Friday, November 10, 2006

Scarlet Hype

Not to take away anything from the Scarlet Knights, but don't you think that Rutgers' thrilling victory over Louisville is being overhyped just a little bit? New Yorkers love to thumb their noses at us flyover state rubes, but when it comes to sporting events, the supposedly jaded New York media takes a back seat to nobody in terms of absurd exaggeration--so long as the event in question happened within easy commuting distance of Times Square.

I mean, c'mon guys--it was a great win, but if it didn't happen 20 miles from Manhattan, would grown ups be claiming that this game would "live through the centuries"? You gotta be kidding me! Rutgers beats a ranked opponent, and all of the sudden we're supposed to put this in the same class as the 1971 Nebraska v. Oklahoma game or the 2003 Fiesta Bowl?

Not only that, but now we've also got to endure ESPN instant polls asking whether the 15th ranked team in the country ought to play in the National Championship ahead of one loss teams like Florida, Auburn and Texas. With this schedule? What nonsense. (It's probably a moot point anyway, because I doubt they're getting out of Morgantown alive on December 2nd.)

New York--if you can make it there (or in North Jersey), they'll insist you can make it anywhere.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

BCS Computer rankings, I believe, shows Rutgers strength of schedule actually greater than OSU's....

Hornless Rhino said...

You're absolutely right about strength of schedule.

In fact, when you think about what the team's that I scoffed at comparing Rutgers to did last weekend, this post definitely wasn't one of my better efforts.