why not.....
also, best unis we ever had
2005 Insight Bowl Arizona State vs Rutgers No Huddle - YouTube
also, best unis we ever had
2005 Insight Bowl Arizona State vs Rutgers No Huddle - YouTube
Insight Bowl
- Thread starter RUTGERS95
- Start date
With how everything has changed in today's college game, I don't think we'll ever have the same connection to a team like we did back in those years. I will never forget the crowd chanting at the end showing our appreciation to the team for ending the bowl drought.
was spectacular!!!!!
awesome pre-game too. I think nuts actually organized that. band was zoey bowie I believe?
Jimmy Kimmel and James Gandolfini were honorary captains, if I remember correctly.
Some people would say outside of the birth of their children, it was the best day ever. I say it was the best day ever with no qualifications, and I have two kids, lol.
The bowl game in Arizona was amazing. Our first year with the team and we just assumed this was pretty normal. lol Loved all of the bowls we attended but this one was amazing.
The only complaint I ever had with our bowl games- The Rutgers Offices really did nothing to assist with fans traveling to these games and were always so unorganized.
As family, we were given no information and being our first year, we didn't know who to reach out to. We had to try to figure our the Hotel the players would be at on our own. And when we booked the hotel that told us the team was staying there, we were so excited until we found out that the other team was staying there, not Rutgers. On subsequent bowls- we knew to call Greg's assistant directly and she was always so helpful. But- the school itself- had nothing organized for the player families once you get there. And it would piss the player families off when we saw organized events and travel for the coach's and Rutger's administrative families.
The only complaint I ever had with our bowl games- The Rutgers Offices really did nothing to assist with fans traveling to these games and were always so unorganized.
As family, we were given no information and being our first year, we didn't know who to reach out to. We had to try to figure our the Hotel the players would be at on our own. And when we booked the hotel that told us the team was staying there, we were so excited until we found out that the other team was staying there, not Rutgers. On subsequent bowls- we knew to call Greg's assistant directly and she was always so helpful. But- the school itself- had nothing organized for the player families once you get there. And it would piss the player families off when we saw organized events and travel for the coach's and Rutger's administrative families.
Youre right. Ive gone to many subsequent bowls but that first one was just different. That team was special and loaded with some NFL guys. On the personal side I was in my mid 20s having the time of my life back then and that team just added to the fun. My buddy and I flew to Vegas and did the drive to the bowl in AZ and back. Great times despite the loss
I get on the elevator with three college kids wearing “I am RutgersAl” T Shirts, and I had no idea what to say. So I said nothing. They had no idea.
Star Ledger Greasy Tony article 2005 ( Insight Bowl get together at Greasy Tony's in Tempe)
Knights fans still an chew at Greasy Tony's
By KEVIN MANAHAN
STAR-LEDGER STAFF - TEMPE, Ariz.
They recalled him from a time when their cholesterol counts were higher
than their SAT scores. As Rutgers students, they would stagger into his
joint on the corner of Easton Avenue and Somerset Street, usually drunk
from a fraternity party, and order from a menu that should have
contained a warning from the surgeon general.
That was decades ago. These days, Tony Giorgianni, the 75-year-old owner
of Greasy Tony's Steak House, has relocated to the corner of East
University Drive and Rural Road, here on the edge of the Arizona State
University campus. And he has taken every single gram of fat with him.
Yesterday, more than a dozen Rutgers football fans, in town for
tonight's Insight Bowl, had lunch at the joint that got them through
college, and it was exactly how they remembered it: the elfin owner, the
hole-in-the-wall atmosphere, the drippy food and, of course, the motto:
"No charge for the extra grease."
In a strange coincidence, their favorite college hangout from yesteryear
is now in the West, just a long field goal from Chase Field, where
Rutgers will play its first bowl game in 27 years, against Arizona
State. For two hours yesterday, the Scarlet Appetites scarfed down
cheese steak and pizza, guzzled beer and relived old times.
"How good is this?" alumnus and Metuchen resident Erik Dienemann said.
"Greasy Tony's is here. Rutgers is in a bowl game here. You can't make
this up."
When The Star-Ledger had arrived at the next-to-last stop on its road
trip, Dienemann and Paul Piniero, Jersey guys and RU grads, were sitting
outside by the Greasy Tony's sign, waiting for their cab. They had come
straight from the airport, wolfed down a couple of soaked cheese steak
subs and were headed to the hotel. When they heard more RU fans were on
the way, they slipped the cabby a few bucks and stayed.
They pointed out the owner.
Giorgianni stands about 5-3, with wispy hair that's a mix of brown and
gray. In Rutgers history, he is an icon. His fast-food restaurant hopped
from one corner of the intersection to another during his 30 years in
New Brunswick until he was forced out in the early 1990s, when his lot
was claimed by eminent domain and a university complex was built.
