'Spirit' Showing Spartan Spirit Ahead of Cotton Bowl

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DETROIT, MI – The “Spirit of Detroit” statue in downtown Detroit is sporting an oversized Michigan State University jersey as the Big Ten champion Spartans prepare for the college football playoff game in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve.

No. 3 Michigan State and No. 2 Alabama will clash in the playoff semifinal before a sellout crowd at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. The game will be broadcast on ESPN. Kickoff time is 8:10 p.m. Eastern Time.

MSU associate athletic director for corporate relationships Scot Schlesinger told the Detroit free Press the school paid Banner Signs to make the jersey and paid the city a fee to put it on the statue.

The jersey will remain on the statue through Jan.4 if Michigan State loses to the Crimson Tide; if the Spartans advance, it will remain through the national title game on Jan. 11.

The Cotton Bowl winner will play the winner of the Capital One Orange Bowl, either No. 4 Oklahoma or No. 1 Clemson.

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Seeing the 26-foot-tall bronze “Spirit of Detroit” monument located outside the Coleman A. Young Center on Woodward Avenue wearing Sparty’s colors is “a public symbol of support for our football program as it prepares for the College Football Playoff Semifinal against Alabama, and I’m positive many MSU fans will stop by the statue to pose for photos” MSU Athletics Director Mark Hollis said in a statement.

Among those lining up to see ”Spirit” dressed in Sparty’s colors was Troy resident Brandon Mason, 35, a 2002 MSU alumnus.

“It’s cold and miserable, but it’s worth it,” he told the Free Press “It’s a great time to be a Spartan fan. I’m a Spartan alum, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to come out and cheer them on.”

The “Spirit of Detroit” — the largest cast bronze statue since the Renaissance at the time of its dedication in 1958 — often wears the jerseys of Detroit’s professional sports teams when they’re in the playoffs and wore a Super Bowl XL jersey when the Big Game was played at Ford Field in Detroit, but this is the first time it has been fitted with a college jersey.

“Spirit” even sported a tuxedo when the Three Tenors visited Detroit, according to The Detroit News.

» Photo by Dana King via Twitter, used with permission.