Temple and the Big East in layman's terms

When I think of Temple's courtship of the Big East, I think of the classic romantic movie "Say Anything" starring John Cusack as Lloyd Dobbler and Iona Skye as Diane Court. John Mahoney is the overprotective and general sleazebag father.
In the iconic scene, Dobbler raises a boombox and plays Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" and Court eventually sees the two were meant to be together.
In the Temple football courting Big East version, playing the role of overprotective father and overall sleazebag is Villanova. Playing the role of the Mid-American Football Conference has been every other girl Dobbler has met up until that moment who paled in comparison to Court.
Temple was all set for a Big East invite in October until Villanova lobbied the other Catholic schools in that conference to keep Temple out.
In the movies, Temple's boombox moment would have been its football TV ratings (tops in the MAC and among the best in the nation, rising attendance figures in football and its world-class basketball program). Seeing all this potential in its backyard, the Big East would have rolled out of bed into Temple's arms.
Cut.
It's a wrap.
Applause.
In this Temple reality version of Say Anything, the dirty dad (Villanova) tells the daughter he'll cut her off if she's got anything to do with the new guy and she makes the incorrect decision of doing what her dad tells her to do and not following her heart.
She then goes all over the country looking for the perfect man, wishing she could find someone as perfect as the guy in her backyard with the boombox. She spents the rest of her life regretting that decision and withers off and dies. That pretty much sums up the Big East and Temple these days.
On Dec. 7, 2011, a day that will live in Big East infamy, the Big East traveled 3,000 miles to get the Temple of the West (Boise State) and a San Diego State football program that averages far less in attendance and TV ratings than the Owls do. Not to mention SMU and Houston, so we won't.
Temple has a world-class stadium, a football program that has averaged more than eight wins in each of the last three seasons, and is within easy driving distance of the original Big East footprint.
Sadly, the boombox moment appears to be over and this Big East girl does not want Temple. Time to move on to someone (Conference USA, perhaps) who will appreciate Temple and help the Owls realize their full potential. The other girls, the MAC, will understand.
If the Big East withers off and dies, and it will, that's their loss.

TU vs. Wyoming shows how much has changed

Laramie, Wyoming, the site of the last Temple vs. Wyoming game.

Turnovers costly for Owls
By Mike Bruton
LARAMIE, Wyo. (9/2/1990) — If Wyoming was expecting an embattled opponent haunted by last season's failures, it didn't find one in Temple yesterday. What it found was a most generous adversary.

Jerry Berndt's Owls had no intention of making things easy for the Cowboys and, in fact, made things rather rocky for them for nearly three quarters before succumbing to its own mistakes and losing, 38-23, before a crowd of 17,564.
The game at War Memorial Stadium was pockmarked by turnovers, but the Owls hatched six of the eight that occurred, their last three propelling the Cowboys to victory in this, the season opener for both teams.
Complete story from Sept. 2, 1990 editon of Inquirer is here for your edification.

As I write this, the temperature in Albuquerque, New Mexico is 12 degrees.
Here in Philadelphia, it's 62 degrees.
So much for warm-weather bowl destinations.
It could be worse.
According to an email I received from Wyoming, it was 21 degrees when the man started his car in the morning there on Monday.
That's minus-21.
Much can change in 10 or so days and hopefully that temperature inversion will.
College football is like the weather that way.
A short 20 years ago and Temple was playing Wyoming in an unlikely matchup in Laramie.
A lot has changed since:

• The Big East WANTED Temple;
• A high school head coach named Steve Addazio was in his second year working toward the first of three  state titles in Cheshire, Conn.;
• Temple had a good, professional, competent football announcer in Dave Sims;
• There was no BCS (and therefore no BS in college football);
• Teams actually had to have WINNING seasons to earn a bowl bid;

What hasn't changed are the precepts of the game itself.
The team that blocks and tackles the best and limits the turnovers usually wins the game.
Such was the case in 1990 when Temple dropped a 38-23 game in Laramie, based on turnovers.
In fact, Temple head coach Jerry Berndt used the term "ball security" way back then.
Some things never change.
Addazio's plan to win at Temple has the ball security issue right at the top of the sheet.
Limit turnovers, play great defense, run the ball, make a difference on special teams.
If Temple doesn't do anything crazy like turn the ball over 127 times (exaggerating for effect here), like it did the first time these two teams played, it should come away with its first bowl win since 1979.
That would give me a warm and fuzzy feeling, whatever the temperature is on Dec. 17.

