MAJOR LEAGUE- BASEBALL PLAY- FFican League Division Series CLEVELAND 3, Boston 2 Cleveland leads, 1-0 National League Division Series ATLANTA 5, Houston 1 Series tied. 1-1 ARIZONA 7, New York 1 Series tied, 1-1 NHL FLORIDA 4, Los Angeles 2 TORONTO 2, Colorado 1 St. Louis 4, CALGARY 1 EDMONTON 2. Montreal 1 fT tcw~uipIUg Tracking 'M' teams Check out the Michigan women's tennis team this weekend as they head to Champaign this weekend for the Illinois Tournament, in which they will face Duke, Texas, Northwestern and Notre Dame. Tuesday October 7, 1999 9A Countdown to The Showdown: days Talk time not as jverse as y oud ere at Michigan State we have more than 40,000 undergraduate students. I see them everywhere I go. But at Michigan, it seems like there are only five. I've been to Ann Arbor dozens of times, and, try as I might, I can only find five different Michigan students. There is Nicky, the rich, arro- nt sorority girl wearing her tight ck pants, walking into the latest coffee shop for a cafe latte. Then there is Steve, the rich, Pt arrogant busi- ness student, Muir sporting his . Abercrombie &1 Fitch sweater and khakis. He's (king into an w'ually trendy s coffee shop to get a light lunch TnE on his way to STATE NEWS his banking internship. His white fraternity cap hides the horns that are already starting to grow out of his head. Nicky and Steve's worst enemy, Moonbeam the hippy, is right ,und the corner at the beatnik coffee shop. She's rich and arrogant but doesn't want anyone to know. Her coffee tastes the same, but it costs more because the beans were grown in an eco-friendly environ- ment. She later tosses her cup on the sidewalk. "I hate those kids, Nicky and Steve. They're so materialistic," ,oonbeam says as she plunks down W for a new pair of Timberland boots. Of course, there's also William, the nerdy pre-med student who won't let anyone borrow his notes, lest he inadvertently ruin the curve in his organic chemistry class. He is slowly developing into a new ver- sion of Michigan alumnus Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. Steve and Nicky pick on him. Moonbeam - ghs at him, but soon he will rule world - at least he's rich and arrogant enough to think so. William doesn't stop in any of Ann Arbor's 2,000 coffee shops very often because he's too busy studying. Finally, there's Mike from Long Island. Mike is rich enough to afford out-of-state tuition and arro- gant enough to resent being in chigan. "This coffee sucks," he says. "It's totally better back East." Mike doesn't really get along well with the others. Trust me. I know all of these people well. I've been to Ann Arbor more times than I care to remember. I even lived there for a summer - I call it my "dark period" and rarely speak of it. That's how I know there are only e different people on or around ichigan's campus. What they all have in common, besides wealth and arrogance, is they expect Saturday's game against Michigan State to be a cakewalk. Well, they can take their Diag and their block 'M' and shove it, because it's finally the year of the Spartan. Why is it that none of them has ticed? Did they get too stoned at Hash Bash? Did their brains freeze while running the Naked Mile? Or does it all just come back to Ann Arbor's chief natural resource - arrogance? Spartans are losers - it's in their blood Aw St I its pretty easy to make jokes about our lovable, dim-witted friends at Michigan State. I could write for hours on how Michigan State students are couch-burning, cow-tipping, less- than-sharp meatheads whose closest venture to success would be delivering pizza to the head of a major corpora- tion. But what's the point? I feel that Michigan State students get a T.*j bum rap in this Berka state. Sure, most of them tried to get into other schools and failed, but that doesn't mean they are dumb. I think that TEEING Michigan stu- OFF dents should be charitable and try to understand what goes through a Spartan's head. First of all, this game on Saturday is extremely important to the students at Michigan State University. They really" have nothing else to live for. Ever since their senior year of high school, when they received the rejection letter from U of M, they have been yearning for the chance to stick it to the superi- or school in the state. It's really hard for a Michigan stu- dent to relate to the inferiority com- plex that comes along with being a student at State. Michigan is in the top 10 in countless academic programs and has won five national champi- onships in four different sports since 1995, so Michigan is used to success. At Michigan State, success is mak- ing flame-retardant couches, defend- ing local landmarks with squirt guns and winning seven games in a football season. That, and beating the Wolverines: Michigan really doesn't think any- thing about beating State. It's some- thing that Michigan students have taken for granted. Ever since the early days of elementary school, Wolverines have been getting the best of Spartans. You remember the Spartans from growing up. The kids who would lick the flagpole on a cold January day and get their tongues frozen on. The kids who bought tickets to the pep rallies in high school. Those kids now attend Michigan State. It was fun to pick on them when we were younger. But it just doesn't have the entertainment value anymore. We have bigger schools to fight with now, such as Notre Dame and Ohio State. It's no fun picking on the kid who can't defend himself But Spartans do have some funny qualities. First of all, they love