Great article: How the other side thinks...

I wonder why Dantonio isn't wearing his?  Oh, he won it somewhere else?  Ya don't say.

Ah yes, and he also got away with copping a feel of Dantonio's boob.

I feel like "riled up" is the exact phrase Hoke would use to describe getting the team pumped up for the game. It's such an awesome dad phrase.

New game for my all day work retreat: work "riled up" into as many discussions about action plans and work streams as I can.

"I'm -- riled, up! Lemme, at -- em!"

All better. The column's author should be able to read that now.

I bet they come in at number 24.

and whether you are up to the challenge. I think the article intrinsically captures the attitude of both fan bases and their feelings about this game and rivalry in general.  

Can we be honest in noting that rarely has Michigan spanked little brother except after clockgate, to me one of the most stinging losses to MSU. But there have been others like the late comeback wins in the 90's and the famous end zone trip of Desmond that was not called on the fourth down. 

In recent years, I felt that MSU after beating Michigan under Dantonio at Michigan Stadium for the first time felt they arrived, and that the late game collapses that had marked their play during the Carr era had given them new life and the confidence to claim that the tide has turned. 

In fact, there are still two annoying contentions by MSU fans, one, that having carved out a 4-game winning streak, now made their program dominant in the series, and two, that if you didn't attend Michigan you aren't really permitted to be a UM fan. 

I assume that thousands of Sparty faithful  will be appropriately donned at their erector set stadium tomorrow who aren't MSU grads and bought their green and white gear from Dick's sporting goods or Meijer supermarket, and I could care less. You can root for whomever you choose. The fact is most of MSU's student fan base and alumni probably couldn't cite much history of their program outside the recent winning streak, because beating Michigan was their season's principal goal for so long, and this is such a rare feat it usually has only occurred in the past during Rose Bowl seasons, and Sparty hasn't been there since the first Bush administration. 

I do think Dantonio has brought an Ohio mindeset to the program about this game, and the fan base obviously feeds off this. I know this is true, because my Sparty wife keeps saying so. 

I know that losing to MSU is harder to accept than losing to Ohio because Michigan is a more complete team.

Michigan fans inherently know this because we know that MSU cannot recruit the same level of talent, which means their team has to be constituted to reflect this. And it is. Dantonio just brought Tressel ball to EL, and whether the style is boring or not, as long as the team wins, who cares. 

There will be no real tipping point in this series until MSU asserts itself as a national player in the postseason, and Dantonio hasn't done that. He's got some great senior leaders on his defense this year, but making the leap from the shadow of Michigan by beating the Wolverines on your home field, in a game that you are favored, won't change any longterm perceptions. 

Michigan measures the rivalry by the annual challenge, but it doesn't sweat image perception based on the outcome of one or two games played in EL. The media can frame it any way it wants. But the players decide it on the field every year, just as intended. 

What is an Wisconsin?

This. Once again, all we get is the sense of inferiority the writer feels; the article isn't about the Spartans, it is about Michigan.  

Writers like this one are barking up the wrong tree.  MSU will never get where its fans want it to go by beating Michigan, even if they do it twenty times in a row.  No one outside the state of Michigan gives a shit about the record of MSU versus Michigan.   MSU needs to get to, and win in, some national-venue games before anyone, even in the state, give them the credit they want so desperately to believe that they have earned.

The way for them to shake the "li'l bro" image isn't to focus on how they are doing against big bro, but rather to forget about family rivalries and compete against the larger world.  Frankly, even having grown up in Michigan, I don't much care about the UM-MSU game,except as it affects the Big Ten championship.

Well, the important thing is you've found a way to feel superior to everyone. Much appreciated.