run the ends boys...Score once more. Oh score once more." Athletic rivalry Rutgers maintains athletic rivalries with other collegiate institutions. The university has a historic rivalry with Princeton University and Columbia University (formerly King's College) originating from the early days of college football. While they maintain this rivalry in other sports, the football rivalry series with Princeton was discontinued after the 1980 series "at the request of Princeton officials, who felt that Rutgers' step toward big‐time football in recent seasons had taken the Scarlet Knights out of the Tigers' desired class of competition." Rutgers has a basketball rivalry with Seton Hall University. College pranks Rutgers-Princeton Cannon War Howard Fullerton goes down in Rutgers history not only for penning the alma mater, but also for allegedly inspiring the theft of a cannon from the campus of Princeton University on April 25, 1875, an event—and the ensuing debate between the two university presidents—reported sensationally in nationwide newspapers. The cannon was believed to have belonged to Rutgers when used in battle during the American Revolution. Under the cover of night, a dozen Rutgers students, stole the cannon from its place at Princeton, and brought it back by wagon to New Brunswick before the following dawn. In retaliation, Princeton students raided the Rutgers Armory and stole a few muskets. Reputedly—though this may have been baseless rhetoric originating from the heated debate after the theft—the Rutgers students are accused of having stolen the wrong cannon. Eventually the committee appointed by the two colleges recommended the return of the stolen items to their owners. When the cannon was returned, Princeton University officials ordered it buried in the ground, encased in cement, with only a few feet of the butt end exposed above ground. Several Rutgers students attempted to repeat the crime, unsuccessfully, in October 1946, attaching one end of a length of heavy chain to the cannon and the other to their Ford. Surprised by Princeton men and the local constabulary, they gunned the engine of the Ford so viciously that the car was torn in half. The Rutgers students managed to escape, but with neither the car nor the cannon. To this day, intrepid Rutgers students journey the 16 miles to Princeton University to place their declaration of ownership of the cannon by painting the cannon scarlet red. There are two cannons on Cannon Green behind Nassau Hall at Princeton. Today, a cannon is placed