Temple Monday

Friends:

It's been a long summer, it's been a fun summer, it's been a good summer.  The weather was mild, and the giant sinkhole didn't destroy anyone or anyplace I care about:

As I couldn't spend a week this year explaining how much 

Boston College sucks, please enjoy this metaphor.

 
And we've had non-football sports to get us through the summer.  They're fun, but they have their flaws.  For example, soccer:

I suspect the two-eyed minions are Italian.

And now, in a mere five

Yes, there was offseason news on him.  More on that later.

(5) days, football returns.  Instead of scoring by ones like in baseball, hockey, and soccer, we go back to scoring by sevens and threes:

How excited should you be?  This excited:

Yes, it's an exciting week to be a college football fan, and a great week to be a Fighting Irish fan.  Alas, we open with Temple, which has made unloading tickets a small problem for some.  Fortunately, there is a template pioneered by the football team itself for ticket sales tactics (v).  

But while we are playing Temple, look on the bright side.  We are playing Temple here, and not there.  There being Temple University, per US News and World Report the 125th best 'national university'.  How impressed should you be?  This much: 

If you successfully predicted this picture would follow
the question 'how impressed . . .", give yourself a pat on the back.  

But while Temple may be 125th best nationally, and somewhere in the bottom tier of schools located in the Philly metro area, it does rank third in the nation in one very important category: size of police force: 

The Temple University Police department currently has 130 campus police officers, including supervisors and detectives.^[44] Each officer is a Pennsylvania-certified law enforcement officer, who receive state-mandated police recruit training at an accredited state police academy ^[45] More than 600 campus security cameras help the department maintain an optimal view of the university and the surrounding community.^[44] Temple has also implemented a state-of-the-art lighting system which utilizes over one thousand, 1000-watt metal halide lights mounted on building rooftops that mimics daylight at ground level.^[46] Temple also has a mass notification system, TU Alert.^[47]

With a 115 acre campus, that's over one police officer per acre, and approximately five security cameras per acre.  Why do they need so much law enforcement?  Well, let's look at the Crime Map!

I can't help but be impressed by the dedication to crime evidenced by the local denizens.  That display of criminality, week in and week out, takes real effort.  Of course, it also raises the risk that members of the Temple football team will attempt to defect to Notre Dame rather than return.  Perhaps a check of the visitors locker room before the Temple bus leaves on Saturday will be necessary, just to make sure there's not a kicker, safety, or even the Temple mascot hiding in a corner.

What, you didn't even know Temple had a mascot?

Some mascots wear their heart on their sleeve.
Apparently, Hooter wears his BAC on his chest.

More on him tomorrow.  

In the meantime, due to popular demand, 

Pictured: popular demand

I am debuting a new feature this season: Backer Song of the Day.  And well, I'm so happy it's finally game week that I'm almost dancing on the ceiling: