Sports Rewind for 3/25

Baseball
The Owls improved to 10-7 (3-0 Atlantic Ten Conference) after completing a series sweep of Rhode Island this weekend, scoring 27 runs over the three-game set. Temple is on a five-game winning streak to begin conference play.

In the first game, senior Tom Dolan won his second straight start by allowing only one run over six innings. In the second game, freshman Byron McKoy was a triple short of hitting for the cycle.

Temple resumes play today against La Salle in the Liberty Bell Classic at Skip Wilson Field. Game time is scheduled for 3 p.m.

Softball
The Owls (5-8, 0-2 A-10) beat Delaware State, 14-0, before dropping a pair of games to Saint Bonaventure, 1-0 and 3-1, respectively, in a Saturday doubleheader. Junior pitcher and outfielder Katie Burdeaux notched her first win of the season against Delaware State, striking out six and helping her own cause with two home runs.

In the Owls’ A-10 opener against the Bonnies, senior pitcher Brianna Dairy (3-3) gave up one run and only three hits while Burdeaux (1-3) took the loss in the second game. Junior third baseman Courtney Norene hit her team-leading fifth home run in first game.

The Owls will host Coppin State in a non-conference doubleheader at Skip Wilson Field today at 2:30 p.m.

Men’s Gymnastics
Following a road loss to Navy last week, the No. 14-ranked men’s gymnastics team partially bounced back at the William & Mary Invitational, beating Navy but losing to the event’s host.
At the invitational, senior Luke Vexler won the all around, floor exercise and horizontal bar while senior Sterling Kramer (parallel bars) and sophomore Scott Bloomfield (vault) also triumphed in their events.

Temple will attempt to defend its title at the ECAC Championships April 5 in West Point, N.Y. The Owls need to win the ECAC’s or outscore both Navy and Illinois-Chicago to advance to the NCAA Qualifier at Stanford University on April 17.

Women’s Gymnastics
For the second consecutive week, the Owls finished last in a quad-meet, this time posting a score of 188.625 to trail behind host Pittsburgh, North Carolina and Cornell.

Temple’s top performers at Pittsburgh were junior Winter Sneed and senior Desiree Meredith, who both scored a 9.700 on the floor to finish eighth in the event. Junior Nina Oteri tied for eighth on the balance beam.

The team will close their season Saturday at the ECAC Championships at William and Mary.

Women’s Tennis
The Owls’ 11-match winning streak was snapped in a 6-1 loss to host Penn State Friday. The squad also faced St. John’s Saturday at State College. Results of that match were not available at press time.

Against the Nittany Lions, junior Dina Senkina was the only player who was able to pull out a victory for the Owls, winning the opening singles match over Katelyn BeVard, 6-4, 6-3.
Next up for the tennis team is a match against Massachusetts at Arthur Ashe Tennis Center Saturday, April 5.

Track & Field
The men’s and women’s track and field squads competed at this weekend’s Towson Invitational, where no team scores were kept.

For the women, junior Amanda Cole (hammer throw), senior Noelle McKenzie (800m) and freshaman Assata Cowart (400m hurdles) all finished first in their events. On the men’s side, senior Andrew Fries grabbed the top spot in the javelin with a 59.35 meter heave.

Both teams will compete at the Raleigh Relays in North Carolina this Friday and Saturday.

- Kurt Hirsch

Conference season begins with win

Different sport, same result.

Temple continued its recent dominance over city rival Saint Joseph’s last Thursday, this time thanks to a 9-8 victory by the women’s lacrosse team in their Atlantic Ten Conference opener.

Sophomore midfielder Chelsea Rosiek scored a free-position goal with 4.6 seconds remaining in regulation to break an 8-8 tie.

“I wasn’t going to blow it,” Rosiek said. “You don’t want to have to go into overtime. If you can finish it in regulation, you’re going to finish it in regulation.”

After a first half that saw the Owls (4-3, 1-0 A-10) trailing the Hawks, 5-2, it didn’t look like overtime would even enter the discussion.

Defensive and offensive adjustments at halftime, however, enabled Temple to score six goals in just over 10 minutes in the second half. That helped the Owls jump out to an 8-6 lead before St. Joe’s (4-3, 0-1) scored two goals to tie it.

“We came out pressing a little too much in the first half,” coach Bonnie Rosen said. “Offensively, we were getting ourselves stuck in double teams. In the second half we knew the double teams were coming and how to work out of them. [Other] adjustments were made to tighten things up defensively, come up with 50-50 balls, ground balls, and have draw control.”

