Did You Know

Did You Know? The First College Football Game Was Rutgers vs. Princeton in New Brunswick, 1869

Rutgers 6, Princeton 4, New Brunswick, Nov. 6, 1869: widely recognized as college football's very first game. Two Jersey schools invented a sport by arguing. Of course they did.

Rules optional, hats not included. Illustration: State of Laughs

I just found out college football was invented in New Brunswick, by two New Jersey schools, arguing. Of course it was.

On Nov. 6, 1869, Rutgers played host to Princeton, which back then still officially went by the College of New Jersey. It's widely recognized as college football's first game, period, and Rutgers took it, 6-4.

So the whole sport, the bands, the rivalries, the Saturdays, all of it, started as two Jersey schools who couldn't stand losing to each other. That tracks. Hand two Jersey neighbors a ball and a lawn, and I'm pretty sure they'd have a rulebook and a grudge by Tuesday.

Brick Township Bans New Roosters, and I Had No Idea Jersey Had a Rooster Problem

Crowing is Brick's second-biggest complaint, according to the township. The roosters already there get to stay. New ones don't.

A cartoon mustang in a chef's hat parachutes over a dark football field, its lantern beaming light as a sleepy cow squints up.

Sussex Tech Football in Sparta Has No Lights, So Its Friday Night Games Happen on Saturday Afternoon

The Sussex Tech Mustangs in Sparta have no field lights, so their Friday night football happens Saturday afternoon. Now they're the last New Jersey school in a national field-makeover vote, open through Sunday, Oct. 25.

A giant wooden elephant building towers over an 1880s beach as a top-hatted salesman pitches land deeds to a crowd.

Did You Know? Lucy the Elephant Has Stood Six Stories Tall in Margate Since 1881

Margate's Lucy the Elephant was built in 1881 as a giant real estate ad. Her two big relatives are gone, her neighbors saved her, and now she's a National Historic Landmark. Nobody warned me.

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