ES won't be dropping $95 for a nosebleed seat to watch this evening's matchup of #8 Spartans and Brenden Dawson beating up on the #5 Little Yellow Men from Venus... rather, I'm a gonna try and make it to either the Peanut Barrel or to the Spartan Hall of Fame Cafe to cover the game with some suds, and maybe Big Bob can make it?  Luckily it is a 9 pm game, which usually spells bed time for my youngest rugrat - so there's potential for a fun ride watching Michigan-Michigan State on the hardwood tonight.

Looks like the little yellow men are 1-1/2 point favorites, which is a complete joke.  The game tips off on ESPN, with Michigan-backer and Ann Arbor resident Mike Tirico unfortunately calling the play-by-play. 

PRAY FOR HIGHTOWER TO HIGHTAIL OUT OF MICHIGAN

I can't find out who the refs are for tonight's important matchup, dammit. Hopefully, Eddie Hightower isn't on the court: other than being BRUTAL and half-blind, according to StatSheet, in 2012-2013, Hightower he has been reffing games in which the ROAD TEAM has been the receipient of 2.3 more foul calls than the home team; but, this year shows an all-time low for him as a ref with number of fouls in a game, down to 35.8 per game (down from his all-time high of calling 43.4 per game in 2000-2001).  I guess there is some solace that he isn't as brutal as he was in the past (like putting perfume on a turd).

However, the Hightower standard deviation of home vs visiting team fouls is also amazing, which means the difference in each game from the average for the season.  A deviation of 4.5 for home teams is the second-highest of his career, and deviation of 3.3 for visiting teams is the lowest of his career... which means, if Eddie Hightower is reffing, he is more likely to vary wildly in his total calls against Michigan State than he is against Michigan.   [ES note: I can't believe someone has the time to calculate these stats, but thanks!]






It looks like BTN's Dienhart is giving the Spartans the edge, as is SportsTracker/Freep. See ya at the pub!  GO BIG GREEN MACHINE!  Wipe the floor with Burke and his Boyz.