Keith Nichol opens up about his decision

Keith Nichol, the stud quarterback from Lowell High School that's been committed to Michigan State since his junior year, has had it. Had it with the rumors floating around about his supposed departure from the MSU program due to the coaching change, had it various "experts" and radio talk show hosts making conjectures about what he should and shouldn't do. The only person who should know and DOES know is Keith, so I asked him.

As I type this, Nichol is on his way back from an official visit to Oklahoma, the only big-name program of consequence to make a run at Nichol despite his verbal commitment to MSU. A lot has been made about OU's involvement, mainly because State is still trying to pick up the mess left by John L. Smith, and Oklahoma is one of the country's top programs and is led by the highly regarded Bob Stoops.

Lately many State fans have their panties in a bunch over whether Nichol is going to jump ship and head to OU. Seems like a smart football move, but as Keith told me on Tuesday night, it's not a move that he's looking to make.

I managed to catch up with Keith at the Girls Basketball quarterfinals on Tuesday, where he was cheering on the Lowell girls as they beat Lansing Eastern. Since I was working for FOX, I asked if he could chat on camera with me for a couple of minutes, and he graciously agreed.

I expected to hear the same old "I'm happy for the opportunity to visit this school, I'm looking to make my final decision after I've taken all my trips..." recruit speak that I basically get every time I talk to Muskegon's Ronald Johnson (some day I'll get him to say something!). However, something sparked Keith to be candid about his thoughts of the OU visit and his feelings towards his verbal commitment to MSU.

Keith told me that OU has been in contact with him since the beginning, so their interest does not come as a surprise. He was impressed with Bob Stoops, said he made a nice pitch and it was flattering that he made the trip to visit the Nichol household on the first day that the NCAA allows contact with recruits. However, he did not seem overly impressed for a 17-year old kid who had just been visited by a coach who wears a National Championship ring on his finger. He explained that the visit is more of an excursion into Big 12 territory to see how things are done out there. He admitted he really hadn't visited outside of the Big 10, and was going to quote, "re-affirm my decision". He followed that up by saying that MSU fans "don't really have anything to worry about".

I was surprised to hear Nichol lay it out that candidly, but the kid just seems sick of everyone making predictions about what he should/might/will do. At 17 I didn't want anything to do with adults making predictions about my future, and Keith is no different.

Trying to gage his feelings on what has become a bit of a media circus regarding his decision, I asked him if it felt weird to go through the recruitment process again, especially since he's been a verbal for MSU for so long. He admitted that it was a bit weird, but also flattering, and then he finished the interview with this statement: "...you know, I don't think many people have anything to worry about. I'm with Michigan State, and that's where I stand."

For all the reports floating out there about what Keith is going to do...for all the radio show hosts who say their "sources" tell them that he is enamored with Oklahoma...Keith's got one message: I'm with Michigan State.

And as a U of M fan...I couldn't be unhappier.

Quick Hits from the Weekend

A couple of random thoughts on the events that transpired this weekend:

1.) Matt Millen is gone. Period. Not only do the Lions stink worse than any other team in the NFL, but Joey freakin' Harrington walks into town and throws 3 TD passes to spank Detroit and shove it in the face of all those who booed him both during and after his career in Detroit. It becomes worse when you realize that those 3 TD's were the first scoring passes Joey has thrown in Detroit on Thanksgiving. Savor the moment Joey, it only took ya five years.


2.) If Michigan doesn't lock up Top 20 recruit Ronald Johnson (Muskegon) in the next couple weeks, they're not gonna get him. The kid is a difference maker. Even though he's been playing with a sports hernia the past 5 weeks, he was still easily the best player on the field on Friday's Division 2 State Final. If Lloyd Carr allows RonJon to visit USC and meet their cheer team he's as good as gone. I've talked to the kid a couple times...he's no dummy.