Giorgianni moved his business to Tempe. Why Tempe? Well, one day as he
was driving through the college town, the engine on his new car seized.
During his weeklong wait for the repair, he craved a cheese steak, so he
went into a local joint and ordered one. He took a bite. Then spit it
out.
"You call this cheese steak?" he asked the owner. "I'll show you cheese
steak."
Greasy Tony's, the western bureau, was created. He also opened a place
in Tucson.
Local food critics have raved about the place in Tempe. Each year it is
listed among the top 10 late-night restaurants in the Phoenix area. But,
as the food critic from the Phoenix New Times found out, it's a place
for fearless eaters.
He tried to order pizza with pineapple.
"We don't serve girlie pizza," Giorgianni told him.
They don't serve girlie anything. Way back when, the Trash Can put
Greasy Tony's on the map - a laminated map, of course. It's an aptly
named sub of steak, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, hot peppers,
onions and mushrooms, all shoveled into a roll. You have to eat it fast,
because the grease dissolves the bread like acid on plastic.
"Mmmm," said Rob Ettenson, Class of '81, as he crammed one into his
face.
Then there's the weight lifter special: turkey, ham, pepperoni, salami,
bologna, roast beef, chicken and provolone.
"You might as well put a cow between two pieces of bread," RU alumnus
Joel Potter said.
The decor is "Sanford and Son." There are photos on the wall of Albert
Einstein, Bruce Willis, Laurel and Hardy, Humphrey Bogart and the Three
Stooges. Why? Because Tony likes 'em, that's why. Bulletin boards
scattered on the wall contain montages of cut-up photos, mostly smiling
customers. Neon beer signs hang here and there. The floor is red and
black tile. There are five booths, two tables. Not much of the furniture
matches.
There's a TV. It was showing "Springer." A small audience was huddled
around it.
Because there's a sign that says "Cash only," there's an ATM - right
next to the old-fashioned bubble gum machines that dispense 50-cent
tattoos. You can play Street Fighter, an arcade video game from, oh, the
Reagan administration.
Ettenson, editor of Inside Santa Fe magazine, stumbled onto the place
nine years ago when he was driving through the area on business. He saw
the sign and thought, "Nah, it couldn't be." He went inside and asked.
Holy hoagie, Batman! He had rediscovered a piece of his youth, even if
his recollections were blurred.
"I spent a lot of time at Greasy Tony's," he said. "But most of it was
at 2 a.m. when I was drunk. I don't remember."
He remembered this, however: A Theta Chi frat brother once tried to
bring home a Trash Can at 2 a.m. one weekend night, but by the time he
reached the frat house, the grease had soaked through the wrapper. The
sandwich tumbled to the floor.
"But he scooped up the scraps and ate it anyway," Ettenson said.
Potter, who spent two years at graduate school at the Livingston campus,
lives in San Diego. He drove through the night for the Greasy Tony's
reunion. He almost didn't make it. A flat tire left him stranded. With
the coyotes howling, he called the road service.
"What town are you in, sir?" the woman asked.
"I'm not in a town," he said. "I'm in the desert. Hurry!"
Turns out, he was 80 miles from Buckeye, Ariz. - site of the nearest
service station. But the tow-truck driver arrived in 45 minutes. Last
time someone moved that fast, he was on his way to the bathroom after
one of Tony's Jackpots - steak, sausage, pepperoni, onions, salami,
Cotto salami (because one kind of salami isn't enough), spiced ham, bell
peppers, mushrooms and provolone.
Steve Tracey, a Bridgewater resident and '78 graduate, told a story
about a stabbing at Greasy Tony's in 1975. But he made it clear: If the
food couldn't scare him away, an assault with a deadly weapon certainly
wouldn't.
Suddenly, the room went dark. Carl Schwartz, a walking eclipse at 6-6
and 250 pounds, was in the doorway. The man from Marlboro gave Tony a
bearhug.
"You're the reason I'm this big," Schwartz said.
Somebody asked: This big (with a hand indicating height) or this big
(with a hand estimating girth)? The place broke up.
"Both," Schwartz said.
Actually, Schwartz is an amazing specimen. He is 50 but looks 40, thanks
to clean living and about 40 vitamins a day for 40 years. Vitamin C.
Vitamin D. Vitamin E. You name it. He can have the cheese steak. It's
okay. He has built up enough immunity.
Jim Moran, a sheet metal worker, isn't a Rutgers graduate, just a fan.
He moved here from Maplewood 33 years ago, and became a Rutgers
supporter just to defend New Jersey's honor in the West. He had to take
abuse when Arizona State whipped the Scarlet Knights in the 1978 Garden
State Bowl.
