The REAL. BIG. Blog

With all of the great new products we keep rolling out at Fathead, it’s no great stretch to say that it’s pretty easy to get excited about what we’re working on.  That excitement got a kick in the pants recently when we started putting together our brand new collegiate legends line.  As a huge football fan, I couldn’t tell you how thrilling it was to be able to be part of such a unique offering.

This product line captures the emotions of the most passionate group of sports nuts out there – college fans.  With college sports more than any other, there is a loyalty between fan and player that goes unmatched.  I’m a proud Michigan State Spartan and I’ll always remember fondly watching guys like Lorenzo White, Percy Snow, Derrick Mason, TJ Duckett and more recently, Javon Ringer leave it all out there on the field on Saturdays.  I know this kind of nostalgia rings true with college fans everywhere.  We remember those players fondly and cheer for them as they progress in their professional careers. 

That’s what’s so fun about this offering.  Every school has one or two of “those guys” – those iconic, face-of-the-program kind of guys who college fans will always hold near and dear and will want in their sports shrines.  For our initial offering (lots more to come, I promise!), we went with some of the biggest and best schools and guys who wore those colors proudly and were game-changers in collegiate football.  Guys like Tennessee’s Peyton Manning, Boomer Sooner’s Adrian Peterson and the dean of “The U”, Ray Lewis are players who helped build their programs for years to come.   This is where these players got their start and die-hard football fans will always want to remember that they were there.

So what’s next? Well, let’s just say this- a lot!  When I found out we were going to be able to make these great products, believe me, my imagination started running wild.  There’s no limit to what we can do with this.  If the schools are on-board, so are we!  Every school has a recent player who left the fans awe-struck with their show-stopping skill and we hope to keep giving NCAA fans everywhere more and more of what they love.  It’s been a blast so far!

In my family, Central Michigan alumni run rampant. My parents, sister and uncle are all CMU grads and proudly support the Chippewas every football season. This is rarely a problem between me and my boyfriend, a MSU Spartan named Howie.

He is an AVID (putting it lightly) MSU fan and alum and is constantly talking “smack” about how MSU has a premier football program. Michigan State has had Top 25 seasons consistently throughout the last 10 years. CMU has been decent the last 4 or so (but the love runs deep J). Central doesn’t have the quantity of a student section that Spartan Stadium boasts, but the pride and quality is the same.

So being the wonderful Fathead employee that I am, I purchased a Spartan Helmet for Howie, in hopes of revitalizing the basement as well as making him happy on gameday. And being that Central is a small school and there wasn’t a Fathead for them yet I felt this was an appropriate alternative.

To continue the saga, the mighty CMU Chippewas visited Spartan Stadium to take on the Spartans this year. I was optimistic at best. Sure we were the underdogs, but in that stadium, with that student section, and that history, did we really stand a chance? Howie and I decided to make the 60 mile trek west to find out for ourselves.

Long story short…CMU was victorious (I’m still gloating) and I’m now awaiting the delivery of my own Central Michigan University Fathead. I think I’ll put it above the MSU one to show superiority…what do you think??

The Men’s Final Four are set and they’re headed to Detroit which is right in Fathead’s front yard. As the number one sports city in America, Detroit takes great pride in hosting these sorts of events: The MLB All Star game, the Super Bowl and now the Final Four in a matter of just a couple of years. The Pistons, Red Wings and Tigers have all contributed to civic pride in the past few years by bringing post-season games and championships to the city.

Now the Michigan State Spartans have the chance to shine in front of the home-town faithful. I’ll admit that I didn’t pick MSU to win it all this year when I filled in my bracket a couple of weeks ago but I did have them making it this far. After these last two games I’m starting to believe that joining President Obama in my selection of North Carolinato emerge as national champions may not have been the best call. In fact, I’d gladly give up a bracket win for the much more meaningful victory of Sparty at Ford Field.

This raises in my mind the reasons we pick the teams we do when we fill out our brackets. Logic would seem to dictate that the largely more knowledgeable tournament selection committee does the seeding to represent those in the best position to advance and we should all just pick the number one seeds for the final four. We also know that it rarely turns out that way though this year it turned out pretty close to the truth. We all want our teams to win and it’s just really hard to accept that they might not. I spent eight years teaching at the University of Oklahoma and I always want the Sooners to do well. When I picked UConnto beat OU in the regional finals I was going against what my emotions wanted me to do and listening to what my brain and the selection committee told me was most likely to happen. Did I feel good when UConn advanced and my bracket standing went up – not really. Should we just embrace the madness that is March and forget about the seeding?

For now, yes. May the home team win! Let the people of Detroit and Michigan celebrate again! I know I’d rather see the Spartans win than be right about picking some teams I don’t really care about.