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)
