The Max Bullough Affair

As is well known, Michigan State suspended lineback Max Bullough for the rest of the season. Obviously, that means he won't be going to the Rose Bowl with his teammates to take on Stanford in the traditional New Years day game.

So far, Spartan nation has kept the reason(s) for his suspension very close to their vests. Head coach Mark Dantonio merely stated it was for "a violation of team rules". Nobody else is supposed to know.

Maybe that's a good thing sometimes. After all, the media has certainly been known to go over the top with their probings and speculations in search of the almighty scoop, with little, if any regard for how miserable they might make someone's life. Sometimes their "targets" turn out to be innocent, but after having been run through the media meat grinder, it's impossible for them to ever be totally vindicated. People will always think they must have done SOMETHING.

Yours truly knoweth knoweth not what Dantonio has deemed Bullough of doing to warrant the suspension. But it raises a few interesting points.

First, it's only a matter of time before it "leaks". Besides Dantonio and Bullough himself, the MSU athletic director certainly knows, as do both their superiors within the university administration. And let's not forget the players. Players know everything about their teammates. The gag order may be holding for now, but a leak will come, then another, and another, and the dam will eventually burst. Everything, right or wrong, will be outed. Does anybody really seriously doubt that?

Look at it this way. Bullough is a senior linebacker, and a 2-time captain that calls the defensive plays for MSU. Definitely a team leader. To hold him out of likely the pinnacle game of his college career (the Rose Bowl) is a big deal.

(Bullough's dad, granddad and a couple uncles played for MSU -- and his little brother is a red-shirt freshman? Yeah, yeah. So what? I come from a long line of bald spots on the male side of the family tree, and my little brother is starting to shed a bit himself, but WE never got that sort of attention. Bah, humbug).

So unless I miss my guess -- as a senior Bullough has played his last game for MSU. The NFL likely awaits. Where he will go in the draft is a good question. I would speculate maybe the 2nd round.

But that's the thing. Between combines, workouts, and background checks, the NFL folks normally inspect their meat even closer than the media before committing a few million bucks to it. They want to know everything, and their peeps can't wait to tell the world what they think they know.

Even if the Spartans are successful in keeping the Bullough affair "classified" for now, the lid's going to get blown off long before "draft day". Why the big hush-hush thing now with Dantonio and company is another good question.

Let's look at the good news/bad news possibilities. The bad news is -- Bullough must have done something a lot more serious than missing a silly curfew to get him tossed from the team. The good news is -- no word yet of an impending arrest and/or prosecution.

That leaves a whole lot of possibilites in between and your guess is as good as mine. But rest assured, it will all come out eventually -- because such things always do.

Hmmm. Given his family history and the bitter rivalry, maybe Mad Max got caught in a "compromising position" with a Michigan cheerleader.

That might explain it.....