Wow we used to have trouble getting that many for games
(04-24-2010 03:16 PM)UltimateCFBfan Wrote: [ -> ]Wow we used to have trouble getting that many for games
are you sure they werent just there for the tailgate? Some of those new jersians like the suds!
good job..maybe they thought they were in Big Ten
And I thought everybody was saying that nobody around NYC cared about college football. This size crowd for a spring game makes their statements look pretty stupid...
You're right. Rutgers is not in NYC. But Rutgers is in the NYC market. A crowd of over 20,000 for a spring game is unheard of in that area. Quit trying to downplay Rutgers success in recruiting fans, Chris. It's beneath you...
I'd bet some of those fans drove down from NYC to see the game. And I remember NYC lighting itself up in red when they were fighting it out late in the year with WVU and UofL for The BEast's BCS bid. That gives lie to the belief that NYC could care less about college football. The only reason you say that is because there's been no football worth watching around NYC since the Ivy League decided to reduce the emphasis on athletics. The catholic schools in the area aren't worth watching, and even though the Ivy League games still are big rivalries, Rutgers at their worst could have beaten them all...
You give those folks a Rutgers or UConn team to watch that is in the national picture, and you'll find out people do care. They just don't care for a poorly packaged product. That goes for their NFL teams as well. The Jets and Giants have no fans to speak of when they have poor teams. But when they win, the stadium is filled...
Chris, you're absolutely right that the 20,000+ at the game were overwhelmingly from west of Hudson. I live in Bergen County about 9 miles from the Bridge and naturally made the drive down for the game. If you looked at the lots it was very much Jersey plates abound, oh sure there were a fair amount of New York and Pennsylvania plates and even some Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia plates but I'm sure that the overwhelming majority of those were fellow alumni. The truth is overall the NY Metro is interested in Rutgers. Yes the diehards who are going to watch every game are going to be alumni and/or people residing west of Hudson, but that's a significant number of people to be tapped into clearly.
However, bit is spot on to say that its just not true the NY metro doesn't and will never care about college football. Its what I've been trying to say all along the loyalties are very split up and fractured. The 5 most popular programs ND, PSU, RU, Cuse and UConn nevermind the Ivies, Army and the various subway alumni of large schools like Miami, many Big Ten schools, Florida State, Boston College, Pitt, UNC, etc. ensure that this region's loyalties are very split up. However, the Big Ten isn't stupid in going after the programs that are popular in the region that aren't named PSU. My preference clearly is to remain where we are all of us together and maybe even starting to put some of the pieces of eastern football back together while we're at it.
(04-25-2010 01:30 PM)KnightChris Wrote: [ -> ]I just think the whole idea is built on a faulty premise, namely that we’re a bunch of bandwagoners like other parts of the country. This is NYC. The people here that can afford a big ticket football game not only went to college, but probably grad school as well. As such, they have loyalties to at least one other school, if not two. We’re not going to abandon those loyalties just to jump on the bandwagon of some other team. This isn’t like one of those college towns in the south where nothing would exist if not for the school, thus everybody roots for it even if they never went to college.
We’re not going to drop what we’re doing to drive out to the Meadowlands, sit in the cold, and watch a couple teams we have no connection to. Especially not when the Knicks & Rangers are in town that weekend, two teams in which we actually do have a rooting interest (and MSG has a roof & heat). Also, gosh forbid we do something non-sports related like go to a play, a museum, or any one of the 30 concerts going on somewhere in the city at any given moment. No, we’d rather watch Pitt vs. Baylor in December.
Also, I hate this notion that every time Rutgers gets an attendance bump it’s because those city slickers from New York must have rescued them. Why is it so unfathomable that the State University of New Jersey cultivated a NJ fanbase, and their actual alums and neighbors are capable of supporting the program? New Jersey doesn’t NEED us to have a popular football program. The credit for their rise in popularity goes to New Jersey, not a bunch of New Yorkers taking a passive interest in this strange new curiosity. New Jersey is the 11th most populace state in the country, yet some people act like it sits there empty until New Yorkers find some reason to go there for an afternoon.
I think you might have misconstrued what I was saying to some degree. I agree with you on the premise that Rutgers has cultivated a statewide fanbase in New Jersey and that's where the fans are coming from especially the ones in the seats. And I'll include Staten Island and Rockland County in with NJ on this due to the draw of students and alumni and even casual fans in those areas of Rutgers. The rest of the City/east of Hudson its basically only alumni/students/immediate family of alumni & students that would have an interest. But yes people forget that NJ isn't just one giant bedroom community of New York and Philly, its very urban, populated and affluent in its own right which lends itself easily towards attracting people to a successful product.
What's interesting is how the Devils (New Jersey's only other actual team, I don't count the Nets anymore) since moving to Newark has seen their attendance grow each year along with their TV ratings (although the TV ratings are still exceptionally mediocre.) This coincides with huge growth in youth and high school hockey in the state. The reason behind this is New Jersey has a large population that likes sports and the Devils with their no-end in sight playoff qualifying streak should have it relatively easy to rope in the fans. Rutgers now having put a quality product on the field since 2005 is seeing similar rewards being reaped which are even easier to come by than for a hockey team.
