Oh Sparty. We believed in you. We were thrilled for you. You started the season oh so well. We thought Mr. Dantonio had changed the mindset in East Lansing.
And then you reminded us why you are Michigan State football. You are the school that once mentioned having basketball coach Tom Izzo take over the football program. Huh? Oh Sparty, we feel for you. ( Someone get Mariucci off of NFL Network so he and Izzo can be in East Lansing coaching together.)
You're more of an annoyance than anything else. When I claimed my allegiance many moons ago to the University of Michigan, my brother just to be different, picked Michigan State. He bet me a couple times in football. #### poor results for him. Happiness for me.
FYI.....Michigan invades Spartan Stadium Saturday. Let's get this straight, this is a nice and for the most part, clean rivalry. If you've never been to a Michigan-Michigan State hockey game, whether it be in Ann Arbor, East Lansing or Joe Louis Arena, that gets my vote for being the fiercest of any sporting rivalry between these 2 schools. Michigan State owns Michigan in basketball, quite the opposite in football though.
This is also a nice rivalry because MSU fans for the most part are also Tiger, Piston, Lion and Red Wing fans. They're not Ohio State fans, that's a step in the wrong direction. ( November 17 ####es) Anyway, you kind of have to root for MSU. You can't hate Sparty, East Lansing is a GREAT, let me repeat that, GREAT college town.
But on occasion, Sparty pisses you off. When they ever so keenly keep an extra second on the game clock so T.J. Duckett can catch a game winning touchdown. Or when they trip Desmond Howard in the end zone so " no one" defeats " number 1".
But more times than one can keep straight, Sparty does things like blow a huge lead to your team and while laughing, you say " Oh, those poor ####s!" Or Sparty gives you the impression they have an NFL changing reciever and so your favorite NFL team picks, lets say Charles Rogers, in the NFL Draft and the guy is a BUST.
One can not hate Sparty, we love Sparty. We root for Sparty. We want Sparty to fight for Big Ten titles in football. We want Sparty ranked. WE WANT A RIVALRY SPARTY!!!!!!! You can't replace Ohio State, sorry, they're our first. One doesn't forget your first, right Buckeye? Oh, we got Buckeye to blush. How cute.
We ask this of you Sparty.
1. Change your mindset. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to know you've got a confidence problem. If the Detroit Lions can start to change around their losing mentality, so can you Sparty.
2. Give us a reason to not like you. I couldn't even find that much to dislike about you Sparty. You just sit there and take it. You've got to fight back Sparty. When I put my foot on your seat, because I want a footrest, don't act like that's okay. It's not okay! Damn it, that's your seat! ( This happened in Spartan Stadium 2 years ago. We got their early and I'm wearing a Michigan hat, coat, you name it. I'm relaxing before the game and my feet are in this guys seat. Instead of asking me to move my feet, he just sits closer to his buddies. I would have moved my feet! But he didn't even put up a fight. He's a true Spartan.)
3. Play to your potential every week. You had me fooled earlier this year. I believed the words of Mark Dantonio. I believed Sparty, I believed! But, I should have known better. I should have known when Michigan State fans didn't get excited about the quick start. I should have known you would come back and scare the #### out of Ohio State, but lose in the end. And then you lost to Iowa and Northwestern. Would you have lost to Minnesota also? Don't answer that.
Well Sparty, the 100th meeting between Michigan and Michigan State is Saturday. Will you win? It could happen. You're due for a win in this rivalry, plus you play at home. And, I pretty much called you out here, and that will probably come back to bite me. Michigan might just be penciling in a big FAT W .( Something they shouldn't do again after the Appalachian State disaster.) We just don't know with you Sparty, I'll reluctantly say:
I like it... It's not easy being green (my last name BTW)...
I certainly wish Michigan State could get it together.
You got me thinking about the green teams...
After MSU there's Marshall, Tulane, Baylor, Hawaii (kind of sea green), Oregon, and South Florida. More? How about Miami (FL), Colorado State, Alabama-Birmingham, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Ohio, and North Texas. Not the greatest group of teams, but Oregon and South Florida are doing pretty good this season...
Its not so much the mindset as it is the difference in talent level. A few years of recruiting and they will be better. Will they ever steal the 4 and 5 star recruits away from Michigan? Probably not but about the time they reach 8-4 or 9-3 look for Dantonio to be going to greener (No Pun) pastures. They will never get the top recruits in the state of Michigan. It might be possible for them to beat the Wolvs once every 10 years but they are never going to be a rival based off of recruiting and talent level. Sparty is a pretty awesome Mascot.
Maybe you are on to something here. I would like to see Michigan State turn the program around also. I really want Mark Dantonio to succeed there. He is a good coach and a good person. Likewise, Mark Snyder at Marshall. I had high hopes for him when he took over but Marshall moved out of the MAC and into Conf-USA which was a bad move. My son is a graduate of Marshall and they always struggle to recruit good players and are in competition with OSU, Ohio Univ., and WVU for the Southern Ohio and West Virginia recruits. Both Snyder and Dantonio are Tressel alums and should have good skills since they were successful as assistants at OSU. I wish them both luck but maybe they should change the colors to something with more winning possibility.
I remember during the 90's when OSU couldn't buy a "w" in "The Game", and Lloyd tried to insinuate that MSU was the REAL rivalry game for scUM. Now that was funny. A friend of mine is an MSU alum and he was all over that ####. "See, Carr said MSU v. UM is a bigger rivaly!"-he squealed. Right. There aren't enough blue-chippers in _ichigan to fill an out-house. They both have to invade Ohio to get quality players (i.e.-Charles Woodson and Desmond Howard, and no I'm not bitter!). So, naturally OSU stays at number 1, but I do think Dantonio will help draw better recruits to Sparty.
