I thought I was having a rough year, but compared to the Michigan State Spartans, I'm doing fine.

The Spartans and their beloved mascot, Sparty, just keep getting rocked, and it is kind of sad for me to watch. I don't really have a love of any college program, but when the students and alumni of MSU yell at the top of their lungs, "SPARTY ON!" it usually means fun is about to happen — or at least a couch is gonna be lit on fire.

This year, though, the football program has had some problems in the form of its former head coach, Mel Tucker, getting fired for allegedly having an inappropriate relationship with an underling at the university. This, of course, comes just a few years after we learned about that creep Larry Nassar and all the pain he created for so many people.

So, to say MSU has had a bit of a rough road is a bit of an understatement.

Now they face something that I'm pretty damn sure they never saw coming in the form of the long-dead leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler.  When I came across this story, I just shook my head in stunned silence.

Mostly because this should not be a thing.

Michigan State University apologized for displaying a picture of Adolf Hitler on the videoboard during a trivia quiz before the school’s football game against in-state rivals the University of Michigan on Saturday.

Photos began circulating on social media before kickoff of Hitler on the videoboard at Spartan Stadium with a trivia question asking where he was born.

“MSU is aware that inappropriate content by a third-party source was displayed on the videoboard prior to the start of tonight’s football game,” Michigan State athletic director Matt Larson said in a statement. “We are deeply sorry for the content that was displayed, as this is not representative of our institutional values.”

I could have answered the question of where he was born without his picture flashed on the screen.

He was born in HELL, and that is currently where he is.

But that wasn't all, evidently. 

MSU did not have authorization to use the Quiz Channel on YouTube that was supplying the content.

Floris van Pallandt, the creator of The Quiz Channel, told CNN in an email the university’s use of his channel’s content was unauthorized.

“I was completely unaware of this and only learned content created by me was being used due to this occurrence,” he wrote. “While I provide customised content packages for businesses, the utilisation of my publicly accessible YouTube content for stadium entertainment is highly questionable to say the least.”

So, let me do a quick recap to see if I have this straight.

The Michigan State Spartans are at home hosting their cross-state rival, the Michigan Wolverines.

Before the game and as a form of harmless entertainment, they hijack a YouTube Channel's feed that offers quiz questions, and one of the questions asks where Adolf Hitler was born and flashes a picture of Hitler on the big screen.

(I just want to know how you get the YouTube channel on your TV so I can play this quiz channel thing at home. Maybe the person who set this up at the stadium can contact me because, evidently, they've got some tech skills that I could utilize.)

Now, is it really offensive that something meant for entertainment flashes a picture of the subject of the content of the question even though it's one of the more despicable human beings that has ever walked the face of the planet? 

Have the people in universities just gone so paper thin with their feelings that anything like this is going to disrupt their inner being and ruin their day?

Now I get that people might be a tad more "alert," shall we say, with what is going on in the Middle East and the vicious attack of Hamas terrorists on the country of Israel, particularly with how Nazi Germany had a similar policy of eliminating those of Jewish heritage. 

However, I suggest you never watch the History Channel because back in the day, it was nicknamed the Hitler Channel because it showed a lot of World War II footage, and the short, little goofy guy with the mustache would pop up without any warning. I'm afraid these people today would melt like Frosty the Snowman when challenged like this.

They didn't flash a picture of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh and then flash a picture of Hitler. This was done in the spirit of entertainment before a game, and here's the thing: I would be more concerned about than a momentary picture of Adolf Hitler being flashed on the big wide screen at Spartan Stadium.

How many of the people in that crowd at the time:

A. knew it was Hitler?

B. knew where he was born?

C. knew what he was infamous for?

I think these are valid questions, being the track record of institutions of higher learning is spotty at best these days.

So it sounds like MSU might have a bigger problem with the guy who runs the quiz channel on YouTube for possibly using his content in an unauthorized fashion than I would think for flashing a picture that accompanied a question about one of the most despicable human beings who's ever lived.

Accidents like this happen, and it shouldn't be that big of a deal, but of course, in the social media age we live in, we've got to pump up every little thing so that those who are perpetually aggrieved can feel like they're contributing somehow to society as a whole.

And I don't even feel good about ending this article with this because I feel like I'm piling on to Sparty, but the Michigan Wolverines shut out the Spartans yesterday in East Lansing 49 to 0.

There's always next year, Sparty.