Tom Izzo Actor/Coach

I watched quite a bit of the Michigan State vs Tennessee(?) Game on Sunday. It was a very good game to watch, especially the first half. I thought there was a lot of bravado going on out there.

Neither team backed down. There is an awful lot of strategy in basketball and most of us know some of it. I don't, but Tom Izzo is a master strategist. I was watching the Golf Channel which had an instructional round with Arnold Palmer and his grandson (don't remember his name).

Every once in a while I would check to see the progress of the basketball game.



At one point, I noticed Izzo had put in a player who I'm not sure I had ever seen on the court for MSU. A tall white kid, I think with the number 10. I thought, "He must be in to foul someone." As predicted the ball was inbounded and number 10 fouled a player under the basket. That isn't an unusual strategy, but Izzo's performance on the sideline was phenomenal.

He gestured and cried and pleaded, as if saying,"How could you have fouled? You have really given them the advantage now!"



The announcers bought the act, but the hypnotic eye didn't. I believe this was intentional from the time-out when number 10 was inserted into the line-up. The kids on the floor were sure to pick up on Izzo's play acting. This changes the mind-set. They start thinking with the rational mind and they lose the focus of the subconscious. You must be in the "zone" to do your best at sports. Mr. Izzo, master strategist, master actor, master psychologist took them out of their focus. Dirty trick? Maybe, but the sports model we teach our youth is WINNING IS EVERYTHING. Especially in Basketball and Football. The big money sports.



I remember listening to a Lansing sports radio program when Tim Staudt was telling about Tom Izzo's One Man Show. He performed at Wharton Center. He is an accomplished actor and a fair Singer.