Sunday, December 29, 2013

BeatVisitor Dot Com Cleans House and Prepares for the B1G Time

On this day after the Pinstripe Bowl loss to the team with the most obnoxious drunken fans in college football (some Golden Dome supporters in section 322 provided a strong argument against ever serving beer at House), I decided to refresh the BeatVisitor dot com sidebar to your right (if you're viewing this on a non-mobile device). I've removed the links to the USFs and UConns and Temples and replaced them with links to the Ohio States and Penn States and Michigan States on our football schedule for the foreseeable future. If you know of any strong or humorous Big Ten blogs that I haven't included in this first pass, please suggest them in the comments.

I was thinking of mentioning the interim conference we're leaving, which I've never mentioned by name here in this blog, to complain about their bad officiating and petty money grubbing, but I won't bother naming them now; they're in our past. Rutgers should post a picture when their ugly logo is removed and the B1G logo is painted on our field. That will be a day to celebrate.

I've also placed the 2014 schedule high on the sidebar. 2013 is over. Life begins again in Seattle on August 28th. Keep Calm and Chop Cougars.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

The Beat Visitor Bowl Poll

Please vote in the sidebar poll I've just added to the right, and which will be live until December 28th.

I have a strong feeling about this question, but I'd love to see how some of the Scarlet Knights' other fans feel about the importance of the Pinstripe Bowl to their final evaluation of this strange gap year in the Double-A C conference.

Will a win over Notre Dame in the Bronx make the 2013 Rutgers football season a total success, a partial success, or something much less?

____________
Post-Game Update 12/29/13:
Well, we didn't beat the golden domers in Yankee Stadium yesterday, but here's a snapshot of the results of the (now meaningless) poll before I remove it from the sidebar:

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Keep Calm and Chop USF

The last game of the season on Saturday will be for the Seniors, and our message from the stands should be simple ... and positive ... as we face the University of South Florida for what may be (we hope) the last time.

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Exorcising the Curse

Along with the many ridiculous reasons being given for the second-half collapse of Rutgers' football fortunes in 2013 -- Players? Coaches? Fans? -- the obvious cause keeps getting neglected, the curse of Howard N. Fuller. When the glee club changed his classic 140-year-old lyrics "My father sent me to old Rutgers / and resolv'd that I should be a man" to an anodyne politically-correct "From near and far we come to Rutgers / resolved to learn all that we can" before the Arkansas game, the curse began.

With the score of today's UConn debacle at 14-7 in favor of the Huskies, I plugged in my SG and attempted to drive the curse away.


Surprisingly, it didn't work. The Huskies won 28-17.

Obviously, I can't exorcise this curse all by myself.

The 1873 Lyrics

I.
My father sent me to old Rutgers,
And resolv'd that I should be a man;
And so I settled down,
In that noisy college town,
On the banks of the old Raritan.

II.
As Fresh, they used me rather roughly,
But I the fearful gauntlet ran,
And they shook me so about
That they turned me inside out,
On the banks of the old Raritan.

(Chorus)
On the banks of the old Raritan, my boys,
where old Rutgers ever more shall stand,
For has she not stood since the time of the flood,
On the banks of the old Raritan.

III.
I passed through all these tortures nobly,
And then, as Soph, my turn began,
And I hazed the poor Fresh so,
That they longed for Heaven, I know,
On the banks of the old Raritan.
(Chorus)

IV.
And then I rested at my pleasure,
And steered quite clear of Prex's ban,
And the stars their good-bye kissing
Found me not from euchre missing,
On the banks of the old Raritan.
(Chorus)

V.
And soon I made my social entrée
When I laid full many a wicked plan,
And by my cunning art
Slew many a maiden's heart,
On the banks of the old Raritan.
(Chorus)

VI.
Then sing aloud to Alma Mater,
And keep the Scarlet in the van;
For with her motto high
Rutgers' name shall never die
On the banks of the old Raritan.
(Chorus)


Tuesday, November 26, 2013

UConn vs. Chas Dodd 10/8/2010

I'm so glad to see Chas Dodd finally getting the start he has deserved this whole season. Here's a repeat of his first start against the Huskies in 2010 and video evidence of why the state of Connecticut was hoping to see the Gary Nova show this Saturday.


Note especially at the 2'46" mark when the ESPN announcers explain how Chas Dodd uses something called a "second read", which Gary Nova doesn't seem to understand.

