Saturday my younger son and I took the short trip up route 18 to SHI stadium on the banks of the Raritan River to watch Virginia Tech play an undefeated Rutgers team. Big Saturday for Rutgers. Tons of recruits on the sidelines and they’re trying to build the program one year at a time.
The two other teams I loosely follow and root for are VT (wife’s an alum) and Rutgers. (It’s close to home and I take my kids to many different sporting events) It was a beautiful fall day. My wife and older son stayed at the beach to surf and ride bikes to attend the Sea Hear Now festival. One day of a music festival is more than enough for me so I went to that on Sunday.
We joined a Rutgers tailgate steps from the entrance. Parked in a neighborhood 200 yards from the stadium in a guys backyard for $20. A short walk to the lot we were tailgating in. This will be my move going forward instead of buying a parking pass. They were very welcoming even though our crew all wore Hokie gear. Tailgating scene in this lot was good. Lots of Italian flags flying. I saw other people I know from both Rutgers and Tech so it’s always nice to do the tailgate lot tour. We took a walk to see the Marco Battaglia practice facility which is really nice. They play up the Jersey Shore theme and have the boardwalk set up with carnival games for the kids, a Ferris wheel and some other activities that make you feel like you’re in seaside or some other south jersey beach town.
The basketball team was signing autographs so we jumped in line before they arrived and my son got to take pictures with them and get the poster signed. They signed a kid out of Connecticut who’s supposed to be a stud. Their team has been playing really well the past few years. The portal has been both good and bad to RU. The big buzz around the bball fans is that Ron Harpers younger son is a silent commit. We’ll see if the happens.
We went in early to watch the warmups and saw Bremanen. He was very nice to my son and saw my beer coozie and immediately said, I love Jon Rhys Plumblee. Seats were awesome. The security guard looked like a bootleg Denzel Washington and asked me the film the marching band on his phone so he could show his mom. In exchange he allowed my son and niece (current VT student) bounce around the first row seats.
The game was a typical Schiano win. Tech fumbled on the first series and was down 7-0 within a minute. Rutgers was out gained in yards by a bunch and still won. Tech had an interception and just couldn’t get it going consistently. When Schiano was rumored to be in the mix for our coach in 16 I was nervous. The guy can build a program but his style wasn’t much different than GOL. He would have clashed with our younger fans we.
The stadium is awesome. When I was a kid they had an open end zone with a grassy hill. After schiano’s first stint they closed that in. The stadium probably fits around 55k. It was almost full aside from the uppers. I’m house DJ/music was good. I like stadiums that are built into the ground. When you enter the gates you either go down or up. The proximity to NYC allows alumni groups to attend and always have a decent crowd.
I love college football and it’s nice to attend a game that I’m not overly concerned with the outcome. It allows me to observe a lot more and just enjoy the day.
TLDR: Rutgers is a nice place to watch a game before it gets too cold.
I’m hoping to get over to Princeton for a game and Monmouth University is o my 25 mins Asay so we’ll catch one of those also.
The two other teams I loosely follow and root for are VT (wife’s an alum) and Rutgers. (It’s close to home and I take my kids to many different sporting events) It was a beautiful fall day. My wife and older son stayed at the beach to surf and ride bikes to attend the Sea Hear Now festival. One day of a music festival is more than enough for me so I went to that on Sunday.
We joined a Rutgers tailgate steps from the entrance. Parked in a neighborhood 200 yards from the stadium in a guys backyard for $20. A short walk to the lot we were tailgating in. This will be my move going forward instead of buying a parking pass. They were very welcoming even though our crew all wore Hokie gear. Tailgating scene in this lot was good. Lots of Italian flags flying. I saw other people I know from both Rutgers and Tech so it’s always nice to do the tailgate lot tour. We took a walk to see the Marco Battaglia practice facility which is really nice. They play up the Jersey Shore theme and have the boardwalk set up with carnival games for the kids, a Ferris wheel and some other activities that make you feel like you’re in seaside or some other south jersey beach town.
The basketball team was signing autographs so we jumped in line before they arrived and my son got to take pictures with them and get the poster signed. They signed a kid out of Connecticut who’s supposed to be a stud. Their team has been playing really well the past few years. The portal has been both good and bad to RU. The big buzz around the bball fans is that Ron Harpers younger son is a silent commit. We’ll see if the happens.
We went in early to watch the warmups and saw Bremanen. He was very nice to my son and saw my beer coozie and immediately said, I love Jon Rhys Plumblee. Seats were awesome. The security guard looked like a bootleg Denzel Washington and asked me the film the marching band on his phone so he could show his mom. In exchange he allowed my son and niece (current VT student) bounce around the first row seats.
The game was a typical Schiano win. Tech fumbled on the first series and was down 7-0 within a minute. Rutgers was out gained in yards by a bunch and still won. Tech had an interception and just couldn’t get it going consistently. When Schiano was rumored to be in the mix for our coach in 16 I was nervous. The guy can build a program but his style wasn’t much different than GOL. He would have clashed with our younger fans we.
The stadium is awesome. When I was a kid they had an open end zone with a grassy hill. After schiano’s first stint they closed that in. The stadium probably fits around 55k. It was almost full aside from the uppers. I’m house DJ/music was good. I like stadiums that are built into the ground. When you enter the gates you either go down or up. The proximity to NYC allows alumni groups to attend and always have a decent crowd.
I love college football and it’s nice to attend a game that I’m not overly concerned with the outcome. It allows me to observe a lot more and just enjoy the day.
TLDR: Rutgers is a nice place to watch a game before it gets too cold.
I’m hoping to get over to Princeton for a game and Monmouth University is o my 25 mins Asay so we’ll catch one of those also.
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