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If you're going after my Rutgers, you better be right! Or start running!

Opinions are great. And you know the old saying. Opinions are like a__holes....everybody has one and they usually stink.

By rvc73
Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

I don't think anyone who reads On the Banks can honestly say we are unbridled "homers".  We've written more than our share of critical posts on any number of topics from facilities to coaching to Eddie Jordan to facilities to money woes to leadership.  We may be fans but we ain't blind.

And as fans -- and for many of us as alums -- we can get a little defensive when someone blindly, obnoxiously, and unfairly attacks Rutgers.  That's human nature.

So, it was only natural that I read with a rather critical eye another column by the same Gannett/myCentralJersey.com columnist who attacked Rutgers, and specifically Rutgers athletics, earlier this year.  It was the same guy we "critiqued" back in January.  He's b-a-a-ack.

Let's be clear: it was a "column", which meant it was opinion.  And you know from the teaser above about opinions. The title of the column was Rutgers urgently needs to make significant changes. That sounds ominous.  Is Rutgers hiding mass murderers in the basement of Old Queens? (assuming the building has a basement).  Does it have some deep dark secret going back to the McCarthy era?  That headline should portend great news.

His point - I'm sure there's one in there somewhere - was that Rutgers sucks.  Or is bad at stuff.  Or needs to do something to make things or itself or Starfleet better.  It's really hard to figure out from his writing.

I wasn't going to respond.  Really, I wasn't.  But when I went back to look at some of the tweets I wrote about the column, I found this:

He can say what he wants, but don't disagree with him.  He's a columnist, who should be looking for readers; he should want interaction.....and he blocked me.  Wow!  So, I guess he can dish it out but he can't take it.  I wonder if his bosses know about this?  Don't worry...I told them.

So, in this latest column - I won't link it because he doesn't deserve the clicks - his point was....uhh, he must have had a point, right?  Guess, though, that I wasn't the only one who couldn't find it.

Okay, so let's assume that his point was that Rutgers needs to cultivate relationships with schools in New Jersey.  If you read the column (I don't recommend it), you have to get through the following before his "point" is made:

Let's begin with the top. President Robert Barchi should be nicknamed "After Aleksei," since his ability to skate out of any university scandal unscathed is a better performance than Aleksei Yagudin of Russia skating to Winter by Bond at the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.

I'm not sure what to say to that.  Aleksei Yagudin...really?  So, he doesn't like Barchi (we haven't been too fond of him either) and wants him fired.  The guy has been president of the university for almost four years, has a little more than a year to go on his contract.  Now, you want him fired?  Welcome to the party, Jay.

Barchi must go. He is incapable of providing effective leadership.

Of course, he ignores the med school merger and Barchi's very decisive "leadership" in firing Flood and Hermann, and then hiring Hobbs.  Details, details, details.

Let's get some things straight: Rutgers' entry into the Big Ten Conference is a flat-out bust. Rutgers cannot compete.

He spends about a quarter of his column recounting the failures of football, men's basketball, and the sub-standard showing of the women's basketball team.  Not a shock there.  But to that I reply:

Facts are irrelevant when you're trying to make your opinion sound authoritative....if not correct.

Rutgers athletics never will climb to even average level until it has nicer facilities, better coaches, safer campus life, a better campus environment, administrators of a much higher talent level and support from the community at large.

The guy is a sports management genius!  Those points have never been raised by....by....wait.  I think I have read the stuff about coaching and facilities and administrators....uhh, where have I read that?  Oh, wait....here!  At On the Banks.  And a lot of other media outlets.

As for "safer campus life, a better campus environment", I'd like to hear some solutions.  I'd like to first hear about the problems - perhaps some details and facts - and not just broad stroke comments without support.

He states we'll get better in athletics by (again) getting a "better campus environment" - where's the solution, Jay?  For that matter, where's the issue?  Any details?   And by having a "safer campus life" - again, no solution (or facts) offered.  Not even data to show whether he's right.  "Support from community at large" - yes, he does talk about that.  What does he finally say as a "solution" to the rather nebulous question?

Instead of overcharging high schools to use facilities, why not embrace the New Jersey preparatory community and become a partner in the development of New Jersey students and New Jersey student-athletes? Why not sponsor free camps, free symposiums, volunteer projects with the students and student athletes that result in better relationships. Rutgers' students and student athletes can help with the education of primary and secondary students and gain college credit. This almost certainly would build a loyalty of many Jersey students and student-athletes to Rutgers. And improvement of Rutgers, both in academic and athletic perfomrance [sic] should start with keeping New Jersey's best and brightest at home.

Does this guy do any homework?  Apparently not if it counters his beliefs.  And I won't even go near the NCAA violations he's probably suggesting with "free" stuff to high school kids.  In regard to  "volunteer projects with the students and student athletes that result in better relationships", all he has tho do is look at the Rutgers Leadership Academy to see how Rutgers athletes do outreach in the community.  Or perhaps the general University outreach programs.  Or educational programs.  Or getting students involved in their community. Or leadership programs.  That would have taken effort...like the two minutes I took to find those links.

"Free camps, free symposiums"  Well, that would be nice, but there ain't no free lunch. We want better coaches and better facilities and a safer campus and a better environment.  And I'm guessing he must feel that all of that can be accomplished and paid for by saving cereal box tops. Good thing he writes columns off the top of his head because he's no economist or accountant.

Look, the guy is entitled to his opinion.  He's entitled to be wrong, self-centered, arrogant, and misguided.  All of which he is.  But he isn't entitled to my time or effort reading his drivel.  So, even if someone begs me to counter his next inane column, I won't.

I'm smarter now.  I'm blocking him from my world.