Experiences at Breslin last night
For anyone that went to Breslin last night, how was your experience? I went with the Maize Rage and we were obviously cheering when Michigan scored and what not so we were probably irking the fans around us.
I had never been to a road stadium before so I can't compare experiences, but I've never been flipped off, had explicit things said about my family, etc. so much in my life.
What stood out the most was when I left the arena an MSU fan ~60 years old shoved a hat in my face and yelled "fuck Michigan, we're Big Ten Champs, you like that?" For whatever reason I entertained him with a response and said I didn't like it and he said "fuck you, I hope you don't make it back to Ann Arbor."
Weird stuff...It seemed like a mild version of Columbus from the stories I've heard. Did anyone have a similar experience, or was this likely just because I went with the Maize Rage?
March 11th, 2019 at 12:35 PM ^
To be fair, America used to be a bunch of smaller groups yelling at each before it became one big group yelling at each other. Progress.
What is even the point of going to road games in Columbus and East Lansing? Win or lose, you're still going to put up with the most vile shit. So why bother?
What is even more surprising is people want to hear about other people’s bad experiences at those places.
To support the team? Because it's embarrassing to see The Big House covered in skin rash red every other last Saturday in November and yet Ohio Stadium always looks completely filtered of maize and blue.
Well that’s what happens when you absolutely dominate a rivalry for 20 years.
Michigan fans don’t want to go down to Columbus because many of them just automatically assume the team is going to lose. And many OSU fans make the trek up north because they’re dead certain OSU is going to win. And in the many down years Michigan has had, they could get cheap tickets from Michigan season ticket holders looking to sell their tickets.
I call Bullshit.
I call douchebag troll. Head on home. The couch is warm.
A 60 year old man...really OP? I've been to Spartan Stadium twice and I got flipped off once by a 20 year old girl. Doesn't sound believable to me.
Yeah, somewhere between 55-65, had two friends with him, was very surprised
Is this a serious question? A lot of times the old guys are the worst. I've had multiple incidents in which ~50 year olds do nearly the exact same thing to me while attending football games in EL (after UM wins though - things to the effect of go back to Ann Arbor you piece of s**t, to which I respond, well, we own East Lansing right now so I'll just stay here - always nice to get a road W).
The trash is ageless there.
Well I'll tell you my story; my husband was accepted to msu in a program that few schools offer, and definitely not Michigan... as a true blue Michigan fan, I went to the Breslin Center in 1980, because my husband was a student, we sat in the student section, I wore my Michigan gear, and had full cans of soda thrown at my head...so yeah...f them!!
Breslin wasn't built until the early 90s...so either it was when they played at Jennison or that's not true.
That we called them "Little Brother" in 2007 is our fault.
That it still sticks a decade later is their fault.
The misconception of Little Brother is that people believe that MSU was only called that because they lost to Michigan, and once they started beating us in football, they were no longer Little Brother. That's not what being Little Brother is.
Being Little Brother is when your entire identity exists only when you compare yourself to your Big Brother. Being Little Brother is openly cheering for OSU to win in EL against your team in the hopes that Michigan won't win a big ten title. Being Little Brother is saying "MSU could be 1-11 every year as long as that one win is against Michigan." MSU can never shed that title no matter how much they win, because it is ingrained in their very existence as a university to compare themselves to Michigan in every facet. Little Brother is not wins and losses, it's a mindset.
Exactly.
They are Little Brother even when they win.
They define themselves at all times based on Michigan.
Ohio State is like this to some extent as well.
I've got to be honest . . . I'm actually honored by it. We mean that much to them.
I only think about MSU or OSU during the week of a game. As institutions beyond just sports, I barely ever think of them at all.
You're correct that being Little Brother doesn't even originate with sports and is about their very existence as a university.
It's about the fact that Michigan is a better school, is ranked far higher in academic programs, and hence a huge number of the students at MSU didn't or couldn't get into Michigan and are bitter about it.
It is about the fact that Michigan is the older, flagship institution with a much bigger...endowment...and MSU is a former ag school.
And they cling so hard to any sort of edge in any area (academic or athletic) against Michigan that they become assholes and enablers and literally tear down their own institution.
