The 2016 B1G Opener Is Almost Here

RU in AC

As a Rutgers alumnus and fan, I love this picture accompanying "Trump, the Bad, Bad Businessman" by Neil Barsky that just appeared in The New York Times.



The workers could have removed the letters of this obscenity from the side of Trump Plaza Casino in any order, so I have to believe that someone enjoyed leaving a large scarlet RU on this wall, even if only temporarily.

"...Rutgers in the Ivy League..." -- Malcolm X

I was surprised in my morning reading to come across this sentence on page 287 of the current Ballantine paperback edition of The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

"I had spoken at well over fifty colleges and universities, like Brown, Harvard,
Yale, Columbia, and Rutgers, in the Ivy League..."

It would be one thing if this were a new book, or if it were the error of a single author, but the Autobiography has been consistently in print and selling in large quantities since 1965 and it was written by Malcolm X and Alex Haley, with professional editors, and there have been lots of opportunities for someone to correct the simple fact that Rutgers is not (and has never officially been) in the Ivy League.

For much of the nation, the name of the State University of New Jersey does not seem out of place in that list; as long as we don't get too successful in sports, the name will continue to look comfortable there.

(It was a decade before my time, but does anyone remember seeing Malcolm at Rutgers?)

Good Luck to the Rutgers Women in Storrs

Watch the Rutgers women's basketball team react to their NCAA tournament selection:

Last Saturday's Halftime Show at R House

For those of you who weren't there (or for those of you who were waiting in line through halftime for a hot chocolate or a urinal), here's the joint patriotic appearance of the Rutgers University Marching Scarlet Knights and the Indiana University Marching Hundred on video:

I'm sorry this home season is over so early, but I hope we see this kind of joint appearance again soon, like when Ohio State comes to Rutgers Stadium next year.

Rutgers Women Moving On in the NCAA Soccer Tournament

The Rutgers women won their first 2014 NCAA tournament match tonight, beating La Salle 2-0 at Yurcak Field with goals from Amanda DeVolk and Stefanie Scholz.
Next up? The second-seeded University of Virginia women, who won their first game 8-0.

The official Ohio State - Rutgers trailer from OSU for today's game seems to be missing something.

They couldn't even find a single clip with player wearing a Rutgers uniform?



The fans aren't showing much knowledge or respect for Rutgers football in advance of this first meeting either. Look at this article by Harvey Araton in The New York Times in which Buckeye fans guess that our Scarlet Knights might be called the 'Nuggets' or the 'Bulldogs'. Our players were wearing scarlet twenty years before there was an Ohio State football and a year before there was even a college in Columbus.

Let's all hope the players and coaches are looking past Rutgers as much as the fans and press office are.

Go Knights!

Rutgers Then-and-Now Photos

Here's a must see for anyone who ever spent any time On the Banks.
Elijah Reiss on the Muckgers website has done a wonderful job of presenting historical Rutgers photos and combining them with contemporary shots taken from the same perspective; a slider allows you to time travel.

Click here for the first group posted on April 28.

Click here for the second group posted on April 30.

It's amazing how little some of our favorite locations have changed in a century or more.

The World's Worst Person In Sports Is ...

Julie Hermann, Athletic Director at Rutgers, is Keith Olbermann's worst person in sports today for her idiotic attack on one of the last remnants of the free press in New Jersey. She even beats out the NYPD and FDNY hockey teams and their bench-clearing brawl at Nassau Coliseum.

If Olbermann's video needs more context, here's a link to the original story at Muckgers.com that was later picked up by the local and national media and gave The Star-Ledger the headlines she tried to deny them.

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 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)

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).

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!").

Rutgers ranked in Top 20 (internationally) ...

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

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.

Rutgers to Join Committee on Institutional Cooperation

The non-athletic advantages of joining the Big Ten are already taking place:
Rutgers to Join Committee on Institutional Cooperation.

Time for Rutgers to go 1-0 again this week.

Quite the scary mascot.

