Best Spartan Moments of 2010

2010 was a great year for the Michigan State Spartans, and here are my Top 5 Favorite moments from that year.

#5 Michigan State's men's basketball teams returns to the Final Four for the second consecutive time and for the 6th time in the past eleven years which is best in the NCAA. Though they lost in the Final Four, the trip there was very memorable.

#4 Both the MSU Men's Basketball and Football teams bring home Big Ten Championships. For the basketball team it is their 2nd consecutive Big Ten Title and for the football team it is their first Big Ten Championship in 20 years.

#3 "Mousetrap". Mousetrap was the name of the fake punt which they ran against Northwestern to come back from a 17 point deficit to win the game.

#2 Korie Lucious' three point shot at the buzzer to beat Maryland in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Maryland looked good the entire game and with less then 20 secs left in the game, Maryland took a one point lead. Summers dribbled the ball to the other end of the court, passed the ball to Locious who runs around the defender jumps up lets the ball go and the shot falls in the give Michigan State the dramatic last second win.

#1 "Little Giants". It was mid-September and the Michigan State Spartans were hosting the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in an epic night time game. At the end of regulation the teams were tied and they headed into overtime. Michigan State won the coin toss and elected to get the ball second since both teams have one chance each to score points. Notre Dame kicked a foe;d goal to take a three point lead and then take defense against the Spartans. After the Spartans failed to get a first down after three attempts they line up to kick the game tieing field goal. The players are lined up for the try. When the ball was snapped, holder Aaron Bates stood up, passed the ball to Charlie Gantt who walks in for the touchdown and the win. No body saw it coming, not even I!

Most Memorable Sports Moment of 2010

I am still in a reflecting on 2010 mood so I thought I would write about one of the moments in sports that stood out most to me. Surprise surprise, this moment is not a Michigan State moment, though I will blog about my top favorite Michigan State moments from 2010.

The moment which stood out most to me happen sometime over the summer at Comerica Park in Detroit, home of the Detroit Tigers. Armando Galarraga was the pitcher that day, and what happened that day will go down in sports history.

In baseball there is a rare achievement known as a perfect game. For those of you not familiar with baseball, a perfect game is an achievement when a pitcher does not allow a player to reach base, so 27 at bats no player reaches first base. This is a rarity in baseball, out of the 100+ years of major league baseball, there have only been twenty some perfect games thrown. Galarraga finds himself in the 9th inning, one out away from a perfect game. The whole world has their eyes on this game to see some baseball history being made. Galarraga pitches the ball, the ball is hit to the first baseman, Galarraga runs to first base and catches the throw to force out the runner, however first base umpire Jim Joyce calls the runner safe. Replay shows that the force out beat the runner by a good couple of feet, which would have given Galarraga the perfect game. You could hear the heartbreak of Galarrage and fans a like with that call. Galarraga would retire the next batter.

The call was featured all over the news and ESPN. Umpire Jim Joyce received threated phone calls, and was under constant harrassment the rest of that day. Joyce was scheduled to officiate the Tiger's game the next day, he did not know what to expect. As Joyce walked out to home plate to collect the line up cards from both team Galarraga met him at home plate with the line up card and shook his hand forgiving him for missing the call the previous day.

This is one aspect at sports that I love to see. It took a real man to do what Galarraga did that day by going out and forgiving a man who knew that he made a mistake. Even though the game will not go down in history as a perfect game, it will go down in history as a moment of great sportsmanship.

The First Mind Wandering of 2011

We are finally finish with the first of 52 weeks of 2011. Many people see the New Year as a time in which they have the opprotunity to change an aspect of themselves. I always make tentatives resolutions every new year that does not make it past the first week; this year I hope will be different. My number one resolution for 2011 is to get in shape. I have always hated the way I look and often find myself feeling out of place in a area which is full of in shape people. Every other time I try to loose weight I do not see the results which discourages me and eventually causes my to go back to the status quo. Well this year status quo is not good enough. Here in a couple weeks I am going to see a doctor about diet and excercise plans that would fit my lifestyle, schedule, and budget. I realize this year more than ever that it is not about how I look anymore, but about my health. This is going to be the year for a healthier and (hopefully) thinner Jason.

Resolution number two for 2011 is finding an aspect about myself, or an activity that would make me a better citizen or a better person. I believe there is always room for improvement, and I hope through some thought, I can find areas where I can improve, for example I am going to try to see the glass more as half full than half empty.

Resoultion number three for 2011 is more of a goal that Kyle, Ashley, and I share. By January first of 2012, we want to watch the movies that we have not seen in the American Film Institutes' (AFI) Top 100 Movies of all time. We have already tackled this feat head on. At the end of my blog post this year I am going to keep you updated on the number of movies that I have seen at that given time.

If any one has resolutions that they would like to keep, let me know. I would be more then happy to give encouragement. It is best to tackle these with help from someone else.

AFI Top 100 Count : 21