Oh, and as long as we're bringing back Chas Dodd to close out the 2013 Rutgers football season on a higher note, please bring back these 2010 uniforms too.

And the correct opening words to our Alma Mater.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Keep Calm and Huck the Fuskies

I'm almost glad that we're playing this one at Rentschler Field rather than at R House. In years past those Thanksgiving weekend "crowds" in the student section have been pretty anemic when the undergrads are all back in their Moms' & Dads' homes sleeping off turkey and pumpkin pie (and pumpkin ale) hangovers two days after our annual national all-you-can-eat family-style buffet.
After watching films of the Rutgers season so far, I'm sure the Huskies are hoping to see Gary Nova on Saturday. Our coach would have to be an idiot to oblige them.

~~~~~~~~~
UPDATE @ 11am on 11/25:
As proof that the Rutgers coaching staff reads BeatVisitor.com religiously (more religiously than I write it), Chas Dodd has (finally!) been named the Rutgers starting quarterback for Saturday's game in Connecticut. This will be his first start since winning the Pinstripe Bowl against Iowa State in Greg Schiano's final game as head coach.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Forget today...Time to Keep Calm and Chop UCF

Here's this week's poster:

Keep Calm (and fire defensive coordinator Dave Cohen and name Chas Dodd the starting quarterback) and Chop UCF.

And the UCF Knights always remind me why I love anagrams:



If you can't say anything nice....

... use Twitter.
Rather than trying to summarize today's 52-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats here, I just took all the words from the tweets I wrote at the Stadium this afternoon and threw them into a single vaguely-football-shaped word cloud.
You can click on the cloud to enlarge the smaller words, or you can see them in context by looking at twitter.com/beatvisitor if you're interested in today's frustrations.
The only things I'll add are that it will be a crime if Dave Cohen is still the Rutgers defensive coordinator when the Scarlet Knights take the field in our next game against the UCF Knights. And it will be a worse crime if Chas Dodd is not at least considered for the job of starting quarterback in that game. Anyone (of the few hundred of you) who stayed for the last three Rutgers offensive series this afternoon will know why. As at the end of the Houston game, in front of another empty Rutgers Stadium, Dodd demonstrated that he can move this team with confidence in a way that our starting quarterback fails to show in any consistent way.
From this day forward, the words "Gary Nova gives us the best chance to win" need to be banned. He doesn't. 

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Keep Calm and Chop Cincy

It was strange to go through a November weekend with absolutely no football games of any note taking place last Saturday, but now we're only three days away from another long drive to Piscataway to see the Scarlet Knights take on the Bearcats at R House for the last time, so (in case you lost last year's) here's your Keep Calm and Chop Cincy poster.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Time to look ahead to Next Saturday. Keep Calm and Chop Temple.

Rutgers can't afford to underestimate our opponents from across the Delaware. Here's your poster for the week.
With another noon starting time, is there any way to make sure a higher percentage of students and other fans are in their seats at the kickoff?


There should be no quarterback controversy after today's loss.

It's a long drive back from Rutgers Stadium, so it keeps me from writing anything too offensive about today's 49-14 loss to Houston. Instead I'll let all my thoughts about Gary Nova's 3-interception 0-TD 23.9-QBR performance be reflected by this post I made after last December's bowl game. Nothing has changed about my feelings regarding quarterbacks Gary Nova and Chas Dodd since then.
If I had written earlier, or had been able to tweet in the Stadium, I would have ranted and raved about a thousand bad passes, worse coaching, and missed tackles.  But there's no need for any Rutgers fan to relive all that. Is there?
There's one coaching decision I want to comment on though. We were there until the very end (as shown by this photo taken with about 5 minutes left right before the final Rutgers drive) and it's those last few seconds that still bug me hours after the game.
In that final drive Chas Dodd drove the Scarlet Knights 90 yards in 12 plays in 4'41" with a combination of passing, handoffs, and his own legs.  He should have been allowed by Kyle Flood to cap the longest drive of the day with a touchdown rather than letting the final seconds tick away with timeouts in our pocket inside their ten yard line. I was glad to see Kyle Flood put in our more effective quarterback, but it would have been nice if he had done it before the game was out of reach. Dodd had a much better appearance in the fourth quarter than his 11/15 78-yard passing yards and 20 rushing yards will tell you. You should also ignore his one interception. He put the ball into Brandon Coleman's hands with a pass over the middle and Coleman shoveled it into the arms of a Houston defender (Gary [tur]Nova's interceptions, on the other hand, were all completely on him).
