Football Good, Basketball Baaaaaaaaaad

I can't believe how BAD the Rutgers men's basketball team is.

Yes, I understand a HUGE offensive force departed in first-round pick Quincy Douby, but to losses to Jackson State, Miami (OH), Bradley and a previously winless Temple squad?


And it ain't even December yet!


Was the cupboard THAT bare? Fred Hill is making Craig Littlepage look like Dean Smith. The hoops team might not surpass the football team in victories this season. I NEVER thought I'd say that. I was actually looking forward to seeing this team play a down Seton Hall team this season.

But RU must be worse than the Pirates. I look forward to seeing the RPI rankings and Rutgers hovering near teams like Army, Praire View A & M and Savannah State.


The Scarlet Knights beat St. Thomas Aquinas by 41 points. How BAD is that squad? Even for a Division 2 school.

Rutgers is scheduled to play Nebraska at the RAC on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. With the football team playing at 7:30 p.m. in the biggest game in Rutgers history, I don't forsee many staying for the second half of a 30 point deficit.

Nebraska is 4-0 with a good win against Creighton. I think their guard used to play Urkel. Or was that Jaleel? Never mind.

• I noticed this story on the wire and when I read the headline, I thought it was about someone who is having problems with erectile dysfunction.

• Well, I guess I can cross Forth Worth off the places where I intend on dropping a batch.

Congrats to my brother's friend GHM (no relation to FHM), who recently took home the top prize in a Fossil watch contest.

Hmmmm....i find it ironic that he won a $1000 gift certificate right around the SAME time my watch stopped working....Hey GHM....I voted for ya!!!!

The Steel City and the Steel Cardinal

Plenty of exciting things have happened since the last blogging.

Let's start with the Saints/Steelers tilt that I attended with my brother on Nov. 12th. We drove out to Pittsburgh (about a 5 1/2 hour trip...which didn't include a stop at Arby's....I am still shocked to know that Arby's is given its name for the initials of Roast Beef....amazing)

On Saturday, we went to Heinz Field about 4 hours prior to the 4:15 p.m. kickoff (thank you flex scheduling) and ran into the Fox Pregame show. While donning Local Shill's Raymell Rice jersey, I met Howie Long, who reminded me how Lee Corso had "KILLED Rutgers" that week.

I told him Corso also picked Cal/WVU in the title game and then informed him I purchased all my batteries at Radio Shack.

He wasn't amused.

After the pregame ended, Jimmy Johnson was the first to bolt from the autograph session...then Bradshaw and Long. Joe Buck stayed the longest and even do some shtick with the fans. I enjoyed watching that small tuft of hair blowing around. That kid definitely uses Propecia.....not that there's anything wrong with losing a little hair.

Or all of your hair.

Back to the game....we had some pretty crappy seats...they were about 2 rows from the top.....the top of a passing 747. So, we elected to move down and took a risk. Heinz Field is built in sections, so if you want to move to the sideline sections, you have to go down a long ramp. Fortunately, we were able to find two seats at the 50 about one section up and watched the game with some hard core fans.

The game was ALL offense. It didn't help the Steelers that Troy Polamalu was knocked out early in the first quarter. The final score was 38-31....there was more scoring in that game than on the Spice Channel (and no, I'm not putting a link in there). Marques Coltston has some of the best hands in football and was truly a sight to see in person. I'm not annoiting him as the new Jerry Rice, but the guy has real talent.

Other items:

-- The Hall of Fame ballots are out and I couldn't agree more with Mr. Rosenthal (and not just because he probably celebrates Rosh Hashana). I was a big fan of McGwire and was thrilled with what he did for baseball during that remarkable stretch in the late 90s. However, if we are to ostracize Bonds and Palmiero, why should McGwire get a pass? Even though steroids weren't "banned" from baseball, they were and still are illegal when unauthorized. I don't think you can make an argument for McGwire and maybe he should be voted when he comes clean....as for now....I think all of his votes should go to someone else....

