Newcomers: Saying all the right things

Other than the occasional PBS series by Ken Burns, I found myself slowly but surely drifting away from watching network television since the wonderful shows of the 60s and 70s (Twilight Zone, Bewitched, even Mr. Ed, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mary Tyler Moore, All in the Family, etc.). When I get home from work, I gravitate to some very good Youtube free TV content like Bald and Bankrupt (about an English guy visiting Russia), The Daily Woo (about a Florida guy visiting quirky places), Arms Family Homestead (about an Oklahoma family living a normal farm life), etc. Pretty amazing that normal people can put on more entertaining stuff than the best sitcom writers in Hollywood today.

To me, at least, that homegrown content hits, err, home and says all of the right things.

I found a little of that this spring on the Temple football twitter account.

Not knowing much about our new quarterback (D’Wan Mathis), I gravitated to this interview of him:

One minute and winning games was right at the top of the list.

While we didn’t hear too much about “winning games” from Rod Carey in the month-long spring practice, it took first-team starting quarterback Mathis about three seconds to mention the two most beautiful words in the interview “winning games.”

That pretty much cut to the chase for me.

Like the homegrown generated Youtube content referenced in the initial paragraph, Temple football has been a mostly entertaining few hours for me every fall because of the winning decade between 2009-2019.

The 1-6 disgusting and disgraceful 2020 season needs to be erased as soon as possible.

If Carey isn’t going to put the emphasis on winning, I’m glad the kids are because those are the guys who need to make the plays necessary to make it happen.

Here’s Will Rodgers:

Will Rodgers should upgrade the pass rush.

To me, the key to winning in college football is putting the opposing quarterback on his ass consistently. That leads to fumbles and interceptions and Rodgers, who already has nine Power 5 sacks to his credit at Washington State, should help the Owls in that area. He’s an upgrade over the guy (who shall remain nameless) who transferred to Penn State.

Keeping Mathis’ jersey clean is the other key and the Owls’ offensive line is one of their strongest units.

These two interviews suckered me back into buying season tickets and, if these two guys bring me a win over Rutgers, I’m all aboard the Rod Carey train. (Err, not holding my breath, though.)

Anything less and it could be a fall totally dedicated to ONLY Lot K tailgating or, even worse, bike riding and jogging on Saturday afternoons. My preference is for Temple Owl wins and at least these two newcomers said the right things.

Talking the talk is a start. Walking the walk is more important but now at least we know there is a possibility for some entertaining content starting Sept. 4. The remote will be reserved for away games.

For home games, my season ticket check is in the mail.

Going inside for the entirety of the season will depend on getting off to a good start. I have a feeling a lot of Temple fans feel the same way.

Monday: The Tunnel

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6 thoughts on “Newcomers: Saying all the right things

  1. Hey Mike, Glad to hear/see you getting TUFB Tixx again, just like we did.
    The interview with our new QB ala Georgia was positive spin, his quiet confidence was nice to see.
    When thinking about it, I considered how he must have had first class coaching down in Georgia, so this kid knows the deal and the position.
    That’s my hope.

    Anyway, It’ll be nice see you and mention good old Wayne Hellman again, THE FB coach in my Hi-Skool days up in Perkasie !!!!!

    • Used to call Wayne Helman on the phone all the time and he would be the one to pick up the phone: “Hello, Helmans!!” Not his wife. Not his kid, but Wayne himself. A great Penn player during their glory days and a better high school coach who belongs on that second tier under Mike Pettine Sr. with super coaches like Drew Darragh and George Chaump.

  2. God I hope this kid is something special.

    • The great thing is that we will find this out early. Is he the guy who threw 3 ints for every 1 TD at Georgia or the guy who both Ohio State and Georgia wanted so badly in the first place? If he beats Rutgers, I will be the first to say the latter.

  3. And Mike, you named Drew Darragh as a great coach. If I recall, wasn’t he in charge at Souderton in the 60’s also ?
    I think he moved on to a higher level but never heard much more about him.
    Drew has his Indians playing nice FB.
    Pennridge vs Souderton was possibly THE Game for us, with Huge crowds for small Pennsy Dutch Towns.
    Can one imagine 8000+ folks at a small stadium, but that’s how it was. Souderton was never an easy game..
    Sorta like Temple and Villanova I say.

    Even the Bands went crazy with support & that’s what HS football used to be, that’s what old time American used to be.
    Things always change, that’s for sure.

    Temple Needs a great LOCAL Rival Again.

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