The city is watching with excitement as four native sons suit up Friday for Michigan State in the Spartans' Sweet 16 matchup against Oklahoma in the NCAA tournament.
Mateen Cleaves, Antonio Smith, Charlie Bell and Morris Peterson all went to high school in Flint before joining Big Ten champion Michigan State. Each has "Flint" tattooed on his arm.
Around this industrial city north of Detroit, the four are known as - well, just ask Margaret Schuetz.
"The Flintstones!" she beamed Wednesday, her eyes brightening.
Ms. Schuetz, a mental health worker who lives in Saginaw but commutes to Flint, said she typically doesn't watch basketball. But this year's different.
"Even people in Saginaw are excited about the Spartans," she said.
Deborah Jefferson, who went to the same high school as Peterson, called her sister in Milwaukee last weekend to ask if she was watching the Flintstones.
"She said, 'The cartoon?' She thought I was crazy," Ms. Jefferson said. "She hadn't heard that nickname. So now I'm spreading the word."
Ms. Jefferson said her young son - 13 but already 6 feet tall - is glued to the television for the tournament and wants to go to Peterson's former high school.
But downtown Flint was displaying few signs of Spartan pride yesterday, perhaps because of the proximity of the University's Flint campus.
03-18-99
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