Temple’s 21-13 ground ball edge proved crucial in the final five minutes of the game. With the score tied, the Owls grabbed a grounder that allowed them to continue offensive play and control the ball for virtually the remainder of the game.

“The possession the last five minutes was so crucial for scoring at the end,” Rosiek said. “If we wouldn’t have possessed the whole five minutes, we wouldn’t have got that great shot at the end.”

Rosiek’s game-winning goal not only allowed the Owls to start conference play with a win, it also avenged last year’s 11-8 loss to St. Joe’s in the regular-season finale.
“Last year, we had kind of a rough game [against them],” senior attacker Nicole Caniglia said. “I think it was good to step it up [today] and show them who we are.”
The rest of the conference stands at notice.

Senior Whitney Richards received A-10 Player of the Week honors Monday.

The Owls, picked to finish third in an A-10 coaches’ preseason poll behind only Massachusetts and Richmond, are part of a “wide open A-10” according to UMass coach Alexis Venechanos.
“Temple returns a lot of starters, plays a strong out-of-conference schedule, and has experience in the tournament,” Venechanos said. “Even though Richmond has won the A-10 the past three years, there is no sure shot like in the past.”

The Spiders, though, feature perhaps the best player in the conference in junior Mandy Friend.

“Friend puts Richmond on her back and just makes plays for them,” Venechanos said. “She is the top player in the A-10.”

Friend and the rest of the Spiders will face the Owls on Sunday, April 13, in Richmond in one of the key games in the conference.

“Bring it on,” Caniglia said. “We want it. It’s the A-10s.”

Jennifer Reardon can be reached at jennifer.reardon@temple.edu.

Jordan values time on bench

Women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley could secretly be piecing together a coaching staff capable of defeating the actual lineup.

First, there’s Staley. The three-time Olympic gold medalist’s on-court career was successful, highlighted by two USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year awards (in 1994 and 2004), three All-American honors at the University of Virginia and all-star-caliber stints in both the ABL and WNBA.

Before this season, there was no question who was going to man the point for the former players and current coaching staff roster.

But now the coaches acquired another former point guard: 2005 Temple graduate  , a graduate assistant for the team, is back in school for a degree in sports administration and recreation.

“It’s not really that much different [being on the sideline than it was playing],” Jordan, who received Atlantic Ten Conference first-team honors as a senior, said on Selection Monday after the Owls received an at-large bid for this year’s NCAA Tournament.

“I think I play a big role in that I break down the films. I’m going to work all night tonight and get all the preparation work for the coaches [ready], and the materials that they need, so that they can put the players in the best situation to win.”

From the outside, it’s a completely different role then what the 5-foot-7 guard faced while playing on the team.

Jordan’s playing career didn’t extend as long as Staley’s, but she collected a few of her own awards, while leaving her name in Temple’s history books and memories in the minds of Temple fans.

In 106 games as an Owl, the Florida native knocked down 119 threes, the fifth most of any Temple player. She also finished her career in the top 10 in total assists, as well as assists per game, and as No. 19 on the all-time scoring list.

Jordan is also tied for the team record with Mimi Carroll for most free throws made in a single game after she converted 14 of 17 on December 13, 2004. The 17 attempts are second most behind Carroll’s 20 when she made those 14 in the 1985-1986 season.

When Jordan graduated, she held the record for most assists in a game for a Temple player at the Liacouras Center with nine, but the record was upped by senior Ashley Morris, who dished out 11 against Massachusetts on March 1.

Though she stood in the shadow of now-WNBA star Candice Dupree in her senior year, Jordan played an essential role in leading Temple to its first-ever Top 25 national ranking, ending the season ranked No. 16 in the country.

A highlight of the Owls’ 25-game winning streak came at the hands of Jordan while playing at Massachusetts’ Mullins Center. She nailed a step-back 3-pointer at the buzzer, giving the Owls their 20th victory in a row.

That year, after the Owls were defeated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, it may have been the last time Jordan hung up her Temple uniform, but it was not the last time she’d be on the court.

Last year, she played in Switzerland.

“It was a pretty good experience. It gave me the opportunity to live out my dreams and see what it is to be a professional basketball player,” Jordan said. “I had a good time, [but now] I think I have another venture, and I think I’m probably about done playing.”