3.) The Pistons are screwing themselves over again. They started the season by saying all the things we wanted to hear..."Yeah, we're focused on developing our young players"..."Oh, our bench will have a more expanded role this season"...and then they promptly abandoned that strategy 8 games into the season. Wow, you mean to tell me that relying on your veterans means that your team will make fewer mistakes and have a better chance to win? No way! Now let me let you in a secret: overplaying your starters in November will be detrimental to their health for the playoffs. Look, you can still make the playoffs and get a decent seed if you sacrifice 5 or 8 wins in order to get your young guys some playing time and save your vets for the part of the year that matters most. And here's an idea...those young players who are costing you wins this year might actually mature due to the playing time and help you WIN games next year. Think about it. But seriously though, if they keep playing Tayshan Prince these kinds of minutes he'll become so worn down that Sally Struthers is going to feature him in her next commercial about starving Ethiopian children.


4.) Finally, what's up with KC and Denver playing on Thanksgiving??? And if you're gonna crash the Lions and Cowboy's party, why would you do it on the NFL network, where no one can watch it? Just stupid. That's like holding Coast Guard festival during 4th of July weekend, but having Milwaukee host it. How the heck is anyone supposed to enjoy this? Maybe if the NFL wasn't so worried about their coaches looking classy wearing suits instead of rocking the Bill Belichick Half-Hoodie Hobo outfit they'd realize these things.

The West side...becoming the best side?

I felt a little bit of deja vu while at Ford Field this past weekend (and no, I did not feel like Denzel Washington; though it would be sweet if everything I said sounded way cooler than it actually was thanks to my deep voice and bad a$$ attitude). Last year West Michigan sent five teams to the State football Finals, and four came out victorious. While this year once again five of the eight games featured teams from the West side (though there were actually six teams present, as Coopersville and Zeeland West faced off in an all-West Division Four final), and four teams brought home State Finals hardware.


I would like to think it was my intimidating sideline presence that caused the East side teams to fold in the face of our local boys; but as anyone who played football with me can tell you, the only feeling the sight of me in pads elicits would be overconfidence.

But seriously folks, we've come a long way since the days where it was just an event for a West side team to make it far enough into the playoffs to have the honor of being blown out by a Detroit football power. Now I know Muskegon holds the state's record for wins by a school, but they have not enjoyed the amount of State Finals success as a program like East Grand Rapids simply because they are forced to traverse the Division 1 or D2 road every November.

Coming from a guy who hung up his cleats 5 years ago, a lot has changed in how the East side views teams from the West Michigan area. In earlier years it seemed like the East siders were just another breed of player; much faster, bigger, meaner than the average West side squad. I remember watching teams like Orchard View and Fruitport roll through team after team with their dominating running game, only to get snuffed out by some super-squad from Detroit that spread the field in a college-style offense and ran right past guys used to grinding it out in the mud.

But now all that has changed, and I believe the coaches deserve a lot of the credit. Guys like Tony Aneese (Muskegon), Ralph Munger (Rockford), and Peter Stuursma (EGR) have figured out how to close the deal in the highest divisions. Others such as Wing-T master John Shilito (Zeeland West) have realized that a massive running game doesn't mean much if you can't contain a pass-oriented offense. Teams have opened up the playbook enough where they actually throw the ball even if they don't have to (translation: when you're down by 21 and that draw call on 3rd and 20 doesn't look quiet as sexy as it did in the 1st quarter), and kids no longer seem to be as intimidated by the speed and size of many East side teams, mostly because the coaching staffs have them training to the point where the past two years it was apparent that the faster and more confident teams were from the West side.

West siders have been arguing for some respect for many years, but as usual those from the East have been reluctant to give it. The success of these past two years has gone a long way to diffuse the idea that the West side brand of football is inferior to that of our cross-state rivals. Now, if only we could get the same respect in basketball.

Association with Matt Millen dooms my fantasy team

It seemed like a clever idea at the time. Form a fantasy team name that takes a sarcastic dig at Matt Millen. Popular among Lions fans, and terribly ironic once the fantasy team succeeds. I thought I had it all figured out. Unfortunately, I completely underestimated the devestating effect that Matt Millen's name would have on the performance of my fantasy squad.

