Spartans Wearing Helmets to Confront Bush/Wolverines
The MSM seems to be trying to paint Devin Bush as the villain in the Spartan Walk / Bush League / BS drama. What I find very frustrating is the lack of coverage of the likely intent of Dantonio and the Spartan team. The Spartans do this ritual before home games, but against other teams, the Spartan players don't wear helmets.
If anyone has been in a shoving match (or fight) during a football game, the first rule is to keep you helmet on as protection. Given the difference in attire for this game versus other games, I think it is safe to assume that the Spartans had an intention of getting into a confrontation during their hand-holding session on Saturday.
https://youtu.be/ZHusRrK0p5A -- This is from Sept 30, 2017, before the game against Iowa. Notice all of the players are wearing suits/sport coats and none are wearing helmets.
https://youtu.be/06iJYMpIhw4 -- This is from Sept 23, 2017, before the game against ND. Notice all of the players are wearing sweatsuits (and some are carrying their backpacks -- probably haven't gone to the locker room yet) and none are wearing helmets.
October 21st, 2018 at 11:51 PM ^
Yup, I believe that it was very obvious that they either wanted to make the players leave, so he could float about it if they won. And in case they wouldn’t leave, he had his players wear helmets in case of a scuffle.
They have fallen far from being the “spartan dawgs”. Now they try to intimidate and whine or flop when it doesn’t go their way.
October 21st, 2018 at 11:54 PM ^
Some asshole philosopher once said pride comes before the fall, and I guess they were right.
October 21st, 2018 at 11:51 PM ^
who gives a shit what the MSM is saying.... we WON... that's it...
What Panasiuk tried to do to Ruiz is far worse than Devin dragging his cleat across a piece of grass imo.... but i don't even care anymore. We won and that's all there is to it.
Let them cry a fucking river about it.... Let's just keep winning.
October 21st, 2018 at 11:55 PM ^
Yes who gives a shit.
October 22nd, 2018 at 12:43 AM ^
I haven't actually even seen most media members criticizing Michigan for this. I've only seen it from State reporters.
October 22nd, 2018 at 12:56 AM ^
Joey Galloway said Bush shouldn’t have been on State’s side of the 50, showing once again that he is a complete idiot.
October 22nd, 2018 at 6:52 AM ^
That is the one thing I have been unclear about. Was that the side of the field State would have been warming up on, etc? Just curious.
October 22nd, 2018 at 11:55 AM ^
My understanding is that phase of the warmups is open field as each team has a time slot for just their team to be on the field. Later, when both teams are allowed on the field, it is divided at the 50. And excellent point below - regardless of where the UM players were, sparty players were walking the whole field regardless of any 'rules'.
October 22nd, 2018 at 7:13 AM ^
Expecting Joey Galloway to comment objectively about Michigan is naïve.
October 22nd, 2018 at 9:45 AM ^
Leave it to a Suckeye to choose a part of the story that, even if true, is immaterial. That MSU line was going to interfere with UM players no matter what side of the field they were on.
October 22nd, 2018 at 9:59 AM ^
Galloway's anti-Michigan bias comes through every single time he talks about Michigan. I guess he's still butt-hurt about Michigan owning OSU in the 90's. Even though Robert Smith (Fox Sports) and Herbstreit played through the same domination, I find them to be far more level headed than Gallloway.
October 22nd, 2018 at 10:58 AM ^
That’s completely irrelevant, considering that they were walking the entire length of the field. Once they missed the window to do the walk during their own warmup time, there was no way to do it without interfering with Michigan’s warmup. It was an intentional attempt to intimidate, and it backfired.
October 21st, 2018 at 11:53 PM ^
First off, most Spartans hate Bush already so it's not all that hard to believe they would try to peg it on him.
Second, the image of Bush clawing at the Spartan logo will be played over and over and over again for years to come. The MSU media will hold onto that one until the end of time, and even though they should be asking the question of what started it, they will continue to hold onto that image.
Dantonio knew exactly what he was doing with this one. It put M's players in a no win scenario. As soon as they engaged with Michigan players and could harass them, Dantonio got what he wanted. He was able to play the disrespekt card, and could let his own media bubble talk about how terrible and dirty Michigan's players are, even though he caused the whole damn thing.
That's grade school bullying type shit, and I'm glad no one got hurt. Mork is a tool bag.
October 22nd, 2018 at 6:20 AM ^
I agree with everything you said. Mork also gets people to talk about the pregame antics rather than his pathetic team and their ineffective play.
I have zero issue with what Bush did in the context of what was happening. I’m so glad that no one apologized for this because there’s nothing to be sorry about.
October 22nd, 2018 at 7:50 AM ^
Here's the thing about what Bush did: FSU used to take pieces of the opposing team's turf if they won a big game. It might not have been the midfield logo, but it still happened.
I just hope Harbaugh doesn't comment on this anymore. The Hoke apology was lamer than the axe stunt, which looked pretty lame on television. Let's keep it moving and focus on ourselves this week.
