OT: In need of an explanation of Spartan fans

Exactly

Massive and pervasive inferiority complex

I mean...I think you described them pretty well. There is no understanding, we just try to tolerate them. It comical with John L and Bobby Smith. Dantonio is irritating.

It's been easier living in DC, but living in Michigan can be irritating like I'm sure it is with your rivals in Alabama. People in Toledo and NW Ohio get a lot more of the M-OSU than M-MSU daily interaction, though.

Inferiority complex.

nailed the spartan faithful right on the head. In their eyes I am  Walmart Wolverine thats just how they roll.

I don't think you want to try to understand the mind of Sparty.  It's clouded with resentment and insecurity.  Everything they do is in relation to their sense of how it looks against michigan.

RCMB is as representative of MSU as M-live is representative of M (IMHE).

For a better sample, visit The Only Colors (the MGoBlog of MSU).

EDIT: some guy there once wrote a fairly honest treatment touching on this issue.  A respected senior member here contributed to the discussion. 

I love you

It is well known in the state that michigan is far superior academically. 50% of their students applied to michigan and did not get in, and go to state as a fall back and are left feeling "second rate". So they are on a mission to prove they aren't, all the while we claim ohio state is our real rival, which just infuriates them more.

Anyone who claims that they can explain it is lying.   Bat shit crazy prety much sums it up. And you figured that out on your first trip, which is nice because now you never have to go back.  ANd oddly you will never ever miss anything that has any relevance to college football because of it.

1) They weren't admitted to Michigan

2) See #1

3) The University of Michigan has a larger state and national footprint than Michigan State University.  This really bothers them.  So much that anyone who supports Michigan who didn't attend the university gets called a "Walmart Wolerine."  

It really is that simple.

I'm starting to like you...

Admit it, you're a Michigan fan (second to Bama, of course).

blogs.  Problem is we aren't going away and are just getting better in every sport.  Sorry sparties.

Let me try.

First off, the RCMB is a shithole, populated with some of the biggest assholes on the planet.  Examples abound over the years, particularly after Bo Schembechler died.  Ohio State fans generally "get it" when it comes to Bo.  MSU fans only see him as their tormenter and the guy who fired Ernie Harwell, which he did not.

Second, "inferiority complex" sums it up nicely.  It's pervasive throughout their history.  There is an obsession with Michigan that is deep-seated in the fabric of the school.  It's in their fight song.  Why, you might ask, are they named the Spartans?  Because in the 1800s, Ann Arbor was nicknamed "the Athens of the West."  And who beat the Athenians in the wars?  Yeah.

To be a Sparty is to be OK with losing as long as Michigan does too.  The saddest thing is fans who would rather their rival lose than their own team win.  Literally, if a situation arose where MSU would go to the Rose Bowl if, say, Michigan beat Ohio, you could not get half their fans to say they were rooting for Michigan.  They'd still root for us to lose.  It's rooted in years of losing while Michigan dominated.  Decades' worth.  I know of only one other fanbase in the country like that, and it's not a college football one.

I just looked it up, Dantonio is from the Tressel tree! It all makes sense now! Hahaha. Why did no one tell me this??

I think a lot of them grew up in Michigan and chose their fanbase as kids. As they grew up, they realized that Michigan is superior in many ways. Being overlooked from an athletic and academic standpoint, they grow to hate us and develop one hell of an inferiority complex (complete with delusions of grandeur). Histoically, their number one goal has always been beating Michigan. The school's original fight song was centered not on winning, but beating Michigan. They also don't enjoy the fact that many Michigan fans consider MSU as their 3rd biggest rivalry behind OSU and ND, though they may be closer to 2nd now with the conference setup.

This guy is good.

You know what, RDT?  I didn't really like you very much.  Even with the rest of the MGo world fawning over every one of your posts and the thread you made a few days back introducing yourself.  I appreciated you weren't trolling, but you were still nothing more than outsider from the next school my team was going to play.

However, after starting this thread, I like you.  You're alright in my book. 

That being said, I'm no psychatrist, but MSU fans suffer from a severe inferiority complex.  It's one that we have helped turn into a monster by, as a whole fanbase, refusing to acknowledge little brother's accomplishments even when they're deserved.  In their mind now, every positive thing they do is magnified ten fold, while the negatives don't register to them at all.  While some of them are fine people outside of conversing about sports, I can confirm firsthand, they seem to have delusions of gradeur when speaking of their football program.  It's our fault as Wolverines they are what they are, yet we refuse to yield because of the outrageous levels they've gone to get our attention.  A vicious cycle that will never end.

Aren't we all?

if someone that is a fan of Michigan athletics (no you can't root for one college football team and then root for another college basketball team) that did not attend U of M but does work in some capacity at U of M or Motts Childrens Hospital, are they still considered a walmart wolverine?

if someone attended U of M Dearborn or U of M Flint but NOT U of M Ann Arbor, does that mean that person is a walmart wolverine?

as far as sparty fans go, well let's just say that most of them have a really fucked up view of athletics in general.  this is proven when an MSUCKS fan(s) is happier to see a Michigan loss versus a Sparty win.  Now that sentiment is not as strong as it used to be, when it comes to football, cause they are actually putting a good team on the field.  when a program that has been beaten like a red-headed-step-child for decades, the fans of such a program will repress the history of failure and concentrate on the recent success.  same goes for tree nut fans.  there are only a handfull of college football teams that have a winning percentage againt the Maize and Blue.  those fans should really be focusing on their teams that do well.  you can see how they lash out when Sparty fans use the term "M go Blow," or when tree nuts use scUM.  it is comical.  the newest way to lash out is to classify a group of Michigan fans that did not attend school there, as walmart wolverines.  these fans of our rivals are just lashing out because success is what brings in fans that have never attended a class on campus.  techincally i am considered a walmart wolverine, but who gives a shit whether you actually attended classes at a college or university who you root for in athletics.  not sure if any of this makes sense, cause you cannot prove a negative.