College Football kicks off tonight. If you are anything like me, your excitement rivals that of Billy's on nudie magazine day. Hee-uge news came yesterday with the much speculated divisions in the Big Twen finally being revealed. Obviously, the big news of the division split is MSU's cross-divisional protected game against the Hoosiers. This is a rivalry game, because, NCAA 2011 tells me it is. They play for the Old Brass Spitoon which is old, brass and a spitoon. So, I guess we want that, or something.

The reaction of Spartan fans to this is mixed. Some feel that it's disrespectful to take away our year-end "rivalry" game with Penn State and substitute the Believe Train in their place, while others are ecstatic that a traditional conference doormat has taken PSU's spot. My opinion, as someone who has been to multiple games betwixt MSU and IU/PSU, is there is no real rivalry at all between these teams. MSU has one big Big Twen football rival, UM. Besides UM, there really is no special "animosity" that exists between MSU and the rest of the Big Twen. This is not to say we do not care about the rest of the Big Twen, but forcing the Penn State rivalry never worked for many reasons. First, no prior history. Second, not a geographical rival. Third, not really competitive and much of the games had very little national importance. It's no secret MSU has largely struggled since, well, the 60's, and ending our season against Paterno and one of the most historic teams in NCAA history was a mismatch.

I think zero MSU fans expect to be circling the date of the "Battle for the Old Brass Spitoon" on their calendars. This seems like a problem for MSU. Rivalry is good for everyone. It gets the fanbases and potential recruits riled up while also selling some tickets. But, the notion that MSU will only have "one" Big Twen rival from this point going forward will I think prove to be false. Before the divisions, MSU was guaranteed to play UM and PSU. Now, we are guaranteed to play UM, NEB, Iowa, IU, Minnesota and Northwestern every year, for-ev-ahh. This is how rivalries organically begin. By playing that same team, repeatedly, without phony hatred.

Through this alignment, I can definitely see something developing between MSU/Iowa. The last three games have been classics (double OT loss, 4th down stop on Greene in final 2 minutes, and the last second TD loss under the lights at Spartan Stadium last year). Also, the MSU/Northwestern game might take off. I was down in Evanston for the last MSU/NU game, and it became fairly evident that I was pretty much the last graduate of Michigan State not living in the Chicago area. Having Northwestern, a Chicago date on the schedule every other year, for-ev-ahhh, will likely be an important date for MSU fans. Also, sadly enough, the Wildcats and Spartans have been two evenly matched teams in recent history.

Overall, I think MSU came out pretty great in realignment armeggedon. Our most important game, UM, was protected and our road to a Big Twen Championship is slightly easier, sort of. 7 AM on Saturday morning can not get here soon enough.

The MLB trading deadline is around the corner, College/NFL football practices are about to begin and the WNBA postseason push is in full force...so, the timing couldn't be better to update you on what monstars from MSU's 2005 Final Four team are up to right now.  [After the jump!]

Watch Tom Izzo get into it with the mainstream media, talk about bloggers flinging poop against the wall, and reiterate that he's "italian, points fingers, and uses four letter words."  And, oh yeah, he's staying at MSU to coach the next LeBron down the road, if he can convince him to not go straight to the NBA.

[Big Ten Network]
[H/T @thenewthomas]

A lot of crap has been flung against the wall in the past couple weeks, but finally this saga is over: Tom Izzo is staying at MSU...4lyfe.  Meanwhile, the Cavaliers cry and cling on to the hope that LeBron will re-sign. If he re-signs, Izzo will probably wonder "what if," but if LeBron goes elsewhere, Izzo clearly made the right move. And he probably made the right move, anyway. He now has the chance to continue growing an already monumental legacy as one of the best college coaches in the past decade, if not ever.

I've posted this video before as a play off of Izzo's last name (when they went to the NCAA championship two years ago), but it can actually help explain certain media reports over the past two weeks, specifically the one that said Izzo was a goner.

[SB Nation Detroit]

For those of you who missed Rob's post last week, this weekend I attended Derrick Williams' first celebrity softball tournament in Royal Oak.  While in attendance Saturday, I was able to speak with the President of the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association and current MSU men's basketball announcer, Will Tieman.  Tieman has worked over four decades calling Michigan State basketball and football games.

