The Birmingham Bowl

[Plum Street]

Is on now ! Not much of a crowd. This is formerly papa John’s bowl ; one of the top moments of Schiano 1.0 with the win over nc state in 2008 . Although the game is no longer at Legion Field.
That was fun second half of the year culminating in the win over nc state and knocking Wilson out of the game.
Yes , yearning for the days of the pizza bowl !

 

[RU#1fan]

Loved going to that Bowl.
RU Bowl victory and Tall Boy beers out of the trough for $5 in the concessions under the stands .

 

[Source]

RU fans were really excited when we started going to bowl games starting in 2005. Toward the end of that bowl run, some fans not only complained about the bowl game Rutgers was going to but even trashed the game itself.

It's fine if you think Rutgers deserved better. But it's not acceptable to start trashing the school, the game and turning away from the game Rutgers did get invited to. I hope when Rutgers returns to consistent bowl status, the fans are as excited about whatever post season games we are playing.

I had to wait 27 years between Rutgers first and second bowls. Very happy that they started going consistently. There were times I thought they should have been invited to a higher status bowl. But I never trashed whatever game they did get invited to. Something to consider when the good times arrive again. And they will.

 

[superfan01]

One day our best will be good enough to beat the best.

 

[RUTGERS95]

was a great bowl and a fun time.

 

[mildone_rivals]

It's fine if you think Rutgers deserved better. But it's not acceptable to start trashing the school, the game and turning away from the game Rutgers did get invited to. I hope when Rutgers returns to consistent bowl status, the fans are as excited about whatever post season games we are playing.

I agree with all that except insofar as the Pinstripe Bowl is concerned. And even then, it’s not about trashing the school or the game, it‘s about trashing the gives-trash-a-bad-name baseball stadium game venue for football.

There is nothing good about watching a football game in a stadium where the seats along the 50 yard line are angled way out away from the field. Or where the temporary turf keeps coming up and catching on player’s cleats.

It’s a cold, miserable, concrete prison environment where happiness goes to die and a cold, stale, tasteless, pretzel, that biodegrades slower than plastic, costs nearly as much as the surgery required to remove it from where it gets hopelessly stuck in your intestinal tract.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Nothing like having the owner of the bar you threw a part at the night before, when we went back following the game, coming up to you saying "Want me to get some strippers from down the street over here?" I should've responded with a resounding "YES" instead of "hmmmm....John O's business is on these t-shirts, probably a bad idea." So, instead, we got a couple of bartenders FROM the strip club sent over lol!!! (John later said to me, IIRC, "dude, are you an idiot, why didn't you get the strippers!!!" lolol!!!).

Easily the one bowl game LEAST attended by females (or at least the party) as that bar was "cock strong a block long" both nights lol!

 

[wheezer]

was a great bowl and a fun time.

We were down about 10 or so at the half

There was a NC state fan talking sh@t by the concession stands, to any RU fan that would listen
I also remember that one of the tv commentators ridiculed us pretty much also at the half
………and then we won

 

[LotusAggressor_rivals]

RU fans were really excited when we started going to bowl games starting in 2005. Toward the end of that bowl run, some fans not only complained about the bowl game Rutgers was going to but even trashed the game itself.

It's fine if you think Rutgers deserved better. But it's not acceptable to start trashing the school, the game and turning away from the game Rutgers did get invited to. I hope when Rutgers returns to consistent bowl status, the fans are as excited about whatever post season games we are playing.

I had to wait 27 years between Rutgers first and second bowls. Very happy that they started going consistently. There were times I thought they should have been invited to a higher status bowl. But I never trashed whatever game they did get invited to. Something to consider when the good times arrive again. And they will.

You don't know what you've got until it's gone.

