“I’ve been to all of the stadiums in the country and I can say without hesitation and reservation that there is not a nicer, more spectacular, stadium in the country than Lincoln Financial Field.” _ Philadelphia Eagles’ announcer Merrill Reese

When you get as old as I am today, with (except in the rarest of cases) more years in back of you than in front of you, the things that make you happy aren’t necessarily the same as those 20 or so years ago.
That’s why Steve Addazio’s birthday gift to me today made me smile.
The verbal of Matt Barone wasn’t necessarily a gift intended for me, but something I’ve been harping on for the past few years or so. If Temple wants to play football with the big (BCS) boys, it better start stealing recruits from BCS schools. So I will take the gift in a nice package with a Temple T on top.
Al Golden did that when he “stole” Kee-Ayre Griffin from Boston College and Kadeem Custis and Evan Rodriguez (a transfer) from West Virginia and Big 33 MVP Adrian Robinson from Pitt, among others.
I’s OK to target projects, but that must be tempered by winning recruiting battles. It’s not really stealing because the verbals are open to everyone until signing day.
I think a verbal should be able to sign early, but that’s a problem for the NCAA to solve.
Temple is in a very good position to do exactly what Addazio did today. It plays in the nicest stadium in the country, the $521 million palace called Lincoln Financial Field.
 “I’ve been to all of the stadiums in the country,” said Eagles’ announcer Merrill Reese, “and I can say without hesitation and reservation that there is not a nicer, more spectacular, stadium in the country than Lincoln Financial Field.”
If Merrill says that, I believe him.
“We can now say that nobody plays in a stadium nicer than ours,” Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw said.
I agree with Bill, too.
It’s on us, the 270,000 living Temple alumni and the 39,000 full-time students, to make it even nicer by filling it.
Winning Big East championships will go a long way to solving that long-vexing problem.
Temple is within EASY driving distance of 46 percent of the nation’s population, giving parents a real affordable option to see their sons play even if they want to send them away and also giving Temple a deep pool of talent to draw from.
The on-campus facilities have been upgraded.
Peter J. Liacouras’ dream of a “Temple Town” has been realized, with 13,500 students soon to be living on campus in a safe setting.
Temple, unlike most other BCS schools, plays in a vibrant, exciting, world-class, city and, according to most surveys, a great majority of students prefer an urban college experience these days over a rural one (unlike 20 years ago). Also unlike 20 years ago, these students are active in supporting Temple’s football team, with over 10,000 traveling via the subway to the Villanova game and 12,500 showing up loud and proud against Penn State.
So the stars are aligning in Temple’s favor.
It is time for Temple to do big things. That light talked about for the new $10 million practice facility addition could be symbolic as well as it will be real.
Fortunately, some coveted recruits are beginning to be drawn to the Temple light.

Had a nice talk on Tuesday night in New York City with Steve Addazio, my friend, Ross, and another gentleman whose name escapes me who I now owe $1.
That’s a story for a later date, though.
I won’t say what Steve told me because he asked me not to and, if anything I’ve proven over the last nearly half century of living, it’s that I’m a man of my word.
I’m not even telling my dog what Steve said.
I can tell you what I told Steve, though.
I told him that there’s this perception out there that because Temple lost five starters on defense it is not going to be good. I said that perception is wrong because I counted 11 guys coming back who started games for Temple in the last two years.
I also said there’s a perception Temple is not going to be as good on offense because of losses at center and tight end, but  that’s  wrong, too, because the 2009 starter, Sean Boyle, returns at center and the 2010 starter, Alex Jackson, returns at tight end.
Temple could be better at those offensive positions, as it could at a number of positions all over the feld.
That’s what I said.
That’s what I believe.
So I caution those who read “previews” of The Temple Owls and predict a last- or near-last-place finish in the Big East to not get upset.
They are looking at hard numbers and making predictions based on numbers, not the stories behind the numbers. Those closer to the program know better.
Lately, my friend, Kevin, interviewed me for his College Football Zealots preview.

When Temple does better than expected this year, at least he will know why beforehand.
I’m not sure if the rest of the college football world will.

Big East welcomes Temple with this sign on March 12.

