I hate Penn State and everything about the school as much as the next Rutgers sports fan. If you know any history about Rutgers sports, especially football and basketball, you would know that Penn State was the evil empire to all Scarlet Knight fans during the ’80s and ’90s. But one thing I envy about those Nittany Lion students is their school spirit, dedication and love for the blue and white — something most Rutgers students hardly possess with their passion for bleeding scarlet.
The clear-cut difference between the two schools is how each ranks sports within the institutions. Football is king out in Happy Valley and now a blooming basketball program has even made winter somewhat enjoyable in the desolate Pennsylvania area.
On Tuesday night, Penn State played in the final four of the National Invitational Tournament at Madison Square Garden. No, not the NCAA Tournament, we’re talking about the NIT. And yes, back in 2004 the Rutgers men’s squad made a similar run to the finals, where a few thousand students showed up to support their team.
The difference is that Penn State brought 16 busloads of students to the world’s most famous arena — from five hours away! All Rutgers students had to do was take a 40-minute train ride. Penn State sold over 1,200 student tickets in a span of a few days for the game against Notre Dame. How many other schools would be able to travel like Penn State did? Expect a similar showing tonight when they take on Baylor in the finals.
Rarely do you ever see any Rutgers students care as much about sports or school spirit like they do in Happy Valley. Students today do not even know what it was like nine years ago when Greg Schiano took over as head football coach. The program was a joke and no one came to games.
Now the stadium is being expanded to 54,000 seats and there is actually something to be proud of with Rutgers football. But don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll see the usual drunk students come to games late as always and walk out at halftime like they do for every game. It is truly a disgrace to the state.
How about the lack of support for the women’s basketball team? Most people acknowledge that women’s basketball is not as popular as men’s basketball, but we’re talking about a women’s team that has been to the postseason 20 times and has made five straight Sweet 16 appearances. Yet no one cares about them. Students couldn’t even show up in numbers for games against Tennessee, UConn or the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament this year, which were hosted at the Louis Brown Athletic Center on Livingston campus!
Try asking a random student at Rutgers to sing the Alma Mater. Maybe they could remember the main line, “On the Banks of the Old Raritan,” and sure, they could sing a part of the fight song and throw in the little “woohs” that make it cute to some, and they could probably yell the first down cheer, but that’s it.
Go to a football game at Penn State. The complexity of cheers alone would make a Rutgers student’s head spin. Anytime you watch a Penn State game you see how much they love their school and how proud they are to go there.
The argument for most would be to say sports are not as important as academics, and I agree — to a certain point. I, like everyone else at this school, am a student first. But part of me wanting to go to a big time school was the lure of having big sports programs. I do my work just like any other student but I also want to be proud of Rutgers sports, too.
Why can it work at a place like Penn State but not Rutgers? It is scary to see how closely related the two institutions are with regard to academic prestige and number of students. But how come they can fill up a student section for football and basketball and have students be loud, have fun and stay the whole game?
Here at Rutgers it’s all about the cool tailgates with football. All the time I hear “I want to go to that fraternity’s tailgate because they are having the most people” or “it’s a bit cloudy, I won’t go to the game today.” Pre- and post-game tailgates are great, but could students please show up on time to a game and pretend they care about their school? How many times can I be thrown up on by an irresponsible drunk student?
I, like many, have friends who go to Penn State. Of course they drink and tailgate hard there. Usually though, unlike Rutgers, almost 22,000 students make it for the start of the game.
The excuse that sports aren’t good here doesn’t exist anymore. Football has gone to four straight bowl games and women’s basketball is in the NCAA tournament every year. For all the bad reputations Jersey gets across the nation, you would think this would be an opportunity for students to show people there is something good in this state.
For now, I wonder if anything will ever change. If Rutgers football ever goes to a Bowl Championship Series game or if the women win a national championship, will students be genuinely excited and proud or just happy to have another excuse to party and drink?
Adam Helfgott is a School of Arts and Sciences sophomore majoring in journalism and media studies. His column, “The Scarlet Pulse,” runs on alternate Thursdays. He also has a radio show on WRSU of the same name.
