Non-Alumni Fans

If I shouldn't be a fan tell Dave Brandon to stop producing so many WOW moments.

On a completely unrelated note, I'm sure that every Spartan basketball fan over the last 20 years is an MSU grad.

I'm pretty sure Sparty Stadium isn't full of just cow farmers alumni so that's a stupid argument whenever they give it.  But to be honest, I do get annoyed when a non-MSU alum gives me crap about MSU-UM.  Do you know how annoying it is to have a relative say from 2002-2006 that MSU has a better football team and this "will be the year"?  

When it comes to talking crap about academics, saying one is better than the other, I do believe you should have a degree from one of those institutions or plan on attending before jumping in that fire.  Don't talk about how UM is greater than MSU and you went to U Phoenix.

 

Walmarter here with a masters in Structural engineering and season tickets. Bring it on I say!

millions of fans of CFB who didn't attend the university they cheer for.  Without that interest, CFB would be a shadow of itself. Most notably, Ginger in Chicago wouldn't have the Big Ten Network or ESPN 2 or  U to watch Sparty club Illinois without non-alum fans of CFB. 

Likewise, there are thousands of students who are totally apathetic to sports teams on big campuses and feel no connection whatsover to XYZ field or Coach ABC.  

Good rant, though. Kid was pretty annoying / entertaining. 

So let's say I grew up in Ann Arbor, had a family full of UM alums, I followed Michigan my whole life, applied, got in, but also got into Harvard, and I decided to go there instead because, well, its Harvard.

I'm sure that makes me a lowlife Walmart Wolverine in their eyes, right?

Their infatuation with this whole idea really baffles me sometimes. Cheer for whoever the hell you want to cheer for, and to hell with what anyone else thinks.

Michigan is home to me; nevermind that I actually went to CMU.  I thought at one time that I may want to come to Ann Arbor for a grad degree, but with a CPA certificate and my own software company, I don't really need it.

I did, however, send 2 or my 3 kids to school in Ann Arbor (and the other one may end up there eventually)..

I have been a fan since back when we used to watch Rick Leach play, then get inspired to go out and knock the living crap out of each other playing sandlot football, and I will always be a fan.

T

I made it through 30 seconds before the overwhelming urge to roll my eyes like a valley girl took control, and I stopped. Hope there was something actually funny in there for folks who watched the whole thing

As a non-alum who has never even lived in the state of Michigan I find this reasoning adorably stupid. Is every Dallas Cowboys fan from Dallas? There's all sorts of fans of pro/college teams, some good and some bad. What matters is that you stick with the team through thick and thin.

I think most Spartan fans like to portray non-alum Michigan fans as people who could not get into the university where in my experience it has been the opposite. Most of my "Walmart Wolverines" friends were admitted to the University of Michigan but chose to attend other schools (Ivy League, Liberal Arts colleges, etc.). None of them applied or even considered applying to Michigan State.

There are a large number highly educated and successful Michigan natives that did not attend Michigan due to other opportunities but returned to the state for graduate school or other employment opportunities. In my experience, none of these people in the Metro Detroit area root for MSU.

I don't care to watch the vid, but it sounds like Sparty's inferiority complex is showing.  What do I care if U-M fans aren't alumni like me?  The more the merrier.  And if that pisses off Sparties, so much the better.

Alumni, students, and faculty are the only ones that should say 'we'. It's a university, not a pro team. And that university is there for its alumni, students, and faculty.

/endsnobbishness

I used to be critical of the whole "we" thing but as message boards and discussions via internet have become ever so huge, it's just too practical to say we instead of The Universty of XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX.

e.g. "We need to move the ball against the Spartans this weekend for a few long drives to wear down their defense;  if we continuously go 3 and out it's going to become harder and harder to put up points on them."  I guess one can insert "the guys" or "Michigan's football players", but srsly, it just makes sense to say we.  I agree at times in can be cringe worthy but for game discussion it's simply the easiest way.

*This is more to the discussion above and doesn't really fit down here.

Also, to what thes thread was really about: I didn't go to Michigan nor did any relatives and I didn't even grow up there.  I. Don't. Give. A. Sh*t.  Nobody can take my fan card away; I won't let them.

I always refer to the team as "Michigan." The only time I use the words "our," "we," or similar pronouns, I'm referring to this blog or the fanbase in general.

I didn't attend Michigan because I didn't want to find myself in debt. I absolutely could have gone to UM. I got a 33 on my ACT and I decided to go to BGSU for nothing. Can't beat that.

I grew up in Ohio with a family full of Ohio fans. I've been a Michigan fan since I could consciously make a decision about who I was going to be a fan of (I was 5 in '97.. and Charles Woodson in The Game sold me). I don't want to hear that I'm a "Walmart Wolverine" because I didn't go to school there. And I don't think it's fair to question any other non-alumni's fandom.

Spartan fans just don't understand this concept of garning fans around the world. Michigan State is a lot like Bowling Green. You don't grow up a Falcon fan... you're a fan because you went there.

I must love sofas.

A V8 engine is complicated. 

But Bees are complex.

 

Well before I ever thought I would go to school at Michigan. I almost went to CMU but I would still have been a big Michigan fan/supporter!

could not get in or want there kids to get in. My uncle bought a class of 2013 shirt for my cousin when he was born, he framed it and gave it to him after he graduated. First person in our family to get in. He was told his senior year in High school he would not get in to Michigan, he did. I was simply brought to a game in 95(Virginia) as a teen living in California then, I was hooked. My wife applied, wasn't interviewed for med school, 2 years ago applied and was interviewed but didn't get in to do residency. We wanted to be associated but its hard, especially for out of state people, I was merely born in Michigan so I kept UM in my blood since it was a family desire to get in. It's just nobody has a desire to make MSU a goal when they can aim higher, beyond a few ivy schools UM is on top.

I didn't go to Michigan, but I was born in Michigan and my family moved to Indiana when I was 4. When I was 7 I started getting into sports. My Mom would turn on sports games for me. I saw a team playing that was named "Michigan." I thought it was awesome that there was a team named after the state that I came from. It was also awesome that this team was dominating and a couple guys jumped on the scorers' table and danced after they won. That team was obviously the Fab Five, and I've been a die hard fan ever since. I had no idea about colleges and everything else at that age. Trust me, it would have been much easier to be a ND, IU, or Purdue fan growing up in Indiana. I've been fighting that war every day for 20+ years.

As someone with a couple degrees from U-M,  I have zero problem with anyone being a fan of my school.  I think it's flattering if anything.  I recognize that a lot of people couldn't attend, for various reasons.

This "issue" makes me laugh a little though, because it's basically an acknowledgement that Spartans can't say anything to those of us that did go here.  

 

What a schmuck. I guess I can't go to any more games even though I have season tickets. Bummer. 

As long as you don't try and make fun of Sparty's academics when you didn't go to a school as good as msu, then there's nothing wrong with it. I'm a pround Walmarter myself. 

Oh, this is rich coming from Staee...

What a surprise, all the non-alums are so offended and taken aback...

Though this guy comes off as a douche his logic seems correct.  If you haven't spent four years eating, living, and breathing on a particular college campus, poured thousands of dollars into tuition and living expenses into any given school, or are employed there, why even care?  Why not root for the Lions with such fervor?  Or the Pistons?  Or the Tigers?

Collegiate Athletics is a uniquely American phenomenon.  This great country of ours is filled with so many large academic institutions.  College Athletics has literally grown from the adoration and loyalty that these alumni feel for their schools.

Makes you wonder if the commercialization of College Athletics and the growing number of "Walmart Wolverine" types is a coincidence.