The Knights Watchman

http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index.ssf/2009/07/rutgers_announces_partial_seas.html First reported by the Bergen Record, the Star-Ledger has posted the above article about Rutgers now selling the partial season ticket package due to slower than expected ticket sales. I was among the supporters of the stadium expansion due to the number of names on the season ticket waiting list. However, the past year has made a huge difference in the economy and disposable income of most people in the state. I think as of yesterday, the state unemployment was at 9.2 percent according to a graphic on News 12 New Jersey. So, I'm not surprised thousands of people decided that discretion was the better part of valor when it came to taking the plunge on the season tickets. If the new seats are only 35 percent filled, I'm all for selling partial plans, especially the Knight Pack, which is all of the Big East home games. The odds that even the season ticket holders are going to show up for some ...

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-14/1247543940114240.xml&coll=1 According to The Star-Ledger, private donors have come forth to fund a 5 million dollar recruiting lounge for Rutgers athletics. Originally part of the stadium expansion, the lounge was cut in a cost-saving measure once the building costs spiraled. The private funding should silence most of the critics, although it's mentioned that one of the benefactors is remaining anonymous. From my standpoint, the lounge could be the difference in making a solid first impression on a recruit. I've never been in the canopy recruiting tent that's park outside of Rutgers Stadium each game, but it does give off a bit of an amateurish vibe. Having a state-of-the art lounge will go a long way in creating a wow factor that will let recruits know that Rutgers is playing with the big boys now.

Click on the title above to read an in-depth article about former Rutgers tight end Kevin Brock and how he's trying to stick with the Carolina Panthers. Brock's size and athletic ability give him the chance to make the Panthers roster. What he needed to work on was his route running and being more surehanded. As mentioned in the article, Brock took awhile to develop physically and is probably yet to peak. The Panthers have a chance to develop a solid player at a bargain.

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20090707/SPORTS01/307079958/-1/SPORTS A local Watertown , New York, newspaper has posted this article about this years Leonard Camp, hosted by...you guessed it, Brian Leonard. It's a nice article about Leonard, who emphasizes that at his camp he actually shows up and interacts with and teaches the kids. I'm really pulling for Leonard this year and I believe the move to the Bengals will be good for him. Carson Palmer is healthy, and he seems like the type of quarterback who would love a tailback/fullback like Leonard catching passes out of the backfield.

Rutgers has announced it'll be playing a home and home series against the UCLA Bruins starting in 2016. That seems like forever and a day, but in reality, this is how far in advance most big-time college football programs are booked. I've been impressed with Tim Pernetti's ability to bring in significant future opponents. It will benefit the Rutgers football progam, the Big East Conference, and most of all, the fans in the long run. He knows that there will come a time when in serves no purpose to beat up on a midlevel Championship Subdivision School.

Nice to see that former RU QB Corey Valentine is moving up the coaching ranks, taking the head job at Globe Institute of Technology. A once highly-touted recruit, Valentine never found a good opportunity at the Division I level. http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/high_school/2009/06/29/2009-06-29_former_lincoln_qb_corey_valentine.html?page=0

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090630/SPORTS0203/906300383/1361/Penn-State-ranked-No.-2-for-worst-non-conference-football-schedule The above article from The Detroit News picks apart arguably the ten worst non-conference schedules in the country among BCS teams for the upcoming 2009 season. They've penciled in Rutgers as having the third softest schedule in the country behind Mississippi and Penn State. Sadly, I have to agree, seeing that Maryland is the only significant opponent on the list. Fortunately, RU is the only Big East school in the article's rankings. The key will be for Rutgers to both win the conference and hope that its conference foes beat some quality opponents. Otherwise, Rutgers will run the risk of having a high winning percentage but still finding itself in a very low-profile bowl.

So, former Rutgers QB Ryan Hart has followed in the cleat divots of former QB Brian Fortay and has filed a seemingly unwinnable lawsuit against EA Sports for using his likeness without permission. Joining Hart is former Jets QB and University of Cal alum Troy Taylor. It seems to me that EA Sports and their competitors would have gone to great lengths to ensure they were within their legal right to portray these characters as they have. Also, I find it strange that after producing games depicting college athletes for over a decade, this is the first I've heard of any type of lawsuit against one of the gaming companies. In Hart's defense, it always seemed a little strange to me that the video game companies were able to circumvent likeness laws simply because they don't actually print the players names. It also seems a little shameless that the NCAA would allow its athletes to be portrayed in such a way without compensation . To me, that's actually the larger issue. Unp...