OT: Sparty does it again... I live in Houston Texas and my niece attends Stratford HS. To my disdain

their mascot is the Spartans. Like a good Uncle I attend games and cheer for my Niece's school, but I always keep from saying "Go Spartans" when it is required. My neice loves me and watches a lot of UM games with me, so she is okay with it and understands my quirk.

Here is the point of my post. The Stratford Spartan's use a similar Sparty head for their logo (seen here): http://ssh.springbranchisd.com/

I was informed today that MSU has filed a suit against Stratford HS stating copyright violations of their logo. Now this Texas HS is being forced to change all of their logos. This is on their notebooks, shirts, sweats, backpacks, etc etc etc... It will end up costing quite a bit.

I spoke to one of the school officials today and told them they might want to look into how long MSU has used this particular logo since they change it every other year. They told me they would refer the information to their attorney since they have used the same logo for 10 years now.

Why would MSU worry about a Texas HS logo? I have seen other teams were the winged helmet and even play The Victor's as their fight song. Needless to say, MSU might stir up a hornets nest in Texas. Football is serious business here. Don't expect any Stratford recruits going to Sparty anytime soon

They never have, why would they? sparty is a relative unknown in the college football world. IMHO it's more of the Lil'Brother syndrome poking its head and taking out its penile inferiority complex on a High School in Texas....

Wow. Thanks for sharing. You are right about the winged helmets too. They are everywhere. Several Ohio schools wear them.

WillieMfan wrote:

Wow. Thanks for sharing. You are right about the winged helmets too. They are everywhere. Several Ohio schools wear them.

That is very surprising, your tidbit about Ohio HS helmets. I can't believe that would ever fly anywhere in that state. To add to it though, South Bend Riley High School used to have the wings as well. Helmets looked the same. Blue tops, yellow pants (not quite maize though). I'm pretty sure they have a completely different look now. Still surprised that ever flew in South Bend.

Also, great info at the beginning of the thread. Can't believe MSU would waste their time on this.

It gets better. One of the schools is Eastmoor Academy which is in Columbus. They purposely copied Michigan's helmets out of spite-

Eastmoor Academy’s uniforms, featuring a blue and white winged helmet and players’ names on the jerseys, are among the most striking in central Ohio. Others, including Watkins Memorial, have borrowed the winged-helmet theme associated with Michigan.

"The story associated with Eastmoor’s helmets is legendary. Hall of Famer Bob Stuart, who coached there from 1956-84, was incensed because Ohio State didn’t recruit Warriors linebacker Mike Boren — father to recent Ohio State players Justin and Zach — in 1979, so he introduced the winged helmets the following season.

“It’s a true story; I wanted to stick it to Ohio State for that,” Stuart said. “Plus, I had always admired Bo (Schembechler) and I thought those helmets were unique. We introduced them, the kids seemed to like them and they stuck. And, by the way, I never heard anything from coach (Earle) Bruce.”

Eastmoor coach Jim Miranda finds it ironic that a team playing at Archie Griffin Field continues to wear the helmets Michigan made famous.

“I always wondered if it upset anybody, but they’re distinctive and people throughout the state associate us with those helmets,” he said. “Fortunately, we’ve continued to send our share of players to the Buckeyes.”

Admin wrote:

Can't believe MSU would waste their time on this.

Oh, I can...

And Willie, it's kinda like many A2 residents who cheer for sparty. When your town is basically a University, your cheer against them out of spite (not all, but a significant portion).

That's awesome, Willie. Great story!!!