And that new venture has her back at Temple.

“Once you come into this program, you’re always going to feel a part of it,” Jordan said. “Alumni – we like to come back and help out the team anyway we can.”

Jordan mentioned how she’s felt more than a graduate assistant this year after former assistant Darius Taylor left Temple to work in the National Basketball Association’s Developmental League.

“We have a coaching position that’s vacant, so I picked up some extra roles and duties,” Jordan said before leaving for College Park, Md., where the team lost to No. 6 ASU on Sunday. “I do some on-the-court stuff.”

Whether the “on-the-court stuff” will ever equal she and Staley teaming up to challenge the players at any point is unknown, but Jordan could have found a long-term spot on the bench.

Jeff Appelblatt can be reached at the.jeff@temple.edu.

With practice off and running, Golden’s looking for backs

With all the hype surrounding the men’s and women’s basketball teams during the last week as they both reached the NCAA Tournament, it’s been easy to overlook what’s been happening at Edberg-Olson Hall.

The Owls, along with third-year football coach Al Golden, kicked off spring practice last Tuesday at the team’s practice facility.

Golden’s squad is returning all but one starter, but if he wants to lead the Owls to post-season play like his counterparts, basketball coaches Fran Dunphy and Dawn Staley, he said he knows the team has room to improve.

“We have so many specific goals in terms of overall approach,” Golden said.

Golden said he has one specific focus for improvement — the running game.

“We just want to see if we can run the ball,” Golden said. “That’s one of the things we’re trying to find out this spring.”

Golden said the starting running back position is wide open, but the issue is cutting his options down to three or four open spots on the depth chart.

“[We have] three or four scholarships guys here right now this spring,” he said. “There’s a minimum of two coming in. They’ll be six or seven guys fighting to be in the top three or four to make the bus next year.”

Junior Jason Harper, who had seven starts at tailback last season, is vying for one of those positions. Harper rushed for 586 yards and five touchdowns in 2007.
Golden said Harper has some inconsistencies to work out.

“He’s got to develop the mental and physical toughness required to be a Division I tailback. It’s not an easy position. It’s a position that requires tremendous focus and discipline,” Golden said.

The coach has little to worry about with quarterback Adam DiMichele.

The senior is recovering from surgery that fixed his fractured tibia. DiMichele’s season ended on Oct. 20 when he was tackled in the Owls’ win over Miami (Ohio) at Lincoln Financial Field.

“He’s way ahead of schedule,” Golden said. “He’s going to throw for us in the spring which is something that we didn’t think was going to happen a couple months ago.”

The defense is led by two All-Mid-American Conference selections — junior defensive tackle Andre Neblett and junior defensive back Dominique Harris. The Owls led the MAC in five defensive categories last season including total defense and were first in the nation in red-zone defense.

The Owls started 20 freshmen, several on the defense, last year to lead the nation.

Golden said the experience was important, but added that the current freshman class could be even better.

In the off-season, Temple signed the top-rated recruiting class in the MAC, according to Scout.com.

“They should all utilize their experience from last year,” he said. “That’s one of the greatest benefits of playing freshmen. There’s more competition right now than there was at any point last year.”

Golden posted a 1-11 record in his first season at Temple. Last season, their inaugural in the MAC, the Owls won four conference games to finish with a 4-8 record.

A three-win improvement for Golden was satisfying, especially with 2006’s record, but he said he is expecting the gradual improvement to continue.

“I think we’re on schedule,” he said. “We’ve got some tough tasks ahead of us. We have a tough schedule ahead of us this year. That’s what we’re getting ready for this year.”

The Owls will conclude their spring practices with the annual Cherry and White intra-squad scrimmage Saturday, April 19, at the Ambler Sports Complex.

Pete Dorchak can be reached at pdorchak@temple.edu.

Photo Courtesy of Ron Davis

Ken Anderson, 52, former women’s gymnastics coach

Ken Anderson, Temple’s women’s gymnastics coach from 1986 to 2006, died on Thursday, March 20.  He was 52.

As of press time, The Temple News was unable to confirm the cause or location of Anderson’s death, although current women’s gymnastics coach Aaron Murphy said Anderson had battled a rare form of cancer for the last 18 years.

Anderson, a two-time Atlantic Ten Conference Coach of the Year, is the all-time winningest women’s gymnastics coach in school history, compiling a 235-272 record in his 20-season tenure with the Owls.

