So you're in New York [tomorrow] for a debate about banning college football. Do you feel that all of college football should be banned or is it just the BCS? I think all of college football should be banned. I have a feeling these programs don't make any money and no one is really, on any level, presenting a good argument to me as to why they should exist in an academic setting.
Buzz Bissinger: College Football Is An Exploitive Waste of Money And Must Be Banned
Rutgers Heads To Yankee Stadium For Today's Pinstripe Bowl
Yankee Stadium has been re-sodded with thick, heavy Long Island turf for this afternoon's second annual Pinstripe Bowl between Rutgers (8-4) and Iowa State (6-6). People seem quite excited about it too: "Pinstripe Bowl" is trending on Twitter in NY; the Empire State Building was lit last night in anticipation —red, white and red on the north and south sides for Rutgers, red, yellow and red on the east and west sides for Iowa State—and Rick Santorum is hosting his own Pinstripe Bowl Watch Party! Hell, they even rang the bell at the NYSE:
Paralyzed Rutgers Football Player Chosen For Sports Illustrated Cover
For the past week and a half, Sports Illustrated had asked its Facebook community to select what should be the "2011 Sports Moment of The Year" from 15 possibilities and, today, announced the winning moment is Rutgers football player Eric LeGrand leading his team out of the tunnel at their game versus West Virginia. LeGrand remains paralyzed after trying to make a tackle against Army in October 2010, so his return to the football field on October 29, 2011 was poignant. He said of that day, "So I left tire marks in the snow yesterday as I led my team out. Next time will be footprints."
Yale-Harvard Tailgating Tragedy: Lawyer Blames U-Haul, Victim's Mom "Not Blaming Anybody"
This weekend a Yale student struck three people, killing one, with a U-Haul at the Yale-Harvard Football game in New Haven and, though no charges have been filed, his lawyer is now trying to shift the blame to the vehicle. Meanwhile the victim's mom just wants her baby's body back.
No Charges Filed Against Yale Student After Tailgating Crash Kills One
Yesterday, one woman was killed and two others were injured after a U-Haul crashed into a crowd tailgating before the Yale-Harvard Football game. Police confirmed today that the driver of the U-Haul, Yale student Brandon J. Ross, passed a standard Field Sobriety Test at the scene—no charges have been filed against him thus far.
[UPDATE] Video: One Killed, Two Injured In Tailgating Accident Before Harvard-Yale Football Game
One woman was killed, and two others were injured after a U-Haul van crashed into a crowd tailgating before the Yale-Harvard Football game today. According to police, a 30-year-old Massachusetts woman was killed in the accident just after 10 a.m. this morning in a parking lot at Yale. Police spokesman David Hartman confirmed the other two female victims are hospitalized—one in critical but stable condition, and the other with minor injuries. Update: Watch video of the aftermath of the accident below.
Notre Dame Dominates Army In Yankee Stadium Game
Last night, Notre Dame and Army renewed their historic college football rivalry at Yankee Stadium. The Fighting Irish won the game decisively, 27-3, in front of a sold-out crowd of 54,251 fans, and everyone felt bringing the game back to NYC was a huge success. "It was an exciting atmosphere, and our kids fed off the energy. For those who felt New York City's not a college football town, it is a college football town as well: At least it was [last night]," said Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly.
Advisory: Parachute Jumper Over Yankee Stadium!
According to NotifyNYC, "A parachute jump is scheduled over Yankee Stadium at 7PM. You may see low flying aircraft and multiple parachutes jumpers." Which just happens to coincide with kickoff of the much anticipated Notre Dame/Army college football game tonight, the first meeting between the two longtime rivals in over four years. Might the two events be related in some way? Until more evidence is provided, or we hear someone has been stabbed, we shall assume this is just more twitter hysteria.
Army/Notre Dame Renew Historic Rivalry At Yankee Stadium
On Saturday evening, Yankee Stadium will be completely transformed into a college football stadium (with two end zones) for the anticipated game between Army and Notre Dame. It's the first meeting between the two longtime rivals since 2006, and although neither team is as dominant as it once was, the confluence of these two teams with NYC brings with it a huge amount of historical backstory, and offers a chance to glimpse back into the city's past.
Rutgers Football Player Paralyzed From Tackle
During Saturday's Rutgers-Army game, Rutgers defensive tackle Eric LeGrand was injured while trying to make a tackle during a kickoff return towards the end of the game. He was motionless for seven minutes and taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, and yesterday, the school announced that the 20-year-old has no movement below the neck. His family issued a statement, "We want to say thank you to everyone for all of your prayers, kind words, and well wishes. We appreciate every single thought. Eric is in good spirits and we are praying for a full recovery."
Yankee Stadium Adds "Bowling" In 2010!
Banking on the allure of New York City during the Holidays and forgetting the history of the Gotham Bowl, the Yankees announced a new bowl game this morning to be played at Yankee Stadium in 2010. The game, which will be named after a yet to be determined sponsor, will take place between Christmas and New Year’s Day, assuming the NCAA approves the game next April. The Big East and Big XII conferences will each send a team with the Big East sending it’s fourth-place squad and the Big XII sending it seventh-place squad. Under college football rules, teams must have six wins to be eligible to play in a bowl. If one of the conferences does not have a qualifying team, Notre Dame has agreed to play in the bowl, provided they are not eligible for a BCS game.