October 22nd, 2018 at 8:31 AM ^
I don't read every post, but I haven't heard this part talked about enough. It was absolutely a no win situation for the UM players. Leave the field and you're a pussy for letting msu push you around or stay and face an inevitable confrontation.
I've always had a begrudgingly silent level of respect for Mork. He is a good coach and has had our number, it's hard to deny. But I have lost every ounce of respect for that piece of shit. Fuck him and fuck msu.
October 21st, 2018 at 11:55 PM ^
They absolutely planned it. Their coach flat out lied when confronted about Harbaugh's comments. "That's BS." Uhhh there are cameras that state otherwise dude.
October 22nd, 2018 at 7:06 AM ^
Truly, the best part of this is that it is on film, him doing the very thing that he is denying, and many on the beat aren't exactly pressing the point at least on the Michigan State side, but a fair number of the national folks have been glossing over it too. I am not sure why they don't point how ridiculous it is and how much more some might respect Mark Dantonio if he just said, "What of it?"
October 22nd, 2018 at 7:14 AM ^
Dantonio actually challenged the reporter to refer to the footage of the incident; as if they would absolve his guys completely.
October 21st, 2018 at 11:57 PM ^
They claim one of their coaches asked the M players to move so they could do it. Even if true, who gives a shit? M players have every right to stay on the field. They dont have to respect your dumb tradition and you aren’t entitled to make them.. If you want to walk through where they already are it’s your job to break your “phalanx” for a few steps so you don’t interfere with them.
October 22nd, 2018 at 1:11 PM ^
I bet they "asked"
October 21st, 2018 at 11:57 PM ^
Sometimes they wear helmets and sometimes they don't during the walk.
I agree this was a stupid stunt to try to intimidate us, evident by Mork smiling behind them.
It also could have easily been avoided by Bush and co moving out of the way and/or MSU unlinking arms as they did for Mork at the very beginning of the video (though I think Sparty was wrong and should have shown up on time).
This is much more something for the media to write about and use in promos in future seasons than anything to get upset over.
Michigan destroyed them. Move on.
October 22nd, 2018 at 6:06 AM ^
That was Michigan's scheduled warm up time. Since Dave Brandon wasn't here to do it, they intended on breaking Michigan's pregame routine.
October 22nd, 2018 at 6:26 AM ^
Even trying to take the most neutral position possible here, I don't see how you could look at this and say the M players could have avoided it by moving. Where could they have gone? Once confronted with the full line of spartans, what were they supposed to do, run 30 yards laterally to get to the edge of the stupid wall? No. The easy answer is for one person to move one yard, not ask the other to move 30.
October 22nd, 2018 at 12:00 AM ^
I really don’t understand how where the fault lies in this can be debated. The Spartans took the field during Michigan’s scheduled warm up time. When you couple that with the fact that they put their helmets on it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out they were looking to start some shit.
October 22nd, 2018 at 12:05 AM ^
https://wolverineswire.com/2018/10/21/sunday-thoughts-michigan-football-msu-rivalry/
Isaiah Hole has some pretty good insight on the situation. Worth the read.
October 22nd, 2018 at 1:04 AM ^
Eh, I feel he's inflating the extent to which this "woke the bear". Bush already said earlier this season he hates MSU more than OSU. They've been taking this seriously for a while and suggesting otherwise seems like excuse making.
My thoughts, not that anyone cares:
1) MSU occasionally does the walk with their helmets and they came out wearing them before they knew any Michigan guys would be on the field. It's not like they saw there were M guys out there and went back to get their helmets, BUT
2) When they did see the M players there, they clearly wanted to intimidate them/make them move/walk through/confront them. Otherwise, they could have easily had event staff ask the M players to move and waited for them to move. But I don't have a problem with them starting the walk AND
3) the M players wanted a confrontation as well. They knew what was happening and stood firm to break the links. It's not like they were warming up and then were surprised as MSU approached. They could have gotten out of the way and didn't, which I don't really have a problem with. Classic playground game of chicken that no side wanted to back down from.
4) That Dantonio reacted to MSU cheap shots with a smile was juvenile. The game of chicken amongst players is kids being kids, Dantonio's reaction is just classic Dantonio (like sinking to childish name calling/insults with Mike Hart). And that MSU players yanked headphones was bush-league. As others mentioned, they could have walked through or given a little shoulder bump and one would expect and leave it at that.
October 22nd, 2018 at 2:19 AM ^
Just guessing that they came out late on purpose. They didn't have to wonder if UM players would be on the field. I think the whole "spartan walk" was concocted for that moment.
October 22nd, 2018 at 6:54 AM ^
It seems far too much of a coincidence that they were late and just happened to wear their helmets . . . and Dantonio sure wasn't bothered by the "accident."
October 22nd, 2018 at 7:58 AM ^
As far as I can tell, all teams are scheduled down to the minute. This was why DB springing a uniform change at the last second was a complete disaster.