Like a typical Millen project, the team looked great on paper, prompting me to flaunt my supposed fantasy genius to other less fortunate owners, and sing the team's praises live on the airwaves of local sports radio station WBBL. However, once the season started and the team began to struggle, I began to second guess my decision to attach Millen's name to my squad. The symptoms are typical...a rash of injuries have struck my starters, high draft picks are underperforming, and overall team play is wildly inconsistant. One week Matt Millen's Rejects looks like the most dominating team in the league, and the next they look like my sister chose the starters. The capper came this past week when my team was blown out of the water by a squad that didn't even start two players. Though heavily favored, the Rejects found a way to crap the bed and lose the game. Eerily familiar to what transpired at Ford Field on Thursday.

Things have gotten so bad that I am acutally trailing Mike Hart for Heisman (my roomate's team) in the league standings, and can no longer look my roomate Brian in the face; despite the fact that half of his team was drafted by the computer and includes players like Reuben Droughns.

A lesson for all must be taken from this tragedy. Do not EVER, under any circumstances, form a fantasy team whose name is associated with a certain Lions president. For no matter how totally awesome you think your fantasy team will be, it is no match for the Curse of Millen!

The great debate: Bout time for a Playoff?

The BCS is on the chopping block for sure.

Today on the show, every single call we got was either about the Michigan-OSU matchup; debating the merits of a rematch, and each call also included the mandatory whining over the failure of the BCS to satisfy fan's desires for an undisputed National Champion.

I'll tackle the idea of whether Michigan deserves a rematch once we see how USC-Notre Dame shakes down. That game will probably serve as the turning point to what team will head to Glendale to take on the Buckeyes. I hate even considering Arkansas and Florida right now, mostly because I don't believe Florida can hang with either Big Ten team or USC...and I can't really stomach the idea of Arkansas playing for the title when they got rolled in Week 1 against USC. Granted, I know USC is a solid club...but I don't think any team should be allowed to play for the title after getting smoked by 36 points (50-14 for those of you who missed the game or pushed it from your selective memory). Honestly, if you lose by more than 21 you shouldn't be allowed to play for the title (you hear me Notre Dame fans???) championship-quality teams don't get beat down like that.

Which brings us to the major discussion at hand. Why not a playoff? I'm not gonna get into the guts of the bowl system, and we're gonna have to ignore for a moment the fact that the BCS is really a way for the major universities to make piles of money on their supposed "postseason".

Truth be told, I like the bowls. Teams that have winning seasons should be rewarded with a postseason game. But I also believe that every year there are about 3-4 very deserving teams that should get an opportunity to play for a title. So here are my thoughts:

1.) We start things off with an 8-team playoff, utilizing the major bowls as neutral playoff sites. Most major BCS schools travel really well, and the committee can make a concerted effort to ensure that LSU isn't playing in the Superdome every year for its opening round game. Bowls like the Rose Bowl, Fiesta, Sugar, and Orange can rotate as quarter and semi-finals matchup sites. By going with 8 teams to begin with, the winner of the title plays 3 total postseason games, and if we could just stick to a 12-game regular season with no conference championships (or then force everyone to play 13) then the "toll" on the athletes would not be that great. Plus you can start in mid-December and finish up as scheduled in January.

2.) I like 8 teams because if you move to 16 then there will too many 2-loss squads sneaking in who don't really deserve a shot at the title. People complain that a playoff removes some of the meaningfulness of the regular season, but I don't think so. Not only will there be ferocious debate over those #6-8 spots, but any regular season loss can still make the difference of whether or not a team will get a chance to play for the championship. Plus if you're gonna sell this thing, you need a name like basketball's "Final Four" to become synonymous with your playoff system (like the "BCS Big Eight" or something...you can see why I didn't do so well in marketing class...)