Making The Call: Get Us a College Football Playoff System
Barring a surprise, the BCS will announce later today that Oklahoma and Florida will play for the National Championship on January 8th in Miami. Florida punched its ticket by beating previously undefeated Alabama while Oklahoma won the Big 12 Championship by beating Missouri. Both teams are worthy of playing for the title, but then so are a number of other teams and that is why we need a playoff system in college football.
2006 in New York Sports
In keeping with our lists of events from 2006, here are some of the sports stories that Gothamist found compelling in the past year. It ranges from the playoff disappointment from the Mets and the Yankees to the welcome performances of last season's Rangers, this season's Jets and Rutgers.
Rutgers Unbeaten? Scarlet Knights Stun Louisville
How often does college football matter to a New York-area team? Rutgers's game against Louisville garnered enough attention the Empire State Building was lit up in scarlet. It was the biggest local game in recent memory. But despite all the hype, the Scarlet Knights were heavy underdogs to the Cardinals, even at home. A last-minute field goal by Jeremy Ito stunned the No. 3 Cardinals and capped a shocking 28-25 Rutgers win. The result effectively ended Louisville's national title hopes and kept Rutgers, which still has to play three more games -- including at West Virginia -- in the discussion. That's right. Rutgers is in the national title discussion.
Last Night's Action: Getting Closer To The Playoffs
-Yankees 3 Orioles 2: On a day when New York played without a lot of regulars they managed to eek out a win, thanks to Chien-Ming Wang. Wang went 7 1/3 innings to win his 17th game, giving up only one run. Mike Myers and Scott Proctor combined to finish the eighth and Kyle Farnsworth earned the save despite allowing a home run to Kevin Millar.
Jim Gaffigan, Comedian and Actor
I actually grew up in Dune Acres, which is a suburb of Chesterton. Chesterton is the sort of place that didn't have a McDonalds until I was in high school. It was a very boring place. We would ride our bikes six miles to go to the Dairy Queen. It was all right. It's a unique place in that northwest Indiana is a convergence of Midwest farm life and the steel mill rust belt. The steel mills of Gary, which is ethnically diverse and Indiana, which is very white bread.
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-verse
DCist is screwed in the event of an oil crisis. Not that we're not all screwed in the event of an oil crisis, just D.C. is more screwed. Don't sell your car yet, District resident, a cabbie can kick you to the curb if he doesn't like your address. Not even Metro can save you now.
Rose Bowl Preview
New York is one of the few areas of the country that doesn’t care about college football. Maybe it’s because we don’t really have a local team to root for (Rutgers isn’t quite there yet) but we don’t pay a lot of attention to it. Tonight would be a good time to change that attitude as Texas plays USC in one of the best matchups in recent history.
Gothamist's Div. 1A Top 15
It's a shame that the college football season has come to an end, and worse still that the Orange Bowl was such a dud. Gothamist's final rankings of the 2004 season:
Scoreboard! - Pats Still Own Jets
So buckle in for a week of "The Jets Don't Have What It Takes" stories leading into next Sunday's road game in St. Louis (1 p.m.), because that's where they have put themselves. And, yes, Gothamist agrees that Chad Pennington's "You should be honored to cover us" diatribe was well-intended, but misdirected (at beat writers rather than the smarmy columnists). If the season goes down in flames, that will no doubt mark the turning point in the media's love affair with him. Oddly enough, he complied with the media better after yesterday's nearly emasculating loss than last week's resounding win.
Gothamist's Div. 1A Top 15
There is about one month left in the college football's regular season and the match-ups are getting tough. With conference championships and bowl bids on the line, Gothamist is excited to catch the rest of the season. Can the undefeated teams remain undefeated, or will they fall out of the running and out of the favor of the voters? The coming month will tell.
Where to Watch College Football in NYC
Fight songs, cow bells, school colors and several of your fellow fans. We've done a little legwork and compiled a list of some schools that gather on fall Saturdays to watch their teams play. Thanks to all the clubs that responded to our e-mails. The list is nowhere near comprehensive, so if we missed anything, feel free to leave it in the comments.
Gothamist's Div. 1A Top 15
Loyal Gothamist readers will notice that there is little change in our rankings this week - there simply weren't many upsets or games involving top 25 teams last week. That will certainly change this weekend with several top matchups including LSU vs. UGA, Aub vs. Tenn, and Purdue vs ND. It will be a great weekend for college football junkies/coach potatoes! Naturally Gothamist will be watching every televised game from Noon until 2 am in order to provide you with rankings slightly more accurate than a dart throwing monkey!
Gothamist's Div. 1A Top 15
Justin S. brings us his 3rd weekly ranking of the NCAA Division 1A teams. No movement in the top 5 from last week's rankings.
Gothamist's Div. 1A Top 15
With the first full week of college football now over, Gothamist Sports proudly unveils our first Top 15 ranking for college football. Ranking the top 15 this early is obviously a crap-shoot, but that's never stopped anyone before. It's difficult to rank teams early in the season, but we gave it a shot, so don't take it personally if your team is lower than you think they should be.
Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer by Warren St. John
Gothamist was still a little skeptical of Bama fans' dedication, until we learned that Warren's honeymoon was postponed because of his book tour through the South later this month. Touche. He agreed to answer some questions Gothamist had about being an Alabama fan, college sports, NYC sports, and men who get pedicures.