 

[yesrutgers01]

I enjoyed that bowl trip- but the pep rally the previous night was weird how they had both schools at the same place, back to back.
The stadium itself was a dump and I remember they ran out of papa john pizza at the PJ Bowl before halftime. lol

My ranking of bowl enjoyment from a fan/family point of view from 05-09 was 1) Insight (our fanbase was crazy and had to be our biggest showing ever. 2) This one is a tie- Texas and St. Pete - In Texas- they really did everything right and was so easy to get to everything with the trolly. St. Pete - The hotel with players and player family- was great every single night. Seemed like the players were down in the bar with families more than I had ever remembered previously, and many of us- it was the end of a great 5 years together so it was almost like a final family reunion. Plus, the streets of St. Pete- covered in scarlet no matter where you went. 3) Toronto- great city and had such great weather 4) Mama- nice but didn't compare to the other trips- but it was a great game

 

[Proud NJ Sports Fan]

Is on now ! Not much of a crowd. This is formerly papa John’s bowl ; one of the top moments of Schiano 1.0 with the win over nc state in 2008 . Although the game is no longer at Legion Field.
That was fun second half of the year culminating in the win over nc state and knocking Wilson out of the game.
Yes , yearning for the days of the pizza bowl !

If Rutgers was playing in it , I’d make the 4 hour drive

 

[Knobby27]

We need a Jon Rhys Plumlee transfer QB soon. And perhaps another running QB with some moxy. GW will not be the answer in the coming year. We need competition and if he is not up to it, maybe his transferring is better for the program. I wish GW well and hope he makes a gigantic leap but too many doubts.

 

[wheezer]

I enjoyed that bowl trip- but the pep rally the previous night was weird how they had both schools at the same place, back to back.
The stadium itself was a dump and I remember they ran out of papa john pizza at the PJ Bowl before halftime. lol

My ranking of bowl enjoyment from a fan/family point of view from 05-09 was 1) Insight (our fanbase was crazy and had to be our biggest showing ever. 2) This one is a tie- Texas and St. Pete - In Texas- they really did everything right and was so easy to get to everything with the trolly. St. Pete - The hotel with players and player family- was great every single night. Seemed like the players were down in the bar with families more than I had ever remembered previously, and many of us- it was the end of a great 5 years together so it was almost like a final family reunion. Plus, the streets of St. Pete- covered in scarlet no matter where you went. 3) Toronto- great city and had such great weather 4) Mama- nice but didn't compare to the other trips- but it was a great game

The insight tailgate was off the charts

 

[mildone_rivals]

You don't know what you've got until it's gone.

Oh I don't know... there are bunches of things people know full-well what they've got and are always super glad when it's gone.

Such as: poop, vomit, STDs... stuff like that.

 

[Jumba72]

The Innisfree Pub was great but would've rocked with strippers. Wish I had time for Dreamland BBQ but I drove from Atlanta and back. It was fun going to a new city every year during our bowl run

 

[koleszar]

I agree with all that except insofar as the Pinstripe Bowl is concerned. And even then, it’s not about trashing the school or the game, it‘s about trashing the gives-trash-a-bad-name baseball stadium game venue for football.

There is nothing good about watching a football game in a stadium where the seats along the 50 yard line are angled way out away from the field. Or where the temporary turf keeps coming up and catching on player’s cleats.

It’s a cold, miserable, concrete prison environment where happiness goes to die and a cold, stale, tasteless, pretzel, that biodegrades slower than plastic, costs nearly as much as the surgery required to remove it from where it gets hopelessly stuck in your intestinal tract.

I know the venue absolutely sucked ***, but we had a ball with some arrogant Iowa St. fans. That 1st quarter was brutal, then we all of a sudden blew the doors open.

Worst game ever Russell Athletic, vs Virginia Tech. Miserable/boring and by the end VT fans and us both agreed, can't we just call it a tie and get the **** out of here. Had a lot of fun with those VT fans, end of overtime guy says to me, we won but in reality, I feel like I just lost 4 1/2 hours of my life.

 

[Knightmoves]

The insight tailgate was off the charts

That was the best tailgate party ever. And we competed well against ASU. Tony Soprano vs Jimmy Kimmel at the coin flip was also cool.

Pregame RU golf tourney and Nuts‘ parties the night before also rocked.

 

[JoeRU0304]

This was my 2nd bowl game (wife and I flew to Houston in '06) and it was right in the middle of gas prices bottoming out ($1.45 for regular at Amoco/BP), so my Dad, sister, brother and friend made the drive down 78/81 and stayed in the Hampton Inn in a suburb of Birmingham. It was a fantastic road trip and since we ended up winning, the 14 hour drive home pretty much flew by.

