Everyone Loves a Circus...GRRR...Bowl Game!

San Antonio, Texas

 The Much Ballyhooed Brouhaha in Texas isn’t about the Spartans It’s about the Red Raiders and every Minute it is Changing!

Thankfully for the Spartan Nation, Texas Tech has Turned the Alamo Bowl Game Week Into Their Own Private Circus!

As if the week leading up to the Suspension…grr…Alamo Bowl couldn’t get weird enough, today the Texas Tech Red Raiders fired their head coach Mike Leach. If the Spartans wanted the attention off of them for the previous off field issues, they got it.

 

What was once called bowl week, in honor of our Texas hosts, it has officially become known as a hoot nanny! Even the Rodeo in town is second fiddle (I have been in Texas for a few days, people give me a break) to this mess and it has fired up the entire town.

 

Everywhere you go from cabbies to waiters to media have opinions and they are the only things flowing faster than the San Antonio River. One Texas Tech employee told us today that, “This is a D*** witch hunt against our coach. It is a joke.” A parent of a Texas Tech starter whom we met at dinner Monday night texted us moments after Leach was fired and said, “Our son is part of a family and they just fired the head of it, our son doesn’t want to play.”

 

Listening to the Texas Tech media you can really get the impression that this was a coach that the administration wanted gone and they have gotten their way. Fans everywhere of the Red Raiders are furious, and you have to wonder if that is a big advantage for the Spartans. 

 

To their credit, the Spartans have flown under the radar. They have focused on themselves and when given the bait to comment on the Tech troubles they pass it off. Trust me they are paying attention.

 

The Spartans came in here as the battered team. They needed a good showing and Tech has done a lot to help them. Talking with an Alamo Bowl official, you can tell they are excited about the fact that the nation’s eyes will certainly be on San Antonio for this game. Only a few short days ago was this bowl was considered to be the most lopsided of them all.  Grab your spurs folks this is only going to get better.

 

The Spartans’ work ethic and keeping their head below the radar amongst the circus, formerly known as Texas Tech football, could turn into a blessing on January 2, 2009. The last time I saw myself naked in the shower was the only thing more ugly (back in 1978) than this.

 

As rumors swirl of Coach Leach holding court at the Hyatt, the swirling chaos is nice to enjoy as an MSU journalist, because it finally isn’t the Spartans. My good buddy Eric Lacy of the Detroit News has been here with me this week and both of us are shaking our heads as this literally develops minute by minute.

 

The Spartans will continue to prepare. Whether it is giving players such as Keith Nichol new looks at other positions, or coming up with new schemes. All the attention and pressure now rests on Tech.

 

The off again and on again Tech press conference is back on for today at 5:30 pm EST, and of course we will be there. If any clowns, trapeze artists, or peanut vendors show up, I can assure you that we’ll let you know. All I want to know is where is the guy with the snow cone machine.

 

Until then, at least you can be thankful that the circus isn’t MSU centered and that is nice for a change. Now excuse me as Lacy and I go searching for Cowboy boots and hats. Can someone in the Spartan Nation yell out a big Yee Haa? I got to go, here comes the man on stilts with cotton candy!