I say they had a nice homecoming event and now we are trashing the school. Oh boy. Sorry I brought them up. Won't do it again.
Blue Lot,Homecoming, New Normal???
- Thread starter Boz29
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I say they had a nice homecoming event and now we are trashing the school. Oh boy. Sorry I brought them up. Won't do it again.
Well, you can let the people on the Marist football board know how rude the Rutgers board is.
Totally baseless and untrue. When Mich St, Nebraska and tOS roll into town lets revisit this discussion.
I had three extra parking passes in my glove compartment yesterday and I can promise you they will be used on upcoming games.
Good one. In all seriousness there was a football game there and you wouldn't have known it. So we have a big time game with no homecoming event, they have a big homecoming event with barely a notice there is a football game. Opposites. Different things in different places and why there are all different types of schools and experiences across the country. I still think we are big enough to have both a big time game and a big time event for homecoming.
My wife went out to Carlisle this weekend for Dickinson's Parent Weekend / Homecoming (my youngest daughter is a soph there). For this weekend, you can't get a hotel room within 50 miles of Carlisle. They pull in a couple thousand returning alums - at a school where the average graduating class is about 600.
One of the oft-discussed "Rutgers Challenges" with regard to things homecoming and football is that a very large percentage of Rutgers grads just don't GAF, post-graduation.
Haven't caught up on this thread that's most likely a brawl at this point. That being said, I just wanted to throw this quote in from the RT from a young poster. It backs up what I've been predicting could happen since people starting screwing with things last year (certain students would choose to just stay home and watch at their house than make the 40 minute trek across the river):
"I personally know many students who wake up at 7am, "tailgate" on college age and never make it to the stadium. From the pictures it looks like hundreds are with them."
"I personally know many students who wake up at 7am, "tailgate" on college age and never make it to the stadium. From the pictures it looks like hundreds are with them."
In an effort to malign the forces that removed the students from the Blue Lot, you forgot to add the last line of the RT poster's sentence, which really hits the nail on the head:
The fan base as a whole needs to step up honestly.
I'll say this for you, you're thorough.
You beat the horse until it's dead, beat it some more after it's dead and then f*ck its poor, dead corpse.
And the truth never changes - wanting to drink all day isn't a legitimate excuse for not going to the game. Those same students who drink all day on College Ave. wouldn't make it into the stadium even if they were drinking all day in the friggin' Scarlet Lot. That's been the case at Rutgers, forever. Student attendance, over time (as in year-over-year) is up. Your anecdotes are proportionally irrelevant.
And, as we said - if you're THAT concerned, then you should simply host them at your little old school bus party.
Agreed that too many don't GAF. That starts with the experience while at school which is often discussed here. Athletics success helps and has but probably not if students are getting hassled in the lots as posters have noted.
To me lack of a homecoming event is just another example whether pre or post of how the school doesn't do enough to make students and alumni just love the place. For example...reunion weekend is in the Spring when school is out and most jersey folks are headed to the shore. Why not have it on homecoming like lots of schools do. Invite alumni back in (5 year increments) to campus for the tailgate, the game and a post game banquet with their class. Host events at the tailgate, the game and after. Now if I'm an alum and they host me well, I start feeling great about my school, I see some friends and leave feeling good and maybe start participating, donating, etc. That was the important point regarding how I felt when I visited my wife's school. They tried and they GAF so in the end so did we! Instead at RU alumni need to get a parking pass for the game, do it on their own and wait for spring for what are very poorly attended reunions in May.
I'm on year 3 in the purple lot. Have had black before that and parked on Easton age for a few years before that.
Police presence in the Purple lot this year has become a disturbance to people's tailgates in a big way. Huge increase this year. They now have a police tower and are driving ATVs through the rows (several times) . Nobody wants to feel like their in a police state , even if they are doing absolutely nothing wrong. Most of them are fine and friendly but it's overkill. One game we had a DJ with 6 parking passes in the corner of the lot and about 30 people so not over crowded and not a raging party (proper food and all). No exaggeration the cops stopped more than 10 times. They didn't shut us down but they basically had nothing better to do so they felt obligated to stop by
And for the Xth time, the student attendance at games is being killed by the tailgate shift to college ave. This is important because it's the creation of future fan base. It's the students that don't even know they would like football and going to the games that we are missing out on being future fans for a few games a year.
Police presence in the Purple lot this year has become a disturbance to people's tailgates in a big way. Huge increase this year. They now have a police tower and are driving ATVs through the rows (several times) . Nobody wants to feel like their in a police state , even if they are doing absolutely nothing wrong. Most of them are fine and friendly but it's overkill. One game we had a DJ with 6 parking passes in the corner of the lot and about 30 people so not over crowded and not a raging party (proper food and all). No exaggeration the cops stopped more than 10 times. They didn't shut us down but they basically had nothing better to do so they felt obligated to stop by
And for the Xth time, the student attendance at games is being killed by the tailgate shift to college ave. This is important because it's the creation of future fan base. It's the students that don't even know they would like football and going to the games that we are missing out on being future fans for a few games a year.
