SCarlet Knights 
|
|
Thu Feb 26, 2009 at 01:26:09 PM EST
|
Blue Jersey users seemed to universally regret the loss of tennis, swimming and other "minor" sports as Rutgers pursued pigskin glory. So I was interested to see that Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan Jr. hasn't forgotten as he welcomes the new Athletic Director:
"I ask that he makes the restoration of the six varsity sports that were cut in summer 2006 a top priority.
"Men's heavyweight crew, lightweight crew, fencing, swimming, diving and tennis and women's fencing may not have received the same spotlight as football.
"But members of these teams were scholar-athletes in the truest sense who performed for the love of competition and achieved some of the highest grade point averages and graduations rates of any group of students at Rutgers.
If you were in charge at Rutgers, would you put your resources into trying to compete with the Florida's, U.S.C.'s, and Oklahoma's of the college football world when even Notre Dame can't manage it, or would you support smaller, less famous sports?
|
|
Discuss
:: (3
Comments)
|
|
|
|
Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 12:51:17 PM EDT
|
|
If the Rutgers University alumni in your neighborhood seem to be standing a little taller and walking with a bit more swagger than usual this weekend, it's probably because the university's big-time football team has scored a big-time honor: coach Greg Schiano and quarterback Mike Teel are sharing the "Goofball of the Week" laurels, bestowed by Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News. Let him paint you a word picture:
Schiano is at least half a goofball for spurning Michigan to stay in New Jersey, where the Scarlet Knights are 0-3 and falling apart. Teel gets a well-earned share because he threw a late interception, then threw a punch at a teammate after Rutgers' 23-21 loss to Navy. Schiano declined to suspend Teel for the incident. Rutgers' opponents probably appreciate that.
As an alumnus reading this news, I felt the impulse to celebrate by peeling off a few Benjamins and flushing them down the toilet, just to keep in the spirit of the whole big-time football thing at my alma mater. Then good sense kicked in. When I'm in the presence of experts, my instinct is to step back and let them show everybody how it's done, and when it comes to squandering cash, these guys have attained a state of Zen-like perfection. And to think that they do it while wearing uniforms with misspelled names? Sheer artistry! The great ones always make it look easy! All I can say is: Keep chopping! (Bird-dogged by Rutgers 1000.)
Cross posted at The Opinion Mill.
|
|
Discuss
:: (4
Comments)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sun Jul 27, 2008 at 02:07:58 AM EDT
|
The Star-Ledger has an important piece on the disastrous Rutgers football stadium expansion. In short, the $30 million that was first going to come from the state, then from private donations, is not going to be found:
According to state and university officials, the fundraising drive encountered obstacles that were not quite so obvious when Corzine and Lesniak first announced the stadium campaign this past winter. They cited a series of unexpected hurdles, among them a national recession that hurt all types of fund-raising, and the whirlwind presidential election that has swallowed up hundreds of millions in donations that might otherwise have gone to universities or athletics. At the same time, restrictions imposed by Corzine's ethics advisers out of concern for the propriety of a governor asking for cash further complicated the effort.
I'm sorry, but since donations to Presidential candidates are limited to $2,300 ($4,600 with General), I don't buy this story. Furthermore, here are the total New Jersey political donations in Presidential years:
2000: $60,341,819
2004: $58,165,634
2008: $45,018,637 (so far)
So we can see that blaming this fiasco on Obama and Clinton is just spin.
The bottom line is that Rutgers finally has a decent college football program, and that is nice, but this stadium expansion is just too much. We now face the prospects of serious damage to the academic program. Some states -- yes, I'm thinking of the South -- have a kind of right-wing socialism where sports entertainment is provided by state funds and corrupt rich patrons. But New Jerseyans have three professional football teams to follow, even if they are named after cities just over the border, and so funding this stadium further is irresponsible.
|
|
Discuss
:: (1
Comments)
|
|
|
|
Sat Nov 24, 2007 at 12:19:16 AM EST
|
|
It really is a shame that Rutgers football was not as good as New Jersey hoped. If ever there was a year that a program like Rutgers could reach the National Championship game, it was this year. The SEC, Big Ten, and Pac-10 all collapsed or knocked each other off.
What do you say?
|
|
Discuss
:: (1
Comments)
|
|
|
|
Fri Apr 27, 2007 at 10:28:24 AM EDT
|
|
There is already flooding from today's storm. Senator Menendez has information on how to apply for assistance if you are in one of the six counties that have been approved for federal disaster aid for last weekend's storm. Our senators and many representatives are pressing for the rest of the state to be eligible.
A state report has vindicated Trenton teacher Beverly Jones. Here's what happened:
But in a blistering report issued this week, the state Department of Education confirmed Jones' charges. The DOE's Office of Fiscal Accountability and Compliance Investigation Unit found that Trenton's top administrative staff exhibited "a pattern of egregious nonfeasance" by inappropriately making dozens of ninth graders repeat classes they'd already passed. Then, to correct the error, the school credited some students with courses not offered at the campus, and gave course credit to other stu dents who had failed to meet district or curriculum standards.
The school, naturally, tried to fire this New Jersey history teacher of the year. That's why tenure protection for teachers and whistleblower laws are so important. Unfortunately, forty students now have their graduatation threatened.
The Star-Ledger has a glowing profile of the SEEDS program, which provides private-school scholarships to high-achieving poor, urban youth. They are considering expanding to public schools.
