The fight song just isn't enough, and bouncing along with the band and cheering at the appropriate time doesn't quite cut it.
For MSU and University of Michigan superfans, there's got to be something more.
Like a cape, an overnight camp-out or a trans-Atlantic visit.
Fans at both universities are gearing up for the big game this weekend by purchasing color-coded gear and selling or scrambling for tickets.
But the superfans are going a little further. They've prepared longer, worked harder and have gotten more excited than average about the game.
Every morning when Rhosann Stryker leaves for work, those who see her car know she's a Spartan fan. Her 2-year-old Cadillac is painted green and white.
For Stryker, who held a spot on MSU's float in the 1956 Rose Bowl parade and earned three degrees from MSU in 1956, 1965 and the early 1980s, it was a natural choice.
"I had two green Lincolns before I got this one," said the Midland resident, who has season basketball and football tickets. "I always wanted to get a green and white car; we just have fun with it."
There's a maize and blue car roaming the streets as well.
U-M holds online auctions for prizes such as the opportunity to run out of the tunnel with the team, conduct the band or act as honorary team captain. Last year, they auctioned off the car for $15,000, which went toward an athletic scholarship fund.
Jerry Akers, a Northern Michigan grad, won the car.
"I was in the used car market and it was reasonably priced," he said Wednesday. Akers, an electrical engineer in Kentwood, said he wouldn't call himself a superfan, but he will be rooting for U-M this weekend.
"I have two groups of friends now," he said. "Ones that give me a thumbs up and ones that give me another finger."
Other superfans are using not only their fingers, but their whole bodies to display their fandom.
Johnny Spirit has been famous for his green-and-white-painted body since the early 1990s. He's seen at MSU in his green-and-white shorts and green body suit during football games, and also at different MSU functions, such as sleeping out at the Sparty statue a week or so before this weekend's game and for a few days after.
"He's liked and respected by everybody," Spartan Marching Band member Patrick Hannah said before sunrise Wednesday. Hannah sat in a lawnchair next to Sparty for Sparty Watch, a yearly band tradition of guarding the statue. He gestured to a lump buried beneath orange and green blankets.
"He's just taking a catnap now," he said. "It's all about pride. Pride and school spirit."
Down the road at U-M, economics senior Peter Lund is the school's Superfan. He was voted so by members of Maize Rage, the school's student section. As Superfan, Lund dons a blue mask and cape and leads the organization and section.
"It's something I gravitate towards," he said. His freshman year, Lund got a U-M "M" tattooed on his arm and began painting himself for the games.
"When people told me I was an idiot freshman year, I maybe put the level I supported the team over what people thought of me," he said from Ann Arbor on Wednesday. "I got involved with Maize Rage because I just wanted to make sure there was someone who was leading in support of the team."
Lund's work as Superfan starts well before the football season with organizational meetings, proving that being a Superfan isn't something that starts a few hours before the game.
MSU electrical engineering sophomore David Lenz and several of his friends plan on camping out in front of the student entrances to the stadium at 2 p.m. today.
But being a dedicated fan means some sacrifices - Lenz and the rest of his friends will be forgoing Halloween celebrations for the night, although Lenz said he might bring a bucket of candy.
Lenz's costume will appear the day after Halloween, when he and at least two of his friends paint themselves green for the game.
"I'm really excited about the game," he said. "I want to be right there in the front, be there for every moment. Rivalries are pretty important.
"I grew up in a U-M family."
For some fans, the trek to the stadium isn't as short as Lenz's jaunt from Wonders Hall.
Stuart Goodburne flew in Wednesday night from London to attend Saturday's game. A former trombone and brass section leader of the Spartan Marching Band, Goodburne also was in the Rose Bowl.
"This is the third time I have flown over for the MSU-U-M game," he said Thursday. Goodburne added that the vast majority of true Spartan fans like him have a connection to the university, but many U-M fans have never even set foot in Ann Arbor.
"They support the Skunkbears because they grew up in the 1970s, when U-M won a lot of games, or they like the helmets, or they believe what they read in the Detroit News and Free Press," he said. "U-M is all about marketing, MSU is about heart."
Shannon Houghton can be reached at hought27@msu.edu.
