U-M = Little Brother?

Submitted by AdamBurmeister on

My older brother, who is a big MSU fan, came over this weekend and was showing me something on an MSU message board.

There's this whole thread of a little black kid with Mike Hart's jersey and people photoshopping things like Dantonio holding him up and him riding a tiny bicycle and a million other things.

Anyways, as he was showing me the pictures, I saw a ton of posts referring to Michigan as "Little Brother" and like "Mike Hart, little brother".

I think it's hilarious that MSU's response to us calling them "Little Brother" is basically them saying, "Nuh-uh YOU are" or saying, "That former player who dominated us for 4 years and never lost a game to us...is short."

I'm not trying to start an MSU-bashing post here I just thought it was interesting, in a way, their response to Mike Hart's comments, 2 years later.

StephenRKass

August 22nd, 2009 at 4:02 PM ^

I am cutting, pasting, and editing this from a recent forum response to another post . . .

It actually annoys me that some of you care so much about MSU. And I don't care if I get negged for saying so. I think that West Texas Blue is right in observing this Michigan obsession. Yes, it must be annoying to some of you living in the State with Sparty neighbors or colleagues, but all I can say is, deal with it. For me, caring much about State and what they do or say is about on a par with caring who wins a south India cricket match. Or reading the front page of the sports section in Bozeman MT this summer and hearing the breathless comments about competing Little League teams in a local tourney. To me, MSU will always be little league. Maybe fun to watch a bit of, but ultimately, who cares?

But there's a deeper issue here. I know Sparty grads who have two favorite teams: MSU & whoever is playing Michigan. This is a pathetic sign that they are defined by their inferiority complex, namely, hatred of all things Michigan. If anyone hates State that much, you are defining yourself by who State is and how they perform.

IIRC, Auburn sometimes fell into this trap (with Alabama.)UCLA with USC. Texas A&M with Texas. Florida State with Florida. In another arena, the Boston Red Sox used to define themselves by hatred for the Yankees. (I digress, but honestly, I don't know how Lions or Cubs fans define themselves.)

Now, this last paragraph is weakest . . . you may quibble with the examples, but I hope you get my point. The best teams cannot afford to think this way, defining themselves by hatred of an opponent, because they have too many teams who are gunning for them. In Michigan's case, we are playing OSU, Penn State, ND, & MSU, this year and every year. All of these (except maybe little brother) are worthy rivals. In the best "rivalries," there is an ebb & flow, but some level of respect, even if dislike, for the other team.

Even though Michigan was down last year, and is going through pain in the coaching transition, our identity must stand firm, as champions and best. We must stay the course, and never go the route of Nebraska or ND, or in this current thread, of MSU.

Maybe the best way to think of this in terms of MSU is to think of an actual "little brother." A true little brother may do everything in their power to annoy you, pester you, bug you, anger you, humiliate you. In almost all cases, the only appropriate response is to ignore them. When you give them attention, they get what they crave, and it only makes things worse.

Done. Too long already.

AdamBurmeister

August 22nd, 2009 at 4:57 PM ^

This isn't about you, StephenRKass,

But NOT EVERY THREAD MENTIONING MICHIGAN STATE IS OBSESSING OVER MICHIGAN STATE.

Over freaking reaction. I even said in the original post it was not to bring up negatively or obsess over MSU, but to state a fact. MSU is not a four-letter word (in more than one sense obviously). Not every mention of the phrase "Little Brother" is to call Michigan State "Little Brother" to prolong it.

The fact is, Mike Hart called MSU "Little Brother" and 2 years later a majority of MSU fans (at least the ones from this board) are basically saying, "No YOU'RE the little brother." Whether one is stupid and one is not, or both of them are, it doesn't matter. It's what's happening.

If you don't want to read the post then don't read the post. It is still not obsessing. There are threads on here about recruits who have already ruled out Michigan -- are those threads living in the past and obsessing?

Just because SOME people will post "OMG DANTONIO IS A QUEEF" as the Thread headline and spend the whole post talking about how he is indeed a queef simply because he is the coach for MSU doesn't mean the word Dantonio should be banished altogether from mgoblog.

Don't be children. Dantonio and MSU, especially just the words, do not have cooties. Not every mention of them deserves hand sanitizer in your eyes.

AdamBurmeister

August 23rd, 2009 at 12:55 AM ^

I don't care at this point if I have 20 points or get banned from mgoblog. I don't see why I'm getting so many negative points on every comment I make, and I know I'll probably get another -10 for this post but I don't really care.

If you read the post I obviously wasn't wound up and I didn't say they're not funny. I just said their response is funny...which I've clarified about 6 times. Some of you need to learn how to read and stop being freakin' Hitlers with how you give out negative points.

CPS

August 23rd, 2009 at 11:55 AM ^

Apparently, you missed the "to say the least" part.

No matter. You've clearly taken the high road using argumentum ad Hitlerum and name-calling. (Didn't you tell someone above to "grow up"?)

The simple fact of the matter is that if you feel the need to use Hitler or Nazism as analogy, you've already lost. You've chosen rhetoric over rational debate. But more importantly, you demean yourself, your opponent and the memory of all those that suffered under Hitler and the Nazis when you use that reference so casually. Stop it.

I may be a moron. But I'm a moron that's smart enough not to use Hitler in an analogy.