Let me start off by saying that we hate the fact that we're writing about this.

But sometimes we do things we don't want to do because they have to be done.

Even though Elon Musk is doing his best to make it difficult to use his $44 billion Twitter X or whatever it's called website/app, sometimes intriguing stuff makes its way on to the app ... and then into the real world.

One such thing happened yesterday when Twitter user GoBlueLexi117 shared a threat with the world that she claimed to have received from a Michigan State fan. GoBlueLexi117 isn’t just an ordinary Michigan-affiliated Twitter account – she has over 13,000 followers and has been on Twitter for over 11 years. That's top 1% of Twitter as far as followers go.

She's got reach. She helps set narratives.

And she claimed that a Michigan State fan wanted to bash her head in if she visited Spartan Stadium for the night game this fall.

In a bizarre turn of events, it was revealed by an anonymous Twitter account – LincoInCIay – that Lexi had used her own burner account to send herself the threat, then she took that threat and publicized it as if it was real.

Spartans Illustrated had the opportunity to connect with LincoInCIay (who also runs the MSU_Uniforms twitter account). It was quite the crazy 24+ hours for him as his tweet took on a life of its own. His tweet had nearly 2.5 million views in less than 24 hours. A quote tweet by BarstoolBigCat had nearly 2 million views as well.

To say the uncovering of this hoax went viral is an understatement.

“I felt it needed to be pointed out,” he told me. “Thought it would do a few hundred likes but did not see this coming. The quote tweet from Big Cat was pretty cool, he is one of my favorite Twitter personalities.”

For those who don't spend time on Twitter, this conversation was trending -- which means that it was near the top of the live conversation both last night and throughout the day today.

It was LincoInCIay's eagle eye which spotted the fact that made it clear that no Spartan fan had in fact threatened a Michigan fan.

Does he want to make himself known? Not at this point he doesn’t.

“I am happy with the fact that I’m unknown for now,” the 24-year-old ‘diehard’ Spartan fan from Livonia told Spartans Illustrated. “The people who I want to know that it’s me, know, and I don’t like that much attention -- so being able to keep it under wraps is good with me.”

Back to Lexi.

After it was made clear that she was caught, to her credit, she did what doesn’t come naturally – she admitted to it, owned it, apologized, and said she was going to do better moving forward.

In fact, here are a few of her replies to those who came after her on Twitter:

It was a dumb thing to do. That's obvious. Lexi admitted it and owned it. Perhaps we as rival fan bases can make something good come from this.

Soon enough this story will move out of the news cycle, replaced by something just as bizarre, I’m sure.

Where can we go from here, though? What can we do as Michigan and Michigan State fan bases, moving forward?

Let’s start with making one thing clear: I don’t think the rivalry is as toxic as everyone says that it is. While I don’t have scientific evidence to back that statement up, the reason why I make this claim is because I know that Twitter/social media is not real life and real life is not Twitter/social media.

When you see your friends and family in real life, you know I’m right – the banter is fun and the rivalry is usually classy. I can count on one hand the number of my Michigan friends/family who have driven me too far up the wall. Unfortunately, the number of obnoxious MSU fans I’ve encountered is a very similar count.

We all have our village idiots.

Let's commit to policing our own and realizing that one idiot doesn't the whole fan base make.

The actions of one Michigan woman – in this case, Lexi – are not representative of the entire Michigan fan base, just like crazy MSU fans don’t represent the entirety of Spartan Nation. Sure, the stereotypes of the green and white and the maize and blue are there for a reason, and many people use every example they can to reinforce their bias, but it doesn’t have to be this way.

In real life, Michigan and MSU fans work together, live together, worship together, and serve together. It’s only in the online space that the toxicity rears its ugly head.

Let’s all heed the words of anonymous MSU fan LincoInCIay, who told Spartans Illustrated today:

“I think the rivalry has gone a bit too far. Rivalry games are emotional but the tension year over year is exhausting. Hopefully the tunnel is a boiling point and we get through 2023 with no incidents. Everyone still roots for the Lions on Sundays, [we] are still neighbors.”