B1G

[UPitt]

The spark that grew UCONN's fan base was beating Ohio State University in the 1988 NIT championship game. The victory opened the eyes of fans, both old and new, to the potential of UCONN basketball and the excitement it generated. If UCONN basketball didn't catch your eye until 1999, you missed out on an incredible journey that saw UCONN scrap its way to becoming a national power. You never saw the exceptional talent and gritty play of Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, Donny and Donyell Marshall, Chris Smith, Doron Sheffer and even Kevin Ollie. There were great BE tournament victories, conference championships, rivalry games, the last second shot over Clemson, and UCONN and Duke going at it in the tournament. The 1999 NC didn't just happen, it was the culmination of 11 years of building on one success after another. In 1999, it was fitting that we faced Ohio State in the national semi finals and then followed it by beating Duke in the national championship game. I think it's great that UCONN's first championship caught the eye of so many new fans. For me, it was was a storybook ending to a great decade of basketball.

I did miss most of it. I was only born in 1986. I'm 27 and getting married soon. I am part of the important generation for expanding fanbase to our children. That is part of why I sight 1999 as an important milestone and Uconn did a good job keeping my interest in the years to come.

 

[buggsy]

Nah.

You're a punchline. Given that Rutgers has never won anything in anything, and has an unfortunate tendency to slam its own d--- in the door, it really can't be any other way.

It's cool, though - I wouldn't admit it either if I were you.

And how sad is it for you that Rutgers has more fans in NYC , even thought it's a punchline...than UCONN?

Do people in NYC even know UCONN has a football team? Your ratings say no. I wonder if Delany knows you guys field a team?

 

[whaler11]

And how sad is it for you that Rutgers has more fans in NYC , even thought it's a punchline...than UCONN?

Do people in NYC even know UCONN has a football team? Your ratings say no. I wonder if Delany knows you guys field a team?

New Jersey has a lot of cable boxes. Congratulations.

The Big 10 knows nobody actually gives a damn about Rutgers. Rutgers is just a vehicle through which media companies can leverage their ownership of YES to force cable companies to pay for the BTN.

 

[Durks07]

And you are like most others that post about Rutgers so-called losing history. Unlike UCONN, Rutgers has more winning seasons than losing seasons, and has won more games in their history than they've lost.

It is so hysterical to me that people from UCONN knock RU's history, when their own school's history is worse.

It's hysterical to me too! It is just sad.

Rutgers has more winning seasons than losing seasons (unlike UConn): I'll just have to take your word for that, because I'm not going to go the archives and count how many winning seasons Rutgers has from the 1800's.

I typically find that sports fans (of good teams anyway) argue and compare number of championships, not who has more winning seasons, because winning titles is what is important (not that you managed to break even on a season more often than not). I'll forgive you for not understanding what I am talking about, because the trophy case at Rutgers is probably the last (if not entirely avoided) stop on the recruiting visit for your potential athletes.

You can try and vainly argue that UConn's history is much worse than Rutgers, pointing out that Rutgers has more winning seasons, but truth is, Rutgers is 626-606 in 140 seasons. Rutgers has managed to win 20 more games than it has lost in 140 years. This is what you are proud of? Really? Good lord, do you people through ticker-tape parades celebrating the teams that manage to go 6-5?

Rutgers has one exactly one Big East title in the 21 years they were a member. UConn has two in the 8 years they have been in the conference. In eight years we managed to outdo your "superior" history. Frankly, I'm not taking much pride in this, because Rutgers athletics does not set the bar very high.

To be perfectly honest, I look at it this way. You want to argue that our history is much worse than yours, be my guest. You have to delve back 100+ years to find winning seasons to help show that Rutgers has more winning seasons than losing seasons. It takes that long, and you have to actually go back that far, because you can't base it on the one stat that matters: Championships. UConn has two, and Rutgers has one. Despite having a "superior" (I'm laughing, even just typing that)history, Rutgers still doesn't have UConn beat where it counts, even with a 13 year head start.

