Being a Michigan State fan means having always having a chip on your shoulder.
Actually, that chip defines them. It’s like being a Chicago White Sox fan. In that fan base, the chip is also the defining characteristic. Whether it’s the Chicago Cubs in the case of the latter, or Michigan and now Ohio State in the case of the former, there’s always a “favorite” to define yourself in opposition to.
There’s always a mill to find some grist, a side to be a thorn to, some gears to grind against. For Michigan State football, it’s even there in within their own University. Remember, this still a so-called “basketball school.”
It’s cool though: MSU QB Connor Cook feels your pain.
“I think there’s always a chip on our shoulder, no matter what, because we don’t get the respect,” Cook said at Big Ten media days when asked about that chip.
“For me personally, I’ll channel it internally into the hours watching film and the hours after practice.”
I remember being a part of this exact same conversation with former MSU signal caller Kirk Cousins at 2009 or 2010 Big Ten media day. He said that a family member went and looked up all the articles on the internet that slammed him or State and printed them out for Cousins and the team to use as motivation. So the “little brother” complex is always there. Even though Michigan was just one national title since 1948.
And State has owned the intrastate series lately.
“People can say whatever they want to say about me, say whatever they want to say about us as a team, coaches, whatever it doesn’t effect me because we’re so used to it,” Connor Cook continued.
Hey, don’t look at me man, I predicted you guys to win by 10 in the Big Ten title game, and people thought I was making a ballsy selection. Ten was of course the exact margin that the Spartans beat the Buckeyes.
#MSU QB Connor Cook. #GoGreen at #B1GMediaDay pic.twitter.com/rW01bSguVU
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) July 29, 2014
Here’s Spartans Coach Mark Dantonio breaking it down in video
Cook has another reason to have that chip. He’s from Ohio, where the entire stare is guano crazy about the Ohio State Buckeyes year round. OSU was deemed the favorite this preseason, not Michigan State. Hey, don’t look at me they didn’t ask for my vote.
“In Ohio you got Browns fans and this and that, but whether you’re in Cincinnati or Cleveland, Columbus, some town in the middle of nowhere called Zanesville, Ohio, that’s a joke cuz coaCh is from there, everyone is an Ohio State fan, no matter where you’re from, so being able to walk around with my head up high having the bragging rights is a great feeling,” Connor Cook said.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram