'U' groups set to guard against Spartan pranks

By David Enders

Daily Staff Reporter

Last year, Michigan State University football fans painted parts of the Diag and the Cube in Regents Plaza green in the days before the Michigan versus Michigan State football game at MSU.

This year, a group of Michigan fans calling themselves "The Crew," along with Theta Xi fraternity, are determined to make sure it does not happen again. The two groups have planned an around-the-clock watch in the Diag, with the door of their tent on the 'M.' The shifts began last night at 9 p.m., and are expected to continue through Saturday morning.

"We've got a deck of cards and a football," LSA sophomore Paul Hinshaw said.

"That's all you need," Kinesiology junior Rick Mestdagh added.

Disregard for homework comes with the job, even though many students have midterms.

"I have a paper due tomorrow," one student said as he tossed a football across the Diag in the dark.

Michigan State fans painted the Rock at the corner of Washtenaw Avenue and Hill Street green and white Monday night, but LSA sophomore Brian Groesser, who organized the Diag effort, said he doesn't expect another strike until tomorrow night.

Groesser said the vandalism last year made him take action.

"It was degrading to me," he said.

The idea of protecting campus landmarks is nothing new.

Michigan State's "Sparty" statue is analogous to the 'M.' Both mark the center of campus, but Sparty is often guarded by students before the match.

Michigan State police arrested 14 people in 1998 who attacked Sparty with yellow paintballs and paint buckets in an early morning assault. State fans have painted the Diag the last two years.

"I was at State last year during the game and I walked by Sparty at night and there were like 50 people out there guarding it," Groesser said. "I'm trying to get to Sparty next year."

At Michigan State, students are guarding the statue; but University officials were good-naturedly mum about the measure.

"Just as Coach Carr and Coach Williams don't give out their game plans, we don't give away that information," joked Terry Denbow, Michigan State's spokesman. "Sparty is being properly guarded," he added.

Denbow took the opportunity to look beyond the football game.

"It's a wonderful week to remind us what great universities the state of Michigan has," he said. "While we are competing on the field, we are partners in the our commitment to serving the people of Michigan and beyond, and that too is a tradition we want to protect."

University of Michigan Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Diane Brown said DPS is not planning any changes in operating procedure leading up to the game.

Defacing the Diag or Sparty is not a new idea.

"It used to be try and get in there and put a maize and blue skirt on him," said University alum Bob Oxley, who graduated in 1972.

"Basically, it was just a lot of fun and screaming and harassing each other," he said.

Lou LaChance, a 1968 graduate, said the Rock and the Diag were targets when he was a student, but that other pranks happened.

The eagle statue on the corner of Main Street and Stadium Avenue on Champions Plaza outside the stadium has also been a target

"We'd put some dye in the river up there so that it would run blue," he said.

"God was a wolverine, he made the sun maize and the sky blue," LaChance said.

Governor John Engler and Senator Spencer Abraham are also expected to attend the game. There is no question for which they will be rooting - both went to Michigan State.

JUSTIN FITZPATRICK/Daily

LSA sophomores Aaron Ruhlig and John Carter, and Kineseology junior Rick Mestdagh defend the Diag last night.