Wolverines Blogging: Rival Tribes

There was a chance, however small, that this week's showdown between UofM and MSU wouldn't be televised. Not locally anyway, thanks to the ongoing stand-off between Comcast (Who act like fighting off a cable rates increase is akin to curing cancer) and the Big-Ten Network (Who act as if watching football was an inalienable right not to be deprived from no man). The BTN might have used it as another excuse to turn the screws on Comcast with hordes of angry customers demandig the annual contest on their televisions. But they've passed that up, meaning that the game will be on national TV and my planned post entitled "Why They Can Both Go To Hell and Die" will never see the light of day and I need to come up with a new angle before talking about the match. But since this is the 100th go-around, that's not too difficult.

A century of games between Michigan and State. It's hard to encapsulate just how important this rivalry, this week, is to a Michigan fan. Especially those who've been bred and raised to the Maize and Blue. As I explained to my out-of-state roomies, OSU is the big game, the decisive one that makes or breaks a season. But MS is the rival. OSU is important, I have a special hate in my heart for ND, but MSU is the game that matters. Like when you play your little brother in a pick-up game, you just can't lose. Not unless you want to hear about it for ever. Or, in this case, the rest of the year.

Not within the state, anyway. This week, it's been divided into two camps. The Spartans and the Wolverines. And we're going to play a game to decide who's best. Kids fight in the hallways, choose up sides based on alliegence as they play out the game in minature, adults fly flags and sneer at one another. This is beyond dislike, this is beyond simple competitiveness, this is about identity. You're either a Michigan Man or a Sparty. You're a haughty Maize and Blue blood or you're a Green-blooded couch burner. This week, this game, there is no middle ground.

As usual, this year the Wolverines have held up their end of the bargain and arrive at the game with a 7-2 record (5-0 in the Not So Big Ten). While the Spartans arrive still looking for their sixth win to make them bowl eligible while looking just impressive enough to be scary when playing spoiler. There's a reason the all-time series is 66-28-5 in Michigan's favor, after all. But there's reason to be worried this year.

Riding a 5 game losing streak, the Spartans are due, for one thing. The game's in East Lansing, for another. And memories of the phantom second that robbed Michigan of a win in '99 aren't vanquished by the switch to league officials rather than stadium employees for timekeepers. If MSU can find some way to screw over UofM, they will, because it's all they have to live for in their sad, pathetic lives which revolve around beating Michigan and only beating Michigan. The crowd will be rocking, the players amped up, and the field shaking from all the emotion pouring into it. And the biggest concern of all is that the Spartan's new coach, Mark Dantonio is a disciple of Jim Tressel. And, like Tressel, he's declined to downplay the rivalry. Instead, he's bought into it, made it the center, the focus of his regime. One day a year, he plays Michigan. The other 364 he figures out how to beat them. They're not just determined, they're driven to win this game. And in a year when the Wolverines are shaky, in a week where their star players are getting off the injury list, that's a frightening prospect.

This isn't a game I watch for the enjoyment. Not one where I can appreciate the subtle nuances. This is a game I watch with my nails poised for biting, with my stomach in knots. Because you just can't lose to State. You just can't. I'll never hear the end of it.

Oh, yeah. GO BLUE!!!