Purely as a sports fan, I would be embarrassed if my source of pride is that we manage not to lose more often than we win. It becomes even sadder to rely on that when considering college football teams in FBS conferences schedule multiple cupcake games a year, and Rutgers still is only 20 wins above .500 in 140 years.

UConn may have a historically below .500 record, but we have more trophies in the case, and if you follow sports, then you should know, that this is all that matters. BTW, in case you didn't know, our other sports happen to win national championships.

Oh, sorry, you might not be familiar with these words when placed next to one another. A national championship is an achievement given to the best team in the country in a particular sport, usually coming in the form of a trophy, and designation as the #1 team in the country in the relevant media polls. Teams usually win this by qualifying for a tournament, and competing and defeating other teams vying for the championship themselves.

 

[whaler11]

And here would be where the readers of ESPN.com chose Rutgers as the worst team in college football history:

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/readers/worstCollegefb.html

And oh yeah - 80-7.

 

[itgoeslike]

I did miss most of it. I was only born in 1986. I'm 27 and getting married soon. I am part of the important generation for expanding fanbase to our children. That is part of why I sight 1999 as an important milestone and Uconn did a good job keeping my interest in the years to come.

Fair enough. A little more history then. UCONN was a regional power for decades winning 18 Yankee Conference titles, which helped earn them an invite as a founding member of the Big East. They weren't Kentucky but they provided their fan base with good basketball. Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that Geno added to the momentum of UCONN's reputation by winning on a national stage in the early 1990's.

 

[Fishy]

And how sad is it for you that Rutgers has more fans in NYC , even thought it's a punchline...than UCONN?

Do people in NYC even know UCONN has a football team? Your ratings say no. I wonder if Delany knows you guys field a team?

Okay.

I'll ask you the question I've asked the other Rutgers' fans that have wandered in thumpin' their lil chests.

Tell me, what's the big moment in Rutgers' sports history? That game or games that you all talk about when you get together. What's the big win?

I've never gotten an answer.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Rutgers will soon become the Mississippi State of the B1G.

Horrible basketball, marginal football, with their only defense being, but we're in a better conference than you!

 

[upstater]

RU's attendance has been on an upswing over the last 10 years, with one down year thrown in there.

If our stadium held 70,000 we would have sold it out for Louisville last year. The difference is light years now, not years.



And your whole "100 year headstart" rant shows your ignorance of college football and Rutgers football, since RU was D1AA until 1979. Same division as UCONN. At least we had an all-time winning record in D1AA.
You guys have an abysmal all-time losing record.

That is a pretty weak response to all the links I gave you. I mean, only 59% of the people at the games bought tix? With a 43k average, you guys drop very low in terms of tix sold. Revenues at Rutgers were not high.

 

[whaler11]

Okay.

I'll ask you the question I've asked the other Rutgers' fans that have wandered in thumpin' their lil chests.

Tell me, what's the big moment in Rutgers' sports history? That game or games that you all talk about when you get together. What's the big win?

I've never gotten an answer.

It's idiot Chris Carlin yelling about pandemonium in Piscataway. A regular season win over Louisville.

That or the time they lost 80-7.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Okay.

I'll ask you the question I've asked the other Rutgers' fans that have wandered in thumpin' their lil chests.

Tell me, what's the big moment in Rutgers' sports history? That game or games that you all talk about when you get together. What's the big win?

I've never gotten an answer.

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.

Rutgers OVER Louisville 2006 which lead to a wait for....3rd place Big East finish!

The shining moment in Rutgers Athletic History, was people being shocked Rutgers won a game because they sucked for 100 years. Awesome.

 

[Durks07]

Okay.

I'll ask you the question I've asked the other Rutgers' fans that have wandered in thumpin' their lil chests.

Tell me, what's the big moment in Rutgers' sports history? That game or games that you all talk about when you get together. What's the big win?

