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Temple Owls are going dancing!

(Photo of Dionte Christmas and Mark Tyndale in tonight’s game in Atlantic City, N.J., taken by Kevin Cook of The Temple News)

Four years ago I matriculated into a large, urban American research university with one of the more successful men’s basketball programs in the country. Trouble is, it was on the way out.

Legendary Coach John Chaney retired and the Owls hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2001 – including all of my years of cheering on the time. Of course, that is before tonight, when Temple beat arch rival St. Joseph’s, 69-64, in the championship game of the Atlantic-10 conference tournament, giving the Owls an automatic bid to the most watched college athletic playoffs.

The Owls were trailing at intermission, and it was looking bleak, but they came out and smothered the Hawks, with whom Temple split their two regular season matchups.

The myth of reason

By Christopher Wink | Feb 27, 2007 | Existentialism

In philosophical discourse, discussions of reason are not without precedence. It seems that all of the great thinkers of the 19th and 20th centuries had thoughts on rationality and its role in history, society and individual decision.

German philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883-1969) is known for his unshakable resolve towards his truth and ethics, so, it is understandable that he held a strong belief in the meaning of reason, as derived from an interpretation of moral action (Kirkbright, 85).

Conversely, a great many other philosophers are more famously tied to the topic in discussions of the ‘myth of reason.’ Prussian-born Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) criticized rationality for its idealism, its ability to be understood and evaluated by the actor. As an example, tying the system of reason to Socrates, Nietzsche suggested that rationality eroded Greek tragedy because it forced the art to follow the forms of its idealism (Stewart, 307).

Continue reading The myth of reason

Perry Weinstock: doctoring across the river

Interview and article prepared for the Philadelphia Business Journal, as filed last week, without edits, to run in yesterday’s edition.

His colleagues told him that a move from Philadelphia to New Jersey was a mistake.

Ten years ago, though, Dr. Perry J. Weinstock made the move. He was recruited by Cooper University Hospital in Camden, N.J. as the director of clinical cardiology and associate head of his division in 1998. For ten years he served the growing research university and served it well. In January it was announced that Weinstock would be made head of the division of cardiovascular disease at Cooper.

“I’ve waited ten years for this promotion,” he said.

Before Cooper, he was the director of cardiology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital with a nice office and patients he liked. So, at first, he rebuked calls from Cooper. But the calls persisted enough that he crossed the Delaware River for a tour. He was impressed with the facilities and staff.

“To this day I love Jefferson,” he said. “But, Cooper has really emerged as a premiere research hospital in the Delaware Valley. It is truly an honor to lead such a fine institution.”

Still, more work is to be done, he said. Weinstock has plans to expand the hospital’s preventative cardiology practice.

“I also want to promote quality,” he said. “At all levels of cardiovascular care: inpatient, outpatient, prevention, treatment after the fact.”

He thinks his background in practiced cardiology, rather than strictly an academic, leadership or supervisory role, will help.

“I have actually worked on the battle lines,” he said. “If that general sits in the ivory tower and never gets his fingernails dirty, it’s hard to listen to him.”

For it, he has a lesson, ten years in the making.

“There’s life on the other side of the river.”

See other reporting by Christopher Wink here. Above, an artist’s rendering of Cooper University Hospital after impending renovations, taken from the hospital’s Web site.

Keith Olberman weighs in on Ferraro controversy

MSNBC’s Keith Olberman took on the controversial comments made by Sen. Hillary Clinton adviser Geraldine Ferraro, who was the first female major party candidate for vice president in 1984 with Walter Mondale. The comments, which Olberman quoted from a Feb. 26 Fox radio broadcast were as follows:

If Barack Obama were a white man, would we be talking about this, as a potential real problem for Hillary? If he were a woman of any color, would he be in this position that he’s in? Absolutely not.”

Here the talking head and former ESPN commentator on the subject in his “Special Comment” address.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtAja20kTCA]

Philadelphia region with new heroes, bank cash

Firstrust Bank - plaque for donation

Interview and article prepared for the Philadelphia Business Journal, as filed last week, without edits, to run in tomorrow’s edition.

Heroes aren’t born.They’re made, at places like the Montgomery County Tactical Response Training Center.

The 23,000-square foot weapons and anti-terrorism building in Conshohocken was built at a cost of $10.8 million with the help of more than 50 corporate and private donors, like Firstrust Bank.

“As a bank, safety and security are important for us,” said Tim Abell, president and chief operating officer of the Conshohocken-based bank.

With nearly a third of their 24 locations, including their headquarters, tucked in Montco, it makes sense that they would be willing to put up their $100,000 contribution.

Late last month, Firstrust and the other donors that helped see the center’s construction through to its opening last November received recognition from the Police Chiefs’ Association of Montgomery County.

The center, which is on the grounds of the Montgomery County Public Safety Training Campus, will train thousands of law enforcement officers, emergency medical service technicians and firefighters.