Joe P.

 

[Shelby65]

Agree about the Insight. Tremendous fun, and believe it or not Finkenstadt hooked up with Marley of the Zowie Bowie duo.

RutgersAl had a chance to leave with her until he got laughed out of the bar for insisting Schiano would win a national title at Rutgers within 5 years and eventually equal Bear Bryant’s stature in college football.

 

[mildone_rivals]

Agree about the Insight. Tremendous fun, and believe it or not Finkenstadt hooked up with Marley of the Zowie Bowie duo.

RutgersAl had a chance to leave with her until he got laughed out of the bar for insisting Schiano would win a national title at Rutgers within 5 years and eventually equal Bear Bryant’s stature.

Pics or it never happened.

 

[Plum Street]

I know the venue absolutely sucked ***, but we had a ball with some arrogant Iowa St. fans. That 1st quarter was brutal, then we all of a sudden blew the doors open.

Worst game ever Russell Athletic, vs Virginia Tech. Miserable/boring and by the end VT fans and us both agreed, can't we just call it a tie and get the **** out of here. Had a lot of fun with those VT fans, end of overtime guy says to me, we won but in reality, I feel like I just lost 4 1/2 hours of my life.

Flood! With an nfl secondary

 

[RU#1fan]

Nothing like having the owner of the bar you threw a part at the night before, when we went back following the game, coming up to you saying "Want me to get some strippers from down the street over here?" I should've responded with a resounding "YES" instead of "hmmmm....John O's business is on these t-shirts, probably a bad idea." So, instead, we got a couple of bartenders FROM the strip club sent over lol!!! (John later said to me, IIRC, "dude, are you an idiot, why didn't you get the strippers!!!" lolol!!!).

Easily the one bowl game LEAST attended by females (or at least the party) as that bar was "cock strong a block long" both nights lol!

Next time take the Strippers offer.

 

[NorthernKnight_rivals]

That was the best tailgate party ever. And we competed well against ASU. Tony Soprano vs Jimmy Kimmel at the coin flip was also cool.

Pregame RU golf tourney and Nuts‘ parties the night before also rocked.

Marley of Zowie Bowie. Who got her the shirt?

 

[yesrutgers01]

Agree about the Insight. Tremendous fun, and believe it or not Finkenstadt hooked up with Marley of the Zowie Bowie duo.

RutgersAl had a chance to leave with her until he got laughed out of the bar for insisting Schiano would win a national title at Rutgers within 5 years and eventually equal Bear Bryant’s stature in college football.

@rutgersal - you actually know Shelby?

 

[rutgersal_rivals139582]

@rutgersal - you actually know Shelby?

No, Shelby BSing as usual.

 

[Shelby65]

Maybe he was comparing to Bobby Bowden then, not Bryant. Not sure about that part of the memory at the RU fan event at the bar across the street from Sun Devil Stadium. Clear memory of Marley/Finkenstadt/Al that afternoon.

 

[yesrutgers01]

No, Shelby BSing as usual.

Thank you Al- you are always honest.

As for anything else “Shelby” hundreds of us know Al and know if nothing else, he is as honest as anyone you would ever know.

Shelby finally outed himself.

 

[Caliknight]

RU fans were really excited when we started going to bowl games starting in 2005. Toward the end of that bowl run, some fans not only complained about the bowl game Rutgers was going to but even trashed the game itself.

It's fine if you think Rutgers deserved better. But it's not acceptable to start trashing the school, the game and turning away from the game Rutgers did get invited to. I hope when Rutgers returns to consistent bowl status, the fans are as excited about whatever post season games we are playing.

I had to wait 27 years between Rutgers first and second bowls. Very happy that they started going consistently. There were times I thought they should have been invited to a higher status bowl. But I never trashed whatever game they did get invited to. Something to consider when the good times arrive again. And they will.

B1G bowl tie ins are way better. It’s all about the conference.

 

[Shelby65]

Al-

Define honest, please. Recall and reality are often different.

Were you there ? Was Marley there ? Was Finkenstadt there ? Was it across the street from the stadium ? Was it an afternoon RU party ?