The Rutgers-Pittsburgh game at Ketchup Stadium is starting on ESPN 2 right now, and I'm tweeting with @BeatVisitor over on Twitter.

~~~~~~~~~~
Halftime Update: Pittsburgh is looking like the team that was winning decisively against #1 Notre Dame a few weeks ago (before ultimately losing on a chip-shot field goal in overtime).  It's 21-0 Pitt at the half and Rutgers only has a handful of offensive yards on atrociously conservative play calling (PROVING ONCE AGAIN THAT CONSERVATISM IS ALWAYS WRONG AND EVIL!). This is a bigger hole than the one that the Scarlet Knights found themselves in after sleepwalking through the first half against Temple before exploding in the third quarter. I'm hoping that Dave Brock is getting fired at halftime and replaced at Offensive Coordinator with a kid who plays Madden aggressively.
~~~~~~~~
Final Score: Pittsburgh 27- Rutgers 6, and it wasn't that close.
It still all comes down to next Thursday against Louisville in Piscataway, just like we knew it always would.
~~~~~~~~~
Further Update: UConn beat Louisville in triple overtime a minute ago, so Rutgers clinches at least a share of the Big East title.  If they lose to the Cards they could end in a four-way tie of two-loss teams (Louisville, Rutgers, Syracuse, and Cincinnati), but if they win on Thursday, they will own the title and a trip to the Orange Bowl outright. 

It's Official

 Rutgers will be joining the Big Ten as its 14th member, with a target date of 2014.  

Here's the picture that was tweeted by Athletic Director Tim Pernetti right before the official announcement at 2 this afternoon.

Here's the Official Announcement from Rutgers and the Big Ten.

Junot Diaz on Sandy and Jersey

In case you missed it on NPR tonight:

Chop Kent Week Begins

The eighteen hours that Kyle Flood gives the Scarlet Knights to celebrate a win is complete, so we are now officially into preparation for the Kent State Golden Flashes. Previously unbeaten Cincinnati's loss yesterday to the Toledo Rockets show how dangerous is for a Big East team to overlook a one-loss MAC team.  We hope that that 7-0 Knights can keep their intensity and focus on being 1-0 each week to prepare for 6-1 Kent State.
Here's our little propaganda contribution to that effort:

http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/p/keep-calm-and-chop-kent/

You can get your own original pdf or png image by clicking on http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/p/keep-calm-and-chop-kent/ .  And remember, if you tweet, to use the #ChopKent hashtag this week.  #ChopTemple was trending during yesterday's 35-10 win.

Beat Temple!

A Scarlet Knights fan at the Rutgers Temple game
in the open-ended Rutgers Stadium on Halloween 1998.

In ten minutes I'll be over on Twitter at @BeatVisitor and watching this revived rivalry between the Cherry and White Temple Owls and the Scarlet and Black Rutgers Scarlet Knights on SNY.

Go Knights!

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Halftime Update: A very sloppy first half by the Scarlet Knights with penalties, dropped passes, and two turnovers. The Temple Owls are up by 10-0.
Rutgers can't rely on 3rd-quarter magic every week if they intend to stay undefeated.

````````````````
Final Update: With a final score of 35-10 and a complete domination of the second half offensively and defensively (Nova touchdown passes to Wright, Jamison, Harrison, and Jefferson, a fumble return by Greene and even a blocked punt thrown in for a little special team balance), Rutgers' #15 BCS ranking probably won't suffer any damage.

Rutgers and Kansas State in the news.

There's an article in the Washington Post this morning, "Long way from dark days, Kansas State and Rutgers surge into position for memorable seasons," about the Scarlet Knights and the Wildcats, their 4-0 starts, and their current national rankings.

The writer of the article dares to look ahead in a way that this writer dares not:

"Rutgers’ next five games line up like this: home against UConn, home against Syracuse, at Temple, home against Kent State and home against Army. It doesn’t take much of a leap of faith to project the Scarlet Knights getting to 9-0, and bringing back memories of 2006 when they went 11-2 and stunningly slipped into the national championship conversation for about a week.
"Can Rutgers and Kansas State stay undefeated heading into November? It won’t take a miracle."

When I see the names of these two schools in one sentence, I think back instead of forward. I think of my first trip to Texas with my son, my first bowl game, and the Scarlet Knights' 37-10 win in the 2006 Texas Bowl. This 46-yard TD run by Ray Rice was only one of many highlights: