Desmond Howard On UM's Top Rivalries
Desmond says that Sparty is Michigan's third biggest rival. Obvious comical reaction by Sparty fans to immediately follow is obvious.
"You don't really judge yourself — and no disrespect to Michigan State, but they don't have the national appeal that Notre Dame has," Howard said. "I don't think anybody's fooled by that, right?
September 6th, 2013 at 3:47 PM ^
Kal Fisher · Pizza Boy at Mellow Mushroom
1 - Notre Dame.
2 - Wisconsin.
3 - Ohio State.
4 - Michigan.
Not a slight on Michigan, but -- other than a couple decent years in the 90s -- they haven't been nationally relevant since Hitler was running the show in Germany. Further, games against Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and Ohio State have been far more entertaining, and the fans that comprise those fan-bases are enjoyable and fun to talk sports with. Michigan's just sort of... there... They're not really important, but they are the other premier institution in the state of Michigan so you have to take that for what it's worth.
September 6th, 2013 at 5:13 PM ^
... let him near your couch while on the porch.
September 6th, 2013 at 3:51 PM ^
it's like peering through a tiny window into Bizarro World.
September 6th, 2013 at 3:55 PM ^
Down the road towards Godwin's Law that I've ever seen.
September 6th, 2013 at 4:01 PM ^
My daughter chose to attend a tea party for extra credit a few years back, and there were Nazi comparisons being thrown around like air. No political conversation intended, just stating a memory.
September 6th, 2013 at 4:04 PM ^
Over a tea party? Why? Was it at the Goebbels' house or something?
September 6th, 2013 at 4:07 PM ^
I meant to add rally* in there.
September 6th, 2013 at 4:12 PM ^
Well thats just stupid, Hitler never won the Nobel Peace Prize.
September 6th, 2013 at 6:26 PM ^
September 6th, 2013 at 5:14 PM ^
Big Ten Chamionships since Hitler's Death:
M - 26
OSU - 27
Wiscy - 9
MSU - 7
ND - na
EDIT: head to head since Hitler, M 40-28 MSU.
September 6th, 2013 at 3:49 PM ^
talk about a typical Sparty response!
September 6th, 2013 at 3:50 PM ^
Now that ND is off the schedule (after next season) for the forseable future, does MSU become rival #2? I guess so. Who else?
September 6th, 2013 at 3:51 PM ^
Definitely.
September 6th, 2013 at 3:55 PM ^
Maryland, clearly.
September 6th, 2013 at 4:10 PM ^
Only by default they become number two.
September 6th, 2013 at 4:37 PM ^
a number two.
September 6th, 2013 at 8:34 PM ^
September 6th, 2013 at 4:37 PM ^
September 6th, 2013 at 3:51 PM ^
But I think most fans would disagree in recent years. ND/UM was huge when Desmond played for Michigan. And back then I would have put ND ahead of MSU as well. But this year, and the past few years, I'd put MSU ahead of ND. ND would be a close third though.
September 6th, 2013 at 3:54 PM ^
But for the RR years, there wouldn't have even been a wobble on the rivalry scale. In my day (Desmond won the Heisman my freshman year), ND was about as big a rivalry as it gets. Bigger than OSU? Maybe not, but it was pretty close.
September 6th, 2013 at 4:20 PM ^
September 6th, 2013 at 9:02 PM ^
September 6th, 2013 at 3:57 PM ^
September 6th, 2013 at 3:58 PM ^
September 6th, 2013 at 4:02 PM ^
I think Nebraska has a chance to become a rivalry; although I enjoy their fanbase for the most part, so that would take some punch out of the rivalry on my end.
September 6th, 2013 at 4:05 PM ^
The night before the 2011 game, I ran into dozens of them packing the Main Street bars. They were so nice and approachable, I couldn't even bring myself to take a shot at their stupid corn hats.
September 6th, 2013 at 4:51 PM ^
Problem is, starting next year they're in the other division, so we won't play every year. I think it's much more likely that post-sanctions PSU will develop into that third rivalry.
September 6th, 2013 at 5:17 PM ^
but we just won't play them enough to make anything of it
September 6th, 2013 at 4:05 PM ^
September 6th, 2013 at 4:06 PM ^
I think the best way to explain our top three rivalries is this:
We need to beat Ohio.
We want to beat Notre Dame.
We expect to beat State.
September 6th, 2013 at 4:48 PM ^
This is a GREAT way to put it into perspective. I think a lot of the MSU rivalry has to do with putting up with Slappy the Sparty any time that they think they have a good team, and end up beating UM. More of a nuisance than a rivalry.