I've never gotten an answer.

You asked him this exact same question before:

buggsy said: ↑

Hey Durks,

Do you even know your own school's football history? Arte you not aware that UCONN football historically is much more embarrassing than Rutgers' history?​

There's nothing more embarrassing than Rutgers' athletics, sweetpea.

What's the big on-field moment Rutgers' fans talk about when they get together? What's the big win?

So hard to figure out what it is - there's just nothing in the trophy case.

Maybe it was a regular season basketball win? Didja beat Syracuse or something on your way to an NIT bid? Maybe it's that Texas Bowl thing? It's not an NCAA game (you don't play those) and it's not a BCS bowl (you don't play those either)....boy, must make for some tortured bar room chatter.

Maybe you could have a trophy made up? Maybe have a replica of the state of Maryland mounted to a trophy with the words "Plus 1!" engraved on it? Might be your finest, fleeting moment.

Such an empty history - it's heart-wrenching that your sole source of pride is that it's a long empty history.

<-- You.

And no, you didn't get an answer then either.

 

[whaler11]

I haven't seen it but the Chris Carlin open letter to Chris Christie sounds like gold. Two guys separated at birth too.

 

[upstater]

I did not compare Uconn's BB fanbase to that of Pitt or Rutgers. In fact I stated that Pitt has a very weak BB fanbase and sighted lack of history as a factor. I used an example of the football success Pitt had in the 70s and 80s to show that I believe fanbase is passed on from generation to generation as it was in my house.

I understand that Uconn has a long history of BB success and was not disputing it. I was explaining how I think the recent success over the past 15 years has planted new fanbase seeds to expand the fanbase now and that in another 10 years that fanbase will begin passing Uconn onto another generation both national and locally. I find the past 15 years most important because Uconn reached milestones that drastically impact fanbase growth. Winning a mens BB NC in my mind was most important in reaching new fans. Adding D1 football was an important milestone or we wouldn't be having this conversation. Womens BB reached new demographics and developed a reputation similar to UCLA. During this time Uconn also improved.

This is just my opinion of how I think recent success at Uconn has been beneficial to developing new roots for expanding the Uconn fanbase that will have an even greater impact in the years to come.

This is what I responded to:

Rutgers is most similar with respect to pro markets, but aside from markets, Uconn and Rutgers are not very similar. Frank gave a good example of universities in the midwest that are surrounded by cities but still command a solid fanbase. But most of those universities differ from Uconn because they come from larger states and have a much longer history of football/basketball tradition. This history has created the larger fanbases you see from midwest schools. From an outsiders perspective, Uconn has had a much shorter history of football/basketball tradition. Uconn has had great success in the past 15 years, with the past 8 being very solid.

You began talking about developing fanbases and then you cited tradition or history as key to that development.

 

[huskymedic]

And how sad is it for you that Rutgers has more fans in NYC , even thought it's a punchline...than UCONN?

Do people in NYC even know UCONN has a football team? Your ratings say no. I wonder if Delany knows you guys field a team?

Whether he knows if UConn has a football team or not (he does) - He's quickly figuring out that he has a problem on his hands...

Matt Sugam (@MattSugam)
6/6/13, 7:32 PM
Morale is down at #Rutgers as Jim Delany doesn't see the enthusiasm he expected for their move to the Big Ten: http://snyrutgers.com/rutgers/footb...ect-from-rutgers-for-the-move-to-the-big-ten/

Not quite the NY PR he was looking for - eh?

 

[upstater]

Whether he knows if UConn has a football team or not (he does) - He's quickly figuring out that he has a problem on his hands...

Matt Sugam (@MattSugam)
6/6/13, 7:32 PM
Morale is down at #Rutgers as Jim Delany doesn't see the enthusiasm he expected for their move to the Big Ten: http://snyrutgers.com/rutgers/footb...ect-from-rutgers-for-the-move-to-the-big-ten/

Not quite the NY PR is was looking for - eh?

