An MSU cheerleader, Francis Irving Lankey, along with lyricist Arthur Sayles, created the song.
The MSU Fight Song is played at all university sporting events and is frequently sung by students and alumni.
[5] Lankey's original lyrics reflected the school's role as an agricultural college, as well as its rivalry with the University of Michigan.
In addition, whereas the original lyrics were written for an American football game against Michigan, the modern lyrics can be used for any opponent in any sport (although many hockey fans like to change the word "ball" to "hockey").
Yelling "weak" is popularly substituted in place of the last word in the line "See their team is weakening.