World Soccer: August 1971

Some time ago I decided to search eBay for old issues of World Soccer magazine, the much-loved football magazine, now in its 51st year. I wasn’t sure how many I’d find (if any at all) but I’m pleased to report there were quite a few to choose from, one of which was from the month and year of my birth.

And so it was that I purchased the magazine in question and installed it in my personal collection of football memorabilia. What’s curious to note in this printed snapshot of the global game from 1971 is that this was unquestionably a time of arrivals and departures.

Red Devil Frank

Inside we heard from reporter Eric Thornton on the appointment of Frank O’Farrell as manager of Manchester United, a move which was looked upon as something of a gamble on the part of the Old Trafford club. Having led Leicester City to the Division Two title, he replaced Wilf McGuinness in the United hot seat, and it was suggested by Thornton that his football experience at all levels of the game would probably see him in good stead. As it turned out, his first season there wasn't bad, but his second started badly and he was dismissed from his post only 18 months after he'd first arrived.

Don Howe, understudy to manager Bertie Mee at Arsenal, was on his way out of Highbury to take charge at West Bromwich Albion. What made this something of a notable story at the time was the fact that his predecessor at The Hawthorns, Alan Ashman, heard about his sacking well after most of the British public. The story was leaked from Highbury and soon appeared in national newspapers while Ashman was enjoying a holiday in Greece.

Pele to Europe?

Leaving the international scene was none other than Pele, as reported by Roger MacDonald in ‘World Diary’. Pele’s playing career with Brazil had come to an end in a recent friendly against Yugoslavia, but it was his club career at Santos that had come under the spotlight in the summer of 1971. Newly-formed French club Paris Saint-Germain were said to be offering the World Cup legend around £680,000 to play for them at the time, but Pele was in no mood to switch allegiances having already turned down similar offers from Juventus, Inter and Real Madrid. How ironic to think of PSG buying their success in such a way...

Also retiring - this time from football altogether - was Spanish legend Francisco Gento. Norman Cutler reported that his departure from the club where he'd become such a popular captain and outside-left was strangely muted. His last match was the European Cup Winners Cup Final replay against Chelsea in Athens that year, after which Real simply released a statement showing which players would not be retained for the following season. Gento's name was on it, and that was all that was said.

As it is, Gento had not been at his peak for some time due to injury problems and the Bernabeu club had finally decided to release the Spanish international. Rightly enough, he was granted a much-deserved testimonial some time later, thereby allowing Real's fans the chance to give him a proper send-off.

World Cup '74

Elsewhere in the August '71 issue of World Soccer, there was the full draw for the qualifying competition of the 1974 World Cup. There had been a record 98 entrants for the qualifiers and with only 16 places available in the Finals, the South Americans were upset at only getting three of them - so much so that they staged a temporary walk-out at the draw when they hadn't been allocated the four spots they'd asked for. As it is, they were lucky - the 24 competing African countries were fighting over only one place, something Joao Havelange would seek to improve during his FIFA presidency.

Eric Batty, meanwhile, bemoaned the lack of imagination at the recent handing out of the Footballer of the Year and Manager of the Year awards. Both prizes went to Arsenal after their double-winning season; Frank McLintock and Bertie Mee being the respective recipients. Batty argued that TV, the media and popular press had been caught up in the wave of universal appreciation for The Gunners' achievements at the expense of more deserving subjects. In Eric Batty's view, players like Colin Bell, Martin Peters and Ralph Coates might have been better placed to win the player's award.

In other news...

In this issue, we also heard about Canada's struggle to draw decent home crowds for their international matches, the growing interest in soccer over in Texas - contrasted starkly with the lack of goals and excitement in the NASL, and the introduction of a new competition called the UEFA Cup (a replacement for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup won by Leeds United that summer).

Eric Batty was also on hand with a player profile on a new young talent called Johan Cruyff. The Ajax centre-forward had already caught the eye in a European Cup tie against Liverpool in 1966 by scoring one goal in the 5-1 home leg in Amsterdam and both for Ajax in the 2-2 return leg at Anfield. "If one man personifies the new standards of Dutch soccer, that man is surely Johan Cruyff" commented Batty.

Finally, Andrew Dettre reported on a tour of Australia that had recently been undertaken by an English FA representative squad. Though the players returned with a 100% success rate on the field, the tour itself was deemed far from satisfactory, largely due to the wealth of unknown names making up the squad. Big crowds failed to materialise at most of the nine matches leaving the Australian FA with far less money than they hoped for to fund a world tour for their own national side.

