Sarah's Thoughts
Maryland Is a Better Sports School than Tennessee!
The annual rankings from The Princeton Review came out today. And, Mountaineers, let me share something before you get all excited about your Number One Party School ranking. These rankings make no sense at all. I’m a huge Terps fan! My alma mater knows how to turn out the crowds for basketball and lacrosse. My most memorable basketball experience at Maryland was our amazing comeback win against #1 ranked North Carolina in 1995. Cole Field House was packed to the rafters and the sound was deafening. We can even get a bit rowdy during big football games (more so since I’ve graduated and we’ve actually had mild football success). But, I’m not sure how this happened:
Students Pack the Stadiums: How Popular are Intercollegiate Sports?
1. University of Maryland — College Park
2. University of Notre Dame
3. University of Florida
4. West Virginia University
5. University of Georgia
6. Penn State University
7. University of Michigan — Ann Arbor
8. University of Southern California
9. Gonzaga University
10. University of Tennessee — Knoxville
I appreciate the fact that the rankings obviously look beyond football, but some of these schools (like Florida) seem to go all out whenever there is a ball in motion on any type of field or court. What kind of research was used to make this list?
August 22nd, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Yep, but on the Princeton Review’s list of top party colleges UT Knoxville is #16 whereas that turtle school is only #20.
August 24th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Dear Ms. Moore,
Long time reader, first time commenter (at least one of those is true). I don’t know when you were at Maryland, but when I was a student in College Park, there weren’t any crowds at all for the football games. I believe I had an entire row of the bleachers to myself on more than one Saturday. The combined 19-36 record during my tenure (I was in the exclusive 5 year program) may have had something to do with that. Losing 70-7 to Penn State did not, in my estimation, help.
I do, however, agree with you on that Carolina game. The boys were down 14 in the first half, but made a terrific come back. I think they still sell posters of that game in the book store. In trying to find the final score, I was amazed (maybe I shouldn’t have been) that the end of the game is on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5s_9TgJrAs
The best part is Deano waving off fouls — not something I can imagine Coach Gary (who looks awfully young) ever doing. Also amusing are the ridiculously tight shorts the players are sporting.
As for the “rankings,” I’m pretty sure these things are just based on surveys filled out by students. This list was based on “How popular are intercollegiate sports?”, which you could answer “Seriously important” even if you’ve never been to a game. For what it’s worth, your alma mater was ranked #2 in “Their Students (Almost) Never Study” by PR and #1 (can I getta ‘Go Terps!’) by High Times in their list of stoner schools:
http://www.hightimes.com/ht/entertainment/content.php?bid=976&aid=24
Not that I’m drawing any connections.
Cheers,
Sudeep
August 28th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Hi, Sudeep! I’m glad to see you’ve found the blog! I agree that there were no crowds in the stands during our days at our shared alma mater. I’m just referring to the appearance of an active fan base that I appear to see on TV every once in a while these days. That 70-7 loss to Penn State was the first game I attended as a freshman. I decided to head over in the second quarter, pick up a free student ticket and check out the scene. Not so pretty.
I am endlessly proud that we ranked #1 stoner school in High Times. Takes me back to the Run DMC concert on McKeldin lawn during our senior year. I did not partake, but the second-hand smoke was quite thick and pungent.
Hope to see you next time I’m back in MD!