There is no way that MSU was accidentally 15 minutes late. They absolutely knew what they were doing. They see it as a no lose situation, as it looks like Michigan players were the ones getting in the way of Spartan "tradition". The helmets were an intimidation safety thing This was bush league. MSU will use the Devin Bush field tear up for the next decade as proof of the disrespect that Michigan has for them.
The only way to fix the situation is to do what Michigan did on Saturday. Beat them and do so convincingly. Michigan needs to do this every year, for the next decade and end this.
October 22nd, 2018 at 12:14 AM ^
Upon further review, I believe they call this targeting. It's one of those judgmental calls that can go either way. But nobody ever forgets.
October 22nd, 2018 at 12:17 AM ^
Michigan vs everybody
If you aren't for us, fuck you. The media also said we'd have trouble with Wisconsin, MSU
October 22nd, 2018 at 12:18 AM ^
Hindsight being 20/20, this was a missed opportunity to grab some facemask & not get flagged.
October 22nd, 2018 at 7:41 AM ^
Yep. That's exactly what I thought when I saw the video of the incident--grab a facemask, pull down, and then pull it to the side. Either you control the movement of the helmted player, or the helmet comes off his head. If you control his movement, you can wrench his neck, throwing him down to the ground. If the helmet comes off, then you can swing the guy's own helmet against his bare face. Bet they wouldn't ever try that nonsense again. /s Sort of.
October 22nd, 2018 at 12:32 AM ^
If y'all thought Devin Bush was rough on the stadium turf, just think about how MSU's offense felt at the treatment *they* got from him.
All he and Winovich did was finish the shit the Fighting Nassars started.
October 22nd, 2018 at 3:59 PM ^
I don't know why the Spartans are so upset about what Devin did to Midfield it wasn't like their offense ever use that part of the field anyways
October 22nd, 2018 at 1:04 AM ^
Elle knows what’s up. https://twitter.com/_ellejohnson/status/1054197398178693120?s=21
October 22nd, 2018 at 1:22 AM ^
woow, i appreciate you giving me someone new to follow on twitter.
October 22nd, 2018 at 7:29 AM ^
That is one beautiful wolverine there! Telling it like it is.
October 22nd, 2018 at 8:19 AM ^
For those playing at work, NSFW.
October 22nd, 2018 at 8:19 AM ^
For those playing at work, NSFW.
October 22nd, 2018 at 9:37 AM ^
christ dude add a warning to that link.
now i have to go ... um ... do something else.
October 22nd, 2018 at 12:11 PM ^
Looks like we found Magnus's 2nd mgouseraccount.
October 22nd, 2018 at 5:21 AM ^
I don't know about others on this board. But this rivaly finally feels as though it is back on it's axis. Always felt that MSU had much more disdain for Michigan than Michigan did for MSU. I don't feel that anymore. Many of us grew up with Bo dominating MSU continuing a historical dominance. The last 10 years MSU had the better of Michigan. Unfortunately, Harbaugh could easily be 4-0. In addition, if Michigan beats OSU this year. You get the feeling that the 10 years that Michigan spent in the wilderness is over. I think we are back to Michigan vs OSU playing pretty even each year and Michigan beating MSU most years. If you look at all the players who contributed on Saturday, almost everyone was a Harbaugh recruit with the exception of JBB and Winovich. Looks like Michigan is building a stable of QB's to continue competent QB play going forward.
Something is different this year with this team. Yes, the QB and OL play is huge. But there is something different with this team. That second half was starting to fall apart, and then boom, 79 yard pass from Shea to DPJ and it was game over. That was the Michigan team I grew up with. This is the team that most of us envisoned when Harbaugh took over..
October 22nd, 2018 at 7:47 AM ^
The moral order of the universe was restored in EL Saturday afternoon. (But then Purdue knocked it off its axis again that night.)
October 22nd, 2018 at 5:55 AM ^
Kind of amusing too that Mork's Spartans went in there trying to pick a fight, but felt they had to wear their helmets against a bunch of guys in street clothes. Not feeling too confident in your fighting ability huh guys
October 22nd, 2018 at 7:47 AM ^
Someone with photoshop skills needs to paste Mork's head on the Cobra Kai Sensai's Head from Karate Kid and Harbaugh's head on Mr. Miyagi's head. Maybe you can add in Devin Bush's head on Daniel Larruso for good measure.
October 22nd, 2018 at 8:02 AM ^
Dantonio is too big of a douche to play Kreese. Don’t give him that honor.
October 22nd, 2018 at 7:54 AM ^
I guess it is like dominos. When one falls they all fall so that is why they wear helmets.
October 22nd, 2018 at 8:39 AM ^
It is over... So glad we got the W and, it's not just me, but I really feel a momentum shift in this rivalry... I definitely feel like we enforced our dominance and can call ourselves Big Bro with confidence... We HAVE to beat ohio now!!!