If Chas Dodd does not start against Temple next Saturday, I'll be very unhappy about the coach who said this back in December.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

The Life of a Rutgers Man in the [Eighteen] Seventies

With the attempted 2013 changes to the first verse of the 1914 lyrics to "On The Banks of the Old Raritan" still fresh in everyone's mind, it's a great time to revisit Howard N. Fuller's (RC, '74) hastily-penned 1873 version which gives a quick contemporary sketch of a Rutgers man's progression from freshman hazee to sophomore hazer to junior card player to senior maiden slayer. 
It's amazing the first and last verses made it from 1873 to 2013 completely unchanged (only the chorus's "my boys" became "my friends" with co-education) while verses II through V couldn't even make it past 1914. The original central verses were unfamiliar to me, but it's amazing how fresh and alive (and politically completely incorrect) they feel.

I.
My father sent me to old Rutgers,
And resolv'd that I should be a man;
And so I settled down,
In that noisy college town,
On the banks of the old Raritan.
(Chorus)
On the banks of the old Raritan, my boys,
where old Rutgers ever more shall stand,
For has she not stood since the time of the flood,
On the banks of the old Raritan.
II.
As Fresh, they used me rather roughly,
But I the fearful gauntlet ran,
And they shook me so about
That they turned me inside out,
On the banks of the old Raritan.
(Chorus)
III.
I passed through all these tortures nobly,
And then, as Soph, my turn began,
And I hazed the poor Fresh so,
That they longed for Heaven, I know,
On the banks of the old Raritan.
(Chorus)
IV.
And then I rested at my pleasure,
And steered quite clear of Prex's ban,
And the stars their good-bye kissing
Found me not from euchre missing,
On the banks of the old Raritan.
(Chorus)
V.
And soon I made my social entrĂ©e

When I laid full many a wicked plan,
And by my cunning art
Slew many a maiden's heart,
On the banks of the old Raritan.
(Chorus)
VI.
Then sing aloud to Alma Mater,
And keep the Scarlet in the van;
For with her motto high
Rutgers' name shall never die
On the banks of the old Raritan.
(Chorus)
Let's sing (loudly) the original first verse at the beginning and end of Saturday's Homecoming game, though we probably won't be singing about all-night euchre players with wicked plans to haze first-year students and become serial slayers of the hearts of many women. It is interesting though that while many schools have replaced "freshman" with the gender-inclusive "first-year student" in the 21st century, the gender-neutral "Fresh" in verses II and III here could be politically correct today (though the first-year hazing and fearful gauntlets and tortures probably less so).

Your Keep-Calm-And-Chop Poster for Homecoming Week

Sorry it's a little late this week, but here's a "Keep Calm And Chop Houston" poster to add to your 2013 collection:
See you at Homecoming at R House on Saturday!

Sunday, October 6, 2013

it's Keep-Calm-And-Chop-Louisville week

Don't tell anyone associated with the team, but this game on Thursday against the #8 Louisville Cardinals could end up being as pivotal for the Rutgers football program as the 2006 game against the #3 Louisville Cardinals. Just tell them to keep calm, and to chop Louisville.

Monday, September 30, 2013

Here's your Keep-Calm-And-Chop-SMU poster for game 5 of 2013

I also wanted to apologize to anyone I may have offended by referring to SMU earlier as "Southern Meth". It turns out that the initials SMU may have nothing at all to do with methamphetamines.  I ask your forgiveness when dealing with my ignorance about these institutions from alien areas of the nation.



I've now found ironclad photographic evidence online that SMU actually stands for Sock Monkey University:

Saturday, September 21, 2013

That was a fun day at R House.

Rutgers Stadium is one place where the mighty SEC still doesn't have a win. This picture was taken as the Scarlet Knights finally scored their first 7 points at the end of the first half.
It was 10-7 in Arkansas' favor when this cannon fired.
Arkansas extended their lead to 24-7 in the third quarter on more Rutgers turnovers, and there were some people who left the Stadium and must be very sorry they did.  A 58-yard punt return for a touchdown by Janarion Grant at the end of the third quarter and two touchdown passes from Gary Nova to Leonte Caroo in the fourth quarter sent the rest of us home very happy indeed with a final score of Rutgers 28 and Arkansas 24. It was a great day for everybody who spent his or her afternoon and early evening On The Banks (except for that sizable contingent of Razorback fans in the Stadium this afternoon).
