue Gods in Ann Arbor, almost always at the expense of Michigan State.

Keep up the great work, Joe Rexrode!

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LETTER FROM "STEVE" SCORES AGAIN

Joe Rexrode of the Detroit Free Press is the best sports reporter in the State of Michigan, and is on a professional arc that may well land him among the national "elite" of sports journalism. He is excellent at his job, and we admire him, respect him, and appreciate him for that. No jabs at Joe.

But nobody's perfect, and Rexrode has a glaring weakness when it comes to understanding the rivalry between Michigan State and Michigan, along with the inherent BIAS of the Detroit sports media as it relates to their long-standing love affair with UM. The latest bash-job against MSU came with the complaints against Connor Cook for leading his team to victory in the conference championship game and winning the Most Valuable Player award afterwards. Those story-lines were set aside by the media in favor of some "slight" against Archie Griffin that was conjured up by the Wolverine apologists who were incensed at the idea that the Spartans could be better than their own adopted sports programs.

Rather than openly dismiss the nonsense of those claims against Cook, the sports media "ran with it" and than disavowed any support for it, as Rexrode did when he wrote this week that the whole thing was "so overblown". Joe's comments came in his "Mailbag" or "Hey Joe" blogs, not as a regular news article with a clear headline about the subject.

So we give Rexrode credit for printing another long letter from "Steve", who once again lays out the situation so clearly that we are simply stepping aside to give "Steve" the spotlight on our web site for this article. His summary of the sports media is excellent, and if you want to read the Rexrode response, you can find it here.

++++++++++

*Joe -- don't you think it's way past time for the Detroit media to apologize en masse (excluding a certain MSU beat writer who seems to try to actually be a straight reporter) for its treatment of the Spartans, and particularly of Mark Dantonio vis a vis Jim Harbaugh? Let's examine this … and why MSU seems to have a much-ridiculed, but very well-earned "chip on its shoulder."

First, let's look at the record Dantonio has established in East Lansing -- the Spartans have appeared in three of the five Big Ten Championship games ever played so far. They have won two of those over teams ranked nationally in the top 5. The third they lost in a dogfight, on a roughing the kicker penalty, to eventual All Pro and Super Bowl QB Russell Wilson and his Wisconsin team. MSU has lost FOUR GAMES in the last three years. Two of those were to last year's playoff finalists, Ohio State and Oregon. The other two were both tainted by officiating -- at Notre Dame, where I believe FIVE pass interference penalties were called against the Spartans, almost all questionable, including in the end zone, in a game that prevented MSU from going undefeated that year. And this year's travesty at Nebraska, on the running out of bounds TD catch, that prevents them from being unbeaten THIS year. Oh, and by the way, within the last eight years, have totally dominated their in-state rival Michigan, losing to them ONCE.

In the last three years, MSU has been ranked in the top 5 twice, and this year, No. 3 -- so far. They have won the Rose Bowl against a Stanford team that is a perennial power, and the Cotton Bowl against Baylor. Now they return to the Cotton Bowl as Big Ten Champion once again, and as one of the four teams left standing in 2015. Dantonio's alums populate the NFL from Darqueze Dennard and Le'Veon Bell to Kirk Cousins and Trae Waynes, from Jeremy Langford to Brian Hoyer.

That's a pretty amazing resume. But not good enough to really get the full respectful attention of the Detroit media. The Spartans are picked against over and over and over in pre-game articles. They are voted in a dismissive way by media members who have poll votes. But, worst of all is the amazing, fawning, sycophantic, drooling, uncritical, softball coverage of Jim Harbaugh -- not only as it relates to his actual coaching, but to what he had for breakfast (does he like waffles or pancakes better?) or whether he took his shirt off, or what advice he might have for the President about how to achieve world peace. Day after day, leading from his hiring to the beginning of this season, if you didn't know better, you would think these articles were being written for some U-M booster publication, or as promotional tools for Harbaugh's recruiting efforts. All Harbaugh, all the time. Down to him cracking a nut on former coach's GRAVE before the OSU game.

