Tom Izzo In a Cannon? Or Is He?

((ht: michigan state))

Okay, this was pretty good. And the deception may have worked had Michigan State coach Tom Izzo not given it away at the end.

Check out the kickoff to Michigan State's "Midnight Madness", 1st "official" basketball practice of the upcoming season.

The video shows the legendary MSU coach beginning his day of preparations before building up to the beginning of Friday night/Saturday mornings event.

That's when Izzo appears to crawl into a cannon before being shot and launched into a net set up on the court. The "person" dressed as Izzo then does a neat front flip off the net before being surrounded by the cheerleaders....then Izzo emerges.

He thanks everyone for coming and then introduces the raucous crowd and proceeds to give away the gag. It happens at about the 4 minute mark.

Bravo for the creativity, though we wish they stayed with the joke at least until the next day.