(04-25-2010 01:30 PM)KnightChris Wrote: [ -> ]I just think the whole idea is built on a faulty premise, namely that we’re a bunch of bandwagoners like other parts of the country. This is NYC. The people here that can afford a big ticket football game not only went to college, but probably grad school as well. As such, they have loyalties to at least one other school, if not two. We’re not going to abandon those loyalties just to jump on the bandwagon of some other team. This isn’t like one of those college towns in the south where nothing would exist if not for the school, thus everybody roots for it even if they never went to college.
We’re not going to drop what we’re doing to drive out to the Meadowlands, sit in the cold, and watch a couple teams we have no connection to. Especially not when the Knicks & Rangers are in town that weekend, two teams in which we actually do have a rooting interest (and MSG has a roof & heat). Also, gosh forbid we do something non-sports related like go to a play, a museum, or any one of the 30 concerts going on somewhere in the city at any given moment. No, we’d rather watch Pitt vs. Baylor in December.
Also, I hate this notion that every time Rutgers gets an attendance bump it’s because those city slickers from New York must have rescued them. Why is it so unfathomable that the State University of New Jersey cultivated a NJ fanbase, and their actual alums and neighbors are capable of supporting the program? New Jersey doesn’t NEED us to have a popular football program. The credit for their rise in popularity goes to New Jersey, not a bunch of New Yorkers taking a passive interest in this strange new curiosity. New Jersey is the 11th most populace state in the country, yet some people act like it sits there empty until New Yorkers find some reason to go there for an afternoon.
New Yorkers are bandwagoners, just like everywhere else. People are the same the world over. New Yorkers are just as full of sh!t as people anywhere else. Maybe even more so...
(04-25-2010 03:34 PM)bitcruncher Wrote: [ -> ] (04-25-2010 01:30 PM)KnightChris Wrote: [ -> ]I just think the whole idea is built on a faulty premise, namely that we’re a bunch of bandwagoners like other parts of the country. This is NYC. The people here that can afford a big ticket football game not only went to college, but probably grad school as well. As such, they have loyalties to at least one other school, if not two. We’re not going to abandon those loyalties just to jump on the bandwagon of some other team. This isn’t like one of those college towns in the south where nothing would exist if not for the school, thus everybody roots for it even if they never went to college.
We’re not going to drop what we’re doing to drive out to the Meadowlands, sit in the cold, and watch a couple teams we have no connection to. Especially not when the Knicks & Rangers are in town that weekend, two teams in which we actually do have a rooting interest (and MSG has a roof & heat). Also, gosh forbid we do something non-sports related like go to a play, a museum, or any one of the 30 concerts going on somewhere in the city at any given moment. No, we’d rather watch Pitt vs. Baylor in December.
Also, I hate this notion that every time Rutgers gets an attendance bump it’s because those city slickers from New York must have rescued them. Why is it so unfathomable that the State University of New Jersey cultivated a NJ fanbase, and their actual alums and neighbors are capable of supporting the program? New Jersey doesn’t NEED us to have a popular football program. The credit for their rise in popularity goes to New Jersey, not a bunch of New Yorkers taking a passive interest in this strange new curiosity. New Jersey is the 11th most populace state in the country, yet some people act like it sits there empty until New Yorkers find some reason to go there for an afternoon.
New Yorkers are bandwagoners, just like everywhere else. People are the same the world over. New Yorkers are just as full of sh!t as people anywhere else. Maybe even more so...
Watch it man. I love New Yorkers.
I love a few New Yorkers myself. I do have family up there. But that doesn't change the fact that most of 'em are full of sh!t, family included...
(04-25-2010 08:51 PM)bitcruncher Wrote: [ -> ]I love a few New Yorkers myself. I do have family up there. But that doesn't change the fact that most of 'em are full of sh!t, family included...
Ok...we can finally agree on something! (They are the greatest AND the worst all rolled into one!)
Growing up in NJ...which I thought was the greatest place for a kid to grow up (maybe still true), but one later in life realizes that when those kids grow up, a huge number of them turn into a-holes.
Good news though...those that like a-holes can find them EVERYWHERE...including down South! (but you try and find a hamlet to live where they might be in the minority).
There's no place where jerks are in the minority. It's built into the human equation. You just have to deal with 'em...
(04-26-2010 03:58 AM)KnightLight Wrote: [ -> ] (04-25-2010 08:51 PM)bitcruncher Wrote: [ -> ]I love a few New Yorkers myself. I do have family up there. But that doesn't change the fact that most of 'em are full of sh!t, family included...
Ok...we can finally agree on something! (They are the greatest AND the worst all rolled into one!)
Growing up in NJ...which I thought was the greatest place for a kid to grow up (maybe still true), but one later in life realizes that when those kids grow up, a huge number of them turn into a-holes.
Good news though...those that like a-holes can find them EVERYWHERE...including down South! (but you try and find a hamlet to live where they might be in the minority).
How true! A-holes reside everywhere, just the ones here in Jersey are very loud and obvious about it. Hence the Jersey Shore, those types are everywhere and as a guy who is of Italian descent and pretty much the polar opposite it annoys me. My family is not very guidoish, we're educated assimilated folk who probably rank a fair bit higher on the IQ scale than the majority of the "guidos." And I absolutely can't stand dance music which is all those guys listen to, chances are with me its some kind of rock (alternative or classic), metal, blues, jazz and even some country. You won't catch me dead in an Ed Hardy or Affliction shirt, heck I walked into a guido bar/club down the shore last summer for happy hour when there's still some normal people in there in a Metallica t-shirt just for the shock value which I definitely got in spades.