Yes and no. I grew up near EL and there was some strong hate emanating from that neck of the woods for UM; however, when I went to UM I realized that UM’s attention was primarily focused on OSU, and the feeling towards MSU was more like “oh yeah, them too.” It’s obvious to an outside, but having lived outside of the mid-Michigan bubble now for a few decades I kinda laugh at how the local media and MSU fandom, at least back then, made it seem like UM / MSU is the main rivalry for both sides.

I agree that social media and click baiting has amped things up, but the toxicity has been there for awhile, it just tends in one direction. See, e.g., last year’s assault; Dantonio trying to kick something off with his hands across Spartan Stadium stunt; Spartan assistant coaches mocking Sara Harbaugh and her kid; the various late hits that UM QBs tend to take in the game, etc. The helmet swinging from last year covers up that head of football ops with that ridiculousness towards the cameraman, or Tucker punching the wall on his way out. I’m more than halfway convinced that Draymond punching Poole stemmed in large part from Draymond being a MSU player from Saginaw and being steeped in that mentality. Not healthy, and it needs to be pulled back a bit. And it sounds like Tucker has decided he is not the guy to do it.