"It was only $5 here and $10 there, but I lost money to everybody,"
Moran said. "All I've been doing for 27 years is waiting for the
rematch. I'm going to get my money back this time."
Most of these guys - members of the Scarlet National Internet message
board - had never met each other. So, one by one, as they arrived, it
was like an AOL chat room party. They introduced themselves by their
message-board names: "Hi, I'm FanDiego," or Madhat, or Santa Fe Scarlet,
or RC78Fan.
Before long, Giorgianni broke out the black-and-white photos from the
old days. There was a lot of howling as everyone looked at the crazy
clothing and the long hair and identified some of the faces. When they
were stuffed and their faces hurt from all of the chewing and laughing,
it was time to go. Little by little, the party dissolved.
Schwartz and his son were the last to leave. That's because 19-year-old
Neil, with the metabolism of a jackhammer, was working on his second
Trash Can. As the kid stuffed the sandwich into his pie hole, the old
man smiled.
"It's the passing of the baton," he said.
Knights fans still an chew at Greasy Tony's
By KEVIN MANAHAN
STAR-LEDGER STAFF - TEMPE, Ariz.
They recalled him from a time when their cholesterol counts were higher
than their SAT scores. As Rutgers students, they would stagger into his
joint on the corner of Easton Avenue and Somerset Street, usually drunk
from a fraternity party, and order from a menu that should have
contained a warning from the surgeon general.
That was decades ago. These days, Tony Giorgianni, the 75-year-old owner
of Greasy Tony's Steak House, has relocated to the corner of East
University Drive and Rural Road, here on the edge of the Arizona State
University campus. And he has taken every single gram of fat with him.
Yesterday, more than a dozen Rutgers football fans, in town for
tonight's Insight Bowl, had lunch at the joint that got them through
college, and it was exactly how they remembered it: the elfin owner, the
hole-in-the-wall atmosphere, the drippy food and, of course, the motto:
"No charge for the extra grease."
In a strange coincidence, their favorite college hangout from yesteryear
is now in the West, just a long field goal from Chase Field, where
Rutgers will play its first bowl game in 27 years, against Arizona
State. For two hours yesterday, the Scarlet Appetites scarfed down
cheese steak and pizza, guzzled beer and relived old times.
"How good is this?" alumnus and Metuchen resident Erik Dienemann said.
"Greasy Tony's is here. Rutgers is in a bowl game here. You can't make
this up."
When The Star-Ledger had arrived at the next-to-last stop on its road
trip, Dienemann and Paul Piniero, Jersey guys and RU grads, were sitting
outside by the Greasy Tony's sign, waiting for their cab. They had come
straight from the airport, wolfed down a couple of soaked cheese steak
subs and were headed to the hotel. When they heard more RU fans were on
the way, they slipped the cabby a few bucks and stayed.
They pointed out the owner.
Giorgianni stands about 5-3, with wispy hair that's a mix of brown and
gray. In Rutgers history, he is an icon. His fast-food restaurant hopped
from one corner of the intersection to another during his 30 years in
New Brunswick until he was forced out in the early 1990s, when his lot
was claimed by eminent domain and a university complex was built.
Giorgianni moved his business to Tempe. Why Tempe? Well, one day as he
was driving through the college town, the engine on his new car seized.
During his weeklong wait for the repair, he craved a cheese steak, so he
went into a local joint and ordered one. He took a bite. Then spit it
out.
"You call this cheese steak?" he asked the owner. "I'll show you cheese
steak."
Greasy Tony's, the western bureau, was created. He also opened a place
in Tucson.
Local food critics have raved about the place in Tempe. Each year it is
listed among the top 10 late-night restaurants in the Phoenix area. But,
as the food critic from the Phoenix New Times found out, it's a place
for fearless eaters.
He tried to order pizza with pineapple.
"We don't serve girlie pizza," Giorgianni told him.
They don't serve girlie anything. Way back when, the Trash Can put
Greasy Tony's on the map - a laminated map, of course. It's an aptly
named sub of steak, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, hot peppers,
onions and mushrooms, all shoveled into a roll. You have to eat it fast,
because the grease dissolves the bread like acid on plastic.
"Mmmm," said Rob Ettenson, Class of '81, as he crammed one into his
face.
Then there's the weight lifter special: turkey, ham, pepperoni, salami,
bologna, roast beef, chicken and provolone.
"You might as well put a cow between two pieces of bread," RU alumnus
Joel Potter said.
The decor is "Sanford and Son." There are photos on the wall of Albert
Einstein, Bruce Willis, Laurel and Hardy, Humphrey Bogart and the Three
Stooges. Why? Because Tony likes 'em, that's why. Bulletin boards
scattered on the wall contain montages of cut-up photos, mostly smiling
customers. Neon beer signs hang here and there. The floor is red and
black tile. There are five booths, two tables. Not much of the furniture
matches.
