The CORTACA JUG Runneth Over

Fans Run Wild At The Cortaca Jug
Originally uploaded by RLabay.

(From Newsweek -- By Alex de los Rios)

[The ITHACA vs. SUNY-CORTLAND FOOTBALL GAME is "THE BIGGEST, LITTLE GAME IN THE COUNTRY." ALEX De LOS RIOS tells us how it's ruining school spirit and how fan's enthusiasm is spoiling the game.]

All my life I thought I was going to THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND. Living 15 minutes from COLLEGE PARK, I grew up worshipping TERRAPIN BASKETBALL. But in my senior year, I realized I had to choose a school for more than just MARCH MADNESS.

I decided on ITHACA, exchanging a DIVISION I TEAM for the college that was the basis for the movie ROAD TRIP. Then, during my campus tour, something caught my eye -- or rather, my ear. Several students were running around campus screaming.

"Oh, don't worry about them," our tour guide said, almost proudly.
"It's THE CORTACA JUG today."

THE JUG, she explained, is the yearly football contest held by ITHACA COLLEGE and SUNY-CORTLAND, two DIVISION III SCHOOLS from CENTRAL NEW YORK. It's the biggest game of the year, drawing the largest crowds in the state short of THE CARRIER DOME. And SPORTS ILLUSTRATED dubbed it "THE BIGGEST, LITTLE GAME IN THE COUNTRY."

Plenty of college athletic rivalries have become tradition -- OHIO STATE VS. MICHIGAN, VIRGINIA VS. VIRGINIA TECH. These schools all have something to fight about -- DIVISION I ATHLETICS BRAGGING RIGHTS. ITHACA COLLEGE and SUNY-CORTLAND, on the other hand, are just looking for something to CELEBRATE.

That very same night, I went to several post-game parties and heard current students rave about the greatness of the game, how much CORTLAND sucks, and how, if I had no other reason to go to ITHACA,
I had THE CORTACA JUG. That was all I needed to hear. Or so I thought.

After two years, I have yet to see "THE BIGGEST, LITTLE GAME IN THE COUNTRY." I've been to THE CORTACA JUG, but what I've seen is not at all what I expected. From what I remember, my freshman year JUG was exciting, had big plays and came down to the final field goal. But a day later, I was hard pressed to find someone who could remember the final score, but I could easily tally who won the fights in the parking lot after the game.

Unfortunately, for the past few years, FAN BEHAVIOR has stolen the spotlight from the game. The problem got so bad that both college presidents demanded that A CORTACA JUG TASK FORCE should be established to confront the issue.

BRIAN McAREE, ITHACA's Vice President of Student Affairs said the goal is simple -- "We are attempting to change the culture that exists between our two institutions."

So why do we care?

The problem is that my experiences at ITHACA are eerily similar to those
I had growing up near COLLEGE PARK.

At ITHACA, I learned that CORTACA JUG meant getting drunk, getting rowdy and hating CORTLAND. When I visited MARYLAND, a guy in a DUKE T-shirt was greeted with cold stares and taunts from tour groups.

Before my freshman JUG GAME, I heard the war stories of ITHACA STUDENTS rushing the old CORTLAND in 2002 [I was there in 2002! I directed that game on television. What a scene!]. As a high school student, I witnessed the infamous COLLEGE PARK RIOTS after JUAN DIXON led the TERPS to
A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP that same year.

Legend has it that it was a drunk kid named "FEESH" who knocked over the chain link fence next to CORTLAND's FIELD, giving way to the mob, rather than an irate fan. And MARYLAND students also riot after DUKE games, win or lose.

It'd be great to say that it's all in the name of sports, but then you'd be forgetting that all the big game riots and celebrations take place regardless of what is actually happening on the field.

Thankfully, things are improving.

Last year the only incident at THE JUG was CORTLAND's HOME CROWD leaving during halftime of a 23-10 game. A considerable step up from a tear gas melee.

MARYLAND STUDENTS also got together in the wake of THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP and put an end to their destructive ways.

But in the end the question remains -- is anyone actually following the games?

I attended the first two CORTACA JUG TASK FORCE MEETINGS along with some 30 representatives from ITHACA and SUNY-CORTLAND. After about 2 hours of dicussion, one of the main conclusions we came to was that students at both colleges simply DON'T CARE ABOUT THEIR SPORTS TEAMS. [Umm, I don't think so buddy.] The reason they get so rowdy at THE CORTACA JUG is that it's the big game of the year and they don't know any other way to "CELEBRATE."

