Michigan State Game

there’s nothing “bad” about the tailgating at MSU, but it is far far far inferior to the tailgating at Penn State. No RV lots to speak of, and the tailgating is mostly broken up into various parking lots around campus. The student tailgating area is a bit south of the stadium at the tennis courts, so if you are going to avoid any specific area, that’s probably the place to avoid (though it really isn’t that bad, and I wear my Penn State stuff there all the time).

The Penn State alumni tent will be at Demonstration Field (http://alumni.psu.edu/events/pep/09PepRally/09MichiganStatePep.html) which is basically across the river to the north from the stadium/Sparty statue.

Parking at most of the tailgate lots is something like $15, though if you park about a mile south of the stadium there is the MSU commuter parking lot (intersection of Mount Hope Rd and Farm Lane) which is free, and that’s where I often set up my personal tailgate (if I’m doing a tailgate myself…usually I tag along with my MSU friends to their tailgates). They have constant busses running up to the stadium, which may cost a few bucks (I forget…I usually just do the walk…it isn’t really that far).

As far as the town itself…East Lansing is kinda small (about the size of State College, but with like 1/3 the number of bars). There’s not a lot of options for food/bars, and they’re all about the same. After the game (and Friday night starting around 10/11) the bars will most likely all have lines that will be a slow crawl. They really strictly enforce capacity laws around here, and it gets to be one in, one out pretty quickly (even though once you are inside it doesn’t seem crowded at all). The “downtown” part is really small, only about 3 or 4 blocks, with most everything off of Albert St (equivalent to Beaver Ave). Grand River Ave is the equivalent of College Ave.

Lansing itself is a bit bigger, and there are more bars downtown that you can go to, but nothing especially worth it. I’m not going to go into detail on any bars down there, but if you are interested I’m sure you can look it up. My only “reccommendations” for places down there are the Green Door (definitely an older crowd), and Rum Runners (a dueling piano bar that is kinda fun), but that’s only cuz those are the only Lansing bars I ever usually go to.

For East Lansing the bars are basically like this (in no particular order. I put food choices at the bottom):
Ricks: the “popular” bar which fills up the fastest. Cover is usually $5, and inside it is split into 2 sections, 1 side is a dance floor area with a DJ/band, dimmer lighting, fewer tables, while the other side has more tables, actual lighting, more TVs.

The Riv: also fairly popular, but less of a dance bar and more of a sit around drinking with friends, playing pool type of bar.

Crunchies: usually a little bit of an mixed/older crowd. I think they do karaoke on Saturday nights, but they also have good beer and decent prices (especially if you get the buckets of beer with a group of people).

The Peanut Barrel: This is also a mixed/older crowd bar, and one of the smaller bars in town. More of a local/townie bar, and a place with a jukebox, a few TVs, a pool table, and darts.

Buffalo Wild Wings: just like any other Buffalo Wild Wings chain

Harpers: a microbrewery, where the beer used to be somewhat good, is now not so good anymore. The food also went in steep decline. They usually have good deals, because no one really goes there anymore (even though they have the largest capacity). Easy enough to get into, though, and would be my favorite place if they upped their quality on the food a bit (still probably one of the better places to get food in town, though). Depending on crowd, and if I go to a party or not, this may be where I head after the game (it was full of Penn Staters after the 2005 game, all watching USC almost lose to Fresno St). This is actually one of the better good weather bars as they have a huge patio area, but that won’t be in effect for this weekend.

Under Harpers is a dance club, but it is like a $10 cover without student ID, and never seems to get going until almost 1 am (all the bars close at 2 am, with last call at around 1:45), so not really worth it. This is also the club where all the “locals tough guys” like to get into fights, so more often than not there are cop cars responding to something going on there at closing time.

Beggars Banquet: I don’t really go here that often. Typically an older crowd, and they recently started selling only these really expensive microbrews (like $18 for a pitcher is one of their “cheapest” ones).

The Land Shark: This is the “greek/fraternity/sorority” bar. I usually avoid it, but it is ok if you like that scene. My favorite memory from this bar is drinking beer out of the Stanley Cup a few years back, but that’s obviously not a normal occurance there.

The Post: they recently remodeled this bar and made it “fancier” but I don’t particularly care for it anymore. nothing against it, and they do have these really awesome fried mac & cheese balls.

Lou & Harry’s (LouHa’s): I’m on a personal boycott of this place. A lot of people I know like it, but I don’t see the appeal. They close at midnight, and aren’t that big. Often times one of the owners (Harry) will be working the door, and will let his “good friends” (that he just met, but they are female, so now they’re good friends) cut in line, which I don’t normally care for, but on multiple occasions it has turned into that girl then bringing her 20 other male and female “close friends” in, making the line not move for another hour. Definitely the biggest offender of the “VIP line” in town. (and don’t even get me started on the stupid VIP lines, though most places that have them handle them somewhat fairly)

My bar descriptions may not be the most up to date, as I don’t really go out drinking that much anymore (time & $$ limitations), but when I do, I usually go to the Riv, Ricks, Harpers, Crunchies, or the Peanut Barrel, depending on my mood (or where my friends are dragging me).

For drunken food, there is the ubiquitous Gumby’s Pizza and Pokey sticks, but my personal favorites are Menna’s Joint “Dubs”. These things are phenomenal. They’re grilled “wraps” of different kinds, and one will fill pretty much anyone up. They’re usually meat & potatoes based, but you can do pretty much any combination of things. Seriously try one if you are in town. (my personal favorite is the “Loaded” with Chicken). For Pizza there is Bell’s Greek Pizza, which I usually prefer, but the place Georgios is probably the closest to NY style you’ll get out here.

For mexican food, El Azteco is ok, and Los Tres Amigos is ok, but neither place is particularly great (you may sense a trend here).

If you like Mongolian barbeque, there’s a place about a mile east of campus called bd’s mongolian bbq (a chain). This is one of those places where you mix up your own meats & veggies and sauces and spices and they grill it for you.

If anyone here likes sushi, my personal favorite is Sushi Ya, though Sansu is also really good (and probably a bit better, if I’m going to be honest).

There’s not really anything special or unique to the area that I’d really reccommend (other than Menna’s Joint “Dubs”) food or bar-wise. If it makes a difference, I think Pat Forde reccommneded Crunchies for their food and drink when he was here a couple years back (food is decent bar food, and the beer is probably above average for the bars around here, but again, nothing special).