I attended the University of Michigan for 4 years and only twice did I see a large gathering of students outside of the big house. The 1^st time was when Proposal 2 passed, and the 2^nd was when Bo Schembechler died. Both gatherings were peaceful, had a purpose, and the total number of couches burned was zero. After the most recent riot it’s apparent that MSU students no longer need a purpose to gather in large numbers and burn ****. At least in past they had so sort of reason to riot, like losing in the final four or the Sig Eps lost their house dog. This riot seemed to have no purpose. The only hint of motivation came toward the end of the night when the students began to verbalize their desire to be tear gassed. I guess every once in the while the only way to deal with the anxiety of being a college student is to cause thousands of dollars worth of damage and demand to be tear gassed.

Lesson Learned: Wolverines gather for political occurrences and memorials; Spartans gather to burn couches... possibly to please some sort of pagan party god.

Additionally, when you attend MSU you don’t need ESPN or a television to get the score of the game. The amount of burning couches usually gives you a rough estimate of how the team did. On my way back from the library (where I was during the Wisconsin vs. MSU Big 10 Tourney game) I peeked down Cedar Street to see a couch burning. It’s five in the afternoon, and there is a group of about 10 MSU students around a burning couch.  At least I don’t have to check the internet when I get home to find out that State lost. How convenient.