Some of you may remember the controversey that followed this article in 2002. I was sent this email today and found it hilarious. Talk about goggles, how stupid does this douche look now after writing this:

Fun to Revisit Jim Carty's Masterpiece in 2002: The demise of MSU
basketball and Tom Izzo

Izzo's gang no longer green giant

Wednesday, January 30, 2002

Jim Carty

It'll be easy to remember when it became clear Michigan State's basketball
dynasty had peaked and was on the way down.

Easy to remember because Tom Izzo himself delivered the message.

It was just last week. Izzo popped up on the television, in between games on
ESPN, doing college basketball analysis in the middle of his own season.
There he was, sitting next to some hair-sprayed anchor, talking basketball
when he could be coaching it.

Writing his own obit to Michigan State's amazing run of three straight Final
Fours, four straight Big Ten titles and the 2000 national championship.

Greatness takes everything you've got, sometimes more than you even think
you can give. Izzo could have never built what he's built in Lansing by
taking time out mid-season to play Howard Cosell on national television.

The fact that he's willing to do it now is proof in living color that on
some level he's ready for a change. Make all the excuses you want about
having a lot of time off between games or the ESPN gig being a fun way to
promote the program, the bottom line is that basketball suddenly isn't
enough to keep Izzo busy. He needed a getaway, a little fun, something
different at a point in the season when most big-time basketball coaches are
in the office 10 or more hours a day six or seven days a week.

Those are the kind of hours University of Michigan coach Tommy Amaker puts
in.

Amaker has the drive and focus Izzo had back in 1995 when he replaced Jud
Heathcote, when he had to prove he deserved the job, had to win over Mateen
Cleaves and everybody else.

Amaker won't take time out to do 15 minutes on Detroit sports radio - he
tells his media relations guy he's just too busy during the season - let
alone give ESPN a day of his time. He and his staff don't have time to watch
TV, let alone appear on it. They're mad, they're this bad and consumed by
making sure they never are again.

Some folks will tell you Izzo can and will coach circles around Amaker.
Maybe. They'll tell you Izzo is much, much better at promoting his program
in the media. That's true, but nobody ever won a game that way.

They'll say the Spartans again outrecruited Michigan this year, and that
this year's little slump in Lansing is to be expected, and that even in a
bad year Michigan State will make the NCAA Tournament.

Maybe.

But maybe everyone has yet to grasp just how big a threat Amaker and
Michigan are, just how hard it's going to be to maintain Michigan State's
dynasty, even if Izzo's at his best.

If Amaker isn't the best young recruiter in America, he's close. At Seton
Hall he attracted the nation's No. 1 recruit and No. 1 recruiting class to a
school with on-campus facilities comparable to some Michigan community
colleges, a school that sits on the outskirts of a Newark slum. They came
for one reason: Kids and parents fall in love with and trust Tommy Amaker.

It's starting already here. Amaker may have already found his own Cleaves in
Texas guard Daniel Horton. He's going to sign super junior Dion Harris of
Detroit Redford next year, just watch, and Harris will only be part of yet
another great class.

The University of Michigan, meanwhile, is this state's historically dominant
basketball program, and Michigan kids will flock here over any other option
if the Wolverines are decent.

What Izzo has accomplished the last four years towers over the Fab Five
years at Michigan in terms of achievements, but for some reason Michigan
State has never approached that Fab level of buzz outside of ... say ...
Lansing and some Flint neighborhoods. The Fab Five were a national story.
Every little kid with a pair of Jordans and a hoop in his neighborhood knew
C Webb and the boys.

A lot of those kids are now going to the Nike or ABCD camps, and they
remember those years. Most of them can't name four members of the five, but
it doesn't matter. When it comes down to Michigan vs. Michigan State, Amaker
vs. Izzo for a recruit, the Fabs are going to be a tie-breaker. Mark it
down.

Izzo's been lucky up until now, he hasn't had to really deal with Michigan.
He's received a huge boost in his program building by circumstances like the
Ed Martin scandal, the ugly end of the Steve Fisher era, the inability of
Brian Ellerbe to figure out he needed good kids, not just good players, to
succeed at Michigan.

This isn't to say Izzo and the Spartans are done now, mind you.

They'll probably beat the heck of Amaker and Michigan tonight at the Breslin
Center.

