I am not sure if you guys have seen this story. Michigan State is playing Kentucky in an annual matchup come December. This year's game is slotted to be an MSU home contest, but the schools have agreed to play at Detroit's Ford Field. The arena will be configured to allow the schools to set a new basketball attendance record of 75,000. Both schools are looking forward to the nationally televised contest that will give MSU attendance records in both basketball and hockey.

Basketbowl Ticket Sales Approach 40,000

Holy cow! I assumed UK and Michigan St. would play again this year (and hopefully my Wildcats can pull it out this time, although it seems to always be a good game between the two teams), but to play a basketball game in front of that many people seems strange to me. I mean, even with big Jumbotron-type things above the court, which I would guess there would be, most of the crowd wouldn't be able to see much at all. I can remember being in the nosebleed section of Rupp Arena back when I was in college, and it was like an organized colony of ants down on the court. Should be entertaining for those of us watching it on TV, though.

MSU is becoming the "lets get that attendance record" school....don't know if you remember, but last year they staged the "Ice Bowl" in East Lansing; the largest College Hockey game was played in the outdoor football facility to break the attendance figure for a Hockey event....this year they're doing it with hoops...
Ford Field is VERY fan friendly when it comes the sight lines though...not at all like when the Pistons played the Silverdome back in the 80's....Ford doesn't have a bad seat in the house and a plethora of video monitors/screens everywhere...plus those Lincoln Navigator seats that they have in the suites make watching a sporting event just like you're home in your den lounging in a Barcolounger....
Promises to be a fun media event....unfortunately I'll be stuck in Kansas City that weekend in December for the Lions/Chiefs game...That's how they're able to stage it...the Lions are on the road...and with the way Kentucky fans like to travel, MSU will easily break the record....

NCAA announced Tuesday that the Final Four will be played at Ford Field in 2009....

Super Bowl is here in 2006....Democrats are holding a Presidential Debate here before the next Presidential election....

Hopefully these kinda events will help the city make the kinda comeback that they've been trying to set off for the past 20-25 years since they built the Renaissance Center....those of us who have stuck around and weathered the PAIN eek! of living here deserve it finally....

I thought today's game was excellent, and not just because the Cats pulled another close one out down the stretch (79-74 was the final score). Every time the camera did a shot panning the stadium from above, I felt like I was watching something other than hoops. UK seemed to be comfortably ahead, then spent the second half hanging on for dear life, just like last week's game at UCLA. I think Fitch is a good player, but he's not consistent enough for me to feel really confident about UK this year. And as good as their defense is (and has been the past few seasons), without Estill in the middle they are not as strong. Great game, though!

Oh, and I missed the exact figure, but it was 78,000+ attendance, which broke the Harlem-Globetrotters-in-Germany record that stood for about 50 years.

UK should have won by at least 10. Maybe it was the blackout that cooled them off. I don't know.

But it's still early in the season and they showed that they can beat some of the better teams.

It's good warm up for the SEC season.