Tag Archives: Zach Gelb

09.05.17
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Deep Six Above The Line

 

Zach Gelb goes on an epic and spot-on “above the line” rant. 

Usually, when you change something that has been considered, for want of a better phrase, “the standard” you have to have a pretty good reason.

 

Geoff Collins, the new Temple coach, is the only coach in the country to deep six the depth chart for a more vague rating of players called “above the line.” As it is, Temple is the only school not offering a depth chart for the press or television.

His logic is faulty. At least at Temple.

That logic has always been flawed at Temple.

“When players see themselves listed as a number two they play like a number two,” Collins said.

That might make sense in the SEC, but it has never made sense at Temple.

Look at the number of guys who weren’t even second on the depth chart who worked their way up and made huge impacts at Temple.

For the purposes of space here, we will just take five.

Haason Reddick was a walk-on who didn’t even earn a scholarship at Temple until his senior year, a fact that his father is still unhappy about. All he did was become a first-round draft pick in the NFL.

Matt Brown, who was a walk-on slot receiver from Peddie School (N.J.), became one of the greatest running backs in Temple history. His dynamic kickoff returns caused then head coach Al Golden to move him to running back, where he was even more explosive than wide receiver. He was part of Golden’s great “Bernie and the Bug” duo that took Temple from a 20-game losing streak two bowl games.

Mike Curcio, a walk-on linebacker for the 1979 team, became one of the greatest linebackers in Temple history and went on to a career in the NFL.

Nick Sharga, currently in Collins’ own words the “best fullback in the country” was also a walk-on, as was current scholarship kicker Aaron Boumerhi.

We haven’t even touched the surface of second-team Temple guys who eventually became first-teamers and went onto great college careers, but that list is a much longer one than that of the walk-ons, who’ve we’ve only scratched the surface so far. At Temple, guys who are on the second team work that much harder to make the first team and do not play like second teamers.

To me, the Collins’ logic is flawed and that’s one reason why this “above the line” depth chart is an idea that deserves to be crumpled up and thrown in the circular file.

Or at least come up with a reason that makes a modicum of sense.

Thursday: Throwback Thursday

 

12.13.15
by

Critical Thinking and the Media

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVaoqUyubiY&feature=youtu.be

Zach Gelb was the only reporter at the Temple-Houston game who called it like it was in the first minute of this video.

When will we know Temple football has arrived in Philadelphia?

It certainly won’t be after beating Penn State or playing Notre Dame tough or even winning an AAC East title.

You will know Temple football has arrived when someone picks up a phone, dials one of the two all-talk Philadelphia sports radio stations and discusses what Zach Gelb talks about in the opening part of the above video for Temple’s student-run TV station. It should not be surprising that Gelb called out the Elephant on the Field, because breaking down sports runs in his blood. Gelb is the son of Mike and the Mad Dog Producer Bobby Gelb, who was the brains behind the greatest sports talk show in the history of radio. Now, due mostly to greed, that great pair has split up. It was like breaking up Laurel and Hardy because one without the other is no good.  When Mike said something outrageous, Chris was there to put him in line and vice versa.

Here’s a little snippet of what made Mike Francesa and Christopher Russo great.

I, for one, would have loved to hear Mike and the Mad Dog go off about Temple’s atrocious clock management the fourth quarter of the Houston game. Or wish Philly had a Mike and Mad Dog equivalent who cared enough to vent.

Temple had a problem in Houston, but you would not know it from the way the media reported the game. You didn’t read about it in the Inquirer or Daily News or Pravda (Owlscoop.com) or even Owlsdaily.com.

All except for Zach Gelb, who broke down the reason for the loss in a few words in the beginning of the post-game report that appears above. That’s the way it should have been broken down in Philadelphia and the way it should have been addressed on sports talk radio or in the next day’s newspapers. Gelb said he asked about it but that none of the team members felt it was a problem. That, in and of itself, is another problem.

For reasons only known to those who cover the team, TV, radio and newspapers never even addressed the problem. All they talked about was what a great season it was, not the snafus that could have made it a greater season.

Temple lost to Houston in the title game with a two-minute offense that was an abomination of Epic Fail proportions and the only reaction from Temple afterward were innocuous  “it was a great season” and “I’m proud of my team “quotes.

Yeah, but what about those 20 seconds wasted on virtually every play of the fourth quarter? Can we have one comment about that?

You can certainly bet if the Philadelphia Eagles wasted the last large chunks of any final quarter in the manner that Temple did, eliminating any chance of winning a game that had a slight chance to be won, it would have been hashed and rehashed on sports talk radio for the next five days.

We still have not found out why Temple wasted precious seconds in the final quarter of its most important football game and, because we have not, the Owls still have a long way to go in this great sports town.