~~
And to follow up on my last blog post, there was a very spirited singing of "On The Banks of the Old Raritan" in section 109 before and after the game, with the correct opening lines.
~~
And to follow up on another earlier post this week, I'm sure the bar owners in Fayetteville, Arkansas are very happy tonight.

Friday, September 20, 2013

My Father Sent Me To Old Rutgers / And Resolved That I Should Be a Man

I know which words I'll be singing when "On the Banks of the Old Raritan" plays tomorrow at Rutgers Stadium. I'm never going to call Rutgers Stadium by the name of some fly-by-night corporate sponsor, and I'm never going to sing our alma mater with "From far and near we came to Rutgers/ And resolved to learn all that we can," the new opening lines that will introduced at the Arkansas game tomorrow. I'll stick with the words of Howard N. Fuller, who played football on the banks from 1871-1873.
 

I'd even be prepared to make an argument that these words belong to us, Rutgers alumni, and not to the university.  I'll continue singing the real lyrics. I hope some of you join me tomorrow.

And here's the "More Chest Hair" version from the Rutgers Glee Club giving this old drinking song its due in a European drinking establishment (followed by another great old Rutgers drinking song that may need some serious gender reworking, "Vive la Rutgers' Sons!").


Monday, September 16, 2013

Here's hoping Fayetteville gets "Rutgers Drunk" next Saturday night


Regular readers may remember that I posted this quote from an Arkansas Razorbacks' blog last September 24th after the Scarlet Knights beat the Hogs on their turf.  I can't help repeating it this year as we prepare to host them at R House.

The writer in Arkansas Expats wrote about names for various varieties of inebriation and their anecdotal origins. There was "Grandma Drunk" (something about taking someone's Grandma to a sports bar) and "Kentucky Drunk" (following a 2007 Arkansas football loss to that basketball powerhouse that caused the writer's brother-in-law to go on a legendary bender), and then the writer had this suggestion:
"...And following the debacle I witnessed Saturday night inside Razorback Stadium, "Rutgers drunk" should be a deserving candidate as well.

"The only problem is that right now there isn't enough booze in the world to numb the anxiety, angst, or apoplectic rage that comes with a preseason Top Ten team posting a 1-3 record in its first four games, including losses to members of he Sun Belt and the Big East. Whiskey worked wonders for helping us temporarily forget watching Andre Woodson march a basketball school up and down our football field, but it falls way short of medicating properly a loss to freaking Rutgers."
Here's hoping that the liquor stores and bars in and around Fayetteville, Arkansas have tremendous paydays next Saturday night.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Eric LeGrand's Speech Today

Here it is as it was seen from the stands (specifically, from Section 109):


 Of course, the bigger occasion will be when Eric LeGrand's number is unretired, when he can walk again, when he can live his dream of going back to MetLife Stadium and getting up from the spot where he fell and finish the play that changed his life. I'm not surprised that he spent a large section of this day prepared to honor him to speak not about himself, but about others who have been paralyzed and are going through what he's going through with less notoriety.

As inspiring as Eric LeGrand is and has been since the injury that put him in a wheelchair, I was also inspired by the fans at Rutgers Stadium this afternoon, none of whom rushed to the restrooms and concession stands at halftime of the Rutgers - Eastern Michigan game, and with Coach Kyle Flood, who stayed on the field at halftime to introduce Eric, present Eric with his ceremonial sword, unveil his number high above the stadium, and present a film of Eric's friends and former teammates around the country. I'm sure that the current Scarlet Knights in the locker room didn't mind that their coach delayed his time with them. They were still able to play a solid second half and win 28-10 without his undivided attention at halftime.

LeGrand For Governor?


Eric LeGrand's Day at R House


Saturday, September 7, 2013

The Third 2013 Keep-Calm-And-Chop Poster (but what have those poor emus ever done to us?)

I checked and the official hashtag for next Saturday's game against Eastern Michigan University at R House is #ChopEMU.  So here's the poster of the week.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Two Days To Go Until the 2013 Season Begins in Fresno

Here's an immortal play to get Rutgers fans psyched from Number 2, Tim Brown, receiving a pass from (Pitt's new starting quarterback) Tom Savage in 2009 to come from behind against UConn with seconds remaining:

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Rutgers Getting No Love From the CBSSports.com Preseason 126