“He was, and is, Temple women’s gymnastics. He will be greatly missed,” Murphy, who served as an assistant under Anderson for four seasons, said in a statement.
Murphy first met Anderson when he walked onto the men’s gymnastics team in 1996.

“He always came to work with a smile on his face,” Murphy said.

Much of Anderson’s success came in his first seven seasons with Temple, as the Owls posted winning records during all but one of those campaigns, including a program-best 20 victories in 1989 and 1992.

During the 1992 season, Anderson led the Owls to the NCAA Championships. He also guided his team to five USAG National Championships and seven appearances in the NCAA Regionals.

Prior to arriving at Temple, Anderson served as assistant women’s gymnastics coach at Southern Connecticut State and Massachusetts.
The Northport, N.Y., native was a two-time All-American gymnast at Southern Connecticut, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1978. He earned a master’s of science degree in urban education from the school in 1982.

Anderson coached 10 current members of the women’s gymnastics team — juniors Nikki Berrian, Natasha Crawford, Debra DiPrima and Winter Sneed and seniors Nicole Catrambone, Caitlin Egan, Christine McNeill, Kristin McRell, Desiree Meredith and Alycia Petitto.

“They were heartbroken,” Murphy said. “There were a lot of tears shed.”

In a statement, Temple Director of Athletics Bill Bradshaw said: “The entire Temple community is saddened by the loss of Ken Anderson. He was a special man, who gave so much of himself to Temple Athletics.”

Anderson, a resident of Drexel Hill, Pa., is survived by his wife, Debra, daughter, Melissa, his parents, a sister, a brother, aunts and several cousins.
A memorial service for Anderson was held Monday at the Toppitzer Funeral Home on 2900 State Road, Drexel Hill, Pa.

Donations can be made in Anderson’s memory to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, P.O. Box 2132, Memphis, TN 38101.

Tyson McCloud can be reached at tyson@temple.edu.

Strong bodies, strong minds: The mentality of success

Sometime in the fall, prior to the start of its five-month-long season, the fencing team sat down and discussed its goals for the upcoming campaign with Rolf Wagschal, M.A., a doctoral candidate in Temple’s kinesiology department.

With Wagschal, who has a sport psychology concentration, and their coaches’ help, the 19-member squad copiously outlined the specific objectives they wanted to complete this season: Rank among the top five collegiate teams in the nation, send as many Owls as possible to the NCAA Regionals and, from there, qualify a maximum-six fencers for the NCAA Championships.

“It gave us something specific to work towards,” sophomore Christie Griffith said. “It gave us motivation.”

Incorporating Wagschal into its pre-season, goal-setting session isn’t anything new for the Owls. It’s something that 35-year coach Nikki Franke has done for several seasons.
Except this time, nearly every goal was accomplished.

The Owls, who at 24-6, finished eighth in the United States Fencing Coaches Association Women’s Fencing Coaches Poll, sent a maximum 12 fencers – out of 16 qualifiers – to the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regionals in February. Four Owls were selected to participate in last week’s NCAA Championships, where Temple finished ninth out of 23 teams at the two-day Columbus, Ohio competition.

At the championships, sophomore Melissa Parker, a second-team All-American, finished seventh in the foil, while her teammate, fellow sophomore Kristin Howell, an honorable mention All-American, also registered a top 10 finish, placing ninth in the epee. Griffith and freshman Grace Wu finished 23rd and 19th in the sabre and epee competitions, respectively.

The origin of the Owls’ collective and individual successes can be traced to that pre-season meeting with Wagschal, who also worked with the squad throughout the regular season.

“When you reach a very high level of competition the difference between people is very small,” said Wagschal, who is in his third season working with the team. “Being able to maintain a daily regimen along with mentally training yourself for certain situations so you know how to react allows you to perform at your best.”

Franke said “everyone finds it helpful since fencing is not only a team sport but also an individual sport.”

“Each fencer has something to work on,” she said. “For some, it’s being able to concentrate and keeping distractions out.”

The emphasis on mental preparation helped Howell reach the NCAA Championships this season after she just missed qualifying for the event in her freshman year.
“This season, I just really matured,” Howell said.

A part of Howell’s maturation was recognizing the advanced skill level of epeeists at the final competition.

“At the championships, you can’t expect anything,” Howell said. “You have to work hard for every single touch.”

In her second NCAA Championship appearance, Parker, the first Temple fencer to be named second-team All-American since 1994, knew exactly what to expect. She won 16 of her 23 matches, scoring 94 touches on her opponents, while taking only 70 in return.

