Lots of new and not-so-new stuff to get through here -- hopefully it'll kill the better part of your afternoon. 

• LSJ Blogs: Hey, Joe: Homecoming kickoff set: Northwestern game is a noon kick.
• 2009 Preseason Top 25 - AthlonSports.com.  Your Spartans are ranked #20: "Things are looking up in East Lansing, and all Mark Dantonio must do now is figure out a way to take the next step. But that's the big obstacle at State every time prosperity rolls around. Will this year be different?"  FWIW, they believe that Cousins will be the starter.
• Lindys Sports -- Preseason Top 25: MSU at 24.  No kidding: "Like last season, if the Spartans just beat the teams they should beat, they're looking at nine wils.  Michigan State will need an upset for some gravy."  Here's Rittenberg fleshing out the Lindy's predictions.
• Phil Steele's Preseason All-Big Ten Team (pdf).  Several Spartans on the list, including first-teamers Greg Jones, Brett Swenson, and Joel Foreman.  If Foreman plays well enough to be a first-teamer at the end of the season . . . uh, awesome.  Tidbit of importance: Steele has Edwin Baker as one of the fourth-team running back.  In and of itself, that's not remarkable, because that projects him only as one of the top eight backs in the conference, but Steele knows many things I don't; perhaps one of them is that Baker will be the starter from the beginning or shortly thereafter.
  
  Also, he has MSU ranked at #29 nationally.
• Future Spartans go for the gold; To-be QB makes leaps in other sport | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press.  Andrew Maxwell high jumped 6'7".  That's roughly 6'2" higher than I could manage.  Also, small blurb about blog-traffic-driver-extraordinaire Will Gholston, and another MSU pass-rushing target, Warren Mott's C.J. Olaniyan (who has recently been offered by UCLA and Oklahoma).  If both of them end up at MSU: OMG.  As an aside, huge terrorist fist jab to the Freep for running Matt Dorsey's weekly recruiting columns.
• Spartans hope to tap into prestigious Glenville pipeline | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press.  "Troy Smith(Ohio State), Donte Whitner (Ohio State), Ted Ginn Jr. (Ohio State), Pierre Woods (U-M), Kyle Jefferson (Wisconsin) and Royce Adams (Purdue) are just a few of the high-level recruits that have graduated from Glenville. " 
  
• The Other Side of Spartan Sports: Construction Update: Old College Field.  Good stuff from 1855.  If you don't read their blog, you really should.
• Beast Exclusive: The Devin Thomas interview - NFL Nation - ESPN.  Q: Devin, can you please renounce your professional status and come back to MSU?  Kthx.
• Scout.com: Will McCune Follow "Day-Day" To State? ($)  If this didn't creep you out, news about Izzo's recruitment of a 15-year old probably won't, either.
• Big Ten, Pac-10 expansion could quiet BCS critics - Andy Staples - SI.com.  Halfway decent discussion about what's been on everyone's mind this offseason.  Also highly recommended is WWAHT Sam's posts on the subject.
• Brent's Big Blog's Blog - Talking Big Ten - Top 5 Michigan State stories from 2008-09 - Big Ten Network.  About what you'd expect.
• Scout.com: Duran Transferring Out of Michigan State.  Was buried on the depth chart behind Gantt, Linthicum, and Celek (the best TE corps in the conference, IMO).  Good luck to him.
• Ohio State's Jim Tressel among coaches to sleep in Saddam's palace | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press.  lololololololololololololol

Finally:  MSU coach Mark Dantonio replaces Mason as chair of kids' telethon.

CAPTION CONTEST!  Readysetgo!  Also, if anything else is on your mind, post it below.

Have a great weekend, everyone.