Somehow getting destroyed their biggest rival wasn’t the most humiliating part of Michigan State’s day.
Sometimes, there’s comfort in knowing you have hit rock bottom. That can be the only solace for Michigan State football after a Saturday from hell both on and off the field.
The Spartans were hosting arch-rival No. 2 Michigan on Saturday. It had already been a nightmare season for MSU: the team entered at 2-4, on a four-game losing streak, after losing head coach Mel Tucker following a sexual harassment scandal. Michigan State was a huge underdog against the mighty Wolverines, and the game somehow went even worse than expected — but the blowout lost wasn’t even the worst part of the MSU evening.
Michigan beat Michigan State, 49-0, to keep the Wolverines’ undefeated season alive.
As fans were filing into the stadium in East Lansing, the team’s video board showed a picture of Hitler after as it asked a trivia question about where he was born. The image was immediately captured from the stadium, and it quickly went viral on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh pic.twitter.com/DvNk6A3vn5
— Alexander Haenke (@aphaenke) October 21, 2023
MSU put out a statement apologizing for showing Hitler as its team was getting pounded by its rival.
In the statement, a university official said the school had worked with a third-party contractor to run a trivia segment pre-game. It said it would cut ties with the contractor, and said it was “deeply sorry” for the image.
Michigan State has issued a response to the Adolf Hitler trivia question on the scoreboard during pregame warm ups:
— Jeanna Trotman (@JeannaTrotmanTV) October 22, 2023
“We are deeply sorry for the content that was displayed, as this is not representative of our institutional values." pic.twitter.com/NfAdQwtQTC
The 49-0 loss was the fifth biggest blowout in the history of the rivalry. That should have been all the embarrassment the Spartans needed for the day, yet everyone was still talking about the team’s accidental Hitler picture after the game:
"Michigan State put more Hitlers on the scoreboard than points" is quite the rivalry wikipedia entry
— Ryan Nanni (@celebrityhottub) October 22, 2023
Having to type up "hitler apology.doc" while the team is losing 42-0 to its most despised rival is an actual sports info director nightmare
— Jason Kirk (jasonkirk.fyi on bluesky) (@JasonKirk_fyi) October 22, 2023
Releasing a statement apologizing for putting Hitler on your videoboard while you’re down 42-0 vs. your biggest rival is about as bad as it gets man
— Colton Pouncy (@colton_pouncy) October 22, 2023
It can’t get any worse than this. Hey, at least Michigan State men’s basketball is supposed to be pretty good this season.
