Fans have to be Temple TUFF, too


Temple TUFF: Behind The Scenes With Temple Football – EP. 1 from 20/20 Visual Media on Vimeo.

It was about this time a year ago when I was trying to drum up Temple alumni support for attending the second annual Mayor’s Cup that an old Temple football player reached out to me.

No excuses, Temple fans. Thursday will be a great night
for both football and the Owls. Be there.

The guy, a good guy and someone who I remembered as a player, said:
“Mike, I love your blog and I’m going to try to get to a game this year.”
I wrote him back something to the effect that: “See you in the parking lot at the Villanova game, then.”
“I won’t be able to make that one, but maybe one later in the season,” he replied.
Huh?
I’ve never understood that line of thinking.
Temple fans, if you are going to make a game, make this one.
It’s important for a number of reasons:
One, you can’t lose to Villanova. A lot of the euphoria over the nine-game winning streak and the bowl game against UCLA was wiped out for me by a loss to Villanova in the opening game that year. Every Temple detractor (and we all know there are many) added a “yeah, but” … as in Temple’s good, but yeah but it is in the MAC or “how good could Temple be” because it did not beat Villanova?

Updated Temple vs. Villanova depth chart is here: thanks to Owlsports.com

Getting your Temple TUFF fan butt in the seats and yelling your lungs out for this team will insure there are no “yeah buts” at the end of the season.
Two, this is a message game. It’s a message to the college football world that Temple, not Villanova, rules the city’s college football’s rooting interest. It’s a message to the Big East that they are missing out on something, a school with 270K alumni and 37K full-time students in the heart of the nation’s fourth (not fifth) largest market. Temple football has a documented history, hard ratings numbers, of doing well on TV. What it doesn’t have is a documented history of adding fannies in the seats to those numbers. A crowd of 40,000, mostly Cherry-clad fans, would send that message to the Big East and the rest of the college football world. Wear Cherry, not white.
Three, this is new Temple coach Steve Addazio’s first game.  Daz says everywhere he goes Temple alumni keep asking him about the third game. He said he’s not even thinking about the third game, that all he’s thinking about is beating Villanova.
That’s not coachspeak. This game is that important.
Temple must not only beat this team, but beat it bad, both on the field and in the stands.
That’s what creates a sustainable momentum.
That’s the only way to make the rest of the games after that meaningful.
Making time to be there for three hours on a Thursday night is not too much to ask any Temple alumni or student.

9 thoughts on “Fans have to be Temple TUFF, too

  1. TFF, Dead on target! from way out of town but will make this game for all the reasons you cited. Would like to meet and greet, where are you parked?

  2. Great posting about getting the fans to come to games. The coach, staff, players and administration can only do so much to create a big time college football atmosphere at Temple. At some point it's up to the fans and alumni. Thanks for posting the "Temple TUFF" video as well.-Patrick

  3. Thanks, Patrick and Northern Va. football Owl…Patrick, you bring the same kind of passion to filmaking as Daz brings to coaching and there's no higher compliment I can make. It is an honor for me to be able to post your videos (as an aside, if you could also post them on youtube that is a much better platform for me … since youtube and blogger are basically one in the same). Also, it's almost impossible to advance the video on your current platform (vimeo) now. Northern Virginia Owl and Patrick, I'm pretty easy to spot. I will be wearing a Temple game jersey with Papreps on the back. That's the moniker I use to post on Owlscoop and OwlsDaily and since I stand by every word I post, I am proud to wear that on my back. I wish Nova posters like Mainliner and ncaaball had the balls to do the same.

  4. Mike,Another great article. This is the most important game of the season, for the players and the fans. Why, because it's the next one and we need to develop a real home field, full of FANS. I don't understand the people who come to games and just sit like on their hands. Don't be a spectator, be a fan. Yell, scream, chant and support your team. After all, fan is short for fanatic!

  5. Marc,you know me. .. I get over emotional in my support of the Temple Owls. Last year, at the UConn game, I got into a verbal fight with a guy who I thought was wearing a UConn hat. Later, I learned he claimed to be a Temple fan. If he REALLY was a Temple fan, I apologize. I just don't understand why anyone would wear a blue hat to a Temple vs. UConn game.

  6. This will be my first Temple game. I'm a first time season ticket holder and not alumni just a football fan. I'm really looking forward to the season! BTW does anyone know how much parking is?

  7. Last year it was $12 but my friends say it is now $15. I don't know where to check that, but I since I heard it independently from a couple of different sources, I'm bringing $15. I won't spend a dime inside the stadium, though. Plenty of free beer and free booze outside.

  8. Nice blog, glad I found it. I am going to my first Temple game tomorrow. Do they sell beer inside the stadium? Thanks

  9. Yeah, for like $100 a cup. No, about $6 a warm cup. Plenty of cold beer free in Lot K five hours beforehand.

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