I disagree ... at least to the extent that you're talking about football- they are terrible because of their location. Who wants to watch Rutgers athletics when you can watch NYC pro teams?
Cow colleges are good at football because there is *nothing* else to do, so the students, alumni, and locals care about football. Most of the Rutgers grads that I know don't know what conference Rutgers is in.
Are you implying that the Detroit Lions, Cincy Bengals, Cleveland Browns and all the pro football teams in Iowa, Nebraska, Indiana, et al are not as interesting as the Pats, Giants, Jets?, Eagles, Ravens ... never mind, point taken.
You are on the mark, there was NOTHING else in times past and even where they have something now, it generally is not as exciting a product as the college teams. Furthermore, since many people either attended, had family that attended or friends that attended, they are emotionally invested, if not financially, in these schools; whereas cheering on a pro team that is made of overpaid players, overpaid coaches, and team owners with no ties to a locale may be fun, but it certainly lacks the close ties colleges have.
Besides. Rutgers has 150+ years of providing poor sports products, why would anyone invest in them now?