So what you're saying is that the refusal of the Rutgers PD to allow students to break the law is directly responsible for a downward trend in future team support..?
There's all kinds of equipment ridiculousness, courtesy of federal grants to law enforcement in the post-9/11 era.
The insane proliferation of ATVs is another great example. In the course of their normal duties the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office has absolutely ZERO need for all-terrain vehicles.
Great post and better last sentence.
My daughter graduated last year and stopped going to games because of the Gestapo actions of some police in the lots. This year, her first homecoming she told me to get rid of her ticket and she stayed on College Ave. Over her first three years she would have at least 5 friends coming to my tailgates, now they all hang on College Ave. They had parties at Stuff and Brother Jimmys with the places packed during and after the game. She went from a person that went to every game up until she was over 21 and could legally drink. Isn't it ironic she was ok to drink but stopped coming because of actions of police.
As Scarlet kid said, we are losing future fans not just students enrolled now.
You have to clarify your argument.
The reason that MCSO is there is because RU has mandated there be 212 uniformed LEOs on gameday. MCSO provides a quarter of that contingent because they are the only organization that has the manpower.
Now, if you want to argue that Rutgers doesn't need 212 uniformed LEOs on gameday, then I think that's a worthwhile discussion.
I'm confused.
Before your daughter was old enough to drink she used to attend your tailgates with several of her friends, but did not drink. Subsequently, when she was old enough to drink she refused to attend tailgates because of the way that the police treated people who weren't old enough to drink but who were drinking.
Do I have that right? What did I miss?
I am not doubting Rutgers thinks they need that number at all.
What I am saying (for a few years now) is there are other agencies out there who wouldn't mind wetting their beak for an obviously very easy day. A little here, a little there from other places in Middlesex County and from some others up and down 287 and 18 and you can put Barney Fife out to pasture farther away from the action (RAC) or eliminate them...IF they don't play ball.
And I highly doubt RU will have trouble getting to the magic 212 # if they offer it to other agencies.
you know what sounds like she is more interested in drinking and partying than going to a football game. That's my take away.
They'd be nickel and diming the other agencies. If you think otherwise, then you're simply wrong.
All the local PDs have, at most, sufficient personnel to street 3 shifts, 7 days a week. They street more patrols on Saturday than any other day of the week. Anybody who works a Saturday football game at Rutgers is going to be unavailable to their own PD during a critical scheduling period.
MCSO, on the other hand, has a total complement of 180. Unlike the local muni PDs, they don't street a normal shift on weekends - their normal operational shift on Saturday is 6. That leaves plenty of people open to do outside work.
So if you throw out MCSO, then you have to get 60 guys, 2 and 3 at a time, from a minimum of 20-30 agencies. You're now introducing a considerable logistical and C&C challenge - the most obvious being that the MCSO guys all have the RUPD ops frequencies on their radios and none of the other local PDs do, besides New Brunswick, Piscataway and Highland Park - all of which are represented as part of the 212 total.
this is bullshit. Most of these kids were not coming anyhow and there are enough students in the fanbase. Future fanbase is created by a winning team not by being able to tailgate. They will be replaced by other students when the team wins at a high level. If students want to sit home and get wasted its not RUs job to facilitate underage drinking by setting up an area for them. Student attendance has been great overall given the shaky start to the year. I guarantee it will be packed for Michigan State
You missed that when she was just as legal as you and I she was harassed so much it was not worth the constant hassle to prove she was 21 sometimes 5-10 times a game.
I for one am very disappointed that homecoming basically is treated like another game. I saw tents yesterday but really saw nothing differientating them from any other tent. No signage, no buildup for homecoming. Homecoming used to be better when they had the designated fenced in area now its totally lost so why bother. I also think they can come up with better ideas for bands and the like. I think Julie and game day fan experience people are dropping the ball here...and yes here we go I am criticizing her. Homecoming should be a big deal, there should be a big push to bring alumni back. I saw none of that this year and the last several years its been on the decline
Okay, I can see that.
I don't think it's true, though.
The parking lot cops are a constant - same guys, same rows, every week. I see them ask young people for ID all the time. They don't ask the same people more than once.
She likes being with her peers and friends who no longer come to games. RU has lost them.
Like I said on one reply, how would you like to have a police officer come up to you 5-10 times a game asking for proof? She came to my tailgate for the first game of the year and was not drinking but had a red solo cup with OJ. Three times a police officer asked her what is in the cup and that was in the yellow lot with a bunch old men like me. I cannot imagine what it is like in the Blue lot.
