My name is Ty. I’ve been writing a Detroit Lions blog, “The Lions in Winter,” for the last two years. Besides being a hopelessly devoted Lions fan, I’m also a third-generation Michigan State Spartan. I’m a much more passionate follower of the NFL than I am of college football—but lately, Spartan thoughts have been creeping into the margins of my Lions writing, and I believe they deserve their own home.
To that end, I’m thrilled to introduce “A Beautiful Day For Football,” a Michigan State football blog that will serve as the home for all of my Spartan writing. For regular TLiW readers, this won’t just mean flipping the color codes from Honolulu Blue to MSU Green. For starters, I work as hard as I can to update TLiW daily, plus record a weekly Lions podcast, write guest articles on other Lions sites, constantly Tweet about the Lions, etc. A Beautiful Day for Football will be much more tranquil; I will post only occasionally—every week or two, as the muse demands. I’m hopeful that this relaxed pace will let me be more creative and more careful; each post should be something a little bit special.
From the beginning, I created The Lions in Winter to be my voice, solo. One of its raisons d’être was to find out if I could do it; could I write well enough to compel people to read? Could I maintain a steady posting pace? Could I finally scratch the creative itch that I’d been fruitlessly rubbing up against forums and message boards for my entire online existence? Could I channel all of that wasted football Internetting time into crafting something worthwhile, tangible, lasting—real?
As it turns out, the answers to those questions have been all been “yes,” to one degree or another. But, I cannot build this new thing up from the ground as I crafted the first. I have the tools, but not the raw material: no extra time to spare, no extra love to give—and frankly, not enough expertise. I love my Spartans, but my knowledge of the college game is the tiniest fraction of what my NFL understanding is; even if I had the time and the passion to post daily it wouldn’t be worth anyone’s time to read.
To that end, I’ve enlisted the help of Jim, my brother-in-law and Spartan brother-in-arms. As TLiW was for me, it will be his first blog. He is now as I was then: a battle-scarred veteran of message boards and forums, heavily decorated from fighting The Good Fight—eager for his own platform from which he can wage the greater war. Only, instead of Lions boards, he’s been in the heart of the Spartan forums—and instead of spilling Honolulu Blue blood on the battlefields of the Internet, when he is battered by the troll’s club he bleeds MSU Green.
Together, marching side by side, Jim and I hope to serve as the Spartan fan’s thoughtful voice of reason, providing spiritual shelter from the outside storm. Whatever the outcome, we’ll be here cheering. Whatever the weather, we’ll be out there cheering. Whether we’re sweltering in August’s heat, drenched by September’s dark rain, feeling the whip of October’s crisp winds, or wearing the bleak white blanket of winter’s snow, at Spartan Stadium it’s always . . . a beautiful day for football.
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