Now, that might be OK if it was 1920 and Michigan football was the only game in town for college ball. It might be OK if just down the road there was not a program with Mark Dantonio running it, with THAT resume to talk about. It might be OK if Harbaugh had actually WON ANYTHING with his new team. But Dantonio, for all he's done, has not gotten a tiny fraction of the attention given to Harbaugh in the local media. It's a hugely embarrassing bias, it's unprofessional, and the effect it has on how MSU is perceived nationally and on its recruiting can't be over-emphasized. The respect and admiration this program richly deserves should begin at home. Yet, even with a huge MSU alumni base as a big part of the newspaper reading public in Michigan, a guy who got run out of pro football on a rail, who is a hired gun (no matter all the warm stories about his Wolverine past, down to being a ball boy, etc., he is here for a HUGE PAYDAY....bigger than any other coach in America) gets all the attention. Harbaugh won what he did this year largely because he bypassed the traditionally established way of recruiting and developing players and went and got a fifth year "free agent" QB from Iowa, Jake Rudock. Along with his salary, this development just brings a more and more professional look to the college game -- completely the opposite of the long-term, patient approach Dantonio has taken in East Lansing. Yet never a discouraging word was heard by the media.

The bottom line is that a guy who lost almost as many games THIS SEASON as Dantonio has IN THE LAST THREE, has been the one who has been incessantly lionized. It's time the Detroit media took a long look in the mirror and felt humiliated about that.

Steve

++++++++++

To "Steve", whoever you are and wherever you are: WE COULDN'T HAVE SAID IT ANY BETTER THAN YOU. Please feel free to contact us and send us your thoughts at any time.

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MSU FOOTBALL FRONT-BURNER: Part 3 - Neighborhood Bully/Feasting on Huskers (MSUSpartan76)

Our weekly feature on MSU Football brings diverse responses to
a variety of questions related to the Spartans program. 

Because of the significance MSU-UM Rivalry Game and bye week results,

This FRONT-BURNER is presented in multiple installments.

We encourage reader comments. Click the link at the bottom of the post.

Part 1 (The Rivalry Game Aftermath & 
MSU Football All-Access Video on UM Game)
 Part 2 (Featuring ATownAndDown)

PART 3 (Featuring MSUSpartan76)

1. How do you view UM's back-to-back collapse? What does it mean for the MSU Football program?

MSUSpartan76 (Follow him on M-Live)
Many saw it coming, especially given the narrow escapes versus Akron and at UConn. The only surprise is not that Nebraska did well in rushing defense, but rather that Nebraska did as well as they did. They had the blueprint handed to them.

What does it mean to the MSU Football program? The first game was a win. Wins are good. That win is merely one of five steps taken towards the goal of a Rose Bowl.

The second game silenced all the yammering about a comeback and going to the B1G Ten Championship Game and a bunch of other dUMb chUMp talk. MSU Football program is building success upon success and that is completely devoid of any assistance from that school down the road.

One side benefit is a seemingly growing tsunami of defections both from the Little Missygan roster and newly pledged recruits. Whether this transforms from a perception to a reality is yet to be seen.

2. Nebraska entered the game with UM as the #9 rushing defense in the B1G. They held Michigan to -20 yards rushing and tallied 7 sacks. Did MSU expose just how bad Michigan is and Nebraska simply followed up with a repeat OR did MSU break Michigan's spirit making it easy for Nebraska to put up MSU-like numbers against them? Is MSU "that good" OR did Nebraska's success leave doubt about the quality of MSU's defense? Will any MSU victory other than beating Ohio State "prove" that MSU is really what their stats say they are?

MSUSpartan76 (Follow him on M-Live)
The Spartan Dawgs are that good. The Spartan rush defense has held every opponent below season rush offense averages with 7 of 9 opponents being held to 50% or less of their season averages.

The chUMps rushing offense has not been exceptional all season. In fact, it was already on a downward slope going into Spartan Stadium.

The chUMps rushing yards versus the season average rush defense by opponents and the delta between the 2 numbers are tabulated:

• vs Central Michigan 242 yds (No. 106, 214.4 yd/gm) +27.6
• vs Notre Dame 186 yds (No. 61, 159.6 yd/gm) +26.4
• vs Akron 177 yds (No. 59, 156.7 yd/gm) +20.3
• at Connecticut 192 yds (No. 64, 160.8) +31.2
• vs Minnesota 113 yds (No. 40, 147.0 yd/gm) -34.0
• at Penn State 149 yds (No. 56, 155.4 yd/gm) -6.4
• vs Indiana 248 yds (No. 108, 217.4 yd/gm) +30.6
• at Michigan State -48 yds (No. 1, 43.4 yd/gm) -91.4
• vs Nebraska -21 yds (No. 63, 160.0 yd/gm) -181.0

It is clear that the chUMp rushing offense was being held below their opponents' defensive averages once they came back from UConn. It is also clear, with the IU game being the exception, that the rushing productivity was falling. Even with 4 OTs, the rushing versus Penn St. was well below their season average.

