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Obscene fans at Rutgers draw a penalty flag


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"This is how you treat people who may die for this country?" said Bill Squires, an Annapolis graduate (Class of'75) who was on the sidelines for the Friday night game in Piscataway and was shocked by the obscene chants directed at the Navy players and fans throughout the game. "It was the most classless thing I've seen."

''F--- you, Navy. F---you, Navy. F--- you, Navy."

"There were wives and small children up there," said Squires, an academic recruiter for the academy who has been to dozens of away games and never seen such contempt directed at his team. "Our Midshipmen reacted the way they were taught. They didn't respond, but the band started playing 'Anchors Aweigh' to drown them out. Me, I felt like going up there and smacking somebody. I was mad, and it bothered me all weekend."

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/b....xml&coll=1

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Rutgers apologizes for taunting Navy

Angered by some derisive and profanity-laced taunts leveled at the visiting Navy football team and its fans last week, Rutgers University officials sent an open letter to students on Tuesday calling for better behavior.

The letter from athletic director Robert Mulcahy and Greg Blimling, the school's vice president of student affairs, said the behavior exhibited by "a small group" of students at Friday night's game, won by Rutgers 41-24, was "undignified, disrespectful and unacceptable."

The issue gained a wide airing when Mark DiIonno, a columnist for the Star-Ledger of Newark, who is a Rutgers grad and Navy veteran, used his Tuesday column to condemn the students' "loutish" behavior. The Midshipmen, some of whom "may soon be among the young American men and women fighting and bleeding and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan," deserved better, DiIonno wrote.

"At the very least, you'd think the Rutgers students would have some appreciation for the effort the undersize Navy players put out. ... They are what Rutgers was not so many years ago. Students first, athletes second. Except better," DiIonno wrote.

On Tuesday, Rutgers president Richard McCormick sent a letter to Naval Academy officials, apologizing for the students' actions.

"No student-athlete should ever be subject to profane language directed at them from the crowd, and certainly not the young men of the Naval Academy who have made a commitment to serve our nation in a time of war," McCormick wrote.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/5127634.html

It's sort of ironic that this happened at rutgers,considering the Imus debacle and the lawsuit that almost was. :noclue:

Edited by Guest
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I had some of those a$$holes sitting in front of me. I was embarrassed to be rooting for the same team as them. It's pretty classless to say stuff like that to any team, but considering this is the US Navy, it is just plain stupid. I hope people don't think of those dumb jackasses as an accurate representation of Rutgers football fans.

Edited by devilsfan26
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From my assessment of the situation, most people at Rutgers didn't really think badly of Imus and the incident was blown way out of proportion, probably much like this incident will be.
Edited by Guest
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posted in the other thread as well...

I've read enough articles on the subject, and my view has not changed - there was NOTHING wrong with the booing, and although the cursing was wrong, it's wrong for EVERY game, not just this one. Why is it OK to boo/curse other football teams, who I'm sure also have players who will help make the world a better place? Cursing publicly in front of families/kids is a wrong thing to do. But booing? It's not we are booing them personally. We're trying to make an environment as hostile as possible (while still hopefully keeping it clean) for the opposing team. And why not? They're trying to beat our football team. Cursing is wrong, but it's no more wrong than it was last week against Buffalo, although no one seemed to write about that. It's not like we're booing their choice to join the Navy, or booing the fact that they will one day be fighting for our country...just booing the fact that they, as football players, are trying to beat our team...it's nothing personal; it's just football.

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posted in the other thread as well...

I've read enough articles on the subject, and my view has not changed - there was NOTHING wrong with the booing, and although the cursing was wrong, it's wrong for EVERY game, not just this one. Why is it OK to boo/curse other football teams, who I'm sure also have players who will help make the world a better place? Cursing publicly in front of families/kids is a wrong thing to do. But booing? It's not we are booing them personally. We're trying to make an environment as hostile as possible (while still hopefully keeping it clean) for the opposing team. And why not? They're trying to beat our football team. Cursing is wrong, but it's no more wrong than it was last week against Buffalo, although no one seemed to write about that. It's not like we're booing their choice to join the Navy, or booing the fact that they will one day be fighting for our country...just booing the fact that they, as football players, are trying to beat our team...it's nothing personal; it's just football.

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I understand and agree with the opinion that there is no room for cursing in sports. However, I still feel that Friday's game was no different than any other game, and that if McCormick didn't feel the need to apologize to Buffalo for the cursing chants, then this past game is no different.
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That is absolutely horrible. Hopefully it was just a couple of drunk, class-less fans and not everyone in the entire section of the stands. I always believe in giving the opponent respect, but considering what the men and women at the military academy's go through, they deserve an even extra amount of respect.
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This incident is being blown way out of proportion. The Rutgers fans were not booing the work that the Navy does in keeping our country safe. They were just booing the Navy Football team.
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1st off - I didn't like the negative conotations the articles' author lays on "painted fans". Just because yer an avid fanatic, doesn't mean yer an a-hole cursin idiot. This guy is a bigot to start with. :whistling:

2ndly - the people who swore went too far, but.... It happens in every sport, in every game. Some drunk/drunks act like a-holes. The only reason this guy wrote this was because it happened around 9/11 and he connected dots that are not even on the same page.

What do you think happens at the Army-Navy game??? They raz each other.

Mark Di Ionno is an idiot by this statement alone.

"Football has always marched to a militaristic or tribal drum beat, to whip up players to greater levels of violence. The game is always likened to war by coaches, players, announcers and writers who haven't been to war. "

I've been to war, and I've played football. There is a legitimate analogy there. What a whining jackass.

No need to bring the fact that it was Navy into this. Just that it was yet another example of how people should NOT act at ANY sporting event. Stirring up crap.

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If it was "just" booing, I doubt this would have been a story.

It still would have. The booing/cursing has been there at every RU football game I've ever attended...but never once has it been written up. The stories aren't a result of the cursing; they're a result of the animosity towards the Navy team, which IMO is BS. Even if it was just booing, the stories would still be written. I don't care if Rutgers is playing a team of priests. If they're dressed in football uniforms and trying to beat our team, booing is fine.

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