April 26. Let's hope for nice weather. After all, it's Rutgers Day on campus and there are scores of great activities for you and your family to take part in.
And there's Rutgers' first spring game as a soon-to-be member of the Big Ten. Will you be there? The Big Ten Network will -- and they'll be giving out free T-shirts. And the women's basketball team - the WNIT Champions - will be honored at halftime. You can even take photos with the championship trophy outside the stadium on the North Plaza from 3-3:45 pm. And if you're not into Rutgers Day, there are football/athletics/charity events at the stadium beginning at 10:30 in the morning.
SB Nation's Peter Volk had a post on attendance at spring games, and Testudo Times ran the headline about how their attendance put them in the middle of the B1G pack. The Terps had 8,319 at their game. And spring game attendance is a big deal to a lot of schools. Boys and girls, welcome to the B1G time.
Personally, I'm surprised at the relatively low figures for some B1G schools. Wisconsin had 8200, Purdue 7175, Illinois 5105, Minnesota 5000. Yes, TSIP had 72,000, tops in the nation. And the Huskers had over 61,000. That isn't happening in Piscataway. But, why not 10-15,000? We've had even more at previous spring games. What are you and your friends and family doing that day? Saturday, April 26, 4:00 pm. Go to Rutgers Day activities - they end at 4. Or go to the Spring game events beginning at 10:30 am. Then get over to the Point and watch some football. It's a free event!! It's the beginning of a very exciting time in Rutgers athletic history -- be there!