OK, some people might be taking this rivalry thing a bit too far. Check that -- some people are taking this rivalry thing way too far.
Earlier this week, with one of the biggest Michigan State-Michigan football games in recent years on tap this weekend, someone used a maize-colored paint to “decorate” the Magic Johnson statue on the MSU campus. Alright, I get it, tee-hee, ha-ha-ha and all that, aside from the thousands of dollars and handful of man hours it’ll take to clean it off.
Early Friday, the vandalism escalated.
According to multiple media outlets, balloons filled with blue paint were thrown at the Sparty statue outside of the Spartans football home as well as at the MSU marching band. Every year of late, the band stands round-the-clock guard on the statue in the week leading up to the rivalry game.
Band members were hit with the paint-filled balloons, although the statue was spared.
“At approximately 4 o’clock a.m. myself as well as others involved with Sparty Watch were attacked with paint balloons filled with blue and gold paint,” band member Aaron Schroeder wrote on Facebook. “Everyone is okay. No paint got on the statue itself but there were paint splatters around the base and the brick surrounding the statue.
“A few of us and most of our belongings were hit with the paint but we cleaned ourselves off and are currently assisting in cleaning up the mess.”
UM fans threw blue paint water balloons @ Sparty statue last night but missed. Unknown if Denard Robinson is culprit http://t.co/ZOERdTs74D
— Ⓜ️ark H. (@mark_aaron_hill) October 16, 2015
Official damage done by the blue paint assault at the Sparty statue... #MSUvsUM pic.twitter.com/rq1qi9nFAU
— Andrew Francis (@Schne394) October 16, 2015
Police were called and they are currently investigating the incident.
"[W]e honestly don’t know who did it, and more importantly, we like to think most fans have a little more class than to resort to vandalism,” a school spokesperson told mlive.com. “It’s not fun and games; it’s a crime.”
The No. 12 Wolverines will play host to the No. 7 Spartans Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor.
