I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in Rutgers history as the greatest demonstration of fandom in the history of the Scarlet Knights.
Seven score and six years ago, a great team, in whose “The First Game” statue’s shadow we stand today, beat Princeton 6 to 4. This momentous game came as a great beacon light of hope to tens of Rutgers fans who had been seared in the flames of athletic failure. It came as a joyous kickoff to end the long drought of Rutgers ineptitude.
But one hundred forty-six years later, the Scarlet Knights still are not successful. One hundred forty-six years later, the life of a Rutgers fan is still sadly crippled by terrible coaching and a lack of stellar recruitment. One hundred forty-six years later, the Scarlet Knights live on a lonely island of losing in the midst of a vast ocean of winning, the Big Ten Conference. One hundred forty-six years later, a Rutgers fan is still laughed at by the average college football fan and finds themselves nowhere near any ranking or polls. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful fandom.
In a sense we’ve come to Piscataway to pickup football tickets. When the founders of our University wrote the magnificent words of the Alma Mater and Fight Song, they were signing a promise to which every Rutgers fan was to fall heir. These tickets were a promise that all Rutgers fans, yes, season ticket holders as well as students, would be able to sing “RU Rah Rah” and “Upstream, Red Team” at the game early and often. It is obvious today that Rutgers University Athletic Department has defaulted on this promise, insofar as the fan who attends the game is concerned. Instead of honoring this football obligation, Rutgers University has given the Scarlet Knights fans a faulty ticket, a ticket to an event that leads to “inevitable losing.”
But we fans refuse to believe that the Rutgers football squad cannot win. We refuse to believe that inevitable losing is the only outcome on the field of great opportunity for this team. And so, we’ve come to pickup these tickets, a ticket that will give us upon demand the riches of championships and the elation of victory.
We have also come to this hallowed spot, the Purple lot, to remind Rutgers University of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to allow Coach Flood to email more professors or stick with a terrible quarterback game after game after game. Now is the time to make real the potential of Rutgers football. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate Raritan River to the sunlit field of High Point Solutions Stadium. Now is the time lift our team from the incompetent game plans of Kyle Flood to the solid strategy of a real coach. Now is the time to make victory a reality for all Scarlet Knights fans.
It would be fatal for the athletic department to overlook the urgency of the moment. This swell of Rutgers fan’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating campaign of victory and dominance. Twenty fifteen is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Scarlet Knights fans needed a few winning seasons and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the team returns to its losing ways. And there will be neither donations nor renewal of season tickets at Rutgers until the loyal sons and daughters get to root for a successful team. The whirlwinds of revolt will lead to empty reserves for Julie Hermann until the bright day of victory emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my fellow fans, who stand in a chilly parking lot which leads into the glory of tailgating: In the process of returning Rutgers to victory, we must not be guilty of being fair weather fans. Lets not seek to satisfy our thirst by staying at the tailgate the entire time. We must forever conduct our struggle by attending the game and rooting for the team. We must not allow the seventh interception of the half degenerate into a chorus of boos. Again and again, we must yell at the top of our lungs to meet heckles with encouraging cheers.
The marvelous new apathy which has engulfed the Scarlet Knight community must not lead us to shun the players of the football team, for many of the football players, as evidenced by their presence on the field today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their performance on the field is inextricably bound to our performance in the stands.
The team cannot play alone.
And as we cheer, the team must pledge to always get a first down, a touchdown, go RU.
We cannot be sacked.
There are those who are asking the fans of the Scarlet Knights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as Rutgers is the victim of 30 point blowouts at the hands of other teams. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of 4am wake up calls for tailgates, cannot leave the parking lot in a timely manner. We cannot be satisfied as long as our only victories come over teams in the MAC and AAC. We can never be satisfied as long as our team does not win in the Big Ten East and the spots in the Big Ten Championship Game are for: “Michigan and Ohio State Only”. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Rutgers fan at home cannot bear to watch on TV and a Rutgers fan in the stadium believes they have nothing for which to cheer. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until triumph is achieved on the Banks and The Bells Must Ring.
I am not unmindful that some of you have been Rutgers fans through great trials and tribulations. Some of you were fans during the Shea era. And some of you were at the game when we lost to New Hampshire – a game that left you battered by lack of hope and staggered by the futility of the Scarlet Knights. You have been the veterans of football suffering. Continue to be fans with the faith that football suffering is redemptive. We will win in State College, we will win in East Lansing, we will win in Ann Arbor, we will win in Columbus, we will win in College Park, we will win the recruiting battles at the schools and parochials of North Jersey, knowing that somehow this losing can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of the RU Screw, I say to you today, my fellow fans.
And so even though we face the difficulties of seasons today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in all Rutgers fans dream.