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights do not even make it into the top half of the CBSSports.com preseason 126, coming in a number 77.
This makes game number one coming up on August 29th against Fresno State that much more important.  This meaningless preseason list (from the network that's still blacked out on my Time Warner system) has the Bulldogs ranked at number 26.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Tom Savage is the new starting QB for Pitt.

According to this, the ex-Rutgers quarterback is getting his chance to start again and we couldn't be happier for him.  I hope he tears it up in the ACC (not to be confused with the AAC -- God, I can't wait to join the Big Ten.)
Tom Savage attracting all eyes at the 2008 Scarlet-White Game.

Rutgers ranked in Top 20 (internationally) ...

... on the Times [of London] Higher Education World University Rankings of Arts and Humanities institutions.

Rutgers North meets Rutgers South this Friday in Foxborough...

..and the Patriots and Buccaneers are engaging in joint practices at Gillette Stadium leading up to the nationally-televised preseason game. 
Here are the nine Rutgers players on each current roster as displayed on ESPN SportsCenter yesterday:
And, of course, Rutgers South is still coached by Greg Schiano.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Conference Age and Tradition

Watching the Premier League Club Guide on NBC Sports this morning, with all its stress on the age and tradition of England's top professional football teams, made me think about the age and tradition of America's college football teams in the 2013 Rump Big East (now known as the American Athletic Conference) and the 2013 Big Ten and what the move of the oldest school in either conference from one to the other will do to the average ages of both.  Here are the results of some quick internet historical research about the dates each of these schools was founded.

AMERICAN B1G
UCF 1963 Illinois 1867
Cincinnati 1819 Indiana 1820
UConn 1881 Iowa 1847
Houston 1927 Michigan 1817
Louisville 1798 MSU 1855
Memphis 1912 Minnesota 1851
Rutgers 1766 Nebraska 1869
USF 1956 Northwestern 1851
SMU 1911 Ohio State 1870
Temple  1884 Penn State 1855
2013 Average 1881.7 Purdue 1869
Wisconsin 1848
2013 Average 1851.583

There's already an average 30 year difference in the Big Ten's favor even with the 1766 Scarlet Knights in the Rump Big East, but look what happens when Rutgers and Louisville check out next year and the difference extends to 50 years.

UCF 1963 Illinois 1867
Cincinnati 1819 Indiana 1820
UConn 1881 Iowa 1847
East Carolina 1907 Maryland 1856
Houston 1927 Michigan 1817
Memphis 1912 MSU 1855
USF 1956 Minnesota 1851
SMU 1911 Nebraska 1869
Temple  1884 Northwestern 1851
Tulane 1834 Ohio State 1870
Tulsa 1894 Penn State 1855
2014 Average 1898.90909 Purdue 1869
Rutgers 1766
Wisconsin 1848
2014 Average 1845.786

The Big Ten will become 6 years older with the addition of 1766 Rutgers and 1856 Maryland, but the American Athletic Conference (if it's still calling itself that in 2014) will have become 17 years younger and only the addition of Tulane will keep the conference's average age just barely in the 19th century. Only two of the AAC's 2014 members will have been founded before Rutgers was already playing football in 1869.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Blunt Advice



Before you can even enter the website for Schutt helmets, you must read and acknowledge the following warning. This verbiage will also be placed as a sticker on all their helmets, so you have to wonder if they will also be offering reading glasses or a magnifying glass for each buyer and end user.

WARNING 
Scientists have not reached agreement on how the results of impact absorption tests relate to concussions. No conclusions about a reduction of risk or severity of concussive injury should be drawn from impact absorption tests. 
NO HELMET SYSTEM CAN PREVENT CONCUSSIONS OR ELIMINATE THE RISK OF SERIOUS HEAD OR NECK INJURIES WHILE PLAYING FOOTBALL. 
Keep your head up. Do not butt, ram, spear or strike an opponent with any part of the helmet or faceguard. This is a violation of football rules and may cause you to suffer severe brain or neck injury, including paralysis or death and possible injury to your opponent. Contact in football may result in Concussion/Brain Injury which no helmet can prevent. Symptoms include loss of consciousness or memory, dizziness, headache, nausea or confusion. If you have symptoms, immediately stop and report them to your coach, trainer and parents. Do not return to a game or contact until all symptoms are gone and you receive medial clearance. Ignoring this warning may lead to another and more serious or fatal brain injury. 
NO HELMET SYSTEM CAN PROTECT YOU FROM SERIOUS BRAIN AND/OR NECK INJURIES INCLUDING PARALYSIS OR DEATH. TO AVOID THESE RISKS, DO NOT ENGAGE IN THE SPORT OF FOOTBALL.
There's more about the escalation of alarmist legalese in this NY Times article, "Warning Labels on Helmets Combat Injury and Liability".


