Fans of Big Ten schools, including Ohio State and Michigan State, have “snapped up NJIT gear” following the school’s 72-70 win over Michigan in men’s basketball on Saturday “to rub the humiliating loss in the faces of their Wolverines-loving friends,” according to Jeff Eisenberg of YAHOO SPORTS. When NJIT bookstore manager Peter Maranzano got to work Monday morning, he had “about 20 times the number of online orders for NJIT T-shirts and sweatshirts over the weekend as he usually would.” More than half of them “came from Ohio and Michigan addresses more than 500 miles away from the school's Newark campus.” Maranzano said, “You're just on autopilot taking orders, and then you notice Detroit, East Lansing, Columbus and you put two and two together. I had a bunch from Ohio, and I thought, 'Oh, these have to be Buckeyes fans.'" Eisenberg noted Maranzano received “about 90 online orders for T-shirts on Monday and another 20 by midday" yesterday. He said that a “typical day” involved 3-5 orders (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 12/9). Maranzano said, “I just looked at our sales percentage, our clothing and gift sales are up 250% from what we did last year. It’s been kind of awesome.” When asked how many orders came from other Big Ten schools, Maranzano said, “Probably half of them, if not more. I don’t have an exact number. It’s noticeable, we’re sending to East Lansing and Ohio and Indiana” (SNY.tv, 12/9).
