META: Annoyance Week request

I love that the closed captioning say "Let's go to jail" multiple times on that video.

BOTH sides consider the other to be the Little Brother. It's the battle for the more plausible claim to the title.

While I find the meme tiresome as well and think we are better than that, as long as Sparty continues to obsess and try and dismiss any accomplishment that Michigan achieves in a vain attempt to elevate themselves above us, particularly when recents results would preclude the need for them to do so, they are behaving like a younger brother.

They are what they are, but I do agree that we can probably stop stating the obvious in so inflammatory a manner.

No joke, I flipped to the MSU game this past weekend and my 5 year old son asks if that is Michigan's little brother playing. Now, I am raising my children to be Michigan fans but have said nothing about MSU being our "Little Brother", I honestly have no idea where he pulled it from. My point is good luck getting the meme to go away when apperantly it is something people are born knowing.

I think even better than the crowd yelling "you suck!" when the team is losing, is when they start chanting it after third down even though everyone knows the team is going for it on fourth down. 

They aren't Little Brother because we beat them a ton, although this is true.

They are Little Brother because regardless of reality, they ACT like Little Brother. They have massive chips on their shoulders and wild inferiority complexes. THAT makes them Little Brother.

However, I am highly motivated to see if I can get the entire stadium to chant "little brother" with 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter and Michigan up by 30. That is my mission, who's with me? Section 24 will be the genesis.

I'm with you on "You suck."

But "Little Brother" (specifically referring to typical juvenile sibling relationships) is an apt metaphor, and long pre-dates the Hart comment, as applied to MSU and Texas A&M, and UCLA, and NC State, and other in-state rivalries with the same dynamic. Even four wins in a row hasn't changed the dynamic between fans of the schools, or between the players, or how recruiting in the state trends, just like how beating me in basketball or monopoly 4 times in a row never budged the 18-month difference in age between my little brother and me. Even after being a national power for a decade while Michigan struggled, MSU was quickly again supplanted as soon as Michigan was back on track. This futility of success and the inevitability of a return to mediocrity underline the spurned psyche of Spartan fandom.

Ever see a Michigan fan get upset because a non-Spartan alum is a Spartan fan? Yet Sparties constantly obsess over the slights they get from "Walmart Wolverines," as if Michigan is the only school whose athletics cast a shadow beyond the undergrad library. Throw a rock between the Great Lakes and you'll hit two Sparties who think non-Michigan alums are going around denigrating MSU academics (!!!). They've invented this straw man to cover up for elder favoritism, and the shame of non-invested observers (younger siblings, cousins, etc.) siding with the older brother.

And it's about us too. The older brother is constantly patronizing of the younger, constantly undermining little brother's successes. It's about our arrogance, and our willingness to exploit unfair advantages in size and access, and our darling status among the rest of the family.

They find it demeaning because they find everything demeaning, because Spartan fandom is nothing more than cauterized jealousy. It is one of the most negative and least rewarding fandoms I have ever witnessed. It's the reason their biggest media supporters are talk radio hosts, is the reason a troll-infested message board is their primary internet outlet, and their intelligent analysis blog is a well-written afterthought on SBNation.

The metaphor doesn't just work; it defines the rivalry. It's childish of course, but rivalries themselves are immature relationships in essense.

I think you are missing what "Little Brother" really means. They are not little brother because of their record. It is because no matter what: win, lose, or draw they are always measuring their success next to the Maize and Blue. This is a fact which they want to deny to the end of their days, so let me give a sample size. After their loss to Ohio they found it necesary to say things like "at least we aren't Michigan" or "I am a better QB than Denard." Classic little bro move. Measure your success/loss always in the shadow of your big brother. That being said I have refrained from calling them little bro until we beat them- not that it changes the fact...They are always little brother.

Who won?

Damn tiles kept getting up in my grill. They were saying the usual nonsense like, "We want to have a parquet with you like the pirates do!"

I finally replied, "It's 'parlay', you idiot."

Sounds like the time I got in a fight with a fireplace.  The damn thing wouldn't stop blowing smoke up my ass.

Sometimes, imhe, it is worthwhile hearing from others not in your own ghetto. I vaguely recall there being some posters from East Lansing and Columbus and South Bend who were welcomed in the past at mgoblog. Has that policy changed?

Of course it hasn't changed, unless it has

I think its clear but, if not, he (we) are referring to Sparty Trolls and not the valuable Spartan contributors that we have on the Board.  There are several that are even-keeled, intelligent, and able to mix it up in a humorous but respectable manner.  As a public service announcement, lets try to appreciate (and not neg) posts by Spartan fans that are valuable.

We welcome outsiders to this board. We have valuable contributors from Notre Dame, OSU, Nebraska, and, yes, even MSU. They are more than welcome. Hell, if Sparty fans want to join this week and ask real questions or provide new insight, they are more than welcome as well.

I should have been more clear, this is directed SOLELY at the trolls.

If anyone has any more SPAM for male "performance enhancement", please send it along. Some, uh, people I know were kinda maybe wondering about it.

No, no man.  You've got it all wrong.  I was over at the RCMB and all those guys insist they got accepted to both Michigan and MSU.  In fact, they all insist they applied to U of M just to have the pleasure of turning scUM down after they got their acceptance letter.  It's totally true brah.

but I'm not from Michigan. But this just reinforces your point -- Michigan has a national presence, and State doesn't.

Close but not quite. All UM and MSU students applied to UM. Now my arrogant Michigan comment - I applied to UM and was accepted. MSU never crossed my mind.