The past 19 or so months of Michigan State football fandom has been, charitably, like the dentist scene from Little Shop of Horrors.
Getting embarrassed on the field regularly, embarrassed off the field more than anyone in this fanbase deserves (yes, even you), and the program has the momentum of a senior dog walking over to their food bowl. All of this latent frustration came to a head on Monday when Dillon Tatum announced he was entering the transfer portal.
From purely a football perspective, I’m not really sure what this means for this upcoming season. Tatum has been, at times, the only productive member of an MSU secondary that has been as effective as low-tar cigarettes at preventing lung cancer. But those times have been few and far between, as Tatum has battled multiple injuries throughout his three years with Michigan State football. I have no ill will towards Tatum seeking other opportunities. It was a dream of his to play and graduate from Michigan State, that mission has been accomplished, and now he’s looking towards the future.
What I do have an issue with, though, is this:
I better not read any nonsense from yall about this decision.
Great young man. Will make another program very happy. Epitomizes being a SD4L. https://t.co/5B8HWlCye1
I’m the first one to admit that I am chronically online. So being chronically online, I can say with some degree of authority that MSU fans are the only ones that get lectures in advance from employees of the athletic department about our online decorum. The only reasonable conclusion to draw from this observation is that someone burned Jonathan Smith in effigy on his front lawn last year. But I’m not here for only that first part. The question that popped into my head when I saw that tweet was;
How can you be a “Spartan Dawg For Life” if you’re not finishing your collegiate career at MSU?
Darien is, objectively, a good guy. I have no doubt his heart was in the right place when he sent that tweet. He also works closely with these players, so I’m sure he was just trying to get out ahead of any backlash on Tatum’s behalf due to the nature of their relationship, which is relatable. I stick up for people I care about, too, even when they don’t deserve it. But on a fundamental level, that question still can’t escape my mind.
“SD4L” was created by the players and for the players. If you went through winter & summer conditioning & camp, multiple football seasons with your brothers, you will forever be considered a SD4L; that’s not going to change bc someone wants a better opportunity for themselves https://t.co/8DS5OhCFOm
I can also appreciate what Taiwan is saying. The reality is that “SD4L” doesn’t exclusively belong to the players anymore, whether that’s right or wrong. Mel Tucker introduced that term into the mainstream, an NIL collective was formed using that moniker, and people still have clothes with “SD4L” on it. Fans have bought into the concept, just like they bought into a lot of the branding of the Tucker era, because, for one game in 2020 and a season in 2021, he won football games.
And therein lies the crux of the argument. What is an “SD4L” to the fanbase? Someone who wins, and, absent of winning, finishes their collegiate career at MSU. To me, Dillon Tatum not being a “SD4L” isn’t an attack on his character, or his abilities as a player, but a matter of fact. It should, ideally, be a title that’s earned, like a Yankee needs to earn their pinstripes. You should either have success or longevity, although both are obviously preferred. Other opinions can be had, but the cruel irony of this whole discourse is that the platonic ideal of a “SD4L” is Darien Harris. Which is why it was so confusing to me to see him, in my eyes, devalue that moniker by handing it out to someone who doesn’t meet its intentionally lofty criteria.
Michigan State football hasn’t been truly competitive in nearly a decade. There have been moments of competence, sure, but as we move farther and farther away in time from that era, those pockets feel more like moments of senile lucidity than anything truly meaningful to the history of the program.
Ultimately, history will remember players like Harris and Jones as “SD4L” because they were here for their entire collegiate careers and won a lot of games. History will also remember Kenneth Walker III as “SD4L” because, while he was only here for one year, he was on a team that won a lot of games. Players like Maverick Hansen earn the moniker “SD4L” simply by staying in East Lansing and continuing to be a member of the program, regardless of their individual or team success.
“SD4L” may originally have belonged to those within the walls of Skandalaris, but history has shown, time and again, that traditions and their meaning ultimately belong to those who maintain and practice them. And as college football continues to be more nomadic and transactional, it’s going to be fans who take up causes like these, because fans are the only remaining constant in the sport. If players and the athletic department want to take back control of the narrative surrounding the program, the answer can be found in the immortal words of Al Davis:
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