Now, this weekend. As much as I like scUM to get beat in conference as much as possible, the Buckeyes need the skunkbears to be a top ten team when they b*tch-slap them in two weeks. The national cred thing is bugging me personally, so I want them ranked. It really means nothing I suppose, The Game is The Game after all. So, I think scUM pulls it out rather easily in Sparty town, unless Hart can't go. Beating Minnesota w/out Hart and Henne is one thing, but MSU at home is a different story. That being said, scUM has the best offense in the conference, for now, when everybody is healthy, so if OSU can dominate MSU why not Blue? I got it scUM 31 MSU 21.
I have too much to focus on the next two weeks to look ahead to The Game, but it is lurking there in the back of my Buckeye mind like a menacing shadow of ####. November 17th son, we see who is top dog in the Big Ten.
Hail to those m*ther ####ers, hail to those great ....finish that for me Marty.
it was don't you think a kind of condescending article. long on subtle derision and low in actual factual calories. Michigan will be happy if MSU continues to fail, no one wants MSU rising back up and being a menace. look out Michigan if they do get things together, if there is one team on their schedule they WANT to beat every year it is Michigan. if they get good and still have that desire it could be a long string of games for Michigan.
I would like to say that I'm tired of my "Sparty" / MSWHO friends that talk sooooo much smack before this game! All I heard was "What kind of battery is Michigan afraid of?" . . . . . . . "A one double A! HA HA HA HA HA
Then the smack turned into they were close to being in the rankings - We have more "votes" than you!
THEN A FEW "L"'s later - WHERE ARE YOU NOW? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
I'll tell you - - - - - - - Michigan State is ONE HARD victory away from becoming "BOWL ELIGIBLE"! You have 3 games left to play (Michigan, Purdue & Penn State) and I don't see a "W" in the future!
EVEN with a win - ENJOY your bowl game in DETROIT. REMEMBER THE "CHERRY BOWL" a few years back? Remember your "L"s to CENTRAL MICHIGAN in the past? Play like you belong in the BIG ELEVEN!
I know I'll hear it all over again - "See you on the hard court" - BUT THEN Michigan beats MSU in round ball (A sport they "OWN").
I hope Michigan wins - BUT I'd like to see MSU turn the FOOTBALL program around! Like I told my SPARTY friends after the Michigan loss to APPY STATE - "Where will you be in the polls / rankings when MICHIGAN BEATS YOU?"
Michigan wins Saturday!
FINAL SCORE:
U of M - 34
MSU - 23
HAIL TO THE VICTORS & GO BLUE!
"See you on the hard court playing round ball SPARTY" - if that makes you feel any better about this weekends game!
Sparty might make it closer....this used to be a HUGE rivalry, but in the last 20 yrs, OSU has buried it. I love this rivalry....it's football madness.
Michigan 21-MSU 20
They've got to change the attitude Dwindy. That is a losing culture in East Lansing, someone has to kick someone in the butt and actually FIGHT for something.
Sparty is a sweet mascot bucks. I think it is mindset, they churn out NFL players all the time. Kind of tough when you're competing against Ohio State and Michigan, but they've got the resources to produce, so why don't they?
Sure seabass, I've got a bad feeling about this one.
He knows when the Michigan game is Marty, I guess they had a clock ticking down to the U of M game ever since he became MSU's coach....I love that!
I honestly want MSU to matter in football, granny. It's not fun when your instate rival an hour away just seems like they don't care. That's the impression I get when I watch them play.
I think you're right, Michigan doesn't have a great amount of talent in state Petey. Detroit churns out some good ones, but that's about it.
Osu's schedule is weak, nothing they can do about it though. I thought each of the last 2 years they would fall off because of all the guys the NFL drafted from Columbus, got to give Tress credit.
Thanks kitty
You want facts Dave? Okay, MSU hasn't beat Michigan since 2001. I could go on, but I actually want State to freakin' do something productive with their program, it's been a while..........
That could be it BLUE, they just know their role! Spartan Stadium should be quite the scene tomorrow, this game is always a good time.
We did split with them last season in hoops, didn't we? That's awesome, beat them at their own sport. I heard all the jokes also victors, we might just get the last laugh this year.
Nothing like splitting the state over this game Lise, this game is just a question of what MSU team shows up.
I like the Spartans but they aren't really that good. In fact they should have one more loss. If Pitt received any production from its QB when they played, if Oderick Turner doesn't drop a really easy TD pass, Pitt wins. The Panthers defense completely dominated Spart's offense...both MSU TDs were the direct results of turnovers inside Pitt's 10 yard line.
Oh yea, Dwindy1 Northern Illinois has red & black uniforms, not green.
Last edited by Chefron53 on November 2nd at 6:43 PM.
hoit
The one thing that you can say about Michigan St. It's been their remarkable way as to they're being constantly inconsistent.
How else can you describe a team that'll play like allbeaters one week and be so moribund the next ?
Born and raised in the great state of MEE-CHI-GAN. Had a one year stint in Indianapolis where I grew to love all things Hoosier and watched the Colts bring home a Super Bowl trophy. My primary teams remain the Tigers, Pistons, Lions, Red Wings, and Wolverines and I wouldn't trade any of them. Still follow NASCAR, but it's not the same without the black number 3. My favorite sport by far is college basketball. I'll watch pretty much any game between November-Febr uary and March is the pinnacle of it all with the MADNESS. It can't be beat.
