Do MSU Students Really Need a Facebook Event to Tell Them What to Cheer?

Kyle Feldscher — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:38:03 -0500

I’m not sure if it speaks to how much Facebook has penetrated all of our lives or the general malaise among most MSU students, but this week marks a new low for all of us.

The social networking site now has an event called “Go Green Go White x 75,000.” One of the most fundamental cheers in Michigan State lore has a Facebook event to remind people to scream the cheer.

Now, I don’t necessarily have a problem with the idea behind the creation of the event. It just troubles me that this type of thing is actually necessary to let our students know, “Hey! Scream this loudly!”

Personally, I believe any time the “Go Green! Go White!” cheer starts up in Spartan Stadium, with the east side of the stadium yelling “Go Green!” and the west responding “Go White!," should be the loudest cheer of the game.

It should be ingrained in every Spartan that if you’re going to scream yourself hoarse you should do it during the famous cheer.

Are we that dominated by the Internet that we need a Facebook event to remind ourselves to scream ourselves hoarse for our team? Or is the student body becoming so lackluster that some people don’t know how to scream any more?

It’s inevitable that the “Go Green! Go White!” cheer pops up during the most memorable of Spartan sporting events. I will never forget the goosebumps I felt when hearing it ring out through a half-empty Michigan Stadium during the 2008 victory in Ann Arbor. After taking over the town, the stadium, and then the game, hearing that chant was just an affirmation of the Spartan dominance on the day.

Oh, and we didn’t need a Facebook event to tell us when to do it.

This team has had a tough season, but it’s going to be one that ends in postseason play for the third straight year. Head coach Mark Dantonio and his team deserves the best this university and its fans have to offer. It shouldn’t take the Internet or online social networking tools to get their fans—students especially—to get on their feet and cheer them on.

So on Saturday afternoon, when the ball is finally kicked off and the crowd comes to life, don’t be surprised to see a couple thousand people in the student section checking to see why their phones are buzzing and then nodding their heads.

Thank God for Facebook mobile alerts.

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Mark Dantonio Delivers a Strike: Spartans Bowling for Third Straight Season

Nick Mordowanec — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:35:59 -0500

For the third consecutive season, the Michigan State Spartans are going to be playing in a bowl game.

Such a statement is not quite familiar for fans of the program this decade.

The Spartans achieved such a feat by defeating the Purdue Boilermakers in an exciting game Saturday afternoon. While Michigan State achieved bowl eligibility with the win, they also destroyed Purdue’s hopes of achieving a bowl game in new head coach Danny Hope’s first season.

Making bowl games in 2007, 2008 and now 2009 is the first three-year bowl game streak since the mid-1990s for Sparty. Now, it may be premature to canonize Mark Dantonio as the new Nick Saban in East Lansing, but he is definitely getting more and more people on his side as the years pass by.

Many major football programs are consistently used to playing bowl games year after year, especially big BCS games—Texas, Ohio State, USC, and Florida are just a few examples. But being a Spartan fan takes a different type of outlook…until now.

Ever since head coach John L. Smith was canned following the 2006 season, Dantonio has guided the program in a more prosperous direction. With his trademark sideline scowl and unflappable demeanor, his attitude says it all. He expects his players to play hard and expects them to win.

The same type of expectations can not really be said under the Smith regime, nor can it be attributed to the Bobby Williams-led program before that.

Most of us are familiar with the “SOS” term (“Same Old Spartans”) affiliated with the university, especially if you have been a die-hard fan for many years. Some games during Dantonio’s tenure have made fans scratch their heads, like this year’s games against Central Michigan or the heartbreaking loss to Iowa.

But that mantra has been wearing off more and more each season Dantonio has been under the helm, and he deserves the majority of the credit. He is making the Spartans into a perennial contender, and for that, Spartans fans everywhere are very grateful.

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Do MSU Students Really Need a Facebook Event to Tell Them What to Cheer?

Mark Dantonio Delivers a Strike: Spartans Bowling for Third Straight Season