Was this the Apex Sparty No! Weekend In Memory
Such a confluence of stories and circumstances. I'm no historian but this week/weekend of Lil Bro felt especially epic.
Here's my list and how it all gloriously came together to create the ultimate Sparty No! experience
1) Your $100mm coach jerked off to a sexual assault prevention advocate and university vendor (of all people) to shame your program. The ultimate lil' bro hire (backup the truck for 2 wins against UM despite a career .500 record) and all the Tuck "cummin" idiocy - and the coach actually fumbles the biggest bag in history for 1 ejaculation. Couldn't write a screenplay more absurd and less believable than how this played out for Sparty. This is the cloud hanging over the program all year.
2) "MIchIGan CheATs" - Gifted the "sign stealing" story the week of the rivalry game in East Lansing, MSU seemingly pushes the story further into the media - what could have been whispers, blew up into a national story - giving Sparty fans momentary joy, schadenfreude, excuses, and false equivalencies (Tunnel assault). They proceed to have the QB run to the sideline for signals and then get nuked 49-0, where the UM starters play just 2.5 quarters. Smart move pushing the unsubstantiated story Sparty...well played as now the donut can only be attributed to your incompetence.
3) BuT UrBan MEyer! - Another pathetic hopium situation of temporary respite for lil bro. As if Meyer would want to take over the Moo U job when Texas A&M and other non mid regional jobs would be available to him. All week the delusion was circling, hitting its climax (no pun intended) as game day approached. More hilarious, actually believing only MSU has Ishbia types and mega donors, but sure, other universities, like oil rich A&M (that isn't as mid) can't find the $ to pay the guy. All this, (thinking of hiring one of the biggest known cheaters and scumbags in CFB history) while trying to moralize and cry foul about the unsubstantiated allegations against UM.
4) Hitler! You should never do anything Hitler - almost always goes poorly. But to have that trivia question pop up and a giant Hitler image on your scoreboard and giant screen during a nationally televised broadcast? - Spartans Will! Moronic athletic dept. to not limit the trivia to just sports or look at the questions ahead of time. And below the Hitler image... An add reading "We Never drop the ball". Seriously, are we living in a Sparty No! simulation? Seriously, no joke....of all weeks and all things - rivalry week against UM and a giant Hitler on their jumbo tron.
5) Finally, the obvious, exposed in prime time on national TV as dirty with multiple cheap shot after claiming worry for their players safety after "HarBauGH CheaTS". Again, the entire nation gets to see what a trash program Sparty is, in their Super Bowl, as another MSU player gives the double bird to their home crowd as they get nuked 49-0.
Feel free to add, detract, discuss.....
October 22nd, 2023 at 5:28 PM ^
I was… not mildly impressed with MSU.
October 22nd, 2023 at 5:48 PM ^
They put us in third and long a lot--too much for my taste going forward. Fortunately, JJ just did his thing. I don't want to rely on that against PSU and OSU or the playoff.
October 22nd, 2023 at 6:18 PM ^
I’m glad to hear somebody say this. JJ made some absolutely incredible throws and his tight ends really helped him out. Without his talents this could have a very different outcome.
October 22nd, 2023 at 7:08 PM ^
Like 28-0? Because MSU's offense was never going to score.
October 22nd, 2023 at 6:29 PM ^
I was slightly impressed with their DL on run plays and Brule. Their secondary got toasted and their offense got destroyed. Carter got eaten up most of the time at the line of scrimmage.
October 22nd, 2023 at 10:17 PM ^
Yea, the RB showed some toughness although his stats were terrible.
October 23rd, 2023 at 12:41 AM ^
That's kind of the hidden beauty of this game, MSU didn't really play bad. They just weren't capable and talented enough to beat Michigan.
October 22nd, 2023 at 11:05 PM ^
Brule played great. That's it amongst their 22. Nathan Carter could play well at Iowa tho. Would be our 4th string perhaps.
October 22nd, 2023 at 4:09 PM ^
Hitler was really the cherry on top.
October 22nd, 2023 at 5:07 PM ^
I posted in the other thread that Meijer cannot be happy to have their logo pasted in the lower right corner of the picture that went viral. They have to be one of their biggest sponsors.
October 22nd, 2023 at 9:51 PM ^
I mean, the image of him that appeared: Hitler gazing lovingly up at the word "Spartan" at the top of the scoreboard. It was atrocious and that took it to another level of horrifying. That's really the height of Sparty No! right there.
October 22nd, 2023 at 4:11 PM ^
Many of my Spartan friends were waving the white flag at me today. They know they suck and they know they are years away from competing. They know there is no talent on their team.
October 22nd, 2023 at 7:11 PM ^
They were a day late.
October 22nd, 2023 at 8:35 PM ^
And a dollar short.
October 22nd, 2023 at 4:20 PM ^
To answer your question … No. This win was about M making a statement to all the doubters. Sparty just was … there and are now a splotch.
