Big East Champs!

A laugher became a nail-biter over the last few minutes as the Connecticut Huskies scored five runs in the top of the ninth inning. I felt hopeless and helpless just watching the score from KeySpan Park change on GameTracker.

But all's well that ends well, as some bard once said. The Scarlet Knights of Rutgers now have a Big East Tournament Championship to go along with the season championship they shared with St. Johns. Now it's on to the World Series.
Go Knights!

Rutgers beats Louisville for the second time in one day, and moves on to the Big East tournament final

So, to expand on the last entry, the only thing better than having the Scarlet Knights beat the Louisville Cardinals after a long drought, is to have the Scarlet Knights beat the Louisville Cardinals twice in one day after a long drought.

Not to jinx anything, but are other fans of the Knights starting to get the feeling that something fundamental has changed? Doesn't it seem that the teams are feeding off the recent successes of each other, from the Louisville (football) game and the Texas Bowl to the women's basketball Big East championship and appearance in the NCAA championship game?

Just asking.
And Go Knights!

Rutgers Beats Louisville (again)

No matter the sport, there's still something magical about those words "Rutgers Beats Louisville".


This 12-10 baseball victory just wrapped up a few minutes ago in Coney Island.
Now they will have to play Louisville again at 5 this afternoon (and beat them again) in order to advance to the Big East tournament final against either UConn or USF. The Knights deserve a tournament championship to go along with their regular-season Big East crown.
Go RU!

Rutgers' highest preseason ranking yet, or Cracking the Top Ten!

Click here for more details about this preseason ranking on ScarletKnights.com, or click here for the details on AthlonSports.com. The complete list (being revealed online one position at a time, with the preseason number one being revealed on June 1), will be in the Athlon Sports issue hitting the newstands on June 5.

Click here to keep up on all the 2007 preseason polls.

LEAVE THE BLOCK R ALONE!, or Nothing Worthwhile Was Ever Designed in a Legislative Committee.

Doesn't anyone remember how unattractive the Scarlet Knights' helmet was the last time it included an "N.J." in the 1990s?? If not, here's a picture.

This old design definitely ranks lower than the profile of a knight's head that was on the helmets in the 1970s, or the "Rutgers" with a dagger for a "t" that immediately preceded the current helmet. And the current block R is the best. It's the simplest and strongest helmet identifier that the Knights have ever worn, at least in the humble opinion of this alumnus and blogger. It's not an opinion shared by New Jersey legislators with too much time on their hands. The following comes from an article on Newsday.com today:

An Assembly committee Thursday approved a resolution requesting Rutgers redesign that "R" logo to include the letters "NJ," a move designed to give the state credit for recent successes at the school, and make it as synonymous with New Jersey as Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, jokes about smelly refineries and "The Sopranos."

Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan said it's fitting that Rutgers display its affiliation to New Jersey. [...] "I just think this is the kind of thing we should encourage." Diegnan displayed a suggested new logo that would place the letters "NJ" in the slanted part of the lower "R."

And if there's an "R" and an "NJ" on the new logo, won't that be pronounced "orange"? Isn't there already another Orange team in the Big East? ... and another orange team just down the road in New Jersey?

Why introduce any confusion when Rutgers finally has a nationally-recognized logo? This is recognition that was earned on the field and the court. Rutgers owns the letter R until someone takes it away from us. If the legislature would like to help the State University of New Jersey, then they should restore some budget cuts!

Leave the block R alone!

Rutgers Cheerleader of the Month

Click here for more information about Harold "Scrappy" Lambert (1901-1987), a cheerleader for the Scarlet Knights as well as the pianist for the Rutgers Jazz Bandits in the 1920's before becoming a pop singer and radio personality in the 1930's.

Upstream Red Team!

Jeremy Ito & Ray Rice are 2007 Playboy All-Americans

As we speak, the star running back and the star kicker of the Scarlet Knights are in Phoenix for the taping of Playboy's 2007 "College Football Preview" and they're joining a group of Playboy All-Americans that has included most of America's great college football players since 1957.

"Really Mom, I'm just buying it because there are Rutgers football players featured inside!" wasn't an excuse that we got to use too often when we were younger.

Birthplace of College Football, Ultimate Frisbee, & Whiffle Hurling

We all know Rutgers as the Birthplace of College Football with the first game between Rutgers and Princeton on November 6, 1869.

Others of us are well aware of the fact that Rutgers was also the site of the first intercollegiate Ultimate Frisbee competition (again between Rutgers and Princeton) on November 6, 1972.

Today in the "Virtual Worlds" gaming section of Wired.com, there's a commentary about a non-virtual game played with real players, goals, and wiffle* balls and bats. The sport of Wiffle* Hurling [video] was invented by a Rutgers MFA student, Tom Russotti, as an exercise in Aesthletics, but it seems to be screaming for its first intercollegiate introduction. Only two questions need to be answered before that can happen:

1. Does Princeton have a team yet?


2. And which team is going to be forced to wear the sombreros?

-----------------------
*Both spellings, Wiffle Hurling and Whiffle Hurling, seem to used currently, so search on both if you want to learn more.
The NCAA will have to decide whether or not to retain the h before it becomes a big-time sport and the TV dollars start rolling in.

As if we needed yet another reason to be proud of the Scarlet Knights, or "We're Number One!"

Here are the academic performance rates (APRs) for the Big East football teams:

1. Rutgers 971
2. Connecticut 963
3. Syracuse 958
4. Pittsburgh 948
5. Louisville 947
6. Cincinnati 941
7. West Virginia 924*
8. University of South Florida 910*

*If West Virginia and South Florida are below 925 next year, they'll face NCAA penalties.