Rutgers fans are A Holes

[USF_Bill]

Mulcahy apologizes, scolds RU students

Thursday, September 13, 2007

By ADITI KINKHABWALA

STAFF WRITER

PISCATAWAY – Attention has increased and applications have soared.

Pride has been re-ignited and donations have been upped. And this week, Rutgers learned not everything its football team has helped amplify is good.

Rutgers' school newspaper, The Daily Targum, carried a letter from athletic director Bob Mulcahy in Wednesday's editions chastising students who "embarrassed the university, the alumni and Rutgers fans across our state."

After reports surfaced Tuesday that some Rutgers fans had directed profane chants at players from the U.S. Naval Academy during Friday night's game at Rutgers Stadium, the university swiftly issued mea culpas.

University president Richard L. McCormick wrote a letter to his counterpart at Navy, Vice Admiral Jeffrey L. Fowler, "for the disrespectful and disgraceful behavior exhibited by some of our fans," while Mulcahy called Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk.

The Naval Academy issued a statement Wednesday saying it "appreciates the timely response from Rutgers University President Richard McCormick and athletic director Robert Mulcahy, and would like to also extend our appreciation to the countless Rutgers fans who immediately addressed the situation during the game."

Gladchuck sent out a statement of his own that read, "As far as we are concerned, the matter is closed and we are moving forward."

But at Rutgers, the matter is far from over, as Mulcahy said his letter is only the first step.

"Before it gets out of hand," he said, "we're meeting with student leaders over the next couple of weeks."

McCormick and Mulcahy took pains to say it was an isolated pocket of fans who, as the latter wrote in his open letter, "hurled" the "jeers and vulgarities." But football coach Greg Schiano, who said he tells his players "every day" that they represent the whole university, said the number of troublemakers is irrelevant.

"A couple of people cross the line and they make a bad name for everyone," Schiano said. "We have the best fans in college football and I believe that. ... The things I'm sorry about are, No. 1, that any opponent has to hear that kind of stuff and No. 2, that all our fans now get a smear on them because a couple of people said the wrong thing."

Schiano has long denounced the booing of college athletes in general and repeated the sentiment again, saying, "There's no right to boo college kids. They want to boo me, they pay me a lot of money, they can boo me all they want."

And yet, as sensitive as he is on that topic, the Wyckoff native said his irritation with the booing of these kids is exacerbated by the name on their jerseys.

"You're talking about the people that are going to be defending the country," Schiano said.

Of course, as Rutgers moves into the more competitive world of college football, it's easier for those distinctions to blur – and expectations of the whole game-day experience to change.

For the first time in 138 years of football, Rutgers has sold out its entire home slate (eight games). The school has in successive weeks pulled in its third-largest crowd, drawing 43,091 to the season opener against Buffalo and 43,514 to last week's visit from Navy, and the likelihood of more fiery emotion increases as Rutgers gets into its conference season.

"I don't think it has anything to do with going to the big time," Mulcahy said of the bad behavior. He said university police thus far have witnessed no increase in disorderly incidents and the athletic director promised the school's tolerance for unruliness will be lower than ever before.

"If they're obnoxious to people around them, we'll take them out," Mulcahy said of his fans. "We'll remove them."

[Economics_Nerd82]

sounds like some fans we know of...

[GetAHobby]

That's about right...Against Navy, wow.

[crambone]

Yeah, that's NJ for ya.

They were complete and utter a**holes to us in Tampa last year.

ESPECIALLY their players.

[Jihme]

Rutgers is such garbage

i hope we smash them this year

[outrunner]

Yeah, that's NJ for ya.

They were complete and utter a**holes to us in Tampa last year.

ESPECIALLY their players.

pjA0fawHFOE

Ruck Futgers

2 Freaking Points

[JoeB]

Not all RU fans are Aholes.  Remember we have some bad fans too.  We both have a long way to go.  I'm sure our fans weren't too gracious after the Army loss.

[Griggsy]

Since we're on topic though...

I'm not a big fan of the "bull****" chant that many USF fans are so fond of on bad calls and so forth. I see alot of parents with young children, and would hate it if they felt it best they should stay home on gameday. Not just chants, but out of control vulgarity in general.

Hey I slip up too (pretty often at that,) but unbridled and unchecked cursing is classless and trashy.

[On_the_Chip]

That game still makes me sick to my stomach.  We had a Rutgers A-hole right behind us yelling and screaming and cusing at the top of his lungs for the whole game.  I'm sure most of their fans were friendly, as are most fans......there are bad apples out there and it's unfortunate.  I've had to keep my cool sometimes because there is a time or two where I could have been the bad apple.  Just have to stay civil and respect the ears of those around you.

[hbryan]

We have our own poor fans as well, everybody does.  I'm not gonna paint a whole university or football team with that shiite colored stain.  We realize after the positive influence of Auburn that playing nice is the only way to fly.  Unfortunately for Rutgers, they're realization came from a negative influence.  They'll improve or they'll be toast - no need to treat them like UCF.