Prior to the MSU game, the Little Missygan ball club was ranked about No. 50 averaging about 187 yds/gm. In only 2 games were they significantly above that average and those games were against opponents with no rush defense to speak of. Read that as cupcakes. After the Spartan and Cornhusker debacles, the chUMps dropped to No. 96 (135.3 yd/gm) rushing offense. One must wonder, where is the threat?

It's obvious from the data that the chUMps went over a cliff when they took on the Spartan Dawgs. They were exposed and the obvious conclusion is Nebraska watched the game film and saw how to take it to the Ann Arbor Charm School ball club. Did MSU break the chUMps spirit? Maybe. Certainly the second embarrassment did and we can expect to see more of the same going forward. One can only speculate if Ohio State will do as well.

Given the media bias, it is doubtful that even beating the Buckeyes will prove anything about MSU football. Winning the Rose Bowl might.


3. You engage in or read a lot of MSU-UM social media. How would you characterize the Michigan fan-base reaction? How has the media handled the Michigan football situation in your opinion? Any surprises?

MSU FOOTBALL FRONT-BURNER: Big Ten Champions Edition

BIG TEN CHAMPIONS EDITION
Our weekly feature on MSU Football brings diverse responses to
a variety of questions related to the Spartans program. 

Front-Burner will be published in three parts between now and the Rose Bowl:
1. B1G Championship Game Discussion
2. MSU 2013 Season Discussion
3. Rose Bowl and Beyond Discussion

Panelists:

ATownAndDown (Follow A-Town on M-Live)

SpartanMan82 (See SM82s posts)

MSUSpartan76 (Follow '76 on M-Live)

Part 1 Discussion Questions (Please send additional questions in COMMENTS below the post.)

1. Wow, how about the REFS in that championship game? They seemed to control the game without distorting the process, making every correct call and non-call without controversy. Many fans were concerned about Buckeye bias in the interest of the Big Ten. Did the strong chorus of concerns preempt an orchestrated officiating bias? What do you think of the Big Ten officiating to Jim Delany tie-in theories?

2. And what was that smirky "thank-you" by Delany to the losing team on the championship podium? It seemed a little bit jammed-in, and it seemed to preempt Dantonio from mentioning them on his own. Does Jim Delany really eat Buckeye Nuts for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Does he even realize why he was being booed? How do you think it happened that the confetti used in the celebration was blue and yellow?

3. Okay, enough about Delany. How cool was it to be up by 17 in the first half? How many "chUMps" did you dUMp in your shorts while you watched Ohio STATE score 24 in a row? When Geiger kicked his second-half field-goal, were you thinking it might be the start of another 17-0 run to finish? Have you ever seen a game so clearly divided into three parts like that?

4. What about the play-calling by Michigan State? Many have had issues with play-calls throughout the season, but it seemed to work out right on Saturday night in Indy. What do you think?

5. OSU finished with relatively gaudy offensive numbers against MSU, drawing some surprising post-game criticism of the Defense, which remains rated #1 in Rush Defense, 3rd-down completion-% defense, and Total Defense, and also in the Top Five in Passing Efficiency defense, First-Down defense, and Scoring defense. What's up with that? How do you view the performance by the MSU-D in the championship game?

6. What other observations or comments do you have about the game, the meaning of MSU's win, fan/media reaction or other story lines?


Panelist Responses (Join in using the comments link at the bottom of the web version post.)

1. Wow, how about the REFS in that championship game? They seemed to control the game without distorting the process, making every correct call and non-call without controversy. Many fans were concerned about Buckeye bias in the interest of the Big Ten. Did the strong chorus of concerns preempt an orchestrated officiating bias? What do you think of the Big Ten officiating to Jim Delany tie-in theories?

SpartanMan82 (See SM82's Post: UM Names Awards For Banquet)
We finally got a game without serious trouble from the officials, and look at the results. There have been far too many MSU football games skewed by crazy calls and/or non-calls, leaving a sour taste over a bitter loss. Not this one. The refs were clean, and the game was clean.

Delany certainly helped both Ohio STATE and Michigan by choosing not to impose penalties on the dozen or more un-penalized players who started and/or participated in the on-field fracas in Ann Arbor. But this game offered no evidence for the conspiracy theories about special favors for those two schools.

MSUSpartan76 (Follow '76 on M-Live)

The officiating in the B1G Ten Championship game left a little to be desired. The number of no calls were just smidgeon higher than they should. I suspect this was due to the pendulum swinging backwards. That aside, it was balanced. MSU got away with a couple as did OSU, so they did not tilt the playing field.
I read in a fan post on MLive.com that ESPN had broached this topic and discussed the possibility of B1G Ten bias in officiating. I have not been able to verify that, but it was obliquely discussed lately on the Big Ten Network in reference to the Notre Dame game and how those questionable pass interference calls probably cost MSU a shot at the National Championship game. I believe that the discussion had its desired effect. I also believe that there was bias against MSU under instructions from Delany and it goes back at least as far as the Gholston suspension and Narduzzi "admonishment" after the UolM game in 2011.

