Warde Manuel and Mark Hollis plead for "civility and respect" by fans.

The idea that the opportunity for leadup drinking time will cause a riot is pretty far fetched IMO. If people want to brawl they will brawl. If anything I think that issuing statements won't do much other than lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy.

This is going to be a shitshow in the stands and around the stadium. All day drinking will bring out the worst of dudes with little dicks, big egos, and short fuses. We all know at least one of these dudes. Keep the insanity contained and away from anyone dressed in rival colors.

hoping for civility, expecting disrespekt. 

We had two night games against Notre Dame without any major incidents.

I have a feeling this is pointed more toward one side than the other.

We destroy them and they quietly go back to the farm.

GO BLUE!!

Warde should have called Hollis's mother a prostitute

This makes me nervous that Manuel and Hollis felt it necessary to pen a joint press release to show "hey everyone get along because we are!" I'm sure everything will be fine, though. I think.

Is this really necessary? They act like we're all a bunch of teenagers. Other programs have had night games against their rival for decades, it's really not that big of a deal.

No PS fuck Sparty in that letter? No warning to hide couches? /disappointed

We share a steadfast commitment to represent our schools with class and dignity

 

LOL. There's nothing classy or dignifying about burning couches in the streets and acting like a bunch of animals. 

Please refrain from unpleasantries, or we will be forced to drop the cauldron of boiling oil.

Staple a few maize ribbons to the end of a wooden baseball bat and call it a pom pom.

Might need a reporter to do a Michigan Stadium version of #scannersquawk. It's where a reporter for the Green Bay paper tweets out all police scanner activity related to Lambeau on game day (or for concerts). Never fails to be entertaining in an extremely sad way.

 

https://deadspin.com/police-were-busy-at-lambeau-field-1668688901

No civility and no respect until you adopt the oxford comma.

In a way, the letter almost feels imflammatory. I mean, jeez, stop fanning the idea that things could get crazy.  We've had night game before. Teams have them routinely - often at far wilder places. Assuming M takes standard precautions, there's no reason to assume the scene will turn into a gang-war. Calm down already.

"While both Michigan and Michigan State hope to come away with a win or dignified loss,"

They literally release one of these every single year. 

 

I definitely remember them in 2013 and 2014, at least. 

 

Nothing different. 

They forgot the P.S., which states the following:

"Here's looking at you, MSU fans."

the Jim to Warde's Marlin Perkins

I mean, the vast majority of fans at this game will just be normal human beings.  Yes, there will be some drunk fights and what-have-you.  But it's a little insulting that two ADs have to write a letter to a bunch of adults saying "don't commit crimes before, during, and after a football game".  

My just says:

 

To the fans, families, and friends of the land-grant university in our great state,

Win, lose, or draw, please don't burn down our city.

Signed,

Warde Manuel

 

What he said.

Signed,

Mark Hollis

If you don't have a ticket, just stay home and burn your furniture there.

Please, Mr. ref, don't flag/eject our defensive players for legal plays, no matter how vicious they may seem, solely on the basis of "Oh this is a rivalry game so we need to make sure things don't get too 'chipper' out there and that hit seemed excessive to me".

That flag against Jake Ryan 2 years ago for bull**** targeting when he got pushed by an MSU player into the QB on the ground still has me irked.

went on until it was agreed who's name went first on the signature line?

Let's all be honest: Sparty gonna spart.

They somehow manage night games in Baton Rouge and at both Mississippi schools. I'm pretty sure Ann Arbor will be fine.

There's going to be significant property damage, arrests, and hospitalizations. Praying there aren't too many serious fights or cases of alcohol poisoning because I want more MSU night games.

The part that infuriates me about this joint message is the implication that both sides of the rivalry are equally complicit in how the tone has soured in recent years.  Prior to 2007, when Michigan was owning this game for going on 4 decades, I can't recall any instances where East Lansing was overrun by boorish Juggalos, U of M head coaches made public statements denigrating the competition or said head coaches disrespected the oppositions assistant coaches publicly at a coaches clinic.

Let's be clear about who changed to the tenor of this rivalry to something much darker and meaner, Sparty did; lead by their petty and dour Head Coach, Mark Dantonio.  The tone of this rivalry is a result of all the shade he's thrown Michigan's way over the past 10 years, which has served as internet red meat to the knuckle-draggers that make up the lowest common denominator of Spartan Nation.  MSU turned this rivalry ugly, not Michigan

And Sparty Fan will come back with the inevitable, "Yeah, but Mike Hart said...", as the justification for the path things have taken, but I'm sorry, Mike Hart doesn't speak for all of Michigan, no matter how much agency you want to give him.  The past 8 or 9 years, you had a chance to show magnamity, to show you were the bigger program.  Instead you took your sudden cache of success and squadered it in an all-to-predictable manner of bullying and pettiness.

And now it's over.  Harbaugh is going to expose you guys for the paper tigers you are and history will show that the Dantonio era was a house built on the sand of a flagging Big 10.  All your accomplishments will come with a qualifier based on how his tenure ended.  If that grates, too bad.  I'm not feeling all that magnaminous either.