The Patient Road for Spartan Fans.

I grew up in Detroit and as many of you know southeast Michigan is U of M territory, primarily because of a media bias. My parents went to Eastern Michigan and

I grew up in Detroit and as many of you know southeast Michigan is U of M territory, primarily because of a media bias. My parents went to Eastern Michigan and had no allegiances to either Michigan State or U of M, but we grew up watching Michigan football in my house. We watched the Spartans occasionally, but usually only if UM wasn’t on yet or had already played. Because my parents didn’t go to either school it kind of allowed me to sit on both sides of the fence: I watched UM football but LOVED MSU hoops. I was actually convinced when Mateen was drafted by the Pistons that it was a long term solution at the point for the franchise. Who knew?

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When it came time for me to pick a college to attend after my community college stop, MSU was the obvious choice because my older sister was currently going here so I was already familiar with the campus. Plus I had a core group of friends already here. I came from a high school that didn’t have a football team so one of the first things I wanted to do when I got here was go to a football game, but I couldn’t afford season tickets. So for the big MSU-Michigan game in 2005, I worked as a parking lot volunteer so I could get into the game for free. I stood for the whole game, and jumped around like a maniac when Domata Peko rumbled down the sidelines to score a TD on a fumble recovery. Even though we blew the game with missed kicks and ended up losing, I was hooked. I was officially a full fledged Spartan Fan.

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Being a Spartan football fan these days is kind of how being a Red Sox fan used to be, pre-2004. You support them. Your devotion is unwavering. And you take great pride in admitting that you are a member of the Spartan Nation. But it’s hard. In the movie “Fever Pitch” a little kid is reading a Red Sox program after his first game at Fenway when his uncle warns him, “Careful kid, they’ll break your heart.” That’s how it feels to be a Spartan fan: They’ll tease you with a 4-0 start, or a lead in a big game before they remind you ‘oh yeah, I know how this will end.’ It hurts because you want the program to be what it once was, what it has the potential to be.  It’s a process that will test your loyalty. However; the one thing I’ve come to admire about Spartan fans is their loyalty. They don’t demand a coach be fired after one loss. They know Sparta wasn’t built in a day so they wait patiently while the empire is constructed.

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As a fan it’s incredibly painful to think that your team is a recovered fumble and a roughing the passer penalty away from being 8-2 or 9-1. But you take your lumps. You know that when that day comes, when the Spartans return to dominance, you will be the proudest of all, knowing that you navigated through the hard times without turning on the program. And coach Dantonio’s comments on Monday make it that much easier to wait, knowing that one day, hopefully soon, Sparta will rise again.