Front cover  (top): Italian champions Inter walking out onto the field at Selhurst Park to play an Anglo-Italian Cup match against Crystal Palace.

Back cover (right): Team picture of Blackpool, winners of the Anglo-Italian Cup in 1971.

Steve Earl's Football Programmes

Since I first bought a copy of Shoot! for 42p (a price rise of 2 pence on the previous week’s issue I found out later...scandalous!), I have always been drawn to the adverts section near the back of football magazines. The promise of football-related goodies, often in full colour, tempting me all these years. 

Looking back on 25 years' worth of ads, it’s funny how some things have changed and others not. The ads aimed at kids have changed dramatically, moving with the times, as one would expect. Pastel shaded drawings of rosy faced children in England pyjamas (the ad was for football pyjamas, I'd like to point out) replaced with the headache inducing ‘LOOK AT MY AWESOME STUFF IT’S SO AWESOME AAAAAAAARGH!!!!!’ style adverts prevalent in today’s brain mush kids’ football rags.

Adverts aimed at the older end of the age spectrum have changed little; their sober, informative format giving the consumer just what they want – information about what the product is, what it does, how you can obtain it and, in the ‘olden’ days, the standard line about allowing 28 days for delivery.

One specific advert that never seems to have changed is the one that always caught my eye as a lad and still does now.  That of Steve Earl’s Football Programmes.

Advert from Shoot!, July 1986

 

When Saturday Comes, January 2012

The same goofy, child-bearing-hipped football fan – arm still raised aloft, still giving that curious thumbs up, possibly referring to the FREE programmes (NB: in these hard economic times, this is now just a free programme catalogue) the ad’s strapline has always carried and still clutching a handful of programmes. This figure has been invading my conscious mind for over 21 years and yet, despite this apparently excellent marketing device, the crucial piece of info missing from my memory when I came to research this was... who the hell is this advert for? For as much as I could remember the cartoon, that it was for football programmes and that it offered FREE programmes, I had no idea who was selling / giving them away.

In truth this is probably down to me not really being into football programmes, so I never felt the need to read past the first few lines. I did consider sending off for some free ones back in the day, the offer of free things by post having a very strong allure to a child whose only real post up until that point had been the limited edition Star Wars figures (send 3 names / proof of purchases from the backing cards).

Upon further research (reading my old copies of Shoot! after a trip to the garage), I discovered it was for the aforementioned Steve Earl.  I also discovered, to my disappointment and mild horror as it almost torpedoed the whole angle of this post, that in the copies of Shoot! from 1990, the advert had shrunk to only a few lines and more importantly, Mr GoofyProgrammeMan wasn’t there!!!  Rising costs and an imminent recession obviously took their toll and poor old GPM was laid off. It also now cost a whopping 50p, albeit in unused stamps, to obtain the desired free, sorry, FREE programmes. 

 

1990 - FREE Football Programmes still available, but no Goofy Programme Man?

Thankfully, despite worldwide economic meltdown, Steve seems to have fully embraced the value of solid branding and restored good ol' Goofy to his rightful place...just to the left of the title.

One more thing I love about this advert is that, through all the years, the font may have changed, GPM may have taken a sabbatical, colour may have arrived, but one thing that has remained constant is the address.  Broad Street, Bungay, Suffolk NR35 1AH.  I can just picture it now...actually, with Google Maps and street view I can do just that...so here it is...

The Promised Land!

Steve Earl's Football Programmes, I may never have sent off for your enticing offer, but you have been a steady rock in my turbulent life for two and a half decades and for that, I salute you!

The Big Match: Golden Goals 1980

Everyone remembers Match of the Day's 'Goal of the Month' competition, but fewer people recall that ITV's The Big Match had its own version called called 'Golden Goals'.

Here's the last thrilling installment from the 1979/80 season, and note an early example of product placement on the advertising board behind the goal for Glenn Hoddle's first effort.

A good night at the LC

Wyoming rushes the field after its last NMB win in 2009.

I got a chance to shake Bernard Pierce's hand and wish him luck in the game. If any of my running ability rubbed off in the handshake, Bernard should finish with 27 yards. Or maybe minus 27. So he's going to have to go for 227 to save me a guilt trip.

