Yesterday I'm flying back to Detroit from Washington DC and I'm sitting in the airport bar at National Airport. The guy next to me is talking to the 2 guys next to him. It turns out the two guys are Michigan State alums, and the guy next to me is an Iowa alumnus, and they're talking Big Ten smack. Then they notice my Illinois T-shirt and I jump in on the Big Ten smack too. As it turns out Michigan State fans love Luther Head and Dee Brown (only because he went to High School with Shannon Brown) but they hate Deron Williams and James Augustine. None of this really surprised except the Deron Williams thing. Then again I'm surprised they like Dee so much considering he usually played the game of this life against them. The other funny thing was that they thought it was so frustrating to play us because we beat them so much. I can clearly remember when Assembley Hall would be going crazy because our up-and-coming Illini were hosting the mighty Spartans who were National Title contenders year in and year out. Anyways, this is something unique to the Big Ten and possibly the Pac-10. There is a certain level of respect that transcends athletics because every school in the Big Ten also has an incredible Academic reputation -- even Ohio State.