It's still more than crazy that the bball coach lied on his resume. I can't get past that one. Much more shocking than anything the AD did.

 

[whaler11]

I'd love to see a Big 10 season where all 14 teams were bowl eligible. Breaking 7 way ties for the division should be interesting.

 

[PRHusky]

Buggsy, you talk about UConn's football history as if UConn had been competing at the highest level all throughout when the truth is that, unlike Rutgers, which has always attempted to play football at the highest level, UConn has only played football at the highest level since 2002. To count anything UConn did before that is ridiculous. Heck, we played in basically a high school stadium until that year. Rutgers football has been as good as UConn football since that time.

UPitt, UConn had much better attendance for both men's and women's basketball in 1999 than now, so I am not sure your argument re 1999 being the year that the UConn fanbase began to grow makes sense.

 

[itgoeslike]

I agree that Connecticut proper is a tough market because it's situated between NYC and Boston, but take a step back and look at the whole. The Milwaukee/Chicago/Detroit/Cleveland corridor is actually slightly shorter than the Boston/NYC/Philly/Baltimore/DC corridor. Milwaukee has 3 pro teams (the Packers are more of a Milwaukee team than 99% of the teams that are actually situated in their cities), Chicago has 5, Detroit has 4 and Cleveland has 3 in the city proper with a de facto 4th with the Blue Jackets in Columbus. That corridor might not have the same sheer number of teams as the East Coast corridor because of the 9 NYC market franchises, but that Midwest corridor has the highest number of pro teams on a per capita basis of any area in the country, support their pro teams in incredibly loyal numbers and STILL watch both college football and college basketball in a huge way. That's not even counting the Midwest markets outside of that corridor (Minneapolis with a full complement of 4 pro teams, Indianapolis and Cincinnati both having 2 teams each, Downstate Illinois that's really a St. Louis market particularly with respect to the Cardinals that are essentially the Packers fan base equivalent to baseball). The point is that that the Big Ten schools fully coexist with pro sports teams (most of whom have many generations of fans, so the loyalties run deep).

This is in contrast to the SEC core, where outside of Florida and newly added Texas A&M and Missouri, that whole swath of 11 SEC fan bases share a grand total of 7 pro sports teams among them, 3 of which weren't even in their respective markets until the 1990s. That's a big-time difference between what the Big Ten has had in pro sports competition versus the SEC, yet it has still succeeded in being right alongside those pro teams in terms of drawing power. So, that's why I'm always wary of "it's a pro market" reason/excuse. It has been done in plenty of huge markets with marquee pro franchises (i.e. Chicago, Dallas, LA, San Francisco), so being in a pro market in and of itself shouldn't be a singular reason why college sports aren't gaining traction in a particular area.

While the Midwest has pro teams, the high-valued sports properties are located in the Northeast. You mentioned Green Bay and Chicago (let's throw in the Cubs) which are valuable franchises. Yet, while they are on the list, they are not at the top of the list. You can't compare the Bucks or Cavs to the Knicks, Celtics, Sixers, Nets, etc. The Patriots, Giants, Jets, Redskins, Eagles, etc. The Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, etc. Also, having the most sports properties per capita is not necessarily a good thing. With the slowing or contraction of population growth in the Midwest region, this trend is sure to continue. The Big Ten recognizes this and wants to tap the Eastern markets.

The "fan loyalty" of the large Big Ten schools benefit greatly from large alumni bases, which is in part a byproduct of having a lot less competition from high quality schools, especially when compared to the Northeast. The Midwest universities have benefited from this dynamic financially and academically. In contrast, if you look at Northwestern, which has a smaller enrollment and the diversions of a metropolitan area, their football attendance pale in comparison to other members. Also, when you look at ratio of enrollment vs. average home football attendance, you'll see some schools in the Big Ten underwhelm. In fact, Minnesota has a higher enrollment than average attendance. UCONN delivers a higher ratio than a few of the Big Ten schools, and has done so in a relatively short time. One could assume that our attendance numbers will increase as we fulfill our stated goals in growing enrollment at UCONN.

