Thursday, April 18, 2013

The best thing about Cherry and White Day



Notice there is no '][' on the helmets... could that mean TEMPLE makes its return tomorrow? We can only hope. Great job by Kevin Newsome in this video.

Except for the one year I was sports editor at the Norwich (N.Y.) Evening Sun, I don't think I've missed a Cherry and White game in the past 35 years.
So I consider myself somewhat of an expert on the subject.
Coaches come and go, players come and go, parents come and go, even school presidents come and go, but I'm always here.
Complete Cherry and White rosters:
TFF has installed the White squad as 3 1/2-point favorites (we have our reasons).
Click over the red type for the squads as complete rosters are here:
Or there.
Me and Al Shrier and Doc and a few precious others.
Despite how out of control our society is getting these days, I always will be.
You have to live your life, not a life the bad guys dictate you live.
I'm going and, as always, I'm planning on having fun.
The game itself is secondary.
Make that tertiary.
My Al Golden sweatshirt on the day he allegedly wore it.
On the field, it's the good guys vs. the good guys and I don't get a whole lot of satisfaction out of that.
I need a protagonist and an antagonist in my stories.
I will get that starting Aug. 31, not before.
Any other Temple game day, the game is the thing and all the rest is a distant second.
People ask me what the best thing about Cherry and White day is and I always answer one word:
Stuff.
Yeah, stuff.
You can get the best Temple stuff (by that I mean shirts, sweatshirts, even helmets) on Cherry and White Day than any other day of the year anyplace in the world.
I get frustrated when I walk into a PHILADELPHIA Wal-Mart's and Kohl's and see Virginia Tech and Boston College stuff, but no Temple stuff.
Some day that will change but, for now, the best place to get Temple stuff is 10th and Diamond on Cherry and White Day.
I got a sweet No. 69 game worn Temple jersey on Cherry and White Day for $20.
I purchased some great Temple football hats. I had my eye on an old-time Temple football helmet, but it was a little above my pay scale.
I got a "Papreps" custom-made black "Cherry Crusade" T-Shirt delivered to me on Cherry and White Day.
I rock Temple stuff in the gym or at the mall 365 days a year and, out of those 365, I'd say 353 days are stuff I've purchased at Cherry and White Day. (The other dozen or so days I wear my Al Golden sweatshirt that I purchased for $55 from Patti on the fourth floor at Vivacqua Hall a few years ago. She said Al actually wore it during the 2007 Penn State game, but I have my doubts.)
At the gym, I invariably get people (mostly guys, unfortunately) coming up to me and saying, "Cool Temple shirt, where did you get that?"
"Cherry and White Day," I say.
"How much did you pay?"
"Twenty bucks."
"No way! Man, I can't find Temple stuff anywhere."
"Come down to Cherry and White Day, then."
That's how those conversations usually go.
You can't get Temple stuff in Wal-Mart, K-Mart or Sears but you can get plenty of good Temple stuff on Cherry and White Day.
So stuff is the primary reason to get out to Cherry and White Day, with tailgating and seeing old Temple football friends secondary and the game tertiary.
After watching Ventres Stevenson and Myron Myles look like O.J. Simpson on a couple of Cherry and White Days, I'm not taking much home from the game itself.
Since the temperatures are going to dip into the 60s, I think I'll wear my Al Golden sweatshirt.



Cherry and White
Information
Kickoff:
1 p.m. (Gates to E-O open at noon)
Place:
Edberg-Olson Complex, 10th and Diamond
Parking:
Free in LC parking lot, $10 in Lot 10 (11th and Norris, where most of the tailgating will be held)
Tickets
Free, plus each fan will also receive a free raffle ticket for free tickets to a future home game
Tailgating
Allowed in all lots, but most fans will be in Lot 10, which should fill up by 9 a.m.
Prohibited inside E-O
Smoking, alcohol, bags, umbrellas, thermoses, coolers, fireworks, weapons