Ever since a guy named John Carpenter won a million dollars on a TV quiz show, I’ve had this idea in the back of my mind I’d like to get a chance to do the same.
I’m somewhat of a trivia whiz, even in matters outside of Temple football, and I’ve been determined to get a swing at those questions for awhile.
So I go up to New York once or twice every summer.
Carpenter won it in the classiest manor possible, using his final “phone-a-friend” lifeline to call his father on the $1 million question.
“Dad, I don’t need your help,” Carpenter said, “I’m just calling to tell you I’m going to win the million dollars.”
Then he correctly gave the answer as “Richard Nixon” and the confetti fell and Carpenter was presented with his $1 million check.
That’s a nice chunk of change for 30 minutes of work.
So with that in mind, I signed up for a June 12 New York City tryout for the “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” TV show about a month ago.
Dumb luck, a few days ago I received an invitation in the mail to attend a June 12 Temple New York City alumni event featuring athletic director Bill Bradshaw and coaches Steve Addazio, Fran Dunphy and Tanya Cordoza.
Since the tryout was 5 p.m. at 66th and Columbus and the event was 6 p.m. 61 blocks away at 557 Broadway, I could not miss out on the opportunity.
I hopped on the D train at 59th and Columbus, got off at the Broadway/Lafayette station and was at the function in no time.
When I told Bradshaw about the juxtaposition yesterday, he said, “You are going to give us a cut of that money, right?”
“Absolutely,” I said.
Then Bill made one request.
“Don’t quote the coaches.”
“I’m good,” I said.
And I am.

For some reason, Hawaii’s 1979 sked came up in the conversation on Tuesday night.

These kind of functions are like a family dinner. What’s said at the dinner table doesn’t go outside.
It doesn’t mean a lot of interesting things aren’t said. It’s just that it is all in-house and that’s the way it should be.
Coaches should be quoted in pre-game press conference settings and after-game press conferences.
They should feel free to say whatever they want inside the Temple family setting without getting acid reflux afterward or suffering a sleepless night because of worrying about what they said.
Still, the coaches and Bradshaw gave Temple the best branding it has had in New York City since that sign appeared above Times Square EXACTLY three months ago (March 12) welcoming Temple to the Big East.
The Temple alumni had a great time and the coaches were great and neither is an exaggeration.
The fans talked about everything from the score of the 1979 Temple vs. Hawaii game to 2011 Maryland bus trip.
Back to the first part of the afternoon.
I got about 27 of the 30 questions right. I was foiled by a question on the Kardashian sisters and the percentage of checkers on a checkerboard square along with the definition of an Italian word (I don’t speak Italian, unfortunately). I’ve since googled answers and will take the test again in a month armed with that knowledge.
Now back to the Temple function.
I can tell one tale out of school, though.
If you have an extra $50,000 lying around underneath your mattress, please send it to Bradshaw with a note saying, “this is for the Temple football light (singular, not plural).”
He’ll know what your talking about. So will everyone else who attended. It’ll be worth the money.
If you don’t have it, I’ll try to scrape it up in a half-hour’s work in a few months.
Unless they feed me a different question about the Kardashian sisters.

Eric Hoffses’ tweet on Sunday night.

Maybe an old fire battalion chief said it first, but it rings true today:
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
There’s a whole lot of smoke around today about maybe the best running back in the storied history of the ACC, Montel Harris, attending Temple.
Eric Hoffses of EagleAction.com tweeted as much last night.
Hoffses is a respected reporter with close ties to the Boston College football program and to Harris himself.
As far as smoke goes, that’s a lot.

2011 pre-season media poll for ACC Player of Year

As far as fire goes, this is a five-alarmer.
In the interest of accuracy, Harris is NOT the all-time leading rusher but if he had played his final year at Boston College, he no doubt would have been. He came into this season just 878 yards short of the all-time record. That’s for the ACC, where some good football has been played the last 30 or so years. Since he averaged well over 1,000 yards the first three seasons, he might have done that by mid-year. He had a falling out with head coach Frank Spaziani but his two former offensive coaches now at Temple, Kevin Rogers and offensive coordinator Ryan Day, love the guy.
What does this mean for Matty Brown?
Nothing.
Brown will get his carries. Harris can’t be expected to be 100 percent this year.
I see an 80-90 percent Harris adding a lot to the Temple team, though. If, God-willing, Harris comes back closer to 100 percent, he immediately becomes a Pierce-like threat and the best running back in the Big East and a potential first-round draft pick. I don’t know, though, of a whole lot of guys who came back better after a serious knee injury. Maybe the Bionic Man, but that was a fictional TV series. We can only hope for that to happen here.
I see Harris possibly playing the same role Brown did to Pierce last year as a supporting back.
Harris will get his 1,000 yards and six to 10 touchdowns (heck, Brown almost had 1,000 yards) and Brown could get the 27 touchdowns and 1,700 yards Pierce got last year.
Or both could get over 1,000 yards and split the same 33 touchdowns and 2,700 yards (roughly) Pierce and Brown got together last year.
It’s all good.
Remember, the fact that both Pierce and Brown had the misfortune of getting hurt (but still playing) against Bowling Green cost the Owls a game. Brown needs an insurance policy and Harris is at least that. Just like Brown was Pierce’s insurance policy.
Temple head coach Steve Addazio kept the embers of the fire going last week when asked if Harris was going to join the team:
“Not yet.”
Yet was the operative word.
When is the next similar word.
Judging by the smoke on the horizon, it could be very soon.