Friday, August 2, 2013

"Who is the best Rutgers player you've ever seen play in your lifetime?"

The Facebook page for Rutgers Football on NJ.Com asked this question of the day today: "Who is the best Rutgers player you've ever seen play in your lifetime?"

I couldn't help thinking about one player, Brian Leonard, not only for what he does in this video, but for his role in Rutgers' rise, his role as Ray Rice's roommate and mentor and -- when he realized Ray's talent and value to the team -- blocker, even though he had had his own Heisman campaign a year earlier.  If I were a player, I can't think of anyone I'd rather have as my teammate.

Now that number 23 is back with Greg Schiano in Tampa Bay, I'd love to see him reach his full potential -- and reach a bowl game -- in the NFL.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

The Importance of Game One

In this year for Rutgers Football between the Big East and the Big Ten, there will be a scarcity of games that will mean something on the national level, especially early in the season. So I was glad to see the Fresno State Bulldogs are ranked at 22 in the preseason Athlon, Phil Steele, and USA Today polls.
From CollegeFootballPoll.com
If the Scarlet Knights can drive the ball with authority into the red-and-white checkerboard end zones of Bulldog Stadium more often than the home team on the night of August 29th, Rutgers has a possibility of making a dent in the polls by Labor Day.  There won't be another chance to impress national voters until the Arkansas game on September 21. The games against the second-tier Norfolk State Spartans on September 7 and the Eastern Michigan Eagles (touted to finish last in the MAC) on September 14 won't make the news unless Rutgers fails to win those home games by at least three or four touchdowns.

Saturday, July 20, 2013

The Rutgers Football quotes of the month come from Tampa Bay

I'm a little slow catching up with the news from the NFL this month, but it's just recently come to my attention that our favorite Knight Brian Leonard is hooking up with  his college coach Greg Schiano again and moving from the Bengals to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (otherwise known as the Scarlet Knights South in opposition to the Scarlet Knights North playing at Gillette Stadium).
Brian Leonard's last game wearing
the Scarlet's 23 on 12/26/06.

Here are a couple of quotes from the July 10 article in Brian's local Watertown Daily Times:

“We felt Brian could help us win and that’s why we brought him here. Brian Leonard’s a winner. I have a history with him since he was 16 years old. We’ve been through a lot together. This guy is an unselfish guy who will show up big when we need him.” -- Greg Schiano
and
“It’s comfortable going back to a coaching staff I already know and I’ll also be playing with some former teammates from Rutgers. [...] I’m excited. I had a great time in Cincinnati and have some good friends there, and the fans are great. But I needed a change and I think Coach Schiano knows how to use me. Hopefully I’ll progress throughout camp and show my skills, and my role with the team will get bigger and bigger.” -- Brian Leonard
It's hard not to wish them both the best. This is a coach/player combination that trumps any other loyalty I might have to any other NFL team.



Thursday, July 11, 2013

The Dates On Which You'll Be Busy in 2016 and 2017

After years and years of certain schedule uncertainty in the Big East, it's hard to get used to the fact that the full Rutgers football schedule for 2014 is already set, let alone 2015, but now we also have the conference games for 2016 and 2017 scheduled:

2016 Rutgers Big Ten Games
October 1                    at Ohio State
October 8                    Michigan
October 15                  Illinois
October 22                  at Minnesota
October 29                  Iowa
November 5                Indiana
November 12              at Michigan State
November 19              Penn State
November 26              at Maryland

2017 Rutgers Big Ten Games
September 23             at Nebraska
September 30             Ohio State
October 7                    Idle
October 14                  at Illinois
October 21                  Purdue
October 28                  at Michigan
November 4                Maryland
November 11              at Penn State
November 18              at Indiana
November 25              Michigan State

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Rutgers Loses a Loyal Son, James Gandolfini (B.A., 1983)

I just heard the sad news that James Gandolfini has passed away suddenly at the young age of 51 while on vacation in Italy.


We'll all remember him as Tony Soprano, of course, but I'll always remember him as one of the Scarlet Knights' most important supporters when very few people had jumped on our bandwagon.  There was the video he did in support of Rutgers football right after Greg Schiano was hired (but which I can't find right now on YouTube or anywhere else), but there are three Rutgers football moments that stand out in my mind on this sad night.  Here they are in reverse chronological order.