Many in the state legislature are trying to provide funding for the eliminated sports teams at Rutgers . However, Rutgers is independent of the legislature, so it is not clear that that effort can succeed with the President McCormick opposed. Many (including me) at Blue Jersey have been critical of the decision to eliminate the teams, but do you support the state interfering in the university's internal decisions?
In other Rutgers news, the administrative staff has formed a union. You may recall that Corzine supported their efforts, noting that most workers (including faculty) were already unionized.
Morris County freeholders complain that new state rules protecting water supplies will hurt development.
Some state senators are opposing plans to charge Medicaid co-pays. Only five states do not charge co-pays, but if Texas, Hawaii, Idaho and New Jersey agree on something it must be a good policy!
If no one runs for a seat on the board of education, someone can win with only a few write-in votes. Today's Sunbeam has some recent stories.
If you like gossip, you can read more about the McGreeveys' divorce or Corzine's annual income elsewhere.
This is an open thread so fire away!
|
|
Discuss
:: (1
Comments)
|
|
|
|
Wed Apr 18, 2007 at 10:48:07 PM EDT
|
|
Cross-Posted from ShapTalk.com:
The racially and sexually inappropriate remarks made by shock jock Don Imus created a storm of protest last week that ended with both NBC and CBS firing the long-time provocateur. During a recent broadcast, Imus had taken aim at the Rutgers University women's basketball team, which had recently faced Tennessee for the national championship and had won acclaim for its grit and determination. Rather than applauding the efforts of the women's team that had rebounded from adversity all year, Imus referred to them as "nappy-haired hos." The firestorm that erupted caused Imus to apologize on numerous occasions and agree to meet with the team and extend an apology first-hand. However, with protests occurring on college campuses, outrage mounting in the African American community, and advertisers pulling their ads from his show, Imus was fired. The big loser in this saga was Don Imus, a member of the National Broadcasting Hall of Fame and a radio personality who earned approximately $10 million per year. The hands down winner was Rutgers University.
|
|
There's More...
:: (1
Comments, 394 words in story)
|
|
|
|
Tue Dec 05, 2006 at 06:40:00 PM EST
|
|
Here's an easy opportunity for state legislators. After millions of taxpayer dollars, the Rutgers football team has made the Texas Bowl. It'll be on the NFL Network. Who gets the NFL network? It's easier to say who doesn't:
Not Cablevision customers
Not Time Warner customers
Not Comcast customers, unless they have digital packages
And, of course, not anyone relying on broadcast.
Now the Big East is negotiating an over-the-air broadcast in New York, but the NFL Network quotes I heard on WFAN today were somewhat dismissive of this idea. The state should let the NFL know that if they expect New Jersey taxpayer support for their stadium, they need to respect the taxpayers and let this game be broadcast. (And hey, how about Philadelphia? South Jersey is part of the state too.)
|
|
Discuss
:: (0
Comments)
|
|
|
|
Sat Nov 18, 2006 at 10:52:09 PM EST
|
|
Gee, kids, how's the big game with Cincinnati going?
Maybe Rutgers University will win big. Maybe it'll lose big. Maybe the earth will open up and swallow both teams at the fifty-yard line and the question of What Might Have Happened On That Magic Night will never be answered.
No matter what happens, the big-time football remains a colossal boondoggle, and the justifications being offered for squandering millions on this nonsense convince me of nothing except this - if the Human Genome Project wants to discover a self-delusion gene, it should take blood samples from members of the Rutgers University administration and the Board of Governors.
I'm glad to see that the lonely band of heretics called Rutgers 1000 is more or less spontaneously reconstituting itself, despite the fact that the Scarlet Knights winning a few games has suddenly made the team into a sacred cow. (For purposes of disclosure, I should note that I took two of William Dowling's classes back in my bright college days, and I know no finer English professor.)
|
|
There's More...
:: (2
Comments, 142 words in story)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sat Nov 11, 2006 at 10:55:19 PM EST
|
|
Apparently Rutgers University’s biggest contribution to popular culture — dwarfing Mister Magoo and Paul Robeson combined — is going to be the slogan "keep chopping." The New York Times explains:
"Keep chopping," advised Greg Schiano, the Rutgers coach. It was Schiano who started this craze, after last season’s opening game, when Rutgers blew a 20-point lead at Illinois and he had no idea what to say. Schiano gathered his players in a meeting room and recalled the words of a sports psychologist he once met at the University of Miami who told the team that playing football was like chopping wood. Miami, never known as a timbering powerhouse, did not take to the analogy. But Schiano was desperate. He tried to extend the frontier metaphor.
|
|
There's More...
:: (0
Comments, 496 words in story)
|
|
|
|
Mon Nov 06, 2006 at 02:03:25 PM EST
|
|
It’s a little-known fact that Mister Magoo, the nearsighted old coot who led the UPA cartoon stable for three decades, was a passionate alumnus of Rutgers University who kept his old pennants and raccoon coats mothballed in the closet and never missed a homecoming game. His love of all things Rutgers kept his spirits high even as he entered the elephant wing of the city zoo thinking it was his old dorm (”Same inspiring view,” he murmured happily, staring at an elephant’s backside).
Little did I know that Mister Magoo has been in charge of the football program budget all these decades! How else to explain the expenditures tabulated in this outstanding expose in the Record, which ought to become the number-one topic in the state once the elections are finally out of the way:
|
|
There's More...
:: (4
Comments, 525 words in story)
|
|
|
|
|
| Featured Stories |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