Shane Rafter’s recruiting video.

If the last guy taken in the final round of the NFL draft is known as Mr. Irrelevant, you can call Shane Rafter Temple’s Mr. Relevant.
Raftner earned that distinction by becoming the first player who verbaled to Temple for the class of 2013.
Raftner, a 6-5, 284-pound offensive lineman from Moorestown, N.J. is listed as “only” a two-star recruit in the Rivals.com database.
Now if there is ever a more “irrelevant” stat in sports, it is the star system as assigned by recruiting websites such as Rivals.com and Scout.com, particularly when it comes to offensive linemen.
It comes down to who do you trust, one of the greatest offensive line coaches in college football history, Steve Addazio, or a well-meaning Rivals.com employee sitting behind a computer who does not understand basic OL skills like leverage.
I’m going with Addazio on this first recruit.
One of the things I like about Addazio is that he does not give out one of the precious 25 scholarships like candy. I’ve only questioned one of his schollies and that’s because it was given to an honorable mention Central League running back whose dad probably could have afforded the Temple tuition.
Al Golden once gave a quarterback scholarship based solely on the performance in a seven-on-seven passing drill at the Al Golden Football Camp. Probably not his best idea. Ironically enough, two of the first QB recruits Golden made AD (after Adam DiMichele) never had the kind of career this year’s Mr. Irrelevant, Northern Illinois’ Chandler Harnish, had. Now it looks like the third time was a charm for Golden, because that begat New Mexico Bowl MVP Chris Coyer. The difference between Coyer and the other two guys was that Coyer was a high achiever as a prep star and the others were not.
Addazio and line coach Justin Frye, also a product of the powerhouse Florida Gators’ program, carefully evaluated Rafter before offering.
That’s good enough for me.

Harris made the cover of TSN in 2010.

After emailing Boston College contacts, I did get one response. Montel Harris was listed in the commencement program under “Montel Harris Jordan.”
It was confirmed that Montel Harris Jordan is the one and only Montel Harris, the No. 1 running back in Boston College history.
In fact, he was spotted wearing a cap and gown at the BC commencement ceremony (no photos as of yet). That clears the way for Steve Addazio to “recruit” Harris.
All Harris has to do is to pursue a Masters’ degree in a program at Temple that Boston College does not offer.
Since Temple offers many more graduate programs than BC does, that should not be a problem.
It is all up to Harris now, whether he wants to pursue that degree at Temple or Rutgers or enter the NFL supplemental draft. Or even go Division II.
Whatever he decides, we wish him well.

As you can see from this video, Harris’ running style is more similar to MB than BP.

Ordinarily, May 21 would be just another day at the Edberg-Olson Football Complex with players throwing the ball around, hitting the weight room and generally getting their work done.
It is the next important day on the Temple football schedule because that’s when Montel Harris is expected to get his degree from Boston College. Commencement ceremonies are 10 a.m. at Alumni Stadium.
Temple can’t comment on him now, but once he walks up to the podium, past commencement speaker Robert Woodruff, the uni can officially go about the process of securing his services.
Boston College says 4,443 are expected to receive degrees but doesn’t list who right now.
Yesterday, the BC football blog, “Soaring to Glory” wrote this:

Harris would be a big get for Temple and another BCS landing spot for the ACC’s all-time second-leading rusher.
Still, it’s not a slam dunk.
The uni would have to process the paperwork, apply for a special “Russell Wilson” exemption that would allow Harris to play right away.
Even if that goes through, Harris has a lot of work to do in order to be ready for this season.
He did not compete in BC’s spring practice due to rehabbing his injury.
Once here, he would have to prove himself and perhaps play second fiddle to Temple’s returning No. 1 all-purpose (yes, No. 1 over No. 2 Bernard Pierce) yards producer, Matty Brown.
Still, if all of this comes to pass, Brown will have someone at least as talented as Pierce to help him carry the load this fall and would free Jalen Fitzpatrick up to play his more natural position, slot receiver.
If Harris doesn’t come, Fitzpatrick could be Brown’s backup and incoming freshman Khalif Herbin would have to be brought up to speed in order to play BCS slot receiver right away.
:
A BC fan’s humorous take on the Montel Harris potential impact at Temple (from BC Interruption):

The urban dictionary’s definition of “tool” is “One who lacks the mental capacity to know he is being used. A fool.”
Urban dictionary, meet Villanova running back Kevin Monangai, Villanova’s tool.
The first part of that definition might not apply to Monangai, but the fool part certainly does.
I must admit, I never have a hard time getting up for a football game against Villanova.
No matter what the stakes or the difference of the level of football, it’s hard to muster any sympathy for a team representing a school that did its underhanded best to keep Temple out of the BCS picture.
Don’t let that Big East press conference charade fool you.