September 6th, 2013 at 4:57 PM ^
This.
September 6th, 2013 at 4:06 PM ^
was the Regis Philbin meltdown on national TV the following Monday morning. I like Michael Strahan. but now the rivalry has lost its relevance.
September 6th, 2013 at 4:15 PM ^
"You measure yourself nationally when you go up against a Notre Dame, an Ohio State. I don't think I'm telling you guys anything you didn't know." - Desmond Howard, in the article
People might debate the rank order of rivalries in recent times, but I think what he says here has been consistently true when it comes to how well a program is doing as a whole, throughout the process of recruiting, developing and ultimately playing games.
September 6th, 2013 at 4:31 PM ^
I really do think it depends on whether or not you live in Michigan, and how much interaction you have with Michigan State fans. A lot of, if not the majority of, my friends are State grads, which definitely makes the rivalry a little more meaningful in my eyes. I know a lot of out-of-staters who obviously wouldn't have the same experiences, though.
September 6th, 2013 at 4:43 PM ^
My general experience:
All UM fans 1=OSU
UM fans from Michigan 2=MSU
UM fans from outside Michigan 2=Notre Dame
September 6th, 2013 at 4:50 PM ^
I am cool with Desmond voicing his opinion but I have really gotten sick of all this talk about ranking Michigan's biggest rivals and who is a rival and who is not. People are making it bigger deal than it has to be. Here's the bottom-line:
1. Ohio St is Michigan's biggest rival. Period.
2. Michigan State is a very BIG rival. Anyone that tries to say it not is full of it. Yes Michigan has much better history and tradition, but that doesn't automatically mean it's not a big rival. Anyone that doubts this, just needs to live in the state of Michigan and see how much our two fanbases don't get along and are always bickering back and forth. And I hate Sparty as much as anyone here, believe me, but it got really annoying when I would hear our own fanbase downplay this rivalry last year when Sparty had beaten us 4 years in a row (thank god that streak has ended, though)
3. Arguing over if ND and MSU is a bigger rival just seems pointless to me. ND is and probably always will be more relevant at the national level than MSU, but MSU is an in-conference and in-state rival. Both are big rivals.
September 6th, 2013 at 4:54 PM ^
September 6th, 2013 at 5:03 PM ^
September 6th, 2013 at 5:22 PM ^
I don’t consider to be a rival he who prefers to succeed in the recesses of mediocrity, rather than accept the chance of failure for the opportunity to taste the glory of victory... so yeah, to hell with notre dame. Straight to hell...
September 6th, 2013 at 5:29 PM ^
If you ask me which rival I HATE most, MSU might be tops. But I see OSU and ND as greater rivals in the sense that they have fielded better teams, made for better games. (The WL records tend to bear this out, I think.) The bitterness in the MSU thing almost overshadows the game.
Personally, the little brother thing has reached the point of diminishing returns, though. I wish Hart hadn't said it in the first place, I wish Dantonio hadn't been so juvenile and little brothery in his response, and I wish that Denard hadn't stirred the pot the other day.
September 6th, 2013 at 6:27 PM ^
...Michigan's two biggest rivals are clearly Harvard and Illinois. Ohio State is kind of big too but I'm not sure I'd place them above USC & those classic (and often heartbreaking) Rose Bowl games.
And isn't Central Michigan MSU's biggest rival? East Lansing & Pointe Pleasant are practically neighbors so they must hate living with each other.
September 6th, 2013 at 6:32 PM ^
September 6th, 2013 at 7:32 PM ^
The only time the Spartans have risen in Michigan interest as a rival is when they've made themselves a threat of derailing your season.
Michigan State is a state rival. Ohio State is a conference championship rival. And Notre Dame is a national rival, a program which copied itself after a Michigan.
When Brian Kelly suggests that the ND-Michigan series is some kind of limited regional rivalry, he just demonstrates his own ignorance of the competition.
The reason these schools are rivals are because of their history in competition, and dealing with Michigan as a football mentor.
I mean MIchigan is the leader and the best for a reason. And these other schools came after because Michigan taught them how to play the game. This isn't legend, it's fact.
Here is another fact, ND hasn't won in Ann Arbor since 1993. Now, that might be a reason not to want to continue playing this series every year.
September 6th, 2013 at 9:38 PM ^
17-10. But yeah, we own them at home. BEAT THE IRISH!
September 6th, 2013 at 7:48 PM ^