3.) People argue that it will more or less be the same 8 teams every year...not so. College football's parity is just fine. Yeah, there will always be the dominant programs, but an 8-team playoff allows the Boise States of the world to at least attend the party before getting thrown through a window by a BCS bully. Here's how this year's playoff would look if it started today (and might still look after this weekend barring major upsets) (ranked by current BCS):

(1)Ohio State vs. (8)Wisconsin (who didn't play this year by the way)
(4) Florida vs. (5) Notre Dame

(2)Michigan vs. (7)West Virginia
(3)USC vs. (6)Arkansas

Some sexy matchups there, eh? Yeah, you get a USC-Arkansas rematch, but there's still room for a team like LSU (9-2) to sneak in...and you want controversy? Here's a short list of teams on the outside looking in: Boise State (11-0), Texas (9-2), Louisville (9-1), Auburn (10-2). Think one of those teams might make some noise?

I just wish we would get a chance to see this. Not gonna happen anytime soon, unless all hell breaks loose and Michigan barely ousts OSU in Glendale and the USA today votes for the Buckeyes as their champ. Another co-championship might be enough for the current system to be dumped. So now you have no choice to agree with me when I say LETS GO BLUE!!!

A look back at the Big Game

As much as it pains me, I think I'll have to take a look back at a couple of things that I took away from watching the Michigan-OSU game:

-These are clearly the two best teams in the nation. No question. Both defenses are highly vaulted, and yet an ungodly amount of points were scored. I'd say about 75% of the predictions from callers to our show were blown outta the water by the end of the first half.

-If Chad Henne hits Manningham to go up 14-0 on their second possession of the game, that TD immediately breaks the Buckeye's back. Henne still played pretty well, but that over throw cost us the game in my opinion.

-I hated the personal foul flag for Crable's hit on Troy Smith, mainly because it's a completely subjective call by an official. If a game of this magnitude is to be decided by a penalty, you hate to see it be one of that nature.

I'm not really a rematch kind of guy, but it really pains me to think of another one-loss team jumping Michigan to play in the National Championship simply because the voters want to see OSU play someone else. A lot of things still need to shake down, but I'll say right now that even if Notre Dame blows away USC, there is no way they deserve a shot over a team that crushed them. People so quickly forget that Notre Dame was one humongous MSU collapse away from losing two straight.

We'll see how this shakes down, and this is one of the reasons I love college football so much. The bowl systems gets folks so worked up, arguing about which team deserves a chance to be called a champion. If we had a playoff, we would lose that debate. Of course...then we'd have a legitimate and unquestioned National Champion, but the NCAA doesn't seem to care about that.

A little about me before I start

OK, a bit about me before we get started so you can get a bit of insight into who I am and why the heck I would write some of the things I do.

My friends who know me well know my affinity for Bill Simmons and his work for ESPN. Of course, thanks to Bill and sites like Deadspin; every idiot with a computer and too much spare time now has a sports blog. So there's your first insight into who I am...an idiot with not enough to do.

I work for both radio and tv stations in the sports department, which to me is the absolute best possible job in the world. My work consists of driving to games, watching/filming them, and then going into the locker room to chat with the athletes after the game. And then I drive back to the station and pick up my check.

I didn't study at all in school, still managed good grades, and then of course found out that no one in the media field gives a crap if you even graduated. Which made me feel good for all the effort that I failed to exert on my studies. However, every day I give thanks for my education, because I produce a morning sports talk radio show and have to handle the phone lines; and I'll be brutally honest, talk radio attracts morons like opposing defenders to a Joey Harrington pass. (still bitter about him)

So, couple of quick hits so we're all on the same page:

-There's no real point to this blog, just me having fun. Don't take it too seriously. However, I do know what I'm talking about. I'm at these games, talking to folks who know. So I'm not just making stuff up.

-I'm in love with all the Detroit teams, and yes that includes the Lions. Don't hold it against me, we all have to have some part of our lives that doesn't make sense. They're like that dirty girl that you know would be really attractive if she just cleaned herself up. I still hold out hope.

-I'm completely biased in favor of the University of Michigan. They have the greatest college football program ever. Best stadium, fight song, uniforms, the whole bit. There is no argument that I will listen to against this. So don't try. This also means schools like MSU, Notre Dame, and Ohio State will not be cast a in a good light in my posts. I apologize in advance to those schools and their inferior fan bases.

Now that I've cleared the air a bit...NEXT QUESTION!!!