Top 10 Road Trips I'd Like To See: #10: Rutgers

Being a NJ resident, and Rutgers fan, I would be ecstatic to see Alabama visit the Garden State for a match up with Rutgers.

Regarding transportation, NYC is an easy trip from Rutgers – no transfers necessary. Assuming you were staying in New Brunswick, you take the NJ Transit North East Corridor line straight into NY’s Penn Station. 50 minute train ride, no transfers required and you are in the heart of NYC. Couldn’t be any easier.

So taking that into consideration, I look forward to seeing your revised ranking for Rutgers ;-).

Wait, you’re going to start this list with the armpit of the United States?

Wow, Pete. Talk about stereotyping. Have you ever been to NJ, outside of Newark airport? Couldn’t be that bad a state if it serves as the home to both the U.S.G.A. and the U.S. Equestrian team – not to mention being one of the richest per capita states in the country.

And let’s not kid ourselves, NYC is what it is because of the surrounding greater NY area which includes Northern NJ, Connecticut and lower NY State. And presumably, your roadtrip would really just be about Manhattan. You probably wouldn’t be heading into Brooklyn, Staten Island, Queens or the Bronx – each burough with its own distinct look and feel.

It’s a quick train trip, actually. You can walk to the train from the Hyatt hotel right in downtown — across, incidentally, from the Christ Church, the third spot the Declaration of Independence was read — and be at Penn Station shortly. You can even have a beer on the train. There’s a lot of Revolutionary history in the area. While New Brunswick isn’t beautiful, it is vastly improved and safe and that campus is beautiful.

I’m just going to skip over all the ignorant comments about New Jersey. Until you come and experience it, people will just take shots at it the way racists or anti-Semites used to automatically tell you all they knew about blacks and Jews when they’d never even met one. The important thing is these are two programs with a lot of history — although not yet a lot of winning on the Scarlet Knights end.

If you have a car, you might also consider a ride down to our ancient rival in that first football game in 1869: Princeton. Beautiful campus and it’ll take your breath away. If you contacted the Rutgers Alumni Association, I’m sure they’d help you plan these sorts of events. There’s also the Jersey Shore and Philadelphia.

I’d like to see the game.

I included in that “not bothering to read” that I hadn’t bothered and wouldn’t bother, also all the ones that were sure to come by people. Very good analogy about Alabama. I happen to work in a part of the media where we have a lot of listeners who are from Southern states, and who are therefore written off as racist-bigot-homophobic-inbred hicks with fourth-grade educations.

I wasn’t responding to anyone in particular. As I said, I ignored them, didn’t want to engage them, etc. I was pretty pissed at the drunk kids yelling “F—- You, Navy” a couple seasons back, and I’d be just as disgusted if someone yelled crap like that at Alabama. I didn’t mean to offend anyone. It was just something I generally think about those who automatically disparage people/places in the way I thought I’d see.

I think there was a lot of that thought on the other side, actually, last year when Rutgers was invited to the PapaJohns.com (shoot me now with that name) bowl in Birmingham. As I said, I’d say the same thing to those folks. I knew it’d be a blast down there and was not disappointed. It may also interest you to know that those in South Jersey have similar opinions about those in North Jersey, although it’s a small state and absurd. They’ll tell you they wanted to join the Confederacy, if you ask them.

So, maybe you could have all been on the same side after all.

Enjoy the site. Again, if I did that thing where people comment out of an orifice other than their mouth just ‘cause it’s the internet, I’m sorry. I’m sure an apology is forthcoming for all ill-will and stereotyping of New Jersey as well.