There's a TV. It was showing "Springer." A small audience was huddled
around it.
Because there's a sign that says "Cash only," there's an ATM - right
next to the old-fashioned bubble gum machines that dispense 50-cent
tattoos. You can play Street Fighter, an arcade video game from, oh, the
Reagan administration.
Ettenson, editor of Inside Santa Fe magazine, stumbled onto the place
nine years ago when he was driving through the area on business. He saw
the sign and thought, "Nah, it couldn't be." He went inside and asked.
Holy hoagie, Batman! He had rediscovered a piece of his youth, even if
his recollections were blurred.
"I spent a lot of time at Greasy Tony's," he said. "But most of it was
at 2 a.m. when I was drunk. I don't remember."
He remembered this, however: A Theta Chi frat brother once tried to
bring home a Trash Can at 2 a.m. one weekend night, but by the time he
reached the frat house, the grease had soaked through the wrapper. The
sandwich tumbled to the floor.
"But he scooped up the scraps and ate it anyway," Ettenson said.
Potter, who spent two years at graduate school at the Livingston campus,
lives in San Diego. He drove through the night for the Greasy Tony's
reunion. He almost didn't make it. A flat tire left him stranded. With
the coyotes howling, he called the road service.
"What town are you in, sir?" the woman asked.
"I'm not in a town," he said. "I'm in the desert. Hurry!"
Turns out, he was 80 miles from Buckeye, Ariz. - site of the nearest
service station. But the tow-truck driver arrived in 45 minutes. Last
time someone moved that fast, he was on his way to the bathroom after
one of Tony's Jackpots - steak, sausage, pepperoni, onions, salami,
Cotto salami (because one kind of salami isn't enough), spiced ham, bell
peppers, mushrooms and provolone.
Steve Tracey, a Bridgewater resident and '78 graduate, told a story
about a stabbing at Greasy Tony's in 1975. But he made it clear: If the
food couldn't scare him away, an assault with a deadly weapon certainly
wouldn't.
Suddenly, the room went dark. Carl Schwartz, a walking eclipse at 6-6
and 250 pounds, was in the doorway. The man from Marlboro gave Tony a
bearhug.
"You're the reason I'm this big," Schwartz said.
Somebody asked: This big (with a hand indicating height) or this big
(with a hand estimating girth)? The place broke up.
"Both," Schwartz said.
Actually, Schwartz is an amazing specimen. He is 50 but looks 40, thanks
to clean living and about 40 vitamins a day for 40 years. Vitamin C.
Vitamin D. Vitamin E. You name it. He can have the cheese steak. It's
okay. He has built up enough immunity.
Jim Moran, a sheet metal worker, isn't a Rutgers graduate, just a fan.
He moved here from Maplewood 33 years ago, and became a Rutgers
supporter just to defend New Jersey's honor in the West. He had to take
abuse when Arizona State whipped the Scarlet Knights in the 1978 Garden
State Bowl.
"It was only $5 here and $10 there, but I lost money to everybody,"
Moran said. "All I've been doing for 27 years is waiting for the
rematch. I'm going to get my money back this time."
Most of these guys - members of the Scarlet National Internet message
board - had never met each other. So, one by one, as they arrived, it
was like an AOL chat room party. They introduced themselves by their
message-board names: "Hi, I'm FanDiego," or Madhat, or Santa Fe Scarlet,
or RC78Fan.
Before long, Giorgianni broke out the black-and-white photos from the
old days. There was a lot of howling as everyone looked at the crazy
clothing and the long hair and identified some of the faces. When they
were stuffed and their faces hurt from all of the chewing and laughing,
it was time to go. Little by little, the party dissolved.
Schwartz and his son were the last to leave. That's because 19-year-old
Neil, with the metabolism of a jackhammer, was working on his second
Trash Can. As the kid stuffed the sandwich into his pie hole, the old
man smiled.
"It's the passing of the baton," he said.
On the way to the airport afterwards my late Dad and I shared a cab with some other Rutgers people.
I remember saying then, “it feels like belong now.” And even though we lost the other guys agreed.
That was definitely the feeling. It's great that you were able to experience breaking the drought and that trip with your dad.
We had family out there so one of my great memories was watching my Dad and his brother along with my two cousins (ASU grads) just having a great time.
That’s the kind of stuff that can never be replicated for some of us…the first one, family, etc.
My son in law went to ASU and was a season ticket holder at the time.
He bought out tickets through ASU and low & behold I was the only one wearing Rutgers gear in the section I was in ,full of Sun Devil supporters.
Had a great time with friendly smack talk with those around me and even though the Scarlet Knights lost I left proud of RU because of the respect Sun Devil fans in my section told me they had for RU as we left the stadium