They need to. The free pass has been canceled. Michigan vs. Michigan State
is an even fight again, and it's going to be a fight. The Spartans are ahead
now, and will be a factor as long as Izzo is in Lansing, but in the long run
my money is on the guy who's too busy coaching to appear on the radio.

I just sent Carty a copy of his own article, can't wait to see how he responds. LOL

LMAO, good read, but not good for the reasons Carty intended.

LMAO, good read, but not good for the reasons Carty intended.

Yeah, that's exactly what I said to him. I told him I found his writing extremely entertaining, just not for the reasons he intended.

While Carty was writing that piece of shit, many people I know (including the sage HipDigIt) were opining that Amaker was a nice guy, and played for Duke and all, but don't count on much success.
Wonder if the wrong guys are getting paid to write and yak all day on the radio?

While Carty was writing that piece of shit, many people I know (including the sage HipDigIt) were opining that Amaker was a nice guy, and played for Duke and all, but don't count on much success.
Wonder if the wrong guys are getting paid to write and yak all day on the radio?

Seriously, you have a point. Ask Moodini, Jickboy, etc. here. When Amaker was hired I immediately pointed to his ability to recruit and not being able to coach or teach. I said it from day 1 that he wasn't a good hire because he had a history of underachieving with talent.

When he was hired, I expected more but not everything. Even I knew this guy writing would have been mocked. I knew about Amaker's pedigree and the talent he had brought in, but honestly many of my friends and I were looking for someone to restore credibility to the position (because nobody knew who the crap Brian Ellerbee was), bring in some talent (which we expected a lot more from Tommy than what he brought) and get us back into national recognition.

Well, he cleaned the program up. His recruiting was spotty, and his coaching was horrible. He failed miserably on the last one and his style was even worse than Steve Fisher. I never felt Fisher was a good coach. I thought he had great talent and told them "Do what you want. It's a highlight reel up there so do it justice. The more fun you have the more we'll win. Defense is optional, just keep scoring." The inmates were running the asylum. Well, Amaker at least brought some shades of defense, but watching Michigan play put me to sleep and he was outcoached in 85% of their games. Horrible.

lmao!!!!!!! that is great.

lmao!!!!!!! that is great.

My jaw dropped reading it. I remembered it, but not exactly how bad it was. I hope he emails me back. I would love to hear his response, but I guarantee I get nothing.

I don't know that I've ever read something that turned out so blatantly wrong than this piece of trash. His hatred for MSU, Izzo, and blind love for Michigan are unbelievable. He should be a member here, he'd fit in nicely with all of us. haha

I actually thought Fisher wasn't a bad coach. Remember, he took Freider's talent, which Freider could only get to ONE Sweet Sixteen, and won a championship. But Fisher couldn't corral the Fraud Five enough to do it again, and the rest is history.

Sadly, Tre, IF he ever replies it would probably be something along the lines of "everyone thinks they're brilliant when they hang on to a story when the author was wrong. Yet, they fail to say anything about themselves being wrong when the author was right. Congratulations on your accomplishment. May everyone always hold dear to everything you do wrong and rub it in your face."
I've gotten that impression from Tom "The (story) Killer" Kowalski a lot, and I imagine this guy would have the same attitude, that is, if he doesn't just ignore it.

My problem with this douche isn't that he was wrong. Everyone is wrong eventually no matter how knowledgeable. My problem is that he had an agenda and didn't even try to hide it. He ripped into a great coach and person in Izzo for no reason other than to take him down. He might as well have written, "I hate Michigan State and their success and I'm going to do anything in my professional power to destroy what they've worked for."

I think Carty is a piece of shit and even though my hatred for Michigan runs extremely deep, I'd never write some attacking article like that about them if I was a journalist. Hype your own, but don't go attacking somebody else to try to take them down.

wow

I actually thought Fisher wasn't a bad coach. Remember, he took Freider's talent, which Freider could only get to ONE Sweet Sixteen, and won a championship. But Fisher couldn't corral the Fraud Five enough to do it again, and the rest is history.
I think the guy doesn't get the credit he deserves. Why does he give 2 broke dicks? He's making some nice cake living in the best weather in the country, Sandy Eggo. Yeah, what a fucking moron!