Quick Poggi Update

= funny.

Dont forget they light it on fire occasionally too.

so the red cedar flows in what town, maybe EL?  would make sense with your description.

and the '/s' = sarcasm.

i am noticeably hipper now than i was this morning thanks to you. 

There seems to be a divide in our fan base as to whether MSU is really our rival. In-state Michigan fans consider the MSU rivalry only a step below Ohio. Out of state fans, however, tend to look at MSU as a school that we dislike, but as a far lesser rival. I guess you can say that Michigan / MSU rivalry is something of an instate rivalry, but not nearly as much outside of state borders. (obviously, I am generalizing a bit here).



My personal view, despite being from out of state is that Sparty is a rival, but more because they hate us so obsessively than because they are a team that we compete with. I know that they are coming off of a few good years against us, but historically, they beat us about as often as purdue or Minnesota. To me, a rivalry implies teams that are at least oddly matched more often than not, who battle for the same recruits, who respect each other despite being on opposite sides and who recognize each other as standing in the way of winning something big. Look at the Michigan - Ohio rivalry. Setting aside a few recent years, we are traditionally evenly matched, we battle for the big Midwest recruits, there is a respect amongst the hatred and often we battle for b10 championships. Now compare MSU. Setting aside the rr era, we historically dominate them. Until 2008, they were viewed as nothing more than a conference cupcake game on the difficulty scale. As for recruiting, while we compete geographically, again historically, Michigan and Ohio had their choice of Michigan talent, and MSU took what was left. Sure, that changed when rr was here, but it is going back and it will continue to do so as we keep reeling in talent and MSU reverts to their mean. As for respect, there is none in this rivalry. We do as a fanbase look at MSU as the scuzzy, kind of stupid punk little brothers and they look at a us jealously as arrogant, pompous self-important (yet successful) older siblings. Finally, historically, our games with MSU mean nothing - there is no more on the line than there would be when we play any other non-Ohio b10 school.



So, a rivalry, but only in the local sense. Just my view as an out of state fan.