I remember seeing him at a spring Scarlet and White game in '08 or '09 with a young child on his shoulders walking around the field with all the other fans and players and while everyone was asking the players for their autographs, the families on the field left this family man and fellow fan alone even though we all recognized him.
I also remember seeing him on the sideline during a very cold and wet night at Michie Stadium in November 2007 as Jabu Lovelace and Ray Rice and the rest of the Scarlet Knights ran all over the Black Knights. Tony Soprano, dressed in Scarlet, was spending a lot of time on the home team's sideline in the soaking rain and wet snow talking to every West Point cadet who wanted to spend a few moments with him.
Finally, I remember September 4, 2004 when Rutgers beat Michigan State in the season opener, long before even the most wild-eyed Knights fans had any thoughts of joining the Big Ten.  It was an important upset win in the Schiano era and students immediately started flooding the field as the game ended.  My son, turning 15 that month, asked if he could hop the wall and join the students and I said yes. I watched from the seats as he wandered around in the end zone at the open end of the field with a smile on his face.  I noticed that the star of The Sopranos was standing about 10 feet from him, so I called my son's cell phone and asked him to turn around.  I watched as he walked right up to James Gandolfini and shook his hand. As we walked back to the car I asked him what he had said to the star of his favorite show.
My son had said, "Mr. Gandolfini, I love your show."
"You're too young to watch my show," Mr. Gandolfini had said.

More than any line from The Sopranos or any of his movies, that's the one quote I'll always remember when I think of this larger-than-life loyal son of Rutgers.

Rest in Peace.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Can we just skip straight to twenty fourteen now?

The Big Ten schedules for 2014 have been announced and here is the Scarlet Knights':


2014 Rutgers Football Schedule
Saturday, August 30 TBA ***** Saturday, September 6 Howard ***** Saturday, September 13 Penn State ****** Saturday, September 20 at Navy ***** Saturday, September 27 Tulane ***** Saturday, October 4 Michigan ****** Saturday, October 11 Idle ***** Saturday, October 18 at Ohio State ****** Saturday, October 25 at Nebraska ****** Saturday, November 1 Wisconsin ****** Saturday, November 8 Idle ***** Saturday, November 15 Indiana ***** Saturday, November 22 at Michigan State ****** Saturday, November 29 at Maryland ******

NO THURSDAYS?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SCHEDULE UPDATE 6/20/13:  The "TBA" on August 30, 2014 to open the season has now been replaced by "WSU" on August 29.  The home-and-home series with the Washington State University Cougars completes the Scarlet Knights' schedule for both 2014 and 2015!  That's a great change from many recent years when Rutgers was unsure of that last non-Big-East opponent until the last moment.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

"There are hats involved."

A fictional high-school football player on Suburgatory considered Rutgers along with non-existent schools in Florida and Nevada on last night's episode.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

The Right Decision

I'm glad to see that Rutgers made the decision it did this morning to end Mike Rice's role as the men's basketball coach, but we have to ask ourselves how much more quickly the University would have acted if you change the words "coach" and "player" to "professor" and "student".  There would have been no second chance after the first blow. Period.

No employee of our favorite school (or any school) should be able to grab, push, kick, verbally abuse, and throw basketballs at any student.  Just because we're joining the Big Ten, we don't have to tolerate that sort of BobbyKnightWoodyHayes bullying and thuggery.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Fire Mike Rice or Get Rid of Men's Basketball at Rutgers.

It's that simple.

I don't read sports pages when Rutgers isn't playing football and I'm not a big follower of the game of "basket-ball", but this tape on ESPN was brought to my attention today. The asshole shown in these videos reminds me of the kind of fascistic gym teachers who made me hate scholastic sports when I was in Junior High in Los Angeles. If I played for him, I'd lose on purpose.

Not only does he need to be fired immediately, but every player on the team needs a free shot to throw a basketball at his balls before he leaves. I wish one of them would have decked him when he laid hands on them during practice.

Any reader of BeatVisitor.com will know that I'm not a sports fan, I'm a Rutgers fan. But fuck Rutgers Men's Basketball until Mike Rice is gone.