ATownAndDown (Follow A-Town on M-Live)

The officiating wasn't bad. Really it appeared that they took a "let the players decide the outcome" approach in my opinion. There were a lot of no calls. In particular, OSU was getting away with quite a bit of grabbing in the trenches which created a lot of the gap issues we had there in the middle of the game. All in all, I thought it was pretty clean and anything that would have swayed the outcome would have been pretty obvious. I know Jim Delany is in love with the idea of the Big 2 and Little 8 (and he has been called out a few times for that) but its tough on that kind of stage to influence the outcome. Its one thing to dish out suspensions with that bias in mind and its another to have your refs clearly leaning toward one team in what will be the highest rated game of your conferences season.

____________________________________________

2. And what was that smirky "thank-you" by Delany to the losing team on the championship podium? It seemed a little bit jammed-in, and it seemed to preempt Dantonio from mentioning them on his own. Does Jim Delany really eat Buckeye Nuts for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Does he even realize why he was being booed? How do you think it happened that the confetti used in the celebration was blue and yellow?

"MICHIGAN LOGIC" PERMEATES SPORTS MEDIA

To quote former President Ronald Reagan, "There they go again..." In this case, it's not the News Media but the Sports Media that has found yet another way to twist the normal rules of logic to support their favorite team. Maybe this is what Mark Dantonio meant when he said, "It will never be over."

Michigan was a heavy favorite against Minnesota tonight, expected to roll to an easy victory with a point-spread in the mid-teens. Then suddenly, the Gopher Head Coach RETIRES in the middle of the week, an event which surely might have the effect of ending all hopes for Minnesota football this season.

But not to the UM-loving sports media! According to their reports, the abrupt retirement of Jerry Kill now means the Wolverines have their hands full with the Gophers, their backs against the wall, facing the juggernaut of a team that just lost it's leader. Really?

To show how stupid that line of thought actually is, let's turn the paradigm around.

If Jim Harbaugh abruptly retired,

would that improve UM's chances of winning?

Most people would say Michigan is only doing well because of their Head Coach, and if he suddenly left the team, they would be left rudder-less, floating aimlessly towards mediocrity.

But since Harbaugh said it was so, the sports media has accepted The Word of their Savior, and they have approved of his message. Beating Minnesota tonight is now Mission Impossible, so UM is fully protected in case they lose, and they can be fully heralded if they win.

This way, they win-if-they-win,

and of course, they win-if-they-lose.

It's truly a Beautiful Bias.

So it goes with Michigan Logic. The basic premise to all "reasoning" in the world of Michigan Logic is that UM is the crown-of-football-creation, and all thoughts begin with that understanding. Consider a few other media assumptions that have been propagated recently:

• Michigan was a heavy favorite to beat Michigan State two weeks ago, so if UM won, they proved their greatness. But if UM lost, they are still "fine" because they are "ahead of schedule" and of course, because Harbaugh is the Coach and what could be better than that?
• Once Michigan lost to MSU, their record dropped to 5-2, effectively eliminating them from so-called "playoff-contention", but actually not-so-much. UM is still "in the conversation", the only team in America with two losses getting such attention. And why? Because they actually beat the Spartans, get it? Their 5-2 record is as good as 8-0 in the eyes of the sports media.
• Looking ahead to Ohio STATE, Michigan is now considered a contender to beat the Buckeyes, even though OSU is 23-0 in the last two seasons, while UM is 10-9 over the same span. Make sense? But I can only wonder, if Michigan was riding a 23-game win-streak, and Ohio State was only 5-2 this season, would anybody outside of Columbus consider the Buckeyes a serious challenge to The Great Harboni? Doubt it.

It's an amazing experience to watch the so-called "professional media" fawn over one team so much, despite any amount of evidence for a contrary position. It certainly gets tiring to watch it play out, over and over and over.

When will the sports media begin asking Urban Meyer if he's "rooting for Michigan" to win out before his team plays them? They've been asking that type of question to Mark Dantonio for the past nine years.

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A LETTER FROM "STEVE" TO JOE REXRODE

Every so often we find something in the sports media that is SO GOOD that we just want to reprint it verbatim in case you missed it. That's the case today, with a letter to Joe Rexrode, in his weekly "Mailbag" feature on the Detroit Free Press web site. A reader named "Steve" summed-up the situation with regard to how Michigan State has been treated by sports officials - - - not just portrayed by the sports media - - - this football season.