Watched a little of the start of the Bowl Selection show at the Liacouras Center with former Temple great running back Sheldon Morris and we were both looking for the fast forward button on TV remote.
Neither of us had the remote, but Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw took the microphone during the first commercial break and broke the suspense.
Temple vs. Wyoming, New Mexico Bowl, Dec. 17.
You know what?
Both Sheldon and I and about 90 to 92 percent of the other season-ticket holders won't be able to make it in body (we don't have deep enough pockets) but we will be there in spirit.
It was a surprise in a sense.
Both Sheldon and I (and about 90 to 92 percent of the other season-ticket holders) would have been able to make it to D.C., but it just wasn't meant to be.
Most of the players thought the nation's capital would be the destination as of about 5 p.m. (At least those at the E-O with my text number) so this pairing comes as a surprise.
Disappointment might be a little strong because any bowl is a good one but this announcement could have been better from my perspective.
Disappointment would have been the word I would have used if Temple was left out.
Temple should take care of business and move the program forward with the school's first bowl win since 1979.
For a week, the talk had been of a Temple bowl rematch with Cal (1979 win) or UCLA (2009 loss).
Wyoming will be a rematch of sorts, too.
The Cowboys handed visiting Temple one of its only four losses during the 1990 season (28-23). Dick Beck, the current North Penn head coach, was the captain of that Temple team.
Still, I would have preferred to see Temple put a Big East team on its ass.
I would have liked to see Temple play Pitt in the BBVA Compass Bowl, but nobody asked me. SMU will play Pitt in Birmingham, Ala. instead. Temple vs. Pitt would have made a better storyline.
The TV show itself could have been better.
College football probably will never figure out a way to harness the suspense in its bowl selection show that college basketball has when announcing the brackets, but everyone got a chance to go home early.
I met a lot of the parents and I can now understand why this is a solid group made up of good and humble young men. They are all very nice people. I could not be prouder of a group representing Temple than this football organization and that goes from Steve Addazio through the players through the video and managerial staff.
I got a chance to shake Bernard Pierce's hand and wish him luck in the game. If any of my running ability rubbed off in the handshake, Bernard should finish with 27 yards. Or maybe minus 27. So he's going to have to go for 227 to save me a guilt trip.
There were plenty of Temple fans there and plenty of Temple fight songs played by the band.
All in all a good night at the LC.
Spare me of the endless Alabama vs. LSU talk.
These other schools deserve some love, too.
Temple football got some love at the LC, if not on the TV.

Owls holding breath for that bowl bid




New Mexico Bowl and Military Bowl remain the likely destinations for Temple.

 

If you are a Temple fan, disappointment is a familiar word.
A couple of years ago, I watched a pre-game college basketball show from my neighborhood gym and the two guys were debating whether or not Temple's 29-win basketball team was a two or three seed.
"I think Temple's done enough to move up to the two line," Doug Gottlieb said.
What happened?
The Owls slipped to No. 5 and had to play a 27-4 Cornell team in the first round.
I did not find that out until attending the selection party at the Liacouras Center that night. Driving down, I was whistling Gottlieb's No. 2 tune.
Most people's reactions:
WTF?
You know what those three letters stand for, so I won't elaborate.
Last year, they had a bowl selection party scheduled for the LC but had to cancel it at noon.
"Guys, we're done," were the famous three words uttered by Al Golden in a team meeting at the E-O.

If there is a WTF moment on Sunday, Temple should pursue all avenues to escape from the MAC immediately. Conference USA would accept Temple in a heartbeat and that's really where the Owls belong anyway

WTF?
Back in September, Temple officials were telling Owl fans that joining the Big East would happen "in a matter of days, not weeks" at the wine and cheese pre-game tailgate against Maryland.
Then Villanova stepped in and cried like a baby on the phone to its fellow Big East Catholic schools for three days and suddenly that situation fell apart, too.
WTF?
So there's a party scheduled for the LC Sunday night.
I remain optimistic that the Owls will receive an invite to the bowl party but I've seen too many funky things happen to Temple to be absolutely sure.
As I write this late Saturday night, no official bowl invitation has been received by Temple. In fact, two websites (College Football News and NBC sports) have the Owls projected out of the bowl picture entirely.
One has a 7-5 MAC team, Western Michigan, with no TV ratings and a smaller fan base, projected against Cincinnati in the BBVA Compass Bowl.
Ridiculous is one word.
WTF is three words.
Heck, even Florida International University has received and accepted its bowl invite (Beef O'Brady's, St. Pete) but not Temple.
If there is a WTF moment on Sunday night, Temple should pursue all avenues to escape from the MAC immediately.
Conference USA would accept Temple in a heartbeat and that's really where the Owls belong anyway.
Hopefully, we will all be breathing a sigh of relief at 8:15 p.m. but it never should have come down to the last moment nor should it ever again.
Temple's athletic administration should see to that no later than Monday morning.