Total BS, different cops all three times when she was with my group. one set of RU cops, a County and a Pisc. BTW my brother in law who was Chief of HP for many years and is at every tailgate,has told us it was never as aggressive when he worked the games. And you also did not take into account that the "kids" walk to different lots and tailgates to see friends. You might be correct if there is one larger tailgate going on and the cops are hovering.
You now sound like the parking/game day people at RU when a suggestion is made on how to think out of the box. Buy another radio RU. LOL
And again the initial plan isn't to get rid go them but move them out and let RU do what they SHOULD be doing instead. 52 cards in a deck put the jokers somewhere else.
As I said earlier...very interesting to hear what MrsScrew said in her post above about RUPD not wanting to do the heavy lifting. Boo Hoo. What a bunch of babies. I have the exact opposite problem...nobody wants to work where nothing happens and the busy places are all full with a waiting list to get in.
If you don't want to get hassled come tailgate with us low rollers in the silver lot. Not a cop of any kind in sight.
Was in black the previous few years and can't recall John Law being there much either.
So after all this talk about not promoting an illegal activity, you're encouraging another poster to willfully host underage drinkers at his tailgate, which is worse and an arrest able offense? Got it.
Anyways, some of us have been warning the board about what is starting to happen now. The Blue Lot, on homecoming of all days, might be mistaken for Holmdel Park in its rather subdued demeanor. The stadium PA has to blast DJ Yoshis voice urging people at the game to 'get loud' on 3rd and 4th downs. Students and young alumni, who are undoubtedly the future of this program, are in increasing numbers choosing to pregame/party in their own safe havens and casually come to the game late, or in some cases just not show up. And they don't care whether increased police harassment is a legitimate excuse for not doing so. Why should they, given that the football program has gone through enough this past month to give even die-hard fans like us a pause?
There is a middle ground to stem this trend, but many are either not listening or pretending that there isn't a problem. I have a strong feeling we need all the fanbase support we can, especially this season.
People here don't get the whole social aspect of the game day experience. For a large amount of people it is just as much about the tailgate , being with friends, and having a little fun that brings them to the stadium on Saturdays. I have grown my group of season ticket holders from 4 to now 13 over the years because we enjoy getting together , tailgating, and having a fun day. I'm probably the only one in the group that lives and dies by what happens on the field. Tailgating is a lifeblood and gateway for many people into Rutgers football. If the team ain't winning or playing exciting football you can still grow a fanbase by making sure people have a good time with friends.
The whole underage witch hunt in the lots is unnecessary. Go after the people making a problem or drinking to the point of where they are unsafe. Otherwise don't say you're protecting the law by ringing up students with tickets. We all went to college and know for a fact the best nights of our lives involved a good party with some booze. College is social so stop saying this BS that we don't want kids at the game who are only interested in drinking. College kids want to be with their friends and have some drinks and some of those same kids probably would like to enjoy the game. But their less interested friends choose to stay at the party.
The whole underage witch hunt in the lots is unnecessary. Go after the people making a problem or drinking to the point of where they are unsafe. Otherwise don't say you're protecting the law by ringing up students with tickets. We all went to college and know for a fact the best nights of our lives involved a good party with some booze. College is social so stop saying this BS that we don't want kids at the game who are only interested in drinking. College kids want to be with their friends and have some drinks and some of those same kids probably would like to enjoy the game. But their less interested friends choose to stay at the party.
Homecoming activities aren't the responsibility of the Athletic Department, they are the responsibility of the Alumni Association.
I know mu wife received info about alumni homecoming events. But I think they were mostly separate from the football game.
The RUPD has 83 members. Assuming they're not ALL working 24/7, that's maybe 30 on duty at any one time. And that's to cover 66,000 students over 7 campuses in 4 cities. You mean to tell me they need 180 MORE cops to cover 22,000 less people (not double counting the 10,000 students) all confined to an area of a 1/2 square mile? What kind of animals does the Athletics department think we are?!?
On game days there are 5 counties at the intersection between purple & black. According to Data Universe, the average Middlesex County Sheriff Dept officer makes $85,000. That means Rutgers is paying $306/hour for that intersection to be managed. Does it really require $2500 to direct traffic at one intersection? Does it require $180 to put 3 cops in front of dumpsters for an hour to tell people to finish their beers? Every 4 man patrol in the lots for 8 hours is $2000 coming out of Athletics budget.
If Julie is trying to shave expenses, she should have a discussion with other athletic directors with twice the crowd about how to properly & cost effectively manage the crowd. Paying counties $60/hour is asinine.
We haven't head from the Alumni Association in years other than solicitation to donate letters.
Does the alumni assoc have your email address? My wife gets emails quite regularly from them.
Agree, what keeps many women from coming back is the total game-day experience. We enjoy the game but many of us are not as into the game itself as our spouses. We are still fans, we still pony up the bucks for tickets and make up a good portion of the attendees.
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