I have a dream that one day this team will rise up and play out the true meaning of its fight song: “First down, touchdown, GO RU! GO Knights!”
I have a dream that one day in Columbus, the players of the Scarlet Knights and the players of the Buckeyes will be able to play a competitive game of football at Ohio Stadium.
I have a dream that one day even on the campus of Penn St., a fan base with so much arrogance, a fan base that is so dismissive, will be transformed into a stadium of fear when the Knights come to town.
I have a dream that all Rutgers fans will one day be fans in a nation where Rutgers will not be judged by its losing past but by its winning performance on the field.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, The Star Ledger, with its vicious headlines, with its columnists writing contemptible articles dripping with the words of “investigation” and “scandal” – one day right there on The Star Ledger there will be a fair story about the Scarlet Knights right there in black and white.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every seat in High Point Solutions Stadium is filled, and every alumni and student is cheering loud, the opposing team will be made lame, and the offense looks competent; and the glory of Rutgers football shall be revealed and all college football fans shall see it together.
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go to the Nebraska game this Saturday with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of this season of despair a play of hope. With this faith, we will be able to make repeated miscues and penalties of the Scarlet Knights into a beautiful symphony of execution. With this faith, we will be able to run the ball, to pass the ball, to play ferocious defense, to put the special in special teams, to stand up to the opposing line, knowing that we will be winners one day.
And this will be the day – this will be the day when all Rutgers fans will be able to sing with new meaning:
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.
And if Rutgers is to be a great football team, we must win.
And so let Rutgers win in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania.
Let Rutgers win in the mighty stadiums of Michigan.
Let Rutgers win in the heightening roar of Ohio Stadium.
Let Rutgers win in snow-covered lands of Minnesota.
Let Rutgers win in the plains of Nebraska.
But not only that:
Let Rutgers win on the Atlantic versus the ACC.
Let Rutgers win on the Pacific versus the Pac-12.
Let Rutgers win versus each and every team of the mighty SEC.
From every corner of the land, let Rutgers win.
And when this happens, and when Rutgers finally does win, when we win in every college town and every stadium, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of Rutgers fans, season ticket holders and mini plan purchasers, Alumni and students, people that stand on third down and those that don’t, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of that old Queen song:
We are the champions, my friends,
And we’ll keep on fighting ‘til the end.
We are the champions.
We are the champions.
No time for losers
‘Cause we are the champions of the world.
Seven score and six years ago, a great team, in whose “The First Game” statue’s shadow we stand today, beat Princeton 6 to 4. This momentous game came as a great beacon light of hope to tens of Rutgers fans who had been seared in the flames of athletic failure. It came as a joyous kickoff to end the long drought of Rutgers ineptitude.
But one hundred forty-six years later, the Scarlet Knights still are not successful. One hundred forty-six years later, the life of a Rutgers fan is still sadly crippled by terrible coaching and a lack of stellar recruitment. One hundred forty-six years later, the Scarlet Knights live on a lonely island of losing in the midst of a vast ocean of winning, the Big Ten Conference. One hundred forty-six years later, a Rutgers fan is still laughed at by the average college football fan and finds themselves nowhere near any ranking or polls. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful fandom.
In a sense we’ve come to Piscataway to pickup football tickets. When the founders of our University wrote the magnificent words of the Alma Mater and Fight Song, they were signing a promise to which every Rutgers fan was to fall heir. These tickets were a promise that all Rutgers fans, yes, season ticket holders as well as students, would be able to sing “RU Rah Rah” and “Upstream, Red Team” at the game early and often. It is obvious today that Rutgers University Athletic Department has defaulted on this promise, insofar as the fan who attends the game is concerned. Instead of honoring this football obligation, Rutgers University has given the Scarlet Knights fans a faulty ticket, a ticket to an event that leads to “inevitable losing.”
But we fans refuse to believe that the Rutgers football squad cannot win. We refuse to believe that inevitable losing is the only outcome on the field of great opportunity for this team. And so, we’ve come to pickup these tickets, a ticket that will give us upon demand the riches of championships and the elation of victory.
We have also come to this hallowed spot, the Purple lot, to remind Rutgers University of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to allow Coach Flood to email more professors or stick with a terrible quarterback game after game after game. Now is the time to make real the potential of Rutgers football. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate Raritan River to the sunlit field of High Point Solutions Stadium. Now is the time lift our team from the incompetent game plans of Kyle Flood to the solid strategy of a real coach. Now is the time to make victory a reality for all Scarlet Knights fans.