October 22nd, 2023 at 4:23 PM ^
The Hitler story made front page of Drudge, juxtaposed with stories of violence against Jews.
It was an honest if stupid mistake. But place the story next to murder at a synagogue? Not a good look for Sparty.
October 22nd, 2023 at 5:59 PM ^
“The creator and producer of The Quiz Channel on YouTube that included Adolf Hitler's image as part of a quiz Michigan State used on its videoboards before a game against No. 2 Michigan says the school didn't ask for permission to use his content or pay him for it.”
So how was MSU able to “fire” a third-party vendor that they weren’t even paying?
October 22nd, 2023 at 6:16 PM ^
That’s a juicy piece of information.
October 22nd, 2023 at 6:16 PM ^
Sounds like some social media analyst in East Lansing was eager to please his superiors by saving money. Better seize the phone and computer.
October 22nd, 2023 at 8:36 PM ^
They should really hire a Jewish head coach to prove they aren’t antisemitic.
October 22nd, 2023 at 4:25 PM ^
Sparty No has not yet peaked IMO. They only have 1 more true home game after deciding to play PSU at Ford field for whatever reason. They are spiraling in seemingly every possible way for a football program. The longer the tucker situation drags out the more it comes up in the news as "MSU coach Mel Tucker...". MSU will be on the hook for a huge settlement fee, possibly even the whole contract pending lawyer battles and court decisions. Not to mention they have no president, and the AD (who most want fired anyways) could be tied up in the MT situation. I can't see many college kids sitting down with their family around the holidays and deciding to join the MSU program by NSD. Now they will be looking for a coach late in the game again, which is how they ended up with tucker in the first place. By the time any player with a football future decides to transfer, I'm not sure how they even field a team. After last night what coach wants to come to that situation? Oregon, Washington and USC joining the B10, best MI program in decades..sparty will be a bottom feeder for as long as the B10 survives. They should probably cancel the program for the health and saftey of their players.
October 22nd, 2023 at 4:34 PM ^
The fact that they moved their own home game to Ford Field hasn't gotten enough scrutiny. Talk about absolutely waiving the white flag. PSU fans will take the stadium over.
October 22nd, 2023 at 4:38 PM ^
I imagine the amount of the settlement with tugger will determine what they can offer a new coach? Will ishbia be helping pay that settlement?
October 22nd, 2023 at 5:07 PM ^
Pretty sure Ishbia had to disassociate as an MSU donor once he became owner of the Suns.
October 22nd, 2023 at 7:54 PM ^
Imagine being Matt Ishbia and having to pay a guy 50 million dollars to destroy your favorite football team because you made an idiotic deal based on one game
October 22nd, 2023 at 5:06 PM ^
My brother graduated from MSU and then graduate school from Washington, so he did the “home and home” at both Washington and MSU. He graduated State in 1998. It had been probably 12-13 years since he had been back to MSU campus.
He left very uncomfortable with having been at MSU. His take was that the entire culture had rotted and it was almost unrecognizable from what he remembered, culturally, demographically, everything. He absolutely cherished his time at MSU, and he couldn’t get out of EL fast enough when he came back this time.
October 22nd, 2023 at 10:15 PM ^
Just wondering what “demographically” w/r to negative changes in EL means?
October 23rd, 2023 at 8:09 AM ^
Not racial demographics. Just the makeup of the student body from what he could observe. He said the tailgate felt kind of sketchy and “likes to fight” guy was everywhere. Not just kids being kids, but that the “juggalos” had taken over. (Not his words). Like the wrong kind of kid is now defaulting to MSU instead of LCC.
October 23rd, 2023 at 7:10 AM ^
I would like to hear more of this. My daughter was on campus over the summer (applying to college this year). Not considering MSU, but we have family in MI so they took her to EL.
October 22nd, 2023 at 6:14 PM ^
Graham Couch is banking on UM falling off if JJ and Harbaugh leave for the NFL. He doesn’t understand the depth of talent this team has as well as their portal procurement capability.
October 22nd, 2023 at 10:21 PM ^
Graham Couch doesn't understand a lot of things.
October 22nd, 2023 at 4:32 PM ^
My definition of Sparty No! is an avoidable, self-inflicted wound. Peak Sparty No! is when the blunder helps them snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, so, letting a kickoff bounce and turn it over, rather than catch it, leading to the other team's game-winning TD, after having already had a special teams error, thus allowing the completion of a comeback from 24-7, for example.
Nothing from this weekend fits that more strict criteria, but I would definitely count putting Hitler on the scoreboard.
The rest of it is more Spartanfreude. I was very into the Mel Tucker story, and will be again once there is more news. But it is old news at this point.
So in addition to the Hitler gaffe, my other favorites from the weekend was just their general reaction to the NCAA investigation into the allegations against Michigan.
