Practice makes perfect

He’s just one of the guys.

Or, in this case, one of the girls.

And though he’s not the first and probably won’t be the last, at the moment, senior psychology major Mike Mullen is the lone male practice player on the women’s basketball team.

Five days a week, except during road trips and on game days, Mullen either wakes up for 6 a.m. practices or heads to the Liacouras Center or McGonigle Hall after classes for the evening ones.

“He’s on the team. Mike is really on the team,” senior forward Shenita Landry said. “He’s been here for two years. He wakes up and comes to 6 a.m. practice. He comes to evening practice. Everything. He’s truly one of us. You see him around campus, and it’s the same. You sit down and talk to him. Honestly, he helps us just like a regular teammate.”

Mullen joined the practice squad at the beginning of last year after a friend told him the team needed more people. That friend ended up quitting after a few days, but Mullen has stuck it out since.

“It’s better than just going to the Pavilion and playing basketball. It’s actually a much better workout,” he said. “And they’re all very accepting. They’re all cool with it. I’m just glad that I can help.”

Mullen doesn’t spend time working with any specific players. Rather, he and four of the women form a practice squad and act out the upcoming opponent’s plays.

“Most of us have played with guys before if you want to play on this level, but playing with him, he actually really helps us better our game because he jumps higher, he shoots, he’s better than all of us,” Landry said. “In order to be a great defensive player, you’ve got to be able to stop him.”

Mullen echoed those thoughts and explained why he helps the women’s team instead of the men’s.

“Well, the men don’t really need it because they can just play against each other. They’re all better than me anyway,” he said. “Some of us are better than the women, well not maybe better, but faster and some of us are stronger. So it’s more useful for us to help them.”

Perhaps the toughest part for Mullen, though, is that his help can’t physically extend onto the court on game day. He can only sit by idly in the stands as the game unfolds in front of him.

“It’s interesting because you recognize what’s going on, and I’m familiar with all the team’s plays now so sometimes you feel like you can yell something out to them,” he said. “It might be the opposing team forgot to do something like set up a play, and you see it happen.”

But for freshman forward Kristen McCarthy, just showing up to support the team at its games is enough.
“He’s just been awesome. He’s been here,” she said. “He doesn’t really miss any practices, and it shows how much he cares. He doesn’t get anything for this. He just does it out of the goodness of his heart.”
The love didn’t end there.

“I always see him. He comes to all the games. He supports us on and off the court,” McCarthy added.
And that’s what teammates are for.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Mullen said. “You feel like a part of something.”

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

Recruits become officers at McGonigle ceremony

David Woolridge has pursued his dream to be a police officer his whole life, including serving five years as a military police officer.

On Friday morning, Woolridge, 26, along with 100 other recruits, graduated from the Philadelphia Police Academy in a ceremony held at McGonigle Hall. Woolridge and another recruit, Ama Jones, 27, joined Campus Safety Services as officers yesterday morning.

“Taking calls got me interested in wanting to assist people in emergencies,” said Jones, who already served as a 911 dispatcher and a security officer at Temple. “Everyone was rooting for me and helping me in every aspect.”

During the ceremony, Woolridge and Jones stood out among the other graduates, wearing the all black uniform of Campus Police instead of blue Philadelphia Police Department shirts.

Mayor Michael Nutter, Commissioner Charles Ramsey and his deputy commissioners, District Attorney Lynne Abraham, City Controller Alan Butkovitz, Managing Director Dr. Camille Barnett and Campus Safety Services Executive Director Carl Bittenbender were in attendance among the ceremony’s distinguished guests.

“We expect you to use every ounce of training you have received to protect the citizens of Philadelphia and yourselves,” Nutter told the graduates. “I will stand with you every step of the way.”

He commended them for sticking with the police department, despite having attended funerals for three officers killed in the line of duty during their time in the academy.

Ramsey also acknowledged the experiences the class faced.

“When you look back at your time in the academy, [you’ll see] you’ve gone through quite a bit,” Ramsey said. “And you also will be part of the World Series celebration here in Philadelphia” during their first week as officers.

He said a career as a police officer is a tough one, but it is rewarding and exciting.

Lt. Edward Woltemate from Campus Safety Services said he was excited for Jones and Woolridge to join the team at Temple.

He said they will spend a few months shadowing other officers and learning the ropes at Temple before they’re on their own.

Abraham said the new officers would make a difference through serving and protecting the citizens.
“We couldn’t do it without you,” she said. “You are truly chosen to do this job.”

Morgan Zalot can be reached at morgan.zalot@temple.edu.

TTN Exclusive: Interview with rapper Nas

Photos by Juila Wilkinson

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Hillary Clinton comes to Temple, shows cowardice

Apparently, Sen. Hillary Clinton was here at Temple two weeks ago. If you blinked, you probably missed her.

She came like a cat burglar in the night, while most students were away on their spring breaks, napping on their front lawns. In and out, with no damage done. You might want to check for your valuables.

If you’re concerned that you missed one of the momentous junctures in history, then you’ve nothing to worry about. She spouted the same rhetoric that we’ve been hearing the entire campaign, perhaps with a little more spunk and urgency since she’s fallen behind in the delegate count.

If she held the rally while classes were in session, who knows what kind of chaos would have ensued – crowds, protests, maybe even – gasp – an impromptu Obama rally? In fact, the rally at McGonigle Hall is emblematic of her entire campaign.

She creates an artificial atmosphere to convey an image of cohesion for all the television cameras and plants questioners in her audience to praise her while accusing dissenters of being plants from the other side. It’s as though she’s been reading from former George W. Bush adviser Matthew Dowd’s playbook page for page.

Temple political science professor John Masker, while agreeing that she runs an image-obsessed campaign, is more cautious when assessing her decision to come to the university on spring break.

“I could hypothesize that (a) somebody didn’t bother to look at the schedule, or (b) that someone did look and thought it was ideal because there could have been some sort of counter rally, or (c) it was just her schedule and how it worked out,” Masker said.

While at Temple, she touted her experience in the Oval Office and raved about how we, the voters, must think about whom we want to hire for the “toughest job in the world.” If she’s referring to her relationship with Bill, then this is true. But if that is the case, why not just put Monica Lewinski on the ticket?

She said that it took a Clinton to clean up the mess that the first Bush made and it’s going to take a Clinton to clean up the mess the second Bush made. I’m sorry Ms. Clinton, but there was no mess to clean up after the first Bush.

Bush Sr. waged a successful, swift and just war and the only reason the voters held a grudge against the man was because he raised taxes after his campaign platform was no new taxes. Remember, “Read my lips…”

Bill Clinton reigned in perhaps the easiest decade in American history to be president. In the ‘90s, the economy was strong and resilient, there were no foreign threats – or so we thought – and the people were content.

In fact, one could argue that Bill Clinton set up the economic conditions we now face with the establishment of NAFTA and that our current Middle Eastern conflicts are a product of his ignorance of Middle Eastern tensions.

But let’s not go there. How about we just release the oligarchic grip that threatens our democracy and pass the torch to a new era of politics? One that addresses the true ailments of our society, like race and inequality, with a transparency that leaves that no questions in our now dubious minds.

Sam Benesby can be reached at samuel.benesby@temple.edu.