Yep. Ohio State in general is the more hated rival for Michigan, but at sports events I encounter FAR more aggressive and shitty behavior from MSU fans than Buckeyes fans. During the football season last year after the Ohio State loss at home I didn't experience any heckling from OSU fans. After we lost to MSU though, there was so much taunting as the fans exited the Big House, and a bunch of MSU fans even gathered on the sidewalk in front of where Michigan fans were passing through and shouted at them.
I remember that, too
March 10th, 2019 at 10:06 PM ^
I've witnessed both OSU and MSU fans being complete, asshole sore winners in our stadium, unfortunately. It's like looking back in time at medieval or maybe more primal, uncivilized beings.
I was there by myself. Some of the dudes up in the nosebleeds with me, Sparty fans, seemed really really angry unlike anything I've experienced at Crisler. Lot of loud F-bombs being dropped. I went undercover because it was just me in a section of all Sparties and I didn't feel like dealing with any BS. I've had incidents traveling to an M game at UConn and other games in general just for wearing UM/Detroit stuff. Awful game but the Breslin does have a nice atmosphere. I prefer much prefer Crisler though since the upgrades!
Yep, nosebleeds, same thing, agree they seemed genuinely furious throughout the whole game
March 10th, 2019 at 10:02 PM ^
So I know a guy in Columbus, who has warned me that showing up there with Michigan gear etc. is just not smart. If I ever go there, I'm going to be not smart.
More interesting, though, he admitted to me that, contrary to his expectations, he and his friends have been treated well in Ann Arbor.
It's the difference between having an academic program with sports... and sports with sort of academics. Nothing else matters to the fanbases of strictly-sports schools.
March 10th, 2019 at 10:32 PM ^
Yeah, I like to remind people that there was an all-MICHIGAN Apollo crew that put a Michigan flag on the moon. Oh yeah, and many of the academic programs are ranked in the top 5 if not numero uno. I still have the Business Week magazine that ranked UofM number one the year I graduated.
I would rather win than lose but sometimes I get a silly grin on my face when the other team's fans make so much of their recent victory.
On the other hand, some Indiana and Texas A&M fans treated me so well that I will always try to be a good host to visitors. It is so much the better way.
Hate to burst your bubble but absolutely none of what you just said is true.
https://www.michigandaily.com/content/debunking-moon-myth
Just another made up story.
March 10th, 2019 at 10:27 PM ^
I was there and didnt experience any of what you say you experienced. Just s*** talk in between the fan bases which is expected but nothing vulgar
March 10th, 2019 at 10:36 PM ^
Yeah OP seems like some Jussie Smollett shit. Just making stuff up to be a victim because they're upset about something.
I almost never believe any of these stories because I've been to many road games in my life and never experienced anything more than some friendly rivalry banter. It never gets vulgar or vitriolic. I mean I don't believe the people that say "I was just sitting there minding my own business and a guy smashed a beet bottle over my head" type of shit. That just doesn't happen.
Now sometimes there can be altercations where things can get heated and escalate, but that's almost always between two parties that want trouble, and are probably both drunk.
I ain't buying OP's story
The story doesn't seem all that extreme but I know what you mean. People always bring up getting abused at PSU but that was one of the places I traveled to the most for the away games and I always told people they are the nicest fans anywhere. Some of it has just got to be dumb luck running into a rogue asshole fan.
March 11th, 2019 at 10:49 AM ^
Excellent detective work. I didn't even go to the game and am not apart of the Maize Rage. I posted this a day after the game with the hope of getting sympathy from people I'll never meet in real life.
/sarcasm
I'm not saying I don't believe you went there, or that you heard some stuff.
But based on other people's experience, I'm doubting the severity of what happened. If you were right next to the Izzone it would be more believable to me because those are drunk college kids. But the Maize Rage sits way the fuck up in the arena, and usually that far up in any arena are families bringing their kids to games for as cheap as possible. It's usually pretty tame on banter and just full of people sitting down. This is where I choose to sit in away arenas or stadiums because of this very reason.
In my experience, the people that found themselves in a situation where nasty words were exchanged or in situations where things began to get physical, were looking for those situations.
