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| Philly Skyline |
The Philadelphia of my college days is gone. Back then, a statue of William Penn perched atop of City Hall was, under mandate, the highest structure in the city. Now, clusters of pale blue buildings that blend into a cloudless sky tower above Penn. Wanamaker’s department store, the first in Philly and one of the first in the country, is gone. Banks and law firms have changed names, so have the restaurants and hotels.
Two things remain the same, however. The Schuylkill Expressway is still a nightmare, regardless of time of day or day of the week. And my alma mater, Temple University, still can’t beat Penn State in football.
When my college friends suggested meeting up at the Temple/Penn State game, I thought this year would be different. Temple has a good football team. In my hometown, Scranton, local TV specials touting Temple football air regularly. In 2009, we earned a post-season bowl berth against UCLA. I can’t remember 2010 (it was a bad year for me), but I think Temple played well then too. This year, there was good reason to be hopeful that Temple could pull off the Penn State upset. And we almost did. If our quarterback(s) threw one less interception; if our offensive line had one less offsides call—who knows?
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| We are Temple! |
Temple plays in the Philadelphia Eagles’ stadium, Lincoln Financial Field, a ginormous arena that seats about eleven million. Last Saturday, every seat in the stadium was filled, sadly with Penn State fans. When the visiting team’s fans far outnumber the home team fans, that’s bad.
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| Almost doesn’t count in football |
It’s easy to hate on Penn Staters. They run around in their uniform Nittany blue T-shirts that scream, “WE ARE PENN STATE.” They show up in droves for every game regardless of location. They chant. They sing. They’re so freaking happy, it’s gross and unnatural. By comparison, we Temple people are a ragtag bunch. Our school color—cherry—is not quite red, not quite maroon. As a group, we’re not the most cheerful. But we do have numbers. Temple, at least back in my day, was largely a commuter school, meaning millions of locals attended Temple. It’s a shame they can’t bother to show up for the football team.
Penn State’s marching band out-marched Temple. Their cheerleaders out-cheered us. Their twirlers out-twirled us. Their flag bearers and stupid Nittany Lion mascot actually ran around our stadium, waving their school flag, shouting “We are Penn State.” We don’t even have flag bearers. They, in effect, evicted us from our own house.
And, worst of all, they created an uglier than usual traffic jam on the Schuylkill Expressway.
Next year, we’ll probably play them in State College. You couldn’t pay me to go to that game, even if God him/herself guaranteed a Temple win. You don’t realize how big Pennsylvania is until you drive to Penn State’s podunk campus that is at least 200 miles away from any form of normal civilization. Plus, being around all that Penn State cheer makes me depressed.