Now wearing No. 2 in your game program.

If this was up to Villanova, the Owls would remain in MAC hell forever.
That’s why I want to beat them 88-0 (although I would settle for 42-7). Err, make that 50-squat.
I don’t know if Temple’s football players, though, know all the machinations involved behind the scenes or feel the same level of dislike as most Temple fans do.
They do understand the language of trash talking, though.
To that end, I have to thank  Monangai, Villanova’s snap-on tool.
Monangai tweeted two months ago that “Temple is going to the Big East”  and “all the more reason for us to snap-on them.”
The first rule of trash talking is that if the guy you are fighting is bigger and faster and Temple tougher than you, your best chance is to lay in the weeds and knock him out with sneak attack, sort of like Japan in World War II.
It’s not the smartest thing in the world to walk up to the guy and announce you are going to “snap on” him.
At the time, I thought Monangai would be a non-contributing sub but it turns out he will be the No. 1 or No. 2 running back coming off a good spring practice.
According to Villanova’s official website, head coach Andy Talley was quoted as saying the following:

Austin Medley is the current No. 1 running back and he will be wearing No. 1, but Monangai will get plenty of snaps and wear No. 2 (he changed his number from 26 at the end of last season).
The Owls should have no problem finding No. 2.
Or getting up for this one, thanks to him.
Monangai fired the first shot in this war.
As President Roosevelt said  about Dec. 7, 1941, “it doesn’t matter who fires the first shot as much as who fires the last shot.”
Hopefully, the Owls end this last Mayor’s Cup with a nuclear-type spanking.

On the second Mother’s Day without my mom, I was going through my garage looking for summer stuff (tennis shoes, tennis rackets) and I realized I lost an electric pump for an air mattress.
While going through a box looking for that pump, I found a lot of Calvin and Hobbs’ comic strips she sent me when I was living in Doylestown and this was one of them.
 She loved them and cut them out carefully (to the edge) and sent me them snail mail.  Attached to the one shown (with an old-fashioned paper clip), she gave me a handwritten note and told me how much she loved and missed me.
Strange how people talk to you beyond the grave.
There is not much Temple football in this message, other than, if you have a mom, don’t take her for granted.
 Since I think all Temple football players and fans have moms, I know some will appreciate this story.
At least I hope so.

 Steve Addazio talks about John Youboty, Marcus Green and Ryan Alderman.

Summer reading season is near and, like a lot of people, I like to curl up with a good piece of fiction from time to time.
As a junior in high school, required reading was “1984” by George Orwell (some time before 1984, which I thought was centuries into the future at that time) and I polished that off in one six-hour sitting.
My latest reading material is the depth chart released by the Temple football coaching staff to Owlscoop.com editor John DiCarlo.

Steve Addazio is a much better football coach than he is an author.

I’ll call it “Depth Chart Blues” because I know it can’t possibly be serious, to borrow a phrase from John McEnroe.
The author, presumably a manuscript submitted by Steve Addazio, didn’t sit around at the typewriter for a long time.
Al Golden told me a long time ago (well, it seems like a long time ago) to take the depth chart with a grain of salt and I’ve followed that advice. Golden has a Masters in Sports Psychology from Penn State and often used the depth chart as lab work to light a fire under some talented-but-underachieving guinea pigs. I don’t think Addazio plays mind games using the depth chart or anything else.
Still, it is interesting to look at from time to time in order to figure out a starting lineup against Villanova.
The first clue I got that it wasn’t etched in stone was that Matt Falcone is listed as the second-team WILL linebacker. Matt Falcone hasn’t played in a real game since 2009. Not only that, he hasn’t practiced over a year (although he should by summer).
Hmm.
Yet unquestionably the best linebacker in the spring, Nate D. Smith, is not listed on the first or second team anywhere.
I’m going to stick my neck out here.
Nate D. Smith will start at middle linebacker no matter what the depth chart says.
Heck, I’d like to see Matt Falcone start at punter to relieve franchise kicker Brandon McManus of those duties but that’s a tall order for someone coming off a knee injury. Right now, the backup punter is listed as Nick Holland.
Falcone was a first-team Associated Press all-state punter from Palmerton High when he was a senior. He was also the team’s star quarterback, so he can make an occasional pass out of punt formation if called upon.
That’s non-fiction.
Until August, any review of the depth chart will have to be listed under the fiction category.