Linking Laconically starts happy, ends bitter

Capping off a very busy MSU sports blogging weekend:

• Larry Bird, Magic Johnson inducted into college Hall of Fame together - NCAA Basketball - SI.com
  Jud, too.  Magic: "We put the madness in March."
• Parallels exist between this year's Spartans and MSU's 2000 national championship team | MSU Spartans - - MLive.com
  Is there going to be a 10-year reunion/celebration for the 2000 team some time this season?
• Hoopraker " Blog Archive " A Conference Preamble
  TD awakes from his long offseason slumber.
• Villanova by the Numbers: The Big East -- Comparing BCS Records
  Big Ten off to a slow start; 8 losses already.  Bottom of the league (IU/Iowa/PSU) killing us.
• Illini vs Presbyterian Open Thread: Its all predestined anyhow - Hail to the Orange
  Best open thread headline ever.
• Spartans balanced between good and bad | MSU Spartans - - MLive.com
  Like Anakin Skywalker was supposed to be?
• 2009 Bowl Projections - Post Week 12 - The Rivalry, Esq.
  TRE still predicting we get Oklahoma in San Antonio.  Works for me.
• Brett Swenson becomes first kicker to be named Spartans' MVP by players, coaches | MSU Spartans - - MLive.com
  Deserving but mildly depressing.
• MSU's Greg Jones has no plans for NFL but will decide soon | detnews.com | The Detroit News
  Jones' dad: "We don't have any plans for the NFL right now.  But we will talk about it next week."

Bonus Nonlaconical/Redundant/Uberbitter Commentary on That Last Link: 

Postgame quote (emphasis added):

"It did happen fast," MSU defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi said. "There were some short fields. We just didn’t get it done defensively. They made plays and we didn’t."

Really?  After the way this season’s gone in terms of the overall performance of the three units, Narduzzi is going to imply that the offense/special teams created the defense’s problems yesterday?  I'd dismiss this as a poorly-phrased off-the-cuff response, except that Narduzzi seems incapable of explaining why something went wrong without inserting a weak excuse halfway through--as initially noticed in this space after the CMU loss.

If your base defensive scheme consistently allows running backs to get open by 15 yards on wheel routes, it really doesn't matter how short the field is, now does it?