March 10th, 2019 at 10:28 PM ^
Have been to many high school games at Breslin before but never sat upstairs. We sat in section 210 14th row. Very good sight lines from up there, pretty steep upper bowl that almost felt like you were over the court. It was me, my son and my Sparty brother. We had a great time and not one incident. Small scattering of Wolverines around us and didn’t witness a single issue besides a few guys couldn’t figure out where their seats were and the usher figured it out pretty quickly. Walking around the concourse was non threatening. Mostly people looking to be having a fun Saturday night. Like someone already said, it’s usually people looking to find trouble that find it. That goes for all fanbases.
Well he was about 10-15 years younger than the Norte Dame fan that told me to fuck off at our football game last September.
Yeah...let me preface this with I don't drink much, I'm not loud or obnoxious, and the thought of fighting sounds miserable, however, I learned I'm not suited for away games in my 20's (I'm 36 now) after attending a football game @ msu.
I can't bite my tongue with that stuff and I would have returned fire by saying probably the harshest, most despicable thing I could think of and then it escalates from there. Nobody wants that.
I applaud you for going to an away game. Never been there for bball but traveling to msu permanently ended me attending away games the last decade.
Interesting, pretty toxic, and sad behavior from the 60 year old. Some folks just need to get a life.
Funny thing is I don't even think him or his friends attended the game considering we left immediately after the final buzzer and they were waiting with brand new Big Ten Championship hats that no one in Breslin had and were purely there just to troll Michigan fans. They neared a striking resemblance to the mentally ill people in Wal Mart's parking lot that just shout.
Maybe he was 40 and just looked like he was 60?
No way he was 40, he had pure white hair and a decent amount of wrinkles. 50, maybe.
As long as you don't act like an idiot at road games you generally speaking won't have any issues. Been to games at UM, MSU, PSU, Nebraska, ND, Maryland and Indiana and have never really seen any issues beyond maybe a drunken college kid saying something annoying as they walk by. Going to a road game and acting like a jerk brings some stuff on...
I think to echo most people on here... there will be douchebags in every fan base. That said in general, I feel Michigan fans are among the most well behaved with OSU and MSU near the bottom for the obvious reasons.
If anything, our fan base is TOO well behaved...
I've had my car keyed with "FUCK STATE" in Ann Arbor — and it was not a game day.
MSU fans are the armpit of America
March 11th, 2019 at 11:11 AM ^
that's always been my experience there, too.
i attended a sparty vs notre dame game back when charles rogers was doing coke in east lansing and was getting beer cans thrown at me on the walk to and from the stadium.
See I don't buy your story. I can believe you got beer thrown at you, but the only way that could have happened is if you attended that game wearing Michigan gear, which is textbook instigator behavior. Wearing the gear of a rival of the two teams playing is only something a dude that likes to start something would do.
There's a zero percent chance you went to that game as a casual observer and had that happen to you.
What I mean is, in your situation, you were definitely wearing Michigan gear, and if you're willing to do that, you're also the type of person that likes to instigate and get into mild altercations at a minimum. I really doubt people just randomly threw beer at you.
March 11th, 2019 at 11:13 AM ^
Side note and forgot to include in the post but there was a fan wearing a "Let's make Michigan our Bichigan" shirt that was featured on the video board three times...I wanted to wear a much milder shirt when MSU came here and was not allowed, let alone showed off on the video board
March 11th, 2019 at 12:07 PM ^
Defly did dealing with old sparty fool...
Yeah that sounds about right. The anger that MSU and OSU fans have towards UM is something I always take a little pride in because it is pretty much conceding to a superior university. I dont like either of those schools, but I certainly dont lose any sleep over the thoughts of those degenerate fanbases.
I went to a Michigan State Alumn bar here in Charlotte... Granted on their turf so I expected some trash talking but oh my... This was very bad... When ohio or lil bro fans come to the Michigan bar we give them a boo and then watch the game... Don't say anything to them because we are watching the game the whole reason we are there lol... These people man... My sparty friend was like "if you want to leave we can just go, this is ridiculous." I was like no I am good... After the game I had like 3 three people come up and say I was a good sport blah blah... Listen I am almost 40 I am not going to fight someone just because they are annoying af or root for a different team... I will be way too sore the next day for that lol... And the ohio bar down here is not much better... So you do not need to pay money in their stadiums to discover how horrible of people their fans are... Sorry for the long post had to let it out... Go Blue!!!
Unfortunately, Michigan has plenty of fans who treat MSU and OSU fans the same way you were treated in EL. It happens.