Mike Gerardi (14), the QB phenom of spring ball, cheers on Peanut Joseph during TD run.
By Mike Gibson
Nothing could be more fitting this year than Temple playing at Navy on Halloween.
Navy played a dirty trick on Temple and it could turn out to be an unexpected treat for the Owls come Saturday.
This year would have been the fourth year of a home-and-home contract with Temple.
Navy and Temple, both in good faith, signed a contract to honor two home and two away games.
Temple honored the final part of its road commitment with a trip to Navy last season.
Then the Owls threw a scare into Navy last season, leading, 27-7, in the fourth quarter before losing, 33-27, in overtime.
Navy's brass thought for a minute about the possibility of playing Temple in hostile Philadelphia in 2009, then placed a phone call to Temple.
"Err, you know that game we promised you? We're not coming."
Navy tore up the contract and would have paid Temple a $200,000 fee for breaking it, but that left the Owls in a bind. They had no team to replace Navy.
So Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw did the only thing he could do with an 18-inch battleship gun pointed squarely at his head:
Offer to play the game in Annapolis.
"Yeah, that's the ticket," Navy said.
Navy has a distinct advantage at home. The Middies have a fan who blows whistles when Navy ballcarriers are seemingly stopped, yet the fan never gets kicked out of the stadium and game officials feign deafness around him. He's the guy who blew a whistle three times while Temple defenders stopped a ballcarrier on fourth and goal, only to see the guy get off the ground and run into the end zone with the officials signaling touchdown and Temple coaches yelling, "what the fu*k?" The whistle caused Al Golden to run onto the field and scream to officials after the bogus score. Temple players stopped tackling the Navy guy for fear of being called for a penalty, only to see the Navy guy score after the whistle. He's the guy talked about in a response to this well-written post, page down to an answer by Navy72, on a Navy fan website. (He's a skinny guy with brown hair and a moustache, and last year parked his backside across the aisle from a group of Temple fans in the end zone. If you see him blow one whistle, please point him out to security this Saturday.)
Yet there is irony in this situation this year.
Getting the Owls out of here at this time can only help them do what they need to do, focus on the task at hand
The irony is that Navy might have done Temple an inadvertent favor.I mean, did Navy know the World Series would be played in Philadelphia that day?
No.
The Phillies are playing that day in Philadelphia and the city is crazed right now.
Everything else in sports is an afterthought, even the Eagles.
All of the parking lots around both stadiums will be all Phillies red all day long.
Getting the Owls out of here at this time can only help them do what they need to do, focus on the task at hand. This is an important game between two teams who have won five straight games. The winner, especially if it's Temple, will get sorely needed recognition on a national scale.
It's was a dirty trick Navy played, no doubt.
If the Owls get a win, though, it will be a delicious treat.