“Melissa is a very focused, very hard-working young lady,” Franke said. “She really came into this tournament knowing what she needed to do to perform well.”

Griffith, another sophomore who qualified for the championships last year, is one of seven second-year fencers on the team. The squad’s freshman core is led by Wu, who said her reaction to her NCAA Championship bid was “awe.”

The Beaverton, Ore.-native represents just one of many states on the Owls roster, which includes fencers from Georgia, California, Texas and Washington.

“The fencing community is actually quite small,” Wu said. “When you go to competitions, you meet coaches from all over the country. I met Nikki and really bonded with her.”
Although Wu built a rapport with Franke, she directly works with assistant coach Bradley Baker, who instructs the team’s epees and sabres.

Baker, in his fourth year with the Owls, was previously the coach of the Massachusetts club fencing team where, during his tenure, he managed to double the size of the roster and win the 2002 Coach of the Year award from the Northeast Fencing Conference.

“He is really very approachable and willing to work with the girls,” Franke said. “He works very hard. He’s really fit into our program and our philosophy.”

The philosophy Franke has taught for more than three decades is one of supporting one another. Recruits from across the country recognize the team’s success, respect the program and buy into the team-oriented philosophy, she said.

It doesn’t seem to be a hard sell.

During Franke’s tenure, the team hasn’t had a losing season since 1976. The Owls have compiled a 519-113 record in the past three decades.

Franke, the first and only fencing coach in the program’s history and a four-time USFCA Women’s Fencing Coach of the Year recipient, has a 542-144-1 record overall.

“When I first started, we were able to bring students out of the classrooms and we had walk-ons,” Franke said. “The level of fencing has changed and has gotten so much stronger.”
But so has Franke’s teams.

A perennial Top 10-caliber squad, the Owls improved upon last year’s 12th-place finish at the NCAA Championships.

Although that wasn’t specifically one of the pre-season goals that the Owls outlined with Wagschal, it was still an accomplishment that Franke and the rest of the team could take pride in.
“Their success really comes down to them,” Wagschal said.  “I just try to be there to help prepare them. If what I do helps, outstanding. I view myself basically as a facilitator.”
Wagschal should have the opportunity to work with the majority of the squad again.

With only four seniors leaving (Brianna Ferrara, Samantha Myles, Marla Nacey and Kristine Jones), the Owls have lots of “potential” for the future, Franke said.
And her fencers agreed.

“I think we’re going to keep breaking records,” Griffith said. “I just want to keep breaking records and I think that the team will do that.”

Tyson McCloud can be reached at tyson@temple.edu.

Quick exit forces Men’s team to look ahead to next season

DENVER — The pageantry, which accompanied Temple’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 2001, quickly washed away following a 72-61 first round loss to fifth-seeded Michigan State Thursday at the Pepsi Center.

The atmosphere in the No. 12-seeded Owls locker room afterwards was almost equivalent to their play during the game: quiet and weary.

Certainly, being more than 1,700 miles from North Broad Street didn’t help. And neither did the Mile-High City altitude. Or the 12:30 p.m. tip-off.

Despite those factors, the Owls, who finished the season at 21-13 overall, weren’t about to make any excuses for why they couldn’t pull one out over the Spartans.

“It’s very disappointing because we thought we could’ve won this game,” sophomore guard Luis Guzman said, nearly whispering while positioned near a table in the desolate post-game locker room.

Now, in the aftermath of Thursday’s loss, the Owls have to face reality. Seniors Mark Tyndale and Chris Clark’s careers are over.

However, the two-time reigning A-10 scoring champion, Dionte Christmas, will be around for one last ride. And so will juniors Sergio Olmos and Semaj Inge.

Guzman, the Owls starting point guard for the majority of the season, and Ryan Brooks, a sharpshooter off the bench, both have two more years. Tack on three more years of service for freshman forward Lavoy Allen, who started in all but two games in his first campaign.

“Losing Tyndale and Chris Clark, it’s going to hurt our offense a little bit,” Allen said. “But [we’re] getting some new guys next year, getting some new big guys involved, Michael Eric, Craig Williams, so we’ll have a better rotation [among] the big men.”

