<p>The women's basketball coach, Rene Portland, is being sued for essentially kicking a girl off the team because Portland thought she was a lesbian (the girl says she isn't). Through the lawsuit, more and more girls have been coming forward, saying that Portland made them feel uncomfortable, Portland said she didn't allow lesbians on the team, etc. Apparently she's already received one warning from PSU about 10 years ago, and, given her history, probably should be fired...I've heard rumors that they won't fire her because she's indepently wealthy and makes massive donations and Joe Paterno likes her...I don't remember exactly where I heard that; this case was most in the forefront a year ago or so.</p>
<p>PSU did fine her and require her to attend diversity training, but given the history and context it doesn't seem like enough to a lot of people.</p>
<p>After reading this thread I have felt better :) Here's why:</p>
<p>I'm a senior in HS. I LOVE sports, I've gone to several Syracuse basketball games, a UNC Chapel Hill basketball game, a Syracuse football game, they were just amazing.</p>
<p>Question: Say I get into these 2 schools:</p>
<p>School A: Decent sports, students don't really go crazy over them, decent academics, tution around $6,000 so I wouldn't have any student loans after college.</p>
<p>School B: Awesome sports, students go nuts over them, decent academics, tuition upwards of $20,000 so I would have student loans to pay off after college.</p>
<p>For someone who loves sports, is School B worth it over School A?</p>
<p>Also, if anyone could go more in depth about the sports/spirit in some northeast scools (Syracuse, Penn State, Pitt, Rutgers, etc), I'd really appreciate it.</p>
<p>Penn State = awesome football culture
The whole town revolves around football during home games. They have great tailgates and parties, and the huge stadium feels alive during games. </p>
<p>Pitt = great overall sports
Students are crazy about their teams, but maybe not as much as PSU. Basketball is as popular as football here. Everyone can go to football games at Heinz Field (home of the Steelers and very nice stadium), but the popularity of the basketball games necessitates a lottery for tickets. Between college sports and professional sports in Pittsburgh, you can be busy all weekend and several days during the week.</p>
<p>PS - How about that "backyard brawl" with Pitt vs WVU? At least we don't burn our sofas here in Pittsburgh like they do in Morgantown! LOL!</p>
<p>Wisconsin has one of the top few combinations of big-time sports, academics, and enjoyable campus life. Top ranked football, basketball and hockey teams. Mucho fun.</p>
<p>Is the only definition of "sports crazy" big time big conference football/basketball? BTW, I agree it is very exciting and these events are big events. </p>
<p>What about smaller schools that take sports seriously even if they will never be on NBC such as Williams. They have more varsity sports, the athletic nature of the school is a bigger part of the day-to-day culture ... while no one event is near the big deal of the big game at a big-time school.</p>
<p>To answer the original question. Sports made a big difference in my college choices</p>
<p>I applied to 6 schools:
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
UT Austin
UNC
UWisc
Umich
UPenn</p>
<p>All are good at sports.</p>
<p>I am at UMD now. Sports here are insane. We love our sports and we are good. Our women's field hockey just won a national tourney yesterday. They won last year, REPEAT. Our Football team is good but lost on Saturday. Our basketball team won the coaches vs cancer tourney this weekend which included teams like Mich State and Texas. Our soccer team did get knocked out the ncaa tourney but they were ranked 8th overall. </p>
<p>We love sports here. Tonight I am going to the basketball game. The games are so much fun. Sports have made my experience at umd much better. Personally, i think i need these sports as a form of entertainment.</p>
<p>I can go into more depth about Rutgers sports, since CJTaKoZ asked. The football success has obviously been very, very recent.. and our success kind of crumbled a bit on Saturday. In past years, the stadium was never close to full.</p>
<p>However, this year has truly been sooo fun. The louisville game was honestly one of my best experiences here, without a doubt. EVERYONE in the stadium was SO pumped, it was ridiculous. After the game, everyone was absoultely crazy all night long on College Ave.</p>
<p>This short-lived success could fall apart pretty soon, but I think that if Schiano stays (which I think he will) we will be very good for quite a while. Our other teams aren't super amazing in general... our women's basketball team was pretty great last year but both men's and women's will be worse this year since they lost their star players (Douby and Pondexter).</p>
<p>Soccer is pretty good too, I think, but I haven't been to a game yet unfortunately.</p>
<p>In general, right now, everyone has crazy school spirit here and it's been really fun.</p>