In terms of UCONN, I don't see how the "it's a pro market" reason/excuse applies. I think it's an advantage to not to have a pro team in the same state, especially when it comes to capturing ratings and growing your fan base. It provides a semi-singular focus that many of the Big Ten schools enjoy. Yes, the state's population gravitates towards teams in Boston and New York, but you don't need to look too hard to see how UCONN is the media darling of the state, and I think it's only going to increase.

 

[woomba]

That's a bit of a chicken - egg question in my opinion. College football was very strong in the Midwest for decades long before the development of the NFL and I think that in turn led to a slower (and smaller) embracing of pro teams compared to the NE which had no college football tradition.

 

[Durks07]

Whether he knows if UConn has a football team or not (he does) - He's quickly figuring out that he has a problem on his hands...

Matt Sugam (@MattSugam)
6/6/13, 7:32 PM
Morale is down at #Rutgers as Jim Delany doesn't see the enthusiasm he expected for their move to the Big Ten: http://snyrutgers.com/rutgers/footb...ect-from-rutgers-for-the-move-to-the-big-ten/

Not quite the NY PR he was looking for - eh?

Please...he's happy that the New York papers are aware there is Rutgers University

 

[NickyNewark]

"woomba, post: 615891, member: 3605"]That's a bit of a chicken - egg question in my opinion. College football was very strong in the Midwest for decades long before the development of the NFL and I think that in turn led to a slower (and smaller) embracing of pro teams compared to the NE which had no college football tradition.[/quote]
@No,really?I was under the impression that the Mara's made concession's to keep pro football alive by carrying the Midwest until it became popular enough to stand up on it's own back in the 20's!!In those day's little college's like Manhatten, Fordham and Army were the National power's of the day..but I digress..do tell me more.NYC of then was even more the center of sport's than it is even today!!And just across the river in Hudson Cty, Jersey City once held a outdoor HWT fight that a 1M people showed up for! Only recently(post WW2) has the midwest not been perceived as small time!Yes, Michigan and ND were popular only for the east coast's large Irish catholic,Italian and Slavic population's!!The chicken should never be asking question's to it's egg's!!

 

[NickyNewark]

Please...he's happy that the New York papers are aware there is Rutgers University

@Why wouldn't they be?RU is part of there beat!!Are you part of anyone's beat?How many beat writer's do you have? Maybe DEZ? How much interest is there for ANY new's out of UConn? Any new's is good new's! Maybe a verbal commit from a recruit would be big new's at this point!Never throw stone's at... oh well you know the name of that tune!When every move UConn make's is scrutinized you'll know your finally in a proper conference!!Interesting what CR has sown in your fanbase!!Geez, poor Mr Lagow had to put up with this craziness?

 

[NickyNewark]

Please...he's happy that the New York papers are aware there is Rutgers University

Check out the video, Sugam took the word's out of context!!As everyone seem's to do and you would be screaming bloody murder if that was done to UConn!!

 

[NickyNewark]

Whether he knows if UConn has a football team or not (he does) - He's quickly figuring out that he has a problem on his hands...

Matt Sugam (@MattSugam)
6/6/13, 7:32 PM
Morale is down at #Rutgers as Jim Delany doesn't see the enthusiasm he expected for their move to the Big Ten: http://snyrutgers.com/rutgers/footb...ect-from-rutgers-for-the-move-to-the-big-ten/

Not quite the NY PR he was looking for - eh?

Sure it is !! He grew up there in Essex Cty and went to St Benedict's in Newark,NJ and is proud of it!!He knows the deal!!Are there still 9M people in NJ?Why does everyone act like its Sandusky redux?Silliness,does anyone know the meaning of "scandal"?With all that goes on in some SEC schools why the faux outrage?