Men's Basketball
Home Team: BGSU Falcons
Visiting Team: Michigan State Spartans
Venue: Stroh Center (Bowling Green, Ohio)
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None (sort of)
Game Story | Box Score
A lot of times when a school, particularly a mid-major school, opens a new basketball arena, they'll bring in a big-name opponent for the first game. If they take the expected pounding, it doesn't really matter, because it's still the first game in a new arena; if they actually win, it's icing on the cake.
BG didn't do that last year when they opened the Stroh Center, so Michigan State was the first big-name opponent to grace the new arena. Actually, they're the biggest name to visit Bowling Green for a men's basketball game since I started watching in 1997. Anderson Arena was visited by Northwestern (a BG loss) and Michigan (a BG victory, and one of the most thrilling finishes to a game I've ever seen) during the Dakich administration, but those teams weren't the Spartans. (Michigan is really good now; then, under Tommy Amaker, not so much.)
Allow me to gush for a moment. I started casually following Michigan State basketball at the same time I was falling head-over-heels for BG basketball. At the time, MSU had a guy named Andre Hutson on their team, who was from the Dayton area, and I like following local guys. Over the years, as my basketball jones grew, I just really dug the way the Spartans played, and I developed a huge respect for Tom Izzo as a coach. So, for me, they're like the hoops equivalent of a rock star. I saw the Falcons play them once before, in 2000, at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit. Having them come to our place, there was no way I was going to miss it.
I didn't have particularly high hopes for the game itself, but it turned out to be a pretty solid contest. The Falcons played as well as I've seen them play all year (granted, most of that is via Internet streaming--this was only the second game I've seen in person, and the first was unimpressive, to say the least). They were tenacious on defense and on the glass, and they gave Michigan State all they could handle for 3/4 of the game. It was tied at 45 with about 45 minutes left. Unfortunately, that's when the Falcons' offensive inconsistency reared its ugly head, and Sparty was able to pull away for the win.
Still, it was a good game, and I'm really glad I went. The Stroh Center was full, which was really nice to see. I don't think it'll ever equal Anderson Arena in noise level or energy, but I'm glad to report that it can get fairly loud when the situation demands.
As a sidenote, Brandi wasn't feeling well, so she was unable to accompany me to the game. I took the extra ticket anyway. By the time I got through the Stroh Center traffic and parked, it was about ten minutes to tipoff, so I had to hustle to get inside in time. As I was almost inside, a guy who was also on his way in asked if I happened to have an extra ticket (it was, officially, a sellout, although he probably could have gotten a standing room ticket inside). When I gave it to him, and told him I didn't want anything in return, I could tell it made his night. Even more so when we got inside and he saw that our seats were just five rows off the court. He was a Michigan State fan, of course (he went to school when Magic Johnson played there), but we ended up having really good conversation throughout the game. It was a good reminder that doing something nice for someone (even a complete stranger) when you have an opportunity is usually worth it.
No comments:
Post a Comment