When I caught up with Will, I initially asked him how many times he had been asked about Izzo's future throughout the day.  He responded that he had discussed the topic at least a hundred times, but seemed eager to tackle it one more time.  He explained to me that he truly thought there was about a 50/50 chance that Izzo will stay in East Lansing, as opposed to being lured away by a bigger contract and the chance at possibly coaching Lebron James.  Tieman hadn't personally spoken to Izzo in "a few weeks", but said based on his last conversation with Tom, he'd be shocked to learn he was making the leap to the NBA.  He also went on to say that the speculation coming from those closest to Izzo (his team and various MSU officials), remained divided.  After speaking with his players late last week, many of them left the meeting assuming that Tom would indeed be packing his bags.  Tieman had phoned home the day of our conversation to speak with some of the aforementioned MSU officials, all of whom seemed to think that their head coaching position wouldn't be seeing a change.

I went on to ask him which coach he would like to see replace Izzo, if he does indeed move on to Cleveland.  Tieman wasted no time in name dropping current University of Dayton head coach Brian Gregory.  Gregory, who prior to taking his current position was an assitant at MSU under Izzo, would just seem like the "logical choice" according to Will.

Whether Tom Izzo stays or goes is anyones guess really.  It was nice to get perspective from someone closer to the situation than most average sports fans, and I thank Mr. Tieman for taking the time to share his insight.

Stay tuned later today (Monday) for a full write up about the softball tournament.

According to Deadspin, Memphis Grizzlies' big man Zach Randolph has once again put himself into a precarious predicament.  Indiana news websites are reporting that the former Michigan State Spartan, has been implicated in an ongoing drug investigation.

Apprarently, it all started when Indiana police pulled over a vehicle which was registered to Randolph, and upon searching it, produced both marijuana and firearms.  The vehicle search also turned up information regarding a storage facility which was rented in Randolph's name.  Once the officers raided said storage unit, it too contained drugs and ammunition. Although charges have yet to be filed against Randolph, it's not looking too promising for him at this point.

Zach is no stranger when it comes to mischievous activity, so I'm not a bit surprised to be relaying this story.  What I cannot fathom, however, is why a man who is set to make $33 million over two seasons in Memphis, would want to affiliate himself with large scale drug operations.  His best bet is to take the Sprewell route, and blame it all on his hungry children (assuming he has any).

[Deadspin]

Tom Izzo is generally a busy man in March; today was no exception. Word has spread, that Oregon University is interested in offering the MSU head coach a massive contract, once this season concludes.

Addressing this rumor Monday on ESPN, Izzo had this to say:

"The truth of the matter, whenever you have success, you get to be one of 10 names that pop up on these lists. I haven't been contacted, and I'm not going to comment on it again. I have a job to do, and I'm happy with the job I have."

None of this should come as a surprise to Sparty fans.  Given Tom's impressive and consistent knack for taking teams deep into tournament, his name ends up floating around this time of year more often than not.

Unlike the Calipari's of the basketball world, Izzo is 100% dedicated to not only his basketball program, but also the school in which they represent.

[ESPN]
[TheSportingReport]

This nugget from someone I follow on twitter is worth passing along to everyone:

Zach Randolph and Jason Richardson are two notable stars that have passed through the MSU program -- and both went to the Final Four in 2001 -- but Izzo isn't exactly blessed with the NBA talent other top notch teams acquire year-in and year-out.  He has to be under serious consideration for being the best tactical coach in NCAA basketball, because what he has done during his tenure is nothing short of phenomenal.

I've sort of mocked the world's Izzo love affair by flip-flopping his name into many of the Chuck Norris facts, but it's actually not that bad of a comparison.  Izzo must have superpowers, even if it's not in his roundhouse kick, right?  If Izzo wanted his college boyfriend Steve Mariucci to come back and coach the Lions, I'm not convinced Izzo couldn't get it done with only the use of a dry-erase marker.  Just saying.

[H/T SB Nation]
[Rob Visconti]

There have been serious talks that the NCAA is going to change the name of March Madness to "Tom Izzo."  I've also heard that staring at Tom Izzo for extended periods will cause blindness and often times, foot sized bruisies to the face.  Izzo and the Spartans face their toughest match of the tournament, though, in Bruce Pearl's Vols.  Tennesse has weapons and if they don't work in the first half, Pearl's going to dress up like a cheerleader in the second half in hopes to re-inspire his men. This tale of two great coaches and their squadrons is going to be a doozie. Tip off at 2:20 PM EST.

[image via ESPN]