....like Don Mattingly? Please? Yeah....even I don't think he deserves to be in....but it was worth a shot. How about Paul O'Neill? (thought I'd give it a shot)

-- We're coming to the stretch run in the fantasy football season. As much as the girlfriend hates me for it, I'm addicted to watching stats add up on my cbs.sportsline site to see if I can beat someone else, who is also watching the stats, while we play "pretend" football.

It's amazing because I'm sure I couldn't beat most of these team owners at a game of REAL football but when it comes to the fantasy world, I'm 9-3 and 6-5-1 and likely heading to at least one playoff berth. And it's almost as satisfying as winning a real game, too.

When can they make Fantasy Supermodel Dating? I keeed, I keeeeed.

-- Last and least, the Giants....what an agonizing loss. I don't even want to break it down because it's get me more fired up than Local Shill after the 2001 Stanley Cup playoffs. I never knew plastic, white patio chairs outside the 16th and A compound could absorb so much brute force.

I'm glad the Rutgers run has given him and all of us something for which we can cheer.

My Coke Rewards approaching 1,400! Still...nothing good.

RU RAH RAH!!!

"Never in a million years..."

That seemed to be the start to every quote uttered outside Rutgers Stadium after Rutgers HUGE 28-25 victory over Louisville last night.

Watching the Yankees win is great but it's always expected. I never saw this coming. Like many others, I saw another blowout and was proven wrong again. Local Shill and I calculated how many victories I had in my four years On The Banks. The total came to 11 wins. This team has won 9 already and may eclipse my 11 win total even BEFORE the bowl game. So many years of watching Rutgers sink to a sub-.500 record....I feel like it's been an eternity. Well, I can't say that....but I'm sure this cat can.

"Just think, 40 years ago he was considered 'old.' " -- Local Shill offering his insight

I attended the contest with a few friends and it was like Homecoming Part II. Actually, it was probably better than Homecoming. The lots were packed and Mike and the Angry Puppy (below with Ray Lucas and Marco Battaglia) were there. Guys were throwing tons of insults at both of them all throughout the show. I learned so much about Mad Dog's mother. It was very informative.

A couple of notes from the game
-- How is it possible you can't get ANY Verizon phone service anywhere near the stadium? This didn't used to be the case. You'd figure the largest cell phone company and largest state univ. could get together and compare notes. This is a major engineering school, right?

-- It's amazing how many text messages I got after Rutgers pulled out that win. I learned that you only hear from people 1) when people leave the building and 2) huge games with BCS implications that involve your alma mater (Jersey Girl better get her phone ready on the 18th)

-- In one season, this team went from 56-5 (loss) to 28-25 (win). Unless there's a complete turnover in personnel, I can't understand how this could be possible.

--Mike Teel is something like 34-1 as a starting quarterback. Slightly deceiving. That's like me being 8-0 against NFL Players in tackle football. (Madden football for PS2, of course)

I ran into several people at the game I hadn't seen in ages (of course I couldn't call them on the phone for the reason listed above). I guess when there are 44,000+ people in attendance, you're bound to see someone you know.

You're also bound to wait in a bathroom line for 30 mins to drop a batch. Memo to Rutgers administration: You're making hundreds of thousands of dollars with this run....install more crappers. I watched the bathroom lines and it looked like Bill Gates was giving out $1000 bills or something.

On the subject of long lines.....can someone PLEASE explain this to me? For a wedding dress? Playstation 3....ok maybe. But a wedding dress? At least you can get in a few games of Madden on the HiDef set with the PS3.

Since Jersey Girl is on vacation, I figured this would be something she'd touch on.

How dare the state of Maine put restrictions on such legends? No alcohol on the job? Blasphemous! Do these clowns really expect us to agree with their side? People probably doled out like $2.50 or even MORE to see them in concert and now they have to rearrange their plans for this week, stay home and read in their bedrooms/parent's basements.

On a final note, the world of journalism lost a terrific reporter in Ed Bradley. Known to me as the old dude with the earring, I truly enjoyed his stories...from the recent one on Howard Stern to Muhammed Ali to the one with Michael Jackson that made everyone cringe.
Chris Rock touched on that one brilliantly.

My Coke Rewards at 1100. STILL nothing good. Stench.