A working-class hero is something to be most likely not a marathoner
Five Fast Guys - Mostly there are no working-class heroes among elite marathoners; it is a sport that is attractive to the professional class with disposable income and time, and not attractive to a bricklayers union shop although it could happen. Last Saturday inside the Rehoboth Marathon, five fast friends ran "so happy tethered together” all breaking three hours which is a pending Guiness Book World Record. Pictured left to right are Joe Eagan, 37, graduate of Georgetown University, owns 2:39 in the New York Marathon in 2013; Stephen England, 35, Liverpool John Moores University, 2:45 Marine Corps Marathon 2011; Chris Solarz, 37, University of Penn, a 2:39 Chicago Marathon 2011; Justin Wood, 30, University of Penn, Boston Marathon 2:43 in 2013; and Brad Weiss, 40, James Madison University, Chicago Marathon 2:38 in 2011. These athletes were congenial, nice and polite, not to mention gracious and gregarious just moments after finishing a 26-mile run and getting wrapped in foil like cooling-too-quickly turkeys.
Pickup basketball - A Cape basketball player hits the hardwood and the other four race to lend a hand. Demetrius Price is the quickest and is usually there first there although he also leads the team in waxed floor burns. Teammates are all about lending a hand comradeship and sportsmanship, but let a fan fall from the bleachers carrying a slice of pizza and the entire crowd starts laughing, it's just what they do.
Not brain surgery - I imagine Ben Carson watches college basketball with the sound turned down, weary of one person analyzing every play after it happens. It’s 5 on 5 and dumb old basketball, the team with the taller and better players usually wins. It’s not brain surgery.
Fly Eagles fly - A pair of 500-pound Corgis - underdogs Smyrna and Philadelphia - had great football wins over the weekend, the Eagles of Smyrna upsetting Salesianum 32-26 in overtime to win the DIAA Division I state championship while the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Patriots in New England 35-28. That is just great; be happy if you are a fan of either or both teams. But a minority of modern fans want to bash the beaten team almost laughing at their misfortune. Sallies is the standard in Delaware high school football and New England obviously the same in the NFL. I like fans who are happy in victory and don’t revel in the defeat of the other team. That is the championship attitude.
Lung Goody - Today is the 74th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, and I drive a Toyota; talk about reconciliation. Back in the summer of 1963 I was playing pickup basketball at Cadwalader Park in Trenton, N.J. A mix of races and cultures and talents, winners stay. I drove to the basket, got run into the fence by a 6-foot-5 dark-skinned soul singer named Lung Goody who flat out had no game and said “My ball”! I took the ball out and threw it quickly in to All Catholic Johnny “Red” Kerr who went for the lay-up.
Lung Goody went off. "Don’t you white boys be coming over here trying the Pearl Harbor stuff [sneak attack]." Always quick on my feet I said, “Hey, make like Eddie Kendrick of the Temptations and 'Get Ready!'”
Lung Goody went no mic a capella solo the entire song and could be heard for blocks; his performance was magnificent. Then threw the ball back to me and said, “Here you go, Pat Boone.” Lung Goody and I became friends, man oh man could that guy sing, but he remained an uncoordinated hacking machine on the court.
Snippets - Athletes call it the Rubber Chicken Circuit, all the postseason awards banquets or let’s just get together and share covered dishes just don’t forget the wax paper and please only one string bean casserole because athletes don’t eat that stuff. Lisa Harkins, a registered dietitian, spoke at the BodyShop Fitness Center Dec. 7 to Cape girls' lacrosse candidates about nutrition in general and more specifically how it relates to athletes in training. She also discussed body image and body weight specifically as they affect female athletes. Seven straight state titles leaves no turnip unstoned or however that goes. Cape’s girls' swim team, winners of 39 straight dual meets, splash down at St. Andrews Tuesday, Dec. 8 before hosting Sussex Tech Thursday, Dec. 10. Go on now, git!