Steve writes about what we already knew, but it is summarized so succinctly and comprehensively here that we are simply re-printing it for your review.

Hey Joe:   I wanted to revisit something I wrote to you weeks ago about Michigan State and the rankings this year. The Spartans had been ranked No. 2 in the AP poll in week four, with two first-place votes. By week seven, they had dropped to No. 7, a five spot drop, and during that time had beaten Central Michigan 30-10, Purdue 24-21, and Rutgers 31-24. They remained undefeated, with a win over an Oregon team ranked #7 to start the season included in their resume. Somehow CLOSE WINS had dropped them five spots. I asked you at that time if any other team suffered a similar fate in similar circumstances. I am certain that only MSU precipitously dropped WHILE WINNING. I will add another, even more blatant scenario to suggest the bias against the Spartans, no matter what they accomplish or how many years they string together those accomplishments: Michigan State beat Indiana 52-26....AND DROPPED A SPOT IN THE POLLS, from No. 6 to No. 7. Michigan squeezed by Indiana by a fingernail in DOUBLE OT, and moved UP two spots in the polls. More egregiously revealing, Iowa beat Indiana by seven points (not by 26) and, instead of dropping a spot, as MSU did, moved up FOUR SPOTS.

Iowa had no signature wins at the time, vs. MSU having beaten Oregon and Michigan. Michigan of course had LOST to MSU. Explain to me how this indicates anything except bias. Going into the OSU game, MSU had one tainted loss, on national TV, where everyone saw and commented on Nebraska's improperly awarded last minute TD. The resume included wins over Oregon, Michigan (on the road), over an Air Force team that looks to be the Mountain West champ, and six of 10 opponents who are bowl eligible. Yet were ranked No. 9, and were a TWO-touchdown underdog to the Buckeyes. Now, they added a mauling of OSU to their record, a game that wouldn't have been close without a couple of giveaway TDs. A team that was ranked No. 1 for almost the whole season. Yet, MSU is ranked sixth (in the AP).

Examine the teams ranked ahead of them, almost as if by birthright -- Clemson has wins over Georgia Tech (1-7 in ACC play) Boston College (0-7 in the league), Syracuse (1-6 in league play) and Wake Forest (1-6) -- all of whom are 3-8 overall! And let's not forget the signature wins over Wofford and Appalachian State to start the year. It includes a 3-point win over 6-5 Louisville. Both of their "big" wins came AT HOME, over Notre Dame and Florida State. Not one of their signature wins on the road. Yet they almost surely will be in the playoff.

Oklahoma's wins came against 3-8 Iowa State (2-6 in Big 12 league play), 4-6 Kansas (1-6 in league play), 5-6 Tulsa and a 6-5 Akron team...as well as a double-OT win over unranked Tennessee, and a 1-point win over a TCU team playing without its Heisman candidate quarterback. And they lost to 4-6 Texas. Hardly the same resume as the Spartans have.

Notre Dame? Dogfight wins over 3-8 Georgia Tech (by 8), Virginia (by 7), over Temple (by 4), and now Boston College (by 3) and a loss to the one team still ranked that they faced, Clemson. By the way, it will be interesting to see if the Irish are dropped for a "bad and ugly" win, over B.C., the same way MSU was earlier.

So, MSU is behind these teams, with a loss directly affected by a terrible TD call, and their biggest win coming WITHOUT THEIR NFL FIRST-ROUND QB. Having beaten the current No. 8, 12 and 18 teams, as well as the Mountain West champ. If somehow the Spartans beat Iowa in the Big Ten championship game (their third appearance there in the game's five-year existence) and don't at least get into the playoff, then the term they previously used, before the BCS and playoff systems came into play, to describe the national championship in college football would fit perfectly again. They used to call it "mythical."

-Steve

Great job by "Steve" summing up the problems with how Michigan State is treated by the sports media and by sports officials on a local, regional, and national level. While this argument will appear to be "void" if MSU does not beat both Penn State and Iowa, the points have already been made and recorded. In other words, what happened has already happened, and a failure to win an 11th and 12th game by the Spartans may "cover over" the egregious treatment of our team, it still happened, and it is still happening.

The correct word to describe this type of treatment is "bias".
The implementation of "bias" is "discrimination".

When social groups are treated this way by institutions,
those institutions are subject to prosecution.

But in college sports, officials are allowed to
impose their bias through discrimination
against Michigan State on a very regular basis.

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