1) Threatening to not play continues to floor me, as I still cannot understand how they feel there's any logical connection between "they know our signs" and "we are in physical danger," an obvious ploy to turn the tables on which team is the victim of the other one's violence post-tunnel. No one will explain it! And there is a not insignificant part of their fanbase that latched onto that, thinking it was a justified course of action, one that they think they should have taken. And I'm certain one that they think would make us look bad instead of them.
2) Sending their QB over to the sideline...and then abandoning it. It occurred to me later as well, that if they had instead said, "Well it's too late for us to change our signs because we just found out, so we'll take our chances," and behaved normally, then they surely would have said after the game "Well it only was that bad because you stole our signs." But because they cleverly thwarted us and took away our decided advantage of knowing their signs, they can no longer say the results were because of any sign stealing. They robbed themselves of their easy excuse that they could tell themselves. Alas, Sparty No.
October 22nd, 2023 at 4:43 PM ^
I really think as a university they were trying to find a way to get out of playing um. I also believe that they bought into the dintorino narrative of a secret formula to beating umich, and maybe were also told there was no way they could get out of the game.
I hope this helps them realize that the mork years were just umich being down and had nothing to do w his coaching excellence.
October 22nd, 2023 at 5:11 PM ^
Did anyone ask Harlon Barnett in the postgame presser about that "secret formula" remark? Like what in the hell was he referring to? Steroids? Dantonio's weather machine? Thinking that they could get the B1G to force Michigan into forfeiting the game?
Oh I guess it must have just been referring to having Mork on the sidelines which would somehow cause Michigan's players to quake in fear.
October 22nd, 2023 at 5:16 PM ^
I think MSU elevated the story/issue by threatening not to play. I think they are a big reason the investigation exists at all, with Dantonio almost certainly having his hands in it. And I think the only reason last night was not 75-0 is because Harbaugh likes Harlan Barnett and did not want to do him like that.
October 22nd, 2023 at 7:35 PM ^
Dantonio was a hell of a good coach
It wasn't just UM he beat. He knocked the Buckeyes out of the playoff twice, once with Tyler O'Conner at QB
Agree, along with Izzo it didn't at all hurt that he ascended right as UM was descending into a nadir
October 22nd, 2023 at 5:10 PM ^
The phrase "might consider" not playing was made as an off-handed comment by a pouting staffer. It was never on the table in any official capacity.
October 22nd, 2023 at 5:30 PM ^
It has a lot more legs then "hey those guys stole our signs and we have exactly zero proof so go find some proof NCAA."
October 22nd, 2023 at 6:37 PM ^
The report said MSU told the Big Ten on Wednesday they might not play. The Big Ten took that comment seriously enough that, based on the report, MSU had to confirm the next morning to the conference that they would play the game.
I don’t know that I would call it on the table in an “official capacity” but I would say it was more than an “off-handed” comment.
Pouting? Clearly. But they let the Big Ten go to sleep Wednesday night with the impression that MSU was considering this. Maybe they never believed it a serious threat but they also did not ignore the comment.
October 22nd, 2023 at 7:55 PM ^
"Spartanfreude" enters the MGoBlog lexicon.
October 22nd, 2023 at 11:09 PM ^
Rutgers just a week ago and Indiana last year when I believe Indiana had zero first downs but won or something is peak Sparty no. As are the CMU v MSU wins. They are basically the Lions of CFB but with much worse colors and songs.
October 22nd, 2023 at 4:42 PM ^
You forgot the requiste and appropo of nothing Tom Izzo interview
October 22nd, 2023 at 4:51 PM ^
I hit the mute button the second that giggling troll with the spring-loaded smile showed up.
October 22nd, 2023 at 4:53 PM ^
You never go full Hitler.
October 22nd, 2023 at 5:21 PM ^
Better yet, they never had permission to use the quiz in the first place. Blame the vendor all you want, if you paid, but take the L if you used their work without permission
October 22nd, 2023 at 5:22 PM ^
Funny and true points made by all here. But I am wondering if we should lower the temperature here and not “pile on.” Certainly, if the tables were reversed and we were in a bad situation, they would not let up. And I believe the toxicity in the relationship largely is caused by them. Even so, magnanimity (as Abraham Lincoln showed in an exponentially more serious context) may be the better course.
October 22nd, 2023 at 7:09 PM ^
The measuring stick in football is winning. We won. We beat them badly. That's really the best revenge. It's not like they'll forget this game.
October 22nd, 2023 at 8:00 PM ^
MGoPoints: 515
On 11/28/21, I'm glad you left your cave, joined Society, and chose Michigan as your team. For those of us around here longer, "pile on" means "having fun" and "the best of times."
October 22nd, 2023 at 10:50 PM ^
Counterpoint:
October 23rd, 2023 at 12:02 AM ^
And what happened to Lincoln again? Oh...right...
