Hello and welcome to the inaugural edition of the Spartans Wire Michigan State GIF Tournament!!
GIF tournaments are nothing new on the ol’ interwebs, but I can’t recall an MSU-specific tournament, so I’m just going to ride with the idea that this one is the first one.
A few notes before we jump into this.
A. The GIFs were chosen through nominations on social media and through searches on the internet. A number of GIFs were locks for the tournament, but we did have to do some searching and whittling to fill out the bracket.
B. This bracket has 32 GIFs in four regions. Why 32? Well, 64 is a lot and would have wiped out the entire history of MSU GIFs. I’m sure we missed some in this tournament that can be used in future tournaments.
C. The voting will be done exclusively on this website. The layout is super simple. There will be a pair of GIFs on a page, a description and a speedometer slider. Just click that speedometer and drag it to the side you think is the winner.
D. This entire tournament will be in slideshow format. Yes, I know. Slideshows. The reason for this is simple: the way this type of story (one that is very long and fill of images/GIFs) would layout on a single page would be a disaster. We have auto-inserted boxes w/ scores and other news, etc. that would get in the way and things would get separated and every adjustment made requires another adjustment down the line. Separating them all on individual pages will make it look better and be so much easier to put together.
E. Voting will be open until midnight eastern time the day after the region was posted. So the Dantonio region, which goes up on Monday, will finish at midnight on Tuesday into Wednesday.
E. Voting will remain open for all regions until Friday night at midnight.
F. This is just a way for us all to have fun and waste a week of sports-less summer, so keep it cool. The seeding was not done scientifically. It’s an entirely subjective experience. And it’s fun. So have fun!
You can vote on the Tom Izzo Region here.
Let’s get to the voting on the Dantonio Region:
#1 Disappearing Dantonio vs. #8 BJ Jukes Sparty
We start of with one of the favorites to win the entire tournament and one of the most mystifying GIFs you will ever see, “Disappearing Mark Dantonio”.
Where the hell did he go? What is going on here? Is this sorcery? Is Dantonio a wizard? That would explain a lot of things, but why did he disappear mid-game? Did he have a wizard battle to get to? Can he stop time in the muggle world so that he can be in two places at once? Wait, is Dantonio a quidditch coach? He has to be a quidditch coach. I bet he coaches one of the national teams at the Quidditch World Cup. Yeah….wait what were we talking about?
Oh yeah, the GIF! This one is the top seed in its region because, A. It’s funny and weird and just plain great, and B. It’s got notoriety beyond MSU Twitter. This clip will live on forever through the internet and different TV shows on ESPN. It’s a powerhouse GIF and some of the best MSU has to offer.
Its opponent is BJ Cunningham faking out Sparty:
Lol that’s so rude, BJ. And poor Sparty. He thought he was about to get hype with a star player on national TV. It’s the night game vs. Wisconsin in a ranked vs. ranked matchup. It’s going to be a badass chest bump. And then it all goes to hell. And he plays it off like a champ too. The double clap/arm punch move he does like it’s all good.
The funniest thing about mascots, to me, is that their demeanor can never change. A human getting fooled like this might immediately frown and sulk, but Sparty just doesn’t have the physical ability to do that. This GIF gets better the longer you watch it too.
#2 Trouble With the Snap vs. #7 Trevon Pendelton is a Ninja
The greatest moments don’t always equal the greatest GIFs and Trouble With the Snap bares that out.
Look, it’s an all-time moment. We all know that. But the GIF just isn’t the greatest. It’s worse than the actual video clip of it. The voice-cracking Sean McDonaugh not being involved makes the awesomeness of it drop a couple points. Still, it’s one of the greatest moments in MSU sports history. It’s a win over Michigan we will always have forever. It’s a moment when the world collectively came together to laugh at UofM and we were on the other side.
It deserves a high seed, but if it were a more GIFable moment, it’d be the runaway favorite.
It battles Trevon Pendleton is a Ninja
I sneakily really love this GIF. Editing to me usually ruins a GIF, but here I think it helps. I’m not sure if it’s because Pendleton jumping and causing an explosion of font is making me laugh or what, but I enjoy this. The best part is the ninja kick. And it’s even better when you realize who caught the ball, what position he plays and what he usually does in a given game. I just love that a giant, muscle-bound fullback ninja kicked as he caught a huge touchdown for MSU in the Rose Bowl. It’s perfectly on brand.
#3 Gatorade Bath Juke vs. #6 Dantonio Eye Rub
Another big MSU moment gives us our #3 GIF in the Dantonio region.
This GIF is pretty good on its own, but the moment certainly elevates it. Some additional studying is necessary to truly appreciate it. First, the reaction of #55 Devyn Salmon. He’s so sad they missed. Salmon didn’t play much in his MSU career and this was his moment. He wasn’t a direct member of the gatorade squad, but he was hype man #1 and he saw his big moment go splashing on the Rose Bowl turf.
Next is the eager assistant at the start of the GIF. Not sure who he is, but there’s no way sticking hi hand in there at the last second helped this situation.
The last thing is Dantonio himself. He does a very cocky finger point after they miss him, letting them know what’s up. Dantonio loves talking shit, even to his players after they win the Rose Bowl.
Its opponent is…
Whereas the gatorade GIF is pretty obvious, this one requires more subtle study. Just watch it a few times…
Weird, right. What is he doing? Barely beating Furman after making the CFP was one of the most frustrating MSU games in a long time and it paved the way for the worst season of the Dantonio era by far. Do you think Mark can sense the future? It seems like it. He looks like the coach of a 3-9 team, not a preseason top-15 team halfway through game one. This GIF is a study of stoicism and frustration. Even the hardiest of men cannot completely hide their frustrations.
#4 Mike Sadler Pets the Cat vs. #5 Sparty to Zeke
I think we have two dynamite GIFs in the #4 vs. #5 matchup. Let’s start with #4.
Mike Sadler not only was a great punter, but he was also hilarious. He’s the funniest player in MSU history. this particular GIF requires a little backstory. It was against Nebraska and on Twitter there is an account dedicated to being a fake Bo Pelini. It’s called Faux Pelini.
Well, Sadler and Faux Pelini eventually struck up a weird Twitter friendship in which they would exchange barbs. Prior to the Nebraska game Pelini suggest Sadler punt the ball the wrong way to raise awareness for Restless Leg Syndrome and Sadler said he would actually honor Faux Pelini by petting a fake cat after his good punts.
I know what you’re asking, why the hell would he pet a fake cat to honor a Fake Bo Pelini Twitter account? Well, that’s because Faux Pelini’s picture on Twitter is one of the internet’s most blessed images.
I know. It doesn’t make any sense. But there’s the back story. If you were there, it was funny as hell on Twitter and then Sadler actually did it in a game, because that’s the kind of dude he was.
Its opponent involves two of our favorites, Sparty and Zeke!
GOOD DOG! I don’t really have to explain much here, right? Sparty playing with Zeke is always fun and its even better in repeating GIF form. Go Zeke Go!!!