to hear themselves talk. The Spartan kid was the kid who would throw words into random sentences, even if there wasn't an ounce of truth to them. For example, Michigan State kids always claim the week before the Michigan game that this is the year that they will win. But since I've been in school, the closest they have gotten was a 10-3 lead in the second quarter. But that's what makes Spartan kids so funny - the utter lack of reality that they use in everyday situations. Another favorite example of Michigan State chatter is the groundless claims - usually spouted off during a drunk- en fit - that they are an intellectually superior university. Actually, that does have some merit - if your future career is chicken farming or fast food service. The wages at McDonald's are increasing every day, so career opportunities are better than ever for the average Michigan State graduate. But as much as I want to accept the Sparties as a member of the Michigan family - they can be the uncle who quits school for a career in the circus - I really can't totally let them in. Why? Because Spartans are losers. That seems a bit harsh, because Spartans can be really nice, folksy kids. While they may have the intelli- gence of your average tree-swinging primate, they do try to be positive members of society. But they always lose out in the end. Michigan won a football national championship in 1997. We won hock- ey national championships in 1996 and 1998. The Wolverines even won a national championship in men's gym- nastics in April. What have the Spartans won in the past three years? An extra-value meal? What does a Spartan aspire to in life? A grocery store manager'? The guy who works in a highway tollbooth ? 1 really don't know. But ask a Spartan. I'm sure they could come up with a great story. Just not a victory on Saturday. - Lii Berka sees the Spartans losing in a rout Saturday, then claiming that they are the better team. He can be reached via e-mail at tberka@umich. edit. F : AP PHOTO Things have improved for Michigan State quarterback Bill Burke this season. A new offensive coordinator, more freedom to audible, and a defense that allows 42 rushing yards a game have Burke and his teammates enjoying a 5-0 record. Freedom ne w offensive system ehas Spartans' Burke leading a top team By TJ. Berka Daily Sports Editor Things weren't exactly perfect last season for Michigan State quarterback Bill Burke. He struggled mightily under center as his team - a preseason top 20 pick - finished 6-6 and didn't qualify for a bowl for the first time in four years. Fans were angry at the Warren, Ohio native, and many wanted to replace him with Ryan Van Dyke, a hotshot fresh- man from Marshall, Mich. With the loss of running back Sedrick Irvin to the NFL, big things weren't expected of Burke and the Spartans this year. Not as if Burke cared. "I looked at last year as being a learn- ing experience," Burke said. "It was my first year, so I was learning and starting to come into my own." Not many preseason prognositcators were sure what Burke would be like after he came into his own. With that said, and the loss of Irvin, the Spartans were picked as a middle-ofdthe-pack team in the Big Ten this year. They have been far from mediocre this season. Michigan State has started the season 5-0 and finds itself ranked 1 1th in the national polls preceding Saturday's high noon showdown with Michigan. And a lot of that success can be attributed to Burke. "Bill has played very well for us," Michigan State coach Nick Saban said. "For us to be successful, Bill has to keep it up." Under new offensive coordinator Morris Watts, Burke has had to pass a lot to be successful. And with talented wide receivers Gari Scott and Plaxico Burress at his disposal, Burke is loving every minute of it. "We definitely like to mix it up and spread the wealth around," Burke said. "We like to run the ball, but we also pass more than we used to. As a quar- terback, I love it." Watts has put more emphasis on Burke and his connections with the 6- foot-6 Burress and senior co-captain Scott. It is a direct contrast to last sea- son, when the offense consisted of Irvin running the ball, Irvin catching the ball, and the other guys getting the ball once in a while. Along with getting everyone involved in the offense, Watts has also allowed Burke something that wasn't allowed last season - for Burke to call his own audibles. "I have more freedom in a way," Burke said. "I do a lot of checks at the line of scrimmage." The new freedom on offense has been the icing on the cake for Burke in his experience at Michigan State. Although he was a native of Ohio, he never was a big fan of Ohio State, which allowed him to have an open mind when it came down to choosing colleges. The openess in his mind was closed quickly, as Burke instantly fell in love with the State campus. All other prospective schools were thrown out the window after Burke visited East Lansing. "I took a visit to Maryland, but I did- n't go anywhere else after I visited MSU," Burke said. "I like the size of the campus and the educational programs available to me, not to mention the foot- ball program and coach Saban." After backing up Todd Schultz for two seasons, Burke had his chance to See BURKE, Page 10A MODERN' SKATE &SSURF f3urtan ...o:o0'"4's SNS C- FootWear Sunglasses Skate Boards Inline Skates Wakeboards Water Skis " Clothing Roller Skates Wet Suits * Ice Skates SALES SERVICE RENTAL * LESSONS "It's worth the trip to Modern Skate & Surf" 477-5700 I Talk With The Experts I m