“There are so many great causes,” Abell said. “But these are things that we think fit our mission.”

It isn’t the only philanthropy in which the 74-year-old bank involves itself. Each year, it gives about $1 million to various causes, including a decade-long relationship with City Year, which unites young people throughout the country in one year of full-time service.

Still, this cause isn’t overshadowed. The money that Firstrust donated went to fund the construction of the center’s firing range, preparing law enforcement officers to use deadly force, if ever necessary.

“You wouldn’t want to be in the line of real fire and have it be the first time you’re going through that,” said Abell. “Fortunately I wasn’t the target. I was at the other end.”

See other reporting by Christopher Wink here.

Hillary Clinton at Temple University

Sen. Hillary Clinton held a campaign rally at Temple University’s McGonigle Hall yesterday night.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS0lG3J_Lu0]

Hear an audio report here by The Temple News here, and read its coverage here.

Her hubby Bill Clinton was at the University of Pennsylvania two weeks ago, which I covered, though his speech was on inequality, not the election

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IONdGtyUCxk]

Florida, seriously?

In what some think might be a ploy to someday push for secession from the United States, Florida continues to piss off the entire country.

As the Democratic presidential primary lingers and Hillary stays viable, if stubborn, Howard Dean and other DNC leaders are looking for some way to decide a winner soon.

So, they’ve returned to Michigan and the Sunshine State.

Those two states held their primaries earlier than party rules allowed, so the DNC barred those state decisions from the totals. While neither Barack nor Hillary campaigned in their state, as per a part agreement, Clinton won both states, though she was the only big name on the Michigan ballot.

The party is looking to recasting the vote through mail.

Party leaders declined to comment on the similarities between this scenario and when the babysitter sends a troublemaking child to bed but lets him come downstairs and have a cookie when she gets scared later in the night.

Vintage Philadelphia baseball video

I stumbled upon this and thought it pretty cool.

This silent film claims to be, and I have no reason to suggest otherwise, a home movie of the 1929 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Athletics, a series the Philadelphia team won four games to one.

The video owner described it as such:

Home movie footage of 1930 Flag Day followed by the 1929 World Series played between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Chicago Cubs. Both games were played at Wrigley field. The World Series was played on either October 8 or October 9, 1929. It includes opening ceremonies, crowd shots, and a few pitches.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U63LW6wV3no]

John McCain ad: oh, you like Roosevelt and Churchill, too?

John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for President, has released a sexy new TV advertisement.

In what critics are calling the biggest surprise of all, McCain splits his face time on the ad with such obscure names as Teddy Roosevelt and Winston Churchhill, who are coincidentally perhaps the two most beloved independent conservatives who aren’t abhorred by centrist and even left of center voters and students of history.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_A53PAxeR8]
It is a strike at putting McCain in that category. There is little question that that will be a common theme throughout the coming election, is John McCain the straight shooting/talking, populist man of the people (i.e., President Roosevelt the senior and Churchill) or is he a hawkish, opportunistic hack.

Everette Scott: where sports and entertainment meet legally

Interview and article prepared for the Philadelphia Business Journal, as filed last week, without edits, to run in yesterday’s edition.

Everette L. Scott Jr. wants to protect your rights.

You and everyone else with a chance of being a star someday.

“In this world of multimedia and the Internet, things have changed night and day in the last five years,” said Scott, who joined the Center City law firm Spector Gadon & Rosen last month to lead its sports and entertainment group.

The man left a spot as president and chairman of the Cherry Hill-based Sports and Entertainment Management Group to fill a void of legal knowledge he saw in his work.

“If you’re an athlete today, you need to market yourself in a new way,” he said. “And understand your legal rights.”

With the sizable reputation of Spector Gadon behind him, Scott hopes to be at the forefront of marrying Web based marketing and promotion with his background in sports and entertainment law.

“We’re interested in being, not only a local leader, but also the industry leader,” Scott said.

By doing things like what he’s done with client Nate Jones, an undersized cornerback most recently with the Dallas Cowboys. Jones wanted to secure a life after the NFL, so Scott is working to broker a deal in which the former Rutgers University star has an advisory role in an online show about high school athletes pursuing their dreams after graduation.

“Sports and entertainment are one in the same,” he said.

Scott sees the smaller Philadelphia market as an opportunity.

“For the Philadelphia community to get involved in this is great,” he said. “Folks like to consider New York or Atlanta or even Hollywood the conduits for this kind of work, but we have the best minds in the region for this.”

The former standout linebacker at Philadelphia’s Central High School knows the score, but he’s playing with his law degree now.

“Today, any person, if they have aspirations, if you think you got what it takes, there is nothing that is preventing you from getting to the marketplace,” he said. “But you sure better have protection of your legal rights.”

See other reporting by Christopher Wink here.