Baker
01-04-2006, 10:52 AM
This is very long but, worth the read. I have to admit that I’ve been pretty blessed throughout my life in terms of sports experiences. I’ve been given opportunities that I never dreamed would be possible. But, yesterday topped all of them. My Dad and I were invited by Tom Izzo to come to a Michigan State practice.
Izzo told my Dad that we could come to practice, observe, take notes for our own team, and he would show us their state of the art film room and theatre. As you can imagine, I was estatic.
I was blown away from the second that I walked into their basketball offices. I walked through the double glass doors and was instantly hit with the most impressive office I’ve ever seen. The first thing you see is a giant glass case. Inside that case sits the Sears National Championship crystal trophy and 10 of Tom Izzo’s Championship rings. There are small spot lights that are inside the case and shine green lights on the trophy. Directly across from the glass case sits 4 Big Ten Championship trophies on pedestals. Gold letters spell out National Champions on the way behind the trophies with pictures of the two Championship teams. It is basically a trophy room, set off with one of a kind pictures, and Tom Izzo’s secretaries sit behind a counter in the middle of the room. I could give you so many more details, but I’ll try to keep this shorter.
After checking in, we walked into the theatre. It is a mini-theatre with green leather seats, stadium seating, and a 55 inch plasma hanging on the wall for game film. On the left side of the theatre you see 3 murals dedicated to 3 of the best Spartans of all time. On the right are three more.
Now, practice. We sat directly on the sideline as practice began. This was their second practice of the day. The emotion and intensity was INCREDIBLE. I’ve seen clips of their practices before, so I thought I had an understanding of what it would be like. I HAD NO CLUE. Every single good play, you have 6 coaches, 12 practice players, and MSU’s full team clapping together and hollering. If one single play goes wrong, all hell breaks loose. The practice team was expected to know and run all of Illinois’ sets by name. If the practice team scored once, you would find guys like Shannon Brown, Neitzel, Ager, and Davis calling people out.
On one occation, Izzo called out Quis and Sutton for being “pussies” when it comes to rebounding. Quis hung his head and jogged back the following play. Shannon Brown took notice and was not about to let it slide. He turned around, grabbed Quis by the jersey and screamed, “QUIS! What the fuck are you doing!?! Let’s go!!!” Numerous times during the practice the leaders called out the younger guys for not doing their job. If you didn’t hustle, you had a player in your face letting you know. Izzo calls it “The Spartan Way.” The freshmen come in and the leaders instantly show them how things are done. Then it is passed down. Not a single score is accepted in practice, someone is held accountable. And if you make a great play, you’ve got 30 people getting hype and letting you know it. At the end of every segment, every player and every coach came together in a huddle. #1 was held high and everyone joined in. The team unity was unbelievable.
It was apparent to me very early in the practice why Michigan State and Tom Izzo are so successful. It is expected and it is worked for. I still can’t believe I got to watch my boys prepare for Illinois just feet away. It was unforgettable.
Izzo told my Dad that we could come to practice, observe, take notes for our own team, and he would show us their state of the art film room and theatre. As you can imagine, I was estatic.
I was blown away from the second that I walked into their basketball offices. I walked through the double glass doors and was instantly hit with the most impressive office I’ve ever seen. The first thing you see is a giant glass case. Inside that case sits the Sears National Championship crystal trophy and 10 of Tom Izzo’s Championship rings. There are small spot lights that are inside the case and shine green lights on the trophy. Directly across from the glass case sits 4 Big Ten Championship trophies on pedestals. Gold letters spell out National Champions on the way behind the trophies with pictures of the two Championship teams. It is basically a trophy room, set off with one of a kind pictures, and Tom Izzo’s secretaries sit behind a counter in the middle of the room. I could give you so many more details, but I’ll try to keep this shorter.
After checking in, we walked into the theatre. It is a mini-theatre with green leather seats, stadium seating, and a 55 inch plasma hanging on the wall for game film. On the left side of the theatre you see 3 murals dedicated to 3 of the best Spartans of all time. On the right are three more.
Now, practice. We sat directly on the sideline as practice began. This was their second practice of the day. The emotion and intensity was INCREDIBLE. I’ve seen clips of their practices before, so I thought I had an understanding of what it would be like. I HAD NO CLUE. Every single good play, you have 6 coaches, 12 practice players, and MSU’s full team clapping together and hollering. If one single play goes wrong, all hell breaks loose. The practice team was expected to know and run all of Illinois’ sets by name. If the practice team scored once, you would find guys like Shannon Brown, Neitzel, Ager, and Davis calling people out.
On one occation, Izzo called out Quis and Sutton for being “pussies” when it comes to rebounding. Quis hung his head and jogged back the following play. Shannon Brown took notice and was not about to let it slide. He turned around, grabbed Quis by the jersey and screamed, “QUIS! What the fuck are you doing!?! Let’s go!!!” Numerous times during the practice the leaders called out the younger guys for not doing their job. If you didn’t hustle, you had a player in your face letting you know. Izzo calls it “The Spartan Way.” The freshmen come in and the leaders instantly show them how things are done. Then it is passed down. Not a single score is accepted in practice, someone is held accountable. And if you make a great play, you’ve got 30 people getting hype and letting you know it. At the end of every segment, every player and every coach came together in a huddle. #1 was held high and everyone joined in. The team unity was unbelievable.
It was apparent to me very early in the practice why Michigan State and Tom Izzo are so successful. It is expected and it is worked for. I still can’t believe I got to watch my boys prepare for Illinois just feet away. It was unforgettable.