Best Cherry and White Day Ever?

proof

Proof that a stadium or two can be built at TU without community opposition

Back in the day, they built a $22 million on-campus stadium right in the heart of Temple University’s footprint with nary a peep of protest from the surrounding community or student “Stadium Stompers.”

That day was two years ago and it is now the permanent home of Temple soccer, field hockey and lacrosse.

It will also be the temporary home of the Temple football Owls for what could be the best Cherry and White Day ever. The game will be moved to the soccer home of the Owls a few blocks south of 10th and Diamond this year, better know as the “Temple Sports Complex” or, more specifically, Howarth Field.

logical

We called for this a year ago and the university listened

We’ve called for the Temple spring football game to be moved here last year (see inset to the right) and finally the university listened. Meanwhile, we had a lot of the status quo apologists on social media pooh-pooh the idea saying “you can’t do it because of recruits” and “you can’t do it because of logistics.”

Well, Temple is doing what the naysayers said cannot be done and the powers-that-be (Pat Kraft and company) need to be applauded for that, moving the football game from an overly cramped facility to a more roomy location with plenty of seating.

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The discussion last year centered on just why the university was intent on squeezing 5,000 pounds of fans into a 100-pound bag when a 2,000-pound bag became available.  Bringing portable seats for 500 people when, on a nice day, you can get 5,000 people into a little over 100-yard square area made sense when you had no place else to go.

Now they do and I hope this is the temporary spot for the game going forward, at least until a larger stadium can be built. The soccer facility opened in the fall of 2016 and the place has 2,000 permanent seats and they can still move those portable E-O seats to that location.

South Florida, which also plays in a NFL stadium, moved its spring game from its football complex to its soccer complex in 2016 and it was an unqualified success. All the Bulls had to do was line the soccer field with football yard lines, put a couple of goal posts in and away then went.

April 14th’s Cherry and White game figures to be the best ever for a couple of reasons, a celebration of the school’s third bowl win and Paul Palmer being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Bruce Arians can’t come this year due to a prior commitment, but has promised to catch a Cherry and White game in the future.

The people have been the ones who have made Cherry and White great in the past. Now that they get to enjoy it in a place slightly larger than a phone booth, the location just adds to the usual great time.

Friday: Rock and Hard Place

Monday: Scheduling Buddies

Wednesday: The Bullhorn Lady

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13 thoughts on “Best Cherry and White Day Ever?

  1. The photo shows why the stadium should have been built there. Very little housing, no need to close a street, walkable from campus, subway a block away, and room for parking. Moreover, the facility in the photo could have been built at 15th Street without having to close a street, which likely would have increased attendance at the events hosted there because they’d be played on campus. TU again drops the ball.

  2. Yep John, that’s what I’m talkin’ about. Poor planning. They’ve been talkin’ about a stadium for quite a number of years – it didn’t just come up since the new soccer/field hockey/la+ facility was built (for 22 million? boy, stuff costs a lot!). If they could play all those sports and football on the same field, maybe it would be worth the 22M$ loss to move the FB stadium site there? But how could they not realize and consider the option of building a FB stadium on that spot? It borders on incompetence, even irresponsibility, in planning knowing that the 15th St. and neighborhood problems existed. And I’ll bet the “neighbors” would not have objected to the multi-sports field, as it is now, being built where the stadium site is proposed for at the present time. That kind of knuckle-headed decision making is a big part of what keeps Temple behind the 8-ball all the time. Geesh…..
    On another note: the Inquirer has NO article on Temple’s BB game with PSU tonight. Multi articles for Nova and PENN but nothing for Temple? Nice! But, where’s the TU public relations dept. making sure it gets in?

  3. If the stadium idea is pushed unexpectedly by the administration, won’t be long until a certain personality out of NY will insert himself into the debate which brings the national media to cover it. Local politicians then will scatter.

    Good time then for pressure on Lurie’s team to rework the deal. With Rendell and Brady idle, perhaps they can be deal makers.

  4. Pardon me but subject change coming here.
    Subject : TU basket ball
    Issue : Poor performance in a post season playoff
    Question : the kids just didn’t care OR the coaching is again SNAFU.
    Conclusion : Take Fran D to Home deport or Lowes, telling him your shopping windows, BUT when you get here, show him the DOORs.
    O by Gosh by Golly, they lost a nice lead again. Beyond excuse.

  5. Yeah, the BB game last night was a mirocosm of the entire season. Yes, PSU took it up a notch at the end but why didn’t Temple’s players do the same? Coaching? I don’t know. But that game was winnable. Actually I thought it wouldn’t even be that close as PSU beat OSU 3 times this year. Rose is a great athlete but sometimes he seems to lose focus. And why can’t Temple ever hit their free throws? I believe they shot less than 50% from the line. It’s ridiculous. Oh well.

    • About BB, last night was a replay of the entire season in one winnable game: inexplicable turnovers, missed foul shots, lack of a killer instinct, out of control play, Obi disappeared, missed layups, no defense at the three-point line, and on and on and on. This team needs a D-1 coach who knows how to coach today’s game. They do no serious weightlifting. If they did, Obi would be 20 pounds heavier and a real stud. They also need a serious dose of discipline and the injection of a killer instinct. It’s clear that Dunphy cannot deliver either. People may think that this game didn’t matter but it did in the chase for Lynn Greer, III, who’s at Roman. This game might have had some influence on him given the three Roman players at PSU. I do admit however that he’s likely headed to a top-five program.

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