The last time the Detroit Tigers won a World Series title, most MSU athletes were in diapers or had not even been born.
"None of the players on our team have experienced the Tigers win," MSU baseball head coach David Grewe said. "It's just great for them. You have to expose your players to (the) winning way, and the Tigers are giving us that opportunity."
Now, Spartan athletes are looking to the Tigers as an example of a nitty-gritty club that wins as a team, shedding all of its past woes.
"It's something I can relate to our team this year, where we don't have a ton of superstars and we're gonna have a different guy step up each night," MSU junior guard Drew Neitzel said.
MSU basketball and baseball players alike have noticed this trait in the Tigers club.
"The biggest thing that we've noticed is that it is a very solid team," senior pitcher Craig Brookes said. "They don't make a lot of errors. It's just been individual performances in key situations. It's been a lot of fun to watch."
Detroit has been off all week, awaiting its National League foe. Tiger outfielder Magglio Ordoñez completed the four-game pennant-winning sweep of the Oakland Athletics on Saturday with a ninth-inning home run.
"I saw it … and immediately bolted from my chair," MSU hockey coach Rick Comley said. "(I was) screaming and yelling. It was great — perfect way to end it."
Grewe has taken the World Series race and turned it into a teachable moment for his players. He posted newspaper clippings in the locker room and Tigers celebrations on the Internet for his players to see.
"When they won the Division Series, (Grewe) said 'Look at that, take it all in, look at those guys' faces, look at how happy they are. Those guys are winners,'" senior infielder E.J. Daws said.
Basketball players are looking to implement some of the Tigers' attributes into their upcoming season.
"There are no clear-cut superstars, as of yet, on this team," junior center Drew Naymick said of the basketball team. "Some guys are going to have to emerge and step up. This probably will be one of those teams where, on any given night, somebody else is going to step up and have a big game."
Naymick said if the Tigers can bounce back from their recent troubles, the Spartans can have a successful season.
"(Head coach Tom Izzo is) a fan and so am I," Naymick said. "It's great to see them have such success this year, especially after 119 losses a couple years ago. They do have that mentality, that killer instinct, that's necessary in any sport to win. It's something that can be learned from."
The Tigers, after 12 straight losing seasons, have put together a World Series run when virtually no one expected it. The underdog role that may have viewed this professional club might do the same trick for MSU teams.
"(Grewe) makes references to the intensity that they bring to the game," Brookes said. "Keeping composed and being a team that doesn't make a lot of mistakes, mental errors. They were a team that a number of people counted out and they proved a lot of people wrong."
Basketball guard Travis Walton, a captain with Neitzel, says the low expectations that fueled the Tigers might help the Spartans basketball team.
"It's kind of unexpected," Walton said. "The past couple years, they haven't made the playoffs. A lot of people doubted them. But they came out and they worked hard and showed what they did on the field.
"We've been working hard this summer and we're ready to come out here and show it."
Staff writers Matt Bishop and Eric Fish contributed to this report.
