As much as I have a strong dislike for every other school in the Big Ten when it comes to sports, my hatred for the MSU Spartans increased even more yesterday after I visited the Spartan-related site SpartanTailgate.com.
This fan-based site is, without a doubt, one of the most ridiculous sites ever allowed on the Internet, and not just because they allow Spartan fans to talk, but because they allow them to talk out of their asses.
Upon the advice of a colleague of mine, I visited one specific forum on the site directed at UW men's basketball Head Coach Bo Ryan, and honestly, I was left speechless.
The title of the forum was \Boob Ryan"" and was aimed at contributors submitting digitally altered poster images of Coach Ryan, with the caption, ""Classless, sometimes you have to be true to yourself.""
I will acknowledge that the posters are slightly funny and Coach is depicted in humorous pictures, but to call him classless is not only an attack on him personally, and college basketball as a whole, but on me as well.
Coach Ryan is one of the best representatives of college basketball today-a blue-collar, hard worker that has coached his entire career in the state of Wisconsin. Never breaking away from his style and work ethic, Coach has not only climbed to the top the hard way, but has had success on the trip.
After beginning his career as an assistant here at UW in 1976, Coach went on to mold numerous athletes into not only solid ball players, but good-hearted, honest individuals off the court. And when the opportunity came to return to the university that gave him his first break, Coach made the classy move of accepting the job to bring prominence back to the basketball program that opened their hearts to him.
Considering everyone I have ever met on this campus, Coach Ryan is the most influential guy to have impacted my life in the last three-plus years. He is not only one of my heroes, but is one who I model my work ethic and character around and the guy that epitomizes the word classy. He is and always has been true to the state and fans in Wisconsin and that is something I'll never forget.
I am all for the opinions of fans, because I can never get enough of the ribbing given to Purdue Head Coach Gene Keady. But when you attack the character of a person, let alone one who has single-handedly brought the Badgers to the national spotlight and impacted so many on and off the court, then you're asking for trouble. Badger trouble.
Arvind Gopalratnam is a senior majoring in journalism. He can be reached with comments at agopalratnam@wisc.edu.