It would be fatal for the athletic department to overlook the urgency of the moment. This swell of Rutgers fan’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating campaign of victory and dominance. Twenty fifteen is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Scarlet Knights fans needed a few winning seasons and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the team returns to its losing ways. And there will be neither donations nor renewal of season tickets at Rutgers until the loyal sons and daughters get to root for a successful team. The whirlwinds of revolt will lead to empty reserves for Julie Hermann until the bright day of victory emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my fellow fans, who stand in a chilly parking lot which leads into the glory of tailgating: In the process of returning Rutgers to victory, we must not be guilty of being fair weather fans. Lets not seek to satisfy our thirst by staying at the tailgate the entire time. We must forever conduct our struggle by attending the game and rooting for the team. We must not allow the seventh interception of the half degenerate into a chorus of boos. Again and again, we must yell at the top of our lungs to meet heckles with encouraging cheers.
The marvelous new apathy which has engulfed the Scarlet Knight community must not lead us to shun the players of the football team, for many of the football players, as evidenced by their presence on the field today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their performance on the field is inextricably bound to our performance in the stands.
The team cannot play alone.
And as we cheer, the team must pledge to always get a first down, a touchdown, go RU.
We cannot be sacked.
There are those who are asking the fans of the Scarlet Knights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as Rutgers is the victim of 30 point blowouts at the hands of other teams. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of 4am wake up calls for tailgates, cannot leave the parking lot in a timely manner. We cannot be satisfied as long as our only victories come over teams in the MAC and AAC. We can never be satisfied as long as our team does not win in the Big Ten East and the spots in the Big Ten Championship Game are for: “Michigan and Ohio State Only”. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Rutgers fan at home cannot bear to watch on TV and a Rutgers fan in the stadium believes they have nothing for which to cheer. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until triumph is achieved on the Banks and The Bells Must Ring.
I am not unmindful that some of you have been Rutgers fans through great trials and tribulations. Some of you were fans during the Shea era. And some of you were at the game when we lost to New Hampshire – a game that left you battered by lack of hope and staggered by the futility of the Scarlet Knights. You have been the veterans of football suffering. Continue to be fans with the faith that football suffering is redemptive. We will win in State College, we will win in East Lansing, we will win in Ann Arbor, we will win in Columbus, we will win in College Park, we will win the recruiting battles at the schools and parochials of North Jersey, knowing that somehow this losing can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of the RU Screw, I say to you today, my fellow fans.
And so even though we face the difficulties of seasons today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in all Rutgers fans dream.
I have a dream that one day this team will rise up and play out the true meaning of its fight song: “First down, touchdown, GO RU! GO Knights!”
I have a dream that one day in Columbus, the players of the Scarlet Knights and the players of the Buckeyes will be able to play a competitive game of football at Ohio Stadium.
I have a dream that one day even on the campus of Penn St., a fan base with so much arrogance, a fan base that is so dismissive, will be transformed into a stadium of fear when the Knights come to town.
I have a dream that all Rutgers fans will one day be fans in a nation where Rutgers will not be judged by its losing past but by its winning performance on the field.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, The Star Ledger, with its vicious headlines, with its columnists writing contemptible articles dripping with the words of “investigation” and “scandal” – one day right there on The Star Ledger there will be a fair story about the Scarlet Knights right there in black and white.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every seat in High Point Solutions Stadium is filled, and every alumni and student is cheering loud, the opposing team will be made lame, and the offense looks competent; and the glory of Rutgers football shall be revealed and all college football fans shall see it together.
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go to the Nebraska game this Saturday with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of this season of despair a play of hope. With this faith, we will be able to make repeated miscues and penalties of the Scarlet Knights into a beautiful symphony of execution. With this faith, we will be able to run the ball, to pass the ball, to play ferocious defense, to put the special in special teams, to stand up to the opposing line, knowing that we will be winners one day.
And this will be the day – this will be the day when all Rutgers fans will be able to sing with new meaning:
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.
And if Rutgers is to be a great football team, we must win.
And so let Rutgers win in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania.
Let Rutgers win in the mighty stadiums of Michigan.
Let Rutgers win in the heightening roar of Ohio Stadium.
Let Rutgers win in snow-covered lands of Minnesota.
Let Rutgers win in the plains of Nebraska.
But not only that:
Let Rutgers win on the Atlantic versus the ACC.
Let Rutgers win on the Pacific versus the Pac-12.
Let Rutgers win versus each and every team of the mighty SEC.
From every corner of the land, let Rutgers win.
And when this happens, and when Rutgers finally does win, when we win in every college town and every stadium, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of Rutgers fans, season ticket holders and mini plan purchasers, Alumni and students, people that stand on third down and those that don’t, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of that old Queen song:
We are the champions, my friends,
And we’ll keep on fighting ‘til the end.
We are the champions.
We are the champions.
No time for losers
‘Cause we are the champions of the world.
