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 for all regions will be open until Friday night at midnight, eastern time.
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!
Click here to vote on the Izzo Region!
Click here to vote on the Dantonio Region!
Let’s get to the Green Region GIFs:
#1 The Wink vs. #8 Punching Fan
The #1 GIF in this region might not even be a GIF you knew existed before this tournament. It’s a newer GIF that somehow slipped under the radar. I hadn’t seen it until just a few months ago. But it is undoubtedly great.
I don’t even know what the best part of this GIF is. The outfit is so good. striped overalls with nothing underneath is a great look and then the beard/mustache/hat/glasses/hair combo is fantastic. The awareness from this guy is incredible. How did he even know that A. the camera was trained specifically on him and B. That it had zoomed all the way in? The wink is fantastic of course. The cinematography is amazing. That fast zoom is great. The timing of it is perfect. I can’t believe this GIF exists. It feels like it has to be staged, but it’s clearly not.
It takes on another fan GIF in the first round . . .
A great GIF from a great day. I was pretty fired up that day too, so I don’t blame this guy for jacking his friend in the face. It’s a pretty clean right cross too. The timing of the ending makes it better as well. We don’t know how hurt this man actually is. His reaction suggests that he is, but this could very easily be a situation in which the initial reaction is purely one of shock and he in a couple seconds realizes the punch wasn’t that hard and it just grazed him and he’s fine. But we don’t get that. We get joy followed by a right hook and a pained reaction.
#2 Cassius Gets Away vs. #7 Le’Veon Hurdles Notre Dame
It was tough to make this GIF the #2 seed, but the marvel of The Wink pushed it over the top. Still, this is a strong contender.
This is obviously a wonderful moment in MSU basketball history and that elevates what is otherwise a solid GIF. Cassius’ face might be the star of this GIF. In the game, if you don’t remember, Cassius had just run out the last seconds by avoiding getting fouled. That’s why his body is contorted like that and you see the Duke player slide by him right at the beginning. What’s funny is that while his entire body was trying to avoid getting fouled, so was his mouth. Look at his face! Cassius is 100% doing everything he can to shift his body out of the way and there was no discerning between body parts. Legs: GET OUT OF THE WAY! Arms: GET OUT OF THE WAY! Shoulders: GET OUT OF THE WAY! Face: GET OUT OF THE WAY!
It takes on one of the coolest GIFs in MSU history.
I think this is just such a perfect camera angle for this play. We see everything so clearly. We get a good feel for how high Le’Veon leaped. We get to see the pursuit so when he’s in the air it’s like he’s leaping into a horde of Notre Dame players. It’s a really cool GIF. Too bad I don’t remember anything else that happened this game. I’m sure it was all gravy all game for MSU.
#3 Coghlin Belly Slide vs. #6 Oh, Lee Corso
Michigan State has some great kicker celebrations and our pal Matt Coghlin comes in at #3 with his best moment.
Belly slides are a perfect way to celebrate a game winning kick. I almost wish MSU wasn’t regarded as one of the best turf grass management schools in the country. Remember, this was after an hours-long rain delay. Without the amazing turf team at MSU that field could/would/should have been a mess and Coghlin would have belly slid from midfield all the way to the end zone. That would have been really fun. But, the turf managers at MSU are as good as it gets and of course the field was in perfect shape after hours of rain. Damn them!
I had to find a way to work Lee Corso into this tournament . . .
Lee Corse giving Alice Cooper a hug is an objectively funny sentence. You don’t need any other context. But adding such an ill-fitting costume and Lee Corso’s general nature of ridiculousness makes it a tournament GIF. Nothing college sports related brings me joy more than Lee Corso and this moment is one of many that has done just that.
#4 Josiah Price, Duck Hunter vs. #5 Tony LippHIT
We’ve had some pretty excellent #4 vs. #5 matchups so far and this one is no exception. I like all of the GIFs in this region, but I think there’s a big divide between #5 and #6. This is the only quality vs. quality matchup we have in round one, in my opinion.
Josiah Price was somehow a better celebrator than football player and he was an incredible football player. I remember watching this game from home and the internet going nuts when he dropped the duck hunter celebration on Oregon. Remember when MSU played big primetime games that everyone watched? Those were the days. Anyway, in a career of wonderful TD celebrations, this one was the tops for sure.
It squares off against perhaps the biggest hit I’ve ever seen. . .
Fun fact, that kicker now works in the MSU athletic department. Tony Lippett hit him so hard he changed sides. Now, this hit looks absolutely devastating, so if you don’t remember the kicker made a joke about it on Twitter right after the game, so we’re OK to laugh at it. There’s just so much to this GIF. First, that dude damn near flipped. I don’t know how his shoes stayed on. The way he lands and the sitting up then slowly lying back down is perfectly appropriate. And then my favorite part is Lippett looking back at the end of the play, admiring his work.
