Jeff Lurie Is Not A Fan of the Temple Owls

Temple University had high hopes for its 2007 season opener against Navy, with former Owls/Middies coach Wayne Hardin going so far to "guarantee" a crowd of 66,000--perhaps forgetting that it doesn't take a lot of armed forces personnel to keep the ships in mothballs down at the Naval Yard.

Nevertheless, Temple's quest to fill the Linc just got even harder. Originally scheduled for Thursday, August 30, a Philadelphia Eagles preseason game has forced Temple to move the game to Friday.

Astute vacation planners (if there are such people) may note that August 31 is the first day of the long Labor Day weekend. Mike Gibson of Philly.com is one of those people:

Anyone who's grown up in Philadelphia knows the town virtually empties out on the Friday of the Labor Day weekend, with people mostly headed "down the shore" for one last fling before the long, cold winter. There is virtually no chance that Temple would get what current coach Al Golden calls an "unprecedented crowd" on any other night but Thursday.

The date was on Owlsports.com, the school's official athletic Web site. It was on the Lincoln Financial Field site, which I got to by clicking on a link on philadelphia eagles.com. The Phillies even switched a date to accommodate Temple, but not the Eagles.

The sad reality is that an Eagles-Jets preseason tilt, featuring a possible brother vs. brother clash between Marques and Zach Tuiasosopo (which I know you're dying to see), would be a much bigger draw than a Temple football game, even if they got the Navy Seabees to flood the field at halftime and airlift a bunch of Playboy centerfolds onto a floating stage to throw t-shirts into the crowd a la Apocalypse Now.

In fact, I'm not sure that Temple's continued delusions of I-A (excuse me, "Bowl Division") football relevance is good for the overall health of their athletic program. Exhibit A: no NCAA tournament appearances for Temple men's basketball since 2001 (beating Penn State in the Sweet 16, a game whose very existence boggles the mind today). And what happened to all those "Big 5" marquee clashes at the Palestra?

Furthermore, it's incredibly difficult for big-city colleges to establish themselves as legitimate sports/entertainment draws, let alone championship contenders. For every USC and Miami, there's a Northwestern or a Rice or a Tulane.

Not that any of this will change Temple's mind. Remember, this is an athletic department that mirthfully notes the MAC Championship Game on the 2007-08 schedule. The show, it seems, must go on.

Say It Ain't So, Joe [Philly.com]