Unfortunately, the same thinking applies to DIVISION I SCHOOLS.

DIVISION I SPORTS TEAMS have become the face of their respective schools, and not in a good way. Athletes are touted, praised, recruited and then segregated from the student body. Big time athletes provide big time entertainment and mass distraction. There's a game every weekend, but students seem to forget that they're paying $20,000 for football and basketball tickets, not for tailgating. The biggest reason to go buck-wild for your team is the chance you might make a three-second clip on ESPN's SPORTSCENTER.

DIVISION III SCHOOLS are a slightly different case.

ITHACA prides itself on a successful athletic tradition, but THE BOMBERS are not the face of the college. The school's longest tradition, THE JUG, however, can not diasassociate itself from wildness and partying.

COLLEGE SPORTS have been ruined because now they remind students less of RUDY and more of OLD SCHOOL. The way the NCAA is set up with corporate sponsorships, sports in all three DIVISIONS become branded spectacles officially and unofficially sponsored by fat beer, tall beer and twins.

SPORTS TRADITIONS, in turn, suffer.

ITHACA STUDENTS know they hate CORTLAND, but they don't even realize that the schools aren't in the same DIVISION or that it was two friends who went to each school who started the game. And it was only last year that I learned GARY WILLIAMS started the MARYLAND/DUKE RIVALRY to save his floundering program.

We are going in the right direction and ending the mindless riots has been a successful first step. Now it's time for students, administrators and the NCAA as a whole to refocus WHY WE ROOT FOR COLLEGE SPORTS.

Just imagine ITHACA's BUTTERFIELD STADIUM or MARYLAND's COMCAST ARENA packed to the brim with fans that know every nuance of their team and hang on to the game, not their beers, like it was life and death.

Wouldn't that be worth celebrating?

[Like I mentioned above, I was there in 1992 at CORTLAND directing LIVE television coverage of THE CORTACA JUG. BILL SMALLFIELD was there too -- he was my TD. It got heated, especially towards the fourth quarter. But what big game in any sport doesn't bring the tension and heated feelings of sportmanship? Think YANKEES/RED SOX -- that's how this ITHACA/CORTLAND rivalry is felt in CENTRAL NEW YORK. As I remember it though, it was THE CORTLAND FANS who started the fighting against THE ITHACA STUDENTS. The CORTLAND FANS jumped on top of our TV PRODUCTION TRUCK and were urinating off the sides. DON RYAN (our EIC) went crazy. It took them hours to clear the fans from the stadium and for us to strike. I still lost some cables and barrel connectors there I will never find again. Over the four years I covered THE CORTACA JUG while at ITHACA COLLEGE, I never saw it even close to how the author portrays this event. Oh well, maybe we need to do an ESPN SPORTCENTURY on THE CORTACA JUG, eh? Either that or an ESPN CLASSIC THE TOP FIVE REASONS YOU CAN'T BLAME FAN ENTHUSIASM FOR SPOILING THE CORTACA JUG show. I can see the ratings leaping forward now. MIRIAM GREENFIELD, get on that! By the way, I AM available for interview. Below are some other comments from my fellow classmates on this NEWSWEEK article.]

[Looks like our beloved CORTACA JUG GAME is now being likened to rioting in the streets of MARYLAND. Very sad. NEWSWEEK lost any hope of me getting a subscription.]

[Hey, we've all done some 9 am drinking before, during, after A JUG GAME, but I think a few random fights over the years are a FAR cry from overturning cars and setting them on fire.]

[Not only do I disagree with the tone/theme presented here, I think it's kind of poorly written too.]

[Look at the kid that is quoted in the article -- typical extreme "righteous" liberal. He has obviously has never left his insulated world and visit the real world or for that matter been to a YANKEES, METS, GIANTS, RANGERS or other professional sports event. There are fights all the time and people drink. Those acts of a handful of people do not mean that everyone who attends those events are thugs and/or drunks. If someone wants to ponder the nuances of the game they become a coach. If they are fans they buy tickets, merchandise and get rowdy (aka excited) about their teams. Hence the title FAN -- drawn from FANATIC. Maybe the writer and the quoted student should get a little real life experience before speaking about things he appears to know little about. ITHACA is becoming PCU -- PATHETIC.]

Sarah Nix, thanks for the post.