Eric, a 6-foot-10 Lagos, Nigeria- native, is expected to join the Owls next season after he was deemed academically ineligible just weeks before the start of his freshman season. Williams, a 6-9 freshman who was credited with helping to toughen Olmos during practice this season, made one-minute appearances in six games during the regular season.
Philadelphia’s Public School Most Valuable Player Andrew “Scootie” Randall of Communications Tech will bring his 6-6 frame to Temple next season as well.
This core of returning and new players will attempt to improve on what the Owls accomplished this season.

They won’t be able to sneak up on opponents this time, though.

“We’re going to have work 10 times as hard then we did in this past offseason,” Brooks said. “We’re looking forward to getting back here and we know it’s not going to be easy.”

The thought that the Owls would have a shot at upsetting a team like Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament this season might’ve induced laughter a few months ago. But that was before things started to turn around.

After losing to then-No. 7 Duke at the Wachovia Center on Jan. 9, the Owls ripped off 15 wins over their next 20 games, leading up to their Atlantic Ten Conference Championship victory over Saint Joseph’s, where they notched their seventh consecutive win.

“I thought my teammates did a great job sticking with it, believing in the coaches’ gameplan, believing in their new system and down the stretch we started winning games at the right time,” Brooks said.

The Owls nearly went an entire month without losing before the Michigan State game. And Christmas didn’t enjoy re-experiencing that losing feeling Thursday.

“I definitely, definitely want to get back here next year again,” Christmas said as he spoke to media members from an elevated platform following the loss. “I don’t want to be sitting in this position. I want to be advancing to the next round.”

Tyson McCloud can be reached at tyson@temple.edu.

Photo Courtesy of Ron Davis

Morris’ teammates run out of gas against Arizona State

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — After 21 wins, 13 losses and countless practices, road trips, meetings and weight room sessions, it was all over.

The 11th-seeded women’s basketball team’s season came to an end Sunday in a 61-54 loss to No. 6 Arizona State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Comcast Center.

With the score tied at halftime, the Sun Devils began the second half on a 13-0 run and never looked back as they held off a late Owls charge and advanced to the second round of the tournament to face No. 3 Duke.

“I thought we lost it on the defensive end,” coach Dawn Staley said. “I think it was more so of just a little mental breakdown defensively… But we got beat by a very good basketball team that kept the pressure on us all night.”

Senior guard Ashley Morris led the way like she’s been doing all season, notching a game-high 21 points in her final contest in Cherry and White. Senior center Lady Comfort added 11 points and five rebounds, but no other Owl reached double-figures and the team turned the ball over 19 times.

But despite the loss, the Owls still had a fairly successful 2007-2008 campaign.

Picked to finish fourth in the Atlantic Ten Conference preseason poll, Staley’s squad defied the critics and finished in a tie for first place with George Washington. They advanced to the A-10 title game and received the program’s second consecutive at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Led by Morris, who finished the season averaging 15.2 points per game, the Owls certainly surpassed expectations.

“We never doubted ourselves,” Morris said. “We knew we had the group to [make the tournament] and get this far, and we even thought we would go further. So I don’t think we ever fed into what people were saying about us.”

While that kind of mentality, along with that kind of leadership, helped the Owls this season, the focus now shifts to next year.
With Morris and Comfort exiting, new players will have to step up to fill key roles —both on and off the court.

“You’re going to have to [dig deep] to find something in order for us to be effective next year, because [Morris] was it this year,” Staley said. “So hopefully our players will come back and this sour taste that’s left in our mouth will force them to do a little more in the offseason.”

And so as the Owls begin preparing for next season, Morris and Comfort will begin preparing for whatever comes next in their basketball careers.
“I just don’t know what I’m going to do with myself,” Morris said. “All I want to do is play basketball. I don’t know.”

“I’m just going to look to the future,” Comfort added. “Keep trying to play basketball somewhere for somebody.”

For Staley, she is undoubtedly upset in losing two players that have been with her for four years. But at the same time, she knows that they’re ready to move to the next level of their lives.

“They’re going to be an asset to another company or a basketball team,” Staley said. “And I’m proud to know that they wore this Temple University uniform proudly. They did us proud, and I’m sure when we look back ten years from now, they’re going to continue to make us proud.”

Todd Orodenker can be reached at todd.orodenker@temple.edu.

Black Jesus: creating God in our own image

Soaring brick-and-mortar tributes to God can be found in any community. Churches especially permeate places that test faith and offer little hope, places like North Philadelphia. The imagery inside, however, shows that the God these houses are dedicated to may not

be as universal as we like to think.

The Bright Hope Baptist Church sits at the corner of 12th Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue. This structure, built in 1964 after the construction of Yorktown, serves an active congregation that was once led by William H. Gray, III, a prominent Philadelphia politician and one-time majority whip in the U.S. Congress. A large stained-glass window is displayed on the church’s Web site, depicting Jesus surrounded by glowing rays. This Jesus is shown just how he is commonly portrayed—kind, bearded and smiling. One thing is different, though. He is black.

Now, Jesus could actually have been black. Some schools of thought point to evidence that early Jews may have been at least partially black. Regardless of what the historical Jesus looked like, however, churches and religious paintings and symbols depict him in dozens of different ways. These vary from the traditional crucifixion scene to more contemporary, and often less frightening, images.

Depictions of Jesus and almost any other religious figure change over time and place, in order to fit the mood, so to speak. What Jesus looked like in real life is not completely clear, and that makes depicting him in different ways easier. Even if the world knew precisely what he looked like, I doubt that he would be depicted the same everywhere. Religious figures, whether they are saints, gods, martyrs or angels, give us comfort, and their stories are told to give us some spiritual connection, or at the very least, a social connection.

These stories lose their meaning and their ability to connect to us when they do not reflect ourselves. A story of European monks who were trying to convert people of color shows what happens when people do not see themselves in their deities.

The monks were appalled when they were told that these people preferred hell to heaven. A painting that depicted the two eternal worlds turned out to be the culprit. It depicted heaven as a place populated with austere, pale people, who lived in the sky. Hell, on the other hand, was shown as a place that had a lot of bonfires, and that was populated by dark-skinned people.

It isn’t hard to see how anyone would rather live in a place with warmth and people who at least partially resembled themselves rather than a bizarre foreign land filled with stone-faced strangers.

Perhaps it is better this way, with people who claim to worship the same God depicting him in sometimes drastically different ways. Even if we knew what Jesus looked like, depicting him that way would hardly make him more real to the millions of us who say they believe in some form of God — 86 percent of American adults, according to a recent Gallup poll.

For God, or religion in general, to serve any worthwhile purpose, he first needs to connect to the people who are searching for meaning in his story.

Stephen Zook can be reached at stephen.zook@temple.edu.

Increase our speed limits

Here’s the problem for me. I’m not hitting 100 on the speedometer often, but it’s difficult to drive the speed limit. When a road is empty, it’s not only hard, but also unnecessary.
When I’m on the Betsy Ross Bridge at 3 or 4 a.m., I don’t want to drive 45 mph. But the speed for the bridge never budges.

It’s indisputable that some people on the road cannot drive well. But not everyone should be forced to choose between driving like a grandmother or getting pulled over.

Two years ago, state transportation officials in Texas agreed. They knew people were going over the limit, and more than 521 miles of highway within 10 counties had its maximum speed raised to 80 mph.

“You get a safer highway when people are driving in more uniformed speeds,” Carlos Lopez, director of traffic operations for the Texas Department of Transportation, said about the change.

Unquestionably, many are going above the speed limit everywhere. By setting a speed that many drivers are already driving, it would not only make the roads safer, but would also reduce speeding tickets.

That would make me happy. I received two in 2006. Both times I was still in my native New Jersey while on my way back to Main Campus.

Despite the tickets, it is still hard to drive 65 on a 65 mph road, especially if I’m the only car around.

The way new cars are, 65 and 100 feel the same. Any newer, good car should feel just as smooth no matter the speed.

Not only does the maximum speed limit need to be raised, but it is also important to introduce a minimum speed on all roads. Nothing is worse than getting stuck behind lane cloggers, leaving you trying to figure out which car is going to take a lead so you can get around them all.

I’d guarantee most police officers agree. Cops always get stuck behind slow drivers since everyone who notices a police car on the road slows down.
But in Philadelphia, it’s up to City Council to change speed limits, not police.

So Ms. Anna Verna, City Council president, there are reckless drivers, and there are serious accidents that occur despite the fact that highway speed limits are too low. But driving is no fun while going slowly, and most people are going to drive above the current speed limits, anyway.

Sure, some people are satisfied with the limits, so if the maximum ever goes up, and I end up in a fatal accident as a result, those people can say they told me so.
But at least I can say I went down driving a car the way cars are meant to be driven.

Jeff Appelblatt can be reached at the.jeff@temple.edu.

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