special helmets for Spartans

Submitted by Jasper on

A slow week on the 'blog is just beginning so this might be post-worthy:

http://www.freep.com/article/20111221/SPORTS07/112210419/Michigan-State…

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that, if Hoke reels off four straight wins (yes, please) against MSU, there won't be any helmet gifts specific to that accomplishment.

Baldbill

December 21st, 2011 at 7:10 AM ^

Honestly, I hated that comment at the time, and I still do. I never liked the way it sounded or the manner in which he delivered it. I truly wish it would go away.

I grew up in Michigan and had lots of MSU fans as friends and I think it is just not that cool to refer to MSU as little brother.

 

sasmjjsly

December 21st, 2011 at 7:17 AM ^

I loved the Mike Hart's comment and spirit in which it was delivered. It's a game between football programs...trash talked is allowed. I don't care if lil brother's feelings are hurt...win something and we might take you seriously. A 24-yr absence from the Rose Bowl and one of only a few teams in the Big Ten to NOT go to a BCS makes that program laughable....and a lil brother in the state.

bacon

December 21st, 2011 at 6:53 AM ^

IIRC, Michigan allowed our players to keep their jerseys from the ND game. It's a nice gesture by the schools. However, I can't see Michigan allowing players to keep helmets simply because they won x games against MSU.

MGoSoftball

December 21st, 2011 at 7:19 AM ^

lil bro.  They beat Big Bro a little bit and they get all excited.  It is the same feeling they got when they saw the little-ass short-bus to come and get them for school. 

So we have to smile and pat them on the head for winning 4 games in a row.  However we cannot say that we own them lifetime at 67-34.  They always say, "yea but...."

So we are the classy Big Brother and allow them the right to their feelings os excitement.  However, when we beat them 6 years in a row, we just looked at it like any other game.  We were happy of course but 24 hours after the win, we focued on then next opponent.  Lil bro still talks about this and will for years to come.

I wish we didnt play Moo U every year or at all for that matter.  We dont play CMU,EMU, WMU, WSU, Oakland, Macomb CC, NMU, Ferris, Grand Valley or Concordia.  Why do we care about Moo U?

NOLA Wolverine

December 21st, 2011 at 10:01 AM ^

Yeah, why should we play anyone? We should just have a big 12 game long matchup with Ohio State every year. And then we could talk about every little bit of MSU news that comes out in hushed tones, employing the "well that game never mattered to us" sentiment at the end of the discussion like saying "no homo" after asking your friend for a reach around. Oh wait, we already do that. 

Whoever decided "not caring" was  the attitude Michigan football should bring about doesn't understand why we're in this position today. And it certainly wasn't Mike Hart. 

dennisblundon

December 21st, 2011 at 8:26 AM ^

Why must Sparty always run around like a bunch of virgins who finally got laid after winning a few. I am no cocksmith but even I have stopped high fiving my bros because I got laid.

M-Wolverine

December 21st, 2011 at 9:32 AM ^

Without being insensitive, or dirty....

I wonder if these helmets are specially made for MSU in that you take them off by twisting them around by the facemask...

UMich87

December 21st, 2011 at 10:43 AM ^

Spartans hate history.  This isn't the first time they beat us 4 straight.  But the first time they did, Michigan won 10 straight from 1938 to 1949.  We didn't play the Spartans in 1943 or 1944, but we finished 3rd and 8th, respectively in the AP in those years -- missing a great opportunity to win 12 straight against them.

The lack of any sense of history is the key to Sparty bravado the last few years.  They can't even remember 2002 to 2007.  Enjoy the helmets.  For the 99% of you not going to the NFL, maybe you can wear it to your new jobs.  It'll interfere with the drive-through headsets, though.

MileHighWolverine

December 21st, 2011 at 9:34 AM ^

This is not a big deal.

They get to keep the helmets they wore during our game, the only game they wore those 1-off helmets, and I don't think it's because they beat us - it's because they were an alternate helmet.

Kind of like our players keeping the Under the Lights jerseys. They don't get them for the win, they get them for the novelty factor. 

 

ChuckWood

December 21st, 2011 at 10:02 AM ^

I've never seen a school love helmets as much as Michigan State does.  They love helmets so much, they have a helmet as their symbol on their helmet.  They even wear their helmets when walking into games with their street clothes.

Dantonio: What would you guys like for your bowl loss gift this year?

Spartans:  I would really really love a helmet.  Thanks coach!

 

I vote to only refer to MSU as the "Michigan State Helmets."

dahblue

December 21st, 2011 at 10:07 AM ^

If State gets to keep their shitty helmets, then Dave Brandon should be forced to wear his special MSU-edition "Halo" uniform every day until we wear a traditional Michigan uniform again.

Roy G. Biv

December 21st, 2011 at 10:25 AM ^

To play Devil's Advocate, let's man up and give MSU credit for the wins.  Several of their players will go through the program never having lost to Michigan.  Hell yeah it hurts.  Even more so it's embarrassing. Does it sooth our bruised egos to insult and belittle MSU?  If so, then what makes us any better than them?  Sorry about the soap box thing--you will now be returned to your regularly scheduled programming. 

Seth

December 21st, 2011 at 10:57 AM ^

True, but they'll always be Spartans. Having known many people having to face that and its related stigmas for most of their adult lives, I know first-hand that's the kind of stain that doesn't go away. Imagine the weight of carrying around that shoulder chip until the day you die. Imagine never being able to laugh at a college football joke out of fear it might upset the tiny shreds of fleeting national respect you're eternally clinging to. Imagine a lifelong fight to convince everyone around you that your irrelevant also-ran of a football program has independent value aside from being annual annoyance in the grand traditions of one of the game's great programs. Imagine having to know your old college coach is a universally acknowledged giant douchebag, and that you were part of something whose identity was rolled into being the cheapest, most unsportsmanlike creeps in the league.

Winning football games is a big thing. But it's hardly the only thing. I tongue in cheekily make them out to be a national embarrassment from time to time, but there are good Spartan fans who are proud of the good things their university and program have accomplished, and there are plenty of those good things to be justifiably proud of. And conversely there are plenty of Michigan fans who are entitled, snooty, and totally out of touch with reality.

But what's better in general about being a Michigan fan is that the greatest thing that can happen to Michigan State in the minds of Michigan State is that they beat Michigan in all or some phases of greatness, while the greatest thing that can happen to Michigan in the minds of Michigan is that Michigan be best program in the country in all phases: goodness, accomplishment, and intelligence. Michigan strives to achieve an ideal; Michigan State strives to achieve a comparison. This defines the teams and the fanbases.  It makes MSU fans come off as petty, and Michigan fans come off to others as arrogant, and neither of those things make either of us particularly likeable to other fanbases. However from the inside these things make Michigan State fandom a quite negative experience, while except for the times when our insides are fed through a GERG grinder, it's usually pretty great to be a Michigan Wolverine.