| SPARTY 2007 NATIONAL CHAMPION

A back-to-back national championship in 2004-05 wasn't enough for Sparty. Looking for another championship, MSU's mascot Sparty claimed the title of National Mascot Champion for the third time in four years on January 12, 2007 at the Universal Cheer Association's National Championships at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Sparty is the only Big Ten mascot to have ever claimed the title with back-to-back titles in 2004 and 2005. He placed third in 2006 before winning 2007's title.
Sparty performed a 90 second skit entitled "Sparty's Spectacular" that included music and dance themed spoofs of the rock band Kiss, Lord of the Dance, Justin Timberlake, and several other popular music artists.
"Sparty had the crowd rolling in their seats," said Ross Ramsey, Graduate Advisor of the MSU Student Alumni Foundation that runs the Sparty Mascot Program. "He not only entertained the crowd with his humor but amazed them with his dancing skills and sensational props. By claiming the National Mascot Championship three of the past four years, Sparty continues to prove how elite Michigan State University's mascot is."
Sparty's skit counted for half of his overall score with the other half of his score coming from an entry video submitted in November entitled Sparty'sCenter. In the skit, judges looked for creativity, crowd involvement and appeal, use of props, overall impression, enthusiasm, and animation. In the video, judges looked for cheerleader, band, and dance team integration, community involvement, on campus involvement, crowd involvement, and game situations. Sparty entered Friday's competition ranked second behind University of Minnesota's Goldy Gopher based upon the video entries. The finals results of the competition ended with Auburn University's Aubie placing second and University of Minnesota's